5.3.2 Periodic and real-time scans or continuous behavioural analysis
The anti-malware solution or solutions must do at least one of the following: run periodic scans combined with real-time or active scans; or carry out continuous behavioural analysis of systems or processes. Scans should cover the whole file system, including disks, memory, start-up files and boot records, and commonly missed software such as mail servers, browsers and IM clients. Real-time scanning inspects a file whenever it is opened, closed, renamed or otherwise accessed. Applicability: applies to every entity in scope, with no special notes. Objective under the customized approach: malware is unable to finish executing.
Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 5.3.2. 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.
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
- Policy configuration showing scheduled scans plus on-access scanning, or behavioural analysis, enabled · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
- Scan history and results logs for the assessment period · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Per-operating-system evidence that the chosen option is active on sampled hosts · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)
- Behavioural analysis detection records from the EDR console where that option is used · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
none for this control
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Real-time protection disabled on database or high-load servers for performance reasons
- Scheduled scans set up but failing silently on a subset of hosts
- Linux hosts at risk from malware covered by neither scanning nor behavioural analysis
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 sheet5.3.1 Anti-malware kept current through automatic updates · 5.3.2.1 Targeted risk analysis sets malware scan frequency