Customized approach guidance for an AKS regulated cluster for PCI DSS 4.0.1

PCI DSS 4.0.1 introduces the "customized approach" for meeting requirements, allowing organizations to implement alternative controls if they meet the intent and rigor of the standard. This document provides guidance for documenting, justifying, and validating customized controls in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) environments.

When to use the customized approach

The customized approach is appropriate when:

  • When standard controls aren't feasible due to technical or business constraints.
  • When leveraging cloud-native or container-specific security features that differ from traditional controls.

Documentation requirements

  • Clearly describe the alternative control and how it meets the intent of the PCI DSS requirement.
  • Provide a risk analysis and justification for the alternative control.
  • Include validation and testing procedures.

Example template

Requirement Standard Control Customized Control Rationale Validation/Test
MFA for admin access Traditional MFA Azure AD Conditional Access with FIDO2 Stronger assurance, cloud-native Review policy, test login

Integrated AKS security context

You should implement the customized approach as part of a broader security strategy that includes:

For the latest AKS security features, see the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) documentation.

Next steps

Review the complete mapping of PCI DSS requirements to AKS implementations and controls.

For more information, review the official PCI DSS 4.0.1 documentation.