Trusted Zone
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A segment of a network or system that is considered secure and protected from unauthorized access. Organizations must implement appropriate access controls and security measures to ensure that cardholder data remains within the trusted zone and maintains PCI DSS compliance.
Applies to. PCI DSS v4.0.1 says trusted network rather than trusted zone. Requirement 1 asks that NSCs are implemented between trusted and untrusted networks; that inbound traffic from untrusted networks into the trusted network is limited to authorised public services and stateful responses, with everything else denied; that anti-spoofing measures block forged source IP addresses from entering the trusted network; and that system components storing cardholder data are not directly reachable from untrusted networks.
Limits. Trusted is a decision the entity documents, not a property of a network: the configuration standards and network diagrams must show which networks are treated as trusted and where the NSCs between them sit.
Related. Trusted Network, Untrusted Network, Network Security Control (NSC), DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), Cardholder Data Environment (CDE)
Sources. PCI DSS v4.0.1 (June 2024)