Details of the PCI DSS 3.2.1 Regulatory Compliance built-in initiative
Article
The following article details how the Azure Policy Regulatory Compliance built-in initiative
definition maps to compliance domains and controls in PCI DSS 3.2.1.
For more information about this compliance standard, see
PCI DSS 3.2.1. To understand
Ownership, review the policy type and
Shared responsibility in the cloud.
The following mappings are to the PCI DSS 3.2.1 controls. Many of the controls
are implemented with an Azure Policy initiative definition. To review the complete
initiative definition, open Policy in the Azure portal and select the Definitions page.
Then, find and select the PCI v3.2.1:2018 Regulatory Compliance built-in
initiative definition.
Important
Each control below is associated with one or more Azure Policy definitions.
These policies may help you assess compliance with the
control; however, there often is not a one-to-one or complete match between a control and one or
more policies. As such, Compliant in Azure Policy refers only to the policy definitions
themselves; this doesn't ensure you're fully compliant with all requirements of a control. In
addition, the compliance standard includes controls that aren't addressed by any Azure Policy
definitions at this time. Therefore, compliance in Azure Policy is only a partial view of your
overall compliance status. The associations between compliance domains, controls, and Azure Policy
definitions for this compliance standard may change over time. To view the change history, see the
GitHub Commit History.
Azure Security Center has identified some of your network security groups' inbound rules to be too permissive. Inbound rules should not allow access from 'Any' or 'Internet' ranges. This can potentially enable attackers to target your resources.
Network access to storage accounts should be restricted. Configure network rules so only applications from allowed networks can access the storage account. To allow connections from specific internet or on-premises clients, access can be granted to traffic from specific Azure virtual networks or to public internet IP address ranges
Azure Security Center has identified some of your network security groups' inbound rules to be too permissive. Inbound rules should not allow access from 'Any' or 'Internet' ranges. This can potentially enable attackers to target your resources.
Network access to storage accounts should be restricted. Configure network rules so only applications from allowed networks can access the storage account. To allow connections from specific internet or on-premises clients, access can be granted to traffic from specific Azure virtual networks or to public internet IP address ranges
Use new Azure Resource Manager for your storage accounts to provide security enhancements such as: stronger access control (RBAC), better auditing, Azure Resource Manager based deployment and governance, access to managed identities, access to key vault for secrets, Azure AD-based authentication and support for tags and resource groups for easier security management
Use new Azure Resource Manager for your virtual machines to provide security enhancements such as: stronger access control (RBAC), better auditing, Azure Resource Manager based deployment and governance, access to managed identities, access to key vault for secrets, Azure AD-based authentication and support for tags and resource groups for easier security management
Audits virtual machines to detect whether they are running a supported vulnerability assessment solution. A core component of every cyber risk and security program is the identification and analysis of vulnerabilities. Azure Security Center's standard pricing tier includes vulnerability scanning for your virtual machines at no extra cost. Additionally, Security Center can automatically deploy this tool for you.
Audit provisioning of an Azure Active Directory administrator for your SQL server to enable Azure AD authentication. Azure AD authentication enables simplified permission management and centralized identity management of database users and other Microsoft services
Audit built-in roles such as 'Owner, Contributer, Reader' instead of custom RBAC roles, which are error prone. Using custom roles is treated as an exception and requires a rigorous review and threat modeling
Audit enabling of only connections via SSL to Azure Cache for Redis. Use of secure connections ensures authentication between the server and the service and protects data in transit from network layer attacks such as man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping, and session-hijacking
Audit requirement of Secure transfer in your storage account. Secure transfer is an option that forces your storage account to accept requests only from secure connections (HTTPS). Use of HTTPS ensures authentication between the server and the service and protects data in transit from network layer attacks such as man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping, and session-hijacking
Service Fabric provides three levels of protection (None, Sign and EncryptAndSign) for node-to-node communication using a primary cluster certificate. Set the protection level to ensure that all node-to-node messages are encrypted and digitally signed
Audit enabling of only connections via SSL to Azure Cache for Redis. Use of secure connections ensures authentication between the server and the service and protects data in transit from network layer attacks such as man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping, and session-hijacking
Audit requirement of Secure transfer in your storage account. Secure transfer is an option that forces your storage account to accept requests only from secure connections (HTTPS). Use of HTTPS ensures authentication between the server and the service and protects data in transit from network layer attacks such as man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping, and session-hijacking
Service Fabric provides three levels of protection (None, Sign and EncryptAndSign) for node-to-node communication using a primary cluster certificate. Set the protection level to ensure that all node-to-node messages are encrypted and digitally signed
Audits virtual machines to detect whether they are running a supported vulnerability assessment solution. A core component of every cyber risk and security program is the identification and analysis of vulnerabilities. Azure Security Center's standard pricing tier includes vulnerability scanning for your virtual machines at no extra cost. Additionally, Security Center can automatically deploy this tool for you.
Audits virtual machines to detect whether they are running a supported vulnerability assessment solution. A core component of every cyber risk and security program is the identification and analysis of vulnerabilities. Azure Security Center's standard pricing tier includes vulnerability scanning for your virtual machines at no extra cost. Additionally, Security Center can automatically deploy this tool for you.
