EvidenceSheet
PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 12: Information Security Policies

12.8.3 Due diligence before engaging TPSPs

An established process must be in place and used for engaging TPSPs, including appropriate due diligence before the engagement starts. The guidance suggests due diligence consider how the provider reports, how it notifies breaches and handles incidents, how PCI DSS responsibilities are split, and how the TPSP validates compliance and what evidence it supplies. Customized approach objective: before engagement, a prospective TPSP's capability, intent and resources to protect account data are assessed.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.8.3. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open PCI DSS v4.0.1 in the compliance library.

Version 4.0.1 is the active version; 4.0 has been retired. Appendix A1 applies only to multi-tenant service providers, A2 only to card-present POS POI terminals that still use SSL or early TLS, and A3 only when a payment brand or acquirer requires it. Which requirements apply to you follows your validation type.

4
artefacts
0
held by a system
3
at each review
hard
to go live
Vendor register / contract repository
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Completed due diligence questionnaires or assessments for recent TPSPs · Vendor register / contract repository
  • Pre-contract security review approvals · Vendor register / contract repository
  • Evidence gathered such as AOCs or audit reports · Vendor register / contract repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • TPSP onboarding and due diligence procedure · HR system / LMS

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

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12.8.2 TPSP contracts acknowledging account data responsibility · 12.8.4 Annual monitoring of TPSP compliance status