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

12.8.5 Responsibility allocation between entity and TPSPs

The entity must keep information showing which PCI DSS requirements each TPSP manages, which the entity manages itself, and which are shared between them. The guidance describes a responsibility matrix as a common way to record this and says entities should understand any nested relationships where a primary TPSP relies on secondary TPSPs. Customized approach objective: the entity keeps, and periodically reviews, records showing which requirements and associated components each TPSP owns alone or shares.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.8.5. 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
2
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

  • Evidence of periodic review of the matrices · Vendor register / contract repository
  • Records of nested TPSP dependencies · Vendor register / contract repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Responsibility matrix per TPSP mapping requirements to owner · Vendor register / contract repository
  • Procedure for maintaining responsibility allocations · Vendor register / contract repository

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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12.8.4 Annual monitoring of TPSP compliance status · 12.9.1 TPSP written acknowledgments to customers