What is the purpose of audit trails in PCI DSS?

What is the purpose of audit trails in PCI DSS?

• A. To link all access to system components to individual users
• B. To only track failed logins
• C. To keep logs for 1 day
• D. To track only administrators

Answer: (A)

Audit trails in PCI DSS are about accountability and traceability of every action taken on systems that handle cardholder data. They create a record that links who did what, when they did it, and what the result was, so you can reconstruct events, detect unusual activity, and investigate security incidents. The strongest and most useful approach is to tie every access or action on system components directly to the individual user responsible. That way, you can see exactly which person performed which operation, rather than only noting that an access occurred or that someone with administrator rights did something. Logs should cover a range of activities (logons, data access, configuration changes, and other relevant events), and they must be safeguarded against tampering and retained for the period required by PCI DSS.

Audit trails in PCI DSS are about accountability and traceability of every action taken on systems that handle cardholder data. They create a record that links who did what, when they did it, and what the result was, so you can reconstruct events, detect unusual activity, and investigate security incidents. The strongest and most useful approach is to tie every access or action on system components directly to the individual user responsible. That way, you can see exactly which person performed which operation, rather than only noting that an access occurred or that someone with administrator rights did something. Logs should cover a range of activities (logons, data access, configuration changes, and other relevant events), and they must be safeguarded against tampering and retained for the period required by PCI DSS.