Continuous File Integrity Monitoring: A New Approach for PCI DSS Compliance

Overview

When it comes to IT infrastructure, a strong compliance posture requires two key components trusted state and safe change actions. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance, in particular, highlights the need for safe change actions. File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) is the capability to monitor files and directories on a server for change. The changes can be made to content, permissions or both. Note that only certain changes are relevant in a given situation. For example, PCI DSS compliance specifies that changes to existing data in log files must be detected, whereas the addition of new data can be ignored. For other files, such as critical configuration files, any change may be important.