EvidenceSheet
PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 2: Secure Configurations

2.2.6 System security parameters configured against misuse

System security parameters must be configured so that they prevent misuse. The guidance recommends that configuration standards and related processes address the settings with known security implications on every kind of system deployed, including parameters used to reach cloud portals, and that the people who configure or administer systems understand those settings. Applicability: no special notes; applies to every assessed entity. Objective under the customized approach: wrongly set security parameters give no route to compromising system components.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 2.2.6. 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
2
held by a system
1
at each review
easy
to go live
Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
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

  • Configuration compliance scan output against those parameters · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
  • Sample system configuration exports reviewed against the standard · Cloud console / configuration management

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Interview records showing administrators can describe key security parameters for their platforms · Cloud console / configuration management

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Configuration standards listing security-relevant parameters per system type, including cloud portal settings · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling. Scan schedule, findings and remediation age straight from the scanner; patch compliance from the patch console.

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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2.2.5 Insecure services, protocols or daemons secured · 2.2.7 Non-console administrative access encrypted