Audit enabling of only connections via SSL to Azure Cache for Redis. Use of secure connections ensures authentication between the server and the service and protects data in transit from network layer attacks such as man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping, and session-hijacking
Audit requirement of Secure transfer in your storage account. Secure transfer is an option that forces your storage account to accept requests only from secure connections (HTTPS). Use of HTTPS ensures authentication between the server and the service and protects data in transit from network layer attacks such as man-in-the-middle, eavesdropping, and session-hijacking
Service Fabric provides three levels of protection (None, Sign and EncryptAndSign) for node-to-node communication using a primary cluster certificate. Set the protection level to ensure that all node-to-node messages are encrypted and digitally signed
Audits virtual machines to detect whether they are running a supported vulnerability assessment solution. A core component of every cyber risk and security program is the identification and analysis of vulnerabilities. Azure Security Center's standard pricing tier includes vulnerability scanning for your virtual machines at no extra cost. Additionally, Security Center can automatically deploy this tool for you.
Audit provisioning of an Azure Active Directory administrator for your SQL server to enable Azure AD authentication. Azure AD authentication enables simplified permission management and centralized identity management of database users and other Microsoft services
Audit built-in roles such as 'Owner, Contributer, Reader' instead of custom RBAC roles, which are error prone. Using custom roles is treated as an exception and requires a rigorous review and threat modeling
Deprecated accounts with owner permissions should be removed from your subscription. Deprecated accounts are accounts that have been blocked from signing in.
Deprecated accounts with owner permissions should be removed from your subscription. Deprecated accounts are accounts that have been blocked from signing in.
Deprecated accounts with owner permissions should be removed from your subscription. Deprecated accounts are accounts that have been blocked from signing in.
This policy adds a system-assigned managed identity to virtual machines hosted in Azure that are supported by Guest Configuration but do not have any managed identities. A system-assigned managed identity is a prerequisite for all Guest Configuration assignments and must be added to machines before using any Guest Configuration policy definitions. For more information on Guest Configuration, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol.
This policy adds a system-assigned managed identity to virtual machines hosted in Azure that are supported by Guest Configuration and have at least one user-assigned identity but do not have a system-assigned managed identity. A system-assigned managed identity is a prerequisite for all Guest Configuration assignments and must be added to machines before using any Guest Configuration policy definitions. For more information on Guest Configuration, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol.
Requires that prerequisites are deployed to the policy assignment scope. For details, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol. Machines are non-compliant if Windows machines that allow re-use of the passwords after the specified number of unique passwords. Default value for unique passwords is 24
Requires that prerequisites are deployed to the policy assignment scope. For details, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol. Machines are non-compliant if Windows machines that do not have the maximum password age set to specified number of days. Default value for maximum password age is 70 days
Requires that prerequisites are deployed to the policy assignment scope. For details, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol. Machines are non-compliant if Windows machines that do not restrict the minimum password length to specified number of characters. Default value for minimum password length is 14 characters
This policy deploys the Windows Guest Configuration extension to Windows virtual machines hosted in Azure that are supported by Guest Configuration. The Windows Guest Configuration extension is a prerequisite for all Windows Guest Configuration assignments and must be deployed to machines before using any Windows Guest Configuration policy definition. For more information on Guest Configuration, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol.
This policy adds a system-assigned managed identity to virtual machines hosted in Azure that are supported by Guest Configuration but do not have any managed identities. A system-assigned managed identity is a prerequisite for all Guest Configuration assignments and must be added to machines before using any Guest Configuration policy definitions. For more information on Guest Configuration, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol.
This policy adds a system-assigned managed identity to virtual machines hosted in Azure that are supported by Guest Configuration and have at least one user-assigned identity but do not have a system-assigned managed identity. A system-assigned managed identity is a prerequisite for all Guest Configuration assignments and must be added to machines before using any Guest Configuration policy definitions. For more information on Guest Configuration, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol.
Requires that prerequisites are deployed to the policy assignment scope. For details, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol. Machines are non-compliant if Windows machines that allow re-use of the passwords after the specified number of unique passwords. Default value for unique passwords is 24
Requires that prerequisites are deployed to the policy assignment scope. For details, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol. Machines are non-compliant if Windows machines that do not have the maximum password age set to specified number of days. Default value for maximum password age is 70 days
Requires that prerequisites are deployed to the policy assignment scope. For details, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol. Machines are non-compliant if Windows machines that do not restrict the minimum password length to specified number of characters. Default value for minimum password length is 14 characters
This policy deploys the Windows Guest Configuration extension to Windows virtual machines hosted in Azure that are supported by Guest Configuration. The Windows Guest Configuration extension is a prerequisite for all Windows Guest Configuration assignments and must be deployed to machines before using any Windows Guest Configuration policy definition. For more information on Guest Configuration, visit https://aka.ms/gcpol.
Audit provisioning of an Azure Active Directory administrator for your SQL server to enable Azure AD authentication. Azure AD authentication enables simplified permission management and centralized identity management of database users and other Microsoft services
Audit built-in roles such as 'Owner, Contributer, Reader' instead of custom RBAC roles, which are error prone. Using custom roles is treated as an exception and requires a rigorous review and threat modeling
Demonstrate the skills needed to implement security controls, maintain an organization’s security posture, and identify and remediate security vulnerabilities.
Details of the PCI DSS v4.0 Regulatory Compliance built-in initiative. Each control is mapped to one or more Azure Policy definitions that assist with assessment.