What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 5.3.3 Anti-malware covers removable electronic media?

Anti-malware policy settings for scan on insert or mount of removable media; Demonstration or screenshots of a scan triggered by connecting a USB device on a sample host; Logs showing removable media scan events; Device control configuration where removable media is restricted.

What is the most common gap auditors find on 5.3.3?

On-access scanning excludes removable drives

PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 5: Anti-Malware

`5.3.3` Anti-malware covers removable electronic media

For removable electronic media (such as USB and flash drives), the anti-malware solution or solutions must either: scan the media automatically as soon as it is plugged in, connected or mounted logically; or carry out continuous behavioural analysis of systems or processes whenever such media is plugged in, connected or mounted logically. Applicability: this was advisory only up to 31 March 2025 and is now required and fully assessed. Objective under the customized approach: external removable media cannot be used to bring malware onto system components. Future-dated: treated as a best practice up to 31 March 2025 and mandatory since then.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 5.3.3. 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.

artefacts

held by a system

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

Anti-malware policy settings for scan on insert or mount of removable media · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
Logs showing removable media scan events · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
Device control configuration where removable media is restricted · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Demonstration or screenshots of a scan triggered by connecting a USB device on a sample host · 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

On-access scanning excludes removable drives
Setting applied to workstations but not to servers or kiosks where media can be connected
No log evidence that removable media scans actually occur

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

5.3.2.1 Targeted risk analysis sets malware scan frequency · 5.3.4 Anti-malware audit logs enabled and retained