8.3.3 Identity verified before factor changes
A user's identity must be verified before any authentication factor is modified. The guidance lists modifications this includes (password resets, issuing new hardware or software tokens, generating new keys), explains the social engineering risk of a caller posing as a user to the help desk, and gives example verification methods such as secret questions, knowledge-based information or calling back a known, previously recorded phone number. Objective under the customized approach: nobody can get into a system by posing as an authorized user.
Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 8.3.3. 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.
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
- Reset tickets recording the verification method used · Ticketing / ITSM
- Self-service reset configuration showing enrolled verification methods · Cloud console / configuration management
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Observation notes of a help desk reset · Document repository
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Help desk identity verification procedure for resets and token replacement · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Help desk resets passwords for anyone who knows an employee name and ID
- Token re-issuance performed without verifying identity
- Verification method not recorded, so it cannot be evidenced
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 sheet8.3.2 Authentication factors unreadable with strong cryptography · 8.3.4 Lockout after 10 attempts for 30 minutes