What does requirement 10.4 call for?

Requirement 10.4 calls for the synchronization of critical system clocks and time. This is essential for a number of reasons in the context of data security and compliance, particularly within the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). Accurate time synchronization is crucial for establishing a reliable record of events, which is particularly important for security monitoring and incident response.

Having synchronized system clocks ensures that timestamps on logs from different systems can be correlated effectively. This correlation is vital for identifying security breaches, analyzing incidents, and conducting forensic investigations. If systems have different times, it can be extremely challenging to piece together what happened during a security event, as logs may have conflicting timestamps.

In contrast, the other options pertain to different aspects of security protocols or controls. Basic authentication methods relate to user authentication practices, user session timeouts are about managing active sessions for security purposes, and installing a new firewall refers to network security infrastructure changes, none of which align with the specific focus of requirement 10.4 on time synchronization.