8.2.8 Re-authentication after 15 minutes idle
A user must authenticate again before resuming a terminal or session that has been idle for longer than 15 minutes. The guidance notes this can be applied at system level for all sessions on a machine or at application level, and gives a password-protected screensaver after 15 minutes idle as one example. Applicability: not intended for point-of-sale terminal user accounts that are limited to a single card number per transaction, and not meant to stop legitimate activities from running while a console or PC is unattended. Objective under the customized approach: only the authorized user can use a user session.
Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 8.2.8. 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
- Group policy or MDM profile setting screen lock at 15 minutes or less · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)
- Application and jump host session timeout configuration · Cloud console / configuration management
- Sample workstation and server configuration checks · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
none for this control
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Exceptions register for systems unable to enforce the timeout · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Timeout set on workstations but not on web admin consoles or SSH sessions
- Screen lock set to 30 minutes on operations workstations
- Users able to override the screensaver setting locally
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 sheet8.2.7 Third-party remote access accounts controlled · 8.3.1 Access authenticated with at least one factor