EvidenceSheet
PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 8: Identify and Authenticate Users

8.2.4 User ID lifecycle changes authorized

Any addition, deletion or modification of a user ID, an authentication factor or another identifier object must be: authorized with appropriate approval; and carried out with only the privileges stated on the documented approval. The guidance stresses detecting IDs created or changed outside the normal process, since attackers often escalate an existing account or create new IDs. Applicability: covers every user account, whether held by employees, contractors, consultants, temporary staff or third-party vendors. Objective under the customized approach: no lifecycle event affecting a user ID or authentication factor can occur without appropriate authorization.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 8.2.4. 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
3
held by a system
0
at each review
easy
to go live
Identity provider / directory
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

  • Joiner, mover and leaver tickets with approvals for a sample of accounts · Identity provider / directory
  • Directory audit logs of account creation, change and deletion events · Identity provider / directory
  • Alerts or reports for accounts created outside the provisioning workflow · Identity provider / directory

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Comparison of granted privileges against privileges stated on each approval · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your Identity provider / directory. Scheduled export of users, roles and MFA state from the directory; access-review completion pulled from the IdP, not a spreadsheet.

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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8.2.3 Service provider unique factors per customer · 8.2.5 Terminated users' access revoked immediately