What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 3.3.1.2 Card verification code not retained after authorization?

Scan results of databases, logs and files showing no stored card verification codes; MO/TO order form handling procedure showing codes are destroyed or obscured after authorization; Sample of paper order forms or call-centre notes post-authorization; Application field inventory confirming no CVV/CVC column retained.

What is the most common gap auditors find on 3.3.1.2?

Mail or phone order forms filed with the code still legible

PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 3: Protect Stored Account Data

`3.3.1.2` Card verification code not retained after authorization

The card verification code must not be kept after authorization is complete. Applicability: this means the 3- or 4-digit number printed on either face of a card and used to validate card-not-present transactions. Guidance advises that codes captured on paper before authorization should be erased or covered afterwards (for example cut out, or blacked out with an opaque marker that cannot be removed) and lists the data sources to check: incoming transaction data, all logs, history and trace files, database schemas, database and data store contents, and memory or crash dumps. Customized approach objective: none, this requirement cannot be met through the customized approach.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 3.3.1.2. 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.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

moderate

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

Scan results of databases, logs and files showing no stored card verification codes · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Sample of paper order forms or call-centre notes post-authorization · Document repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

MO/TO order form handling procedure showing codes are destroyed or obscured after authorization · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Application field inventory confirming no CVV/CVC column retained · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 1 of 4 artefacts that already live in a system (Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Mail or phone order forms filed with the code still legible
Web application logs capturing checkout request payloads including the code
Customer service ticketing tool storing codes in free-text notes

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.

Build my evidence sheet

3.3.1.1 Full track data not retained after authorization · 3.3.1.3 PIN and PIN block not retained after authorization