What type of evidence confirms that CHD in transit is encrypted during validation?

• A. Rely on policy documents only.
• B. Check firewall rules for traffic blocks.
• C. Ask users if they feel it's secure.
• D. Observe a sample inbound/outbound transmission to confirm CHD is encrypted.

Answer: (D)

Verifying encryption in transit requires concrete, observable evidence from live data flows. In PCI DSS validation you want to confirm that cardholder data is not sent in the clear when it moves across networks. Watching an actual inbound or outbound transmission lets you see, in real operation, that CHD is encrypted or that plaintext is not present. You can inspect the traffic to verify that encryption is in use, such as seeing a TLS handshake, a cipher suite, a valid certificate, and CHD not appearing in plaintext. This direct observation demonstrates enforcement of encryption in transit rather than relying on mere policies, firewall rules, or user impressions. Policy documents only show intent; firewall rules show what traffic is allowed but not whether the content is encrypted; asking users about security is subjective and does not prove the data is protected in transit. Therefore, observing a sample inbound/outbound transmission is the appropriate evidence.