Three months is the ideal retention window for video footage and access control data under PCI DSS

How long should video cameras and access control data stick around? A simple three-month window is a surprisingly powerful answer.

Let me explain why that timeframe pops up so often, and how to think about it without turning your security program into a data hoarder.

Three months: not too short, not too long

When people design retention policies for surveillance footage and access logs, they’re balancing two big needs. On one side, you want enough history to investigate incidents—the moment a door was breached, the cue that a camera captured something important, the trail that helps you piece together what happened. On the other side, you want to respect privacy and keep storage costs in check. Three months hits that sweet spot for many organizations.

Why three months feels right in practice

• Incident response windows: Most security incidents leave traces that become irrelevant after a short period, especially if you’re focusing on day-to-day access events and camera footage from public areas. A three-month window gives you a solid replay period to investigate suspicious activity or verify alarm events without drowning in data.

• Privacy and data minimization: PCI DSS and related privacy expectations push you to avoid holding more data than you need. The longer you keep footage, the more potential exposure if a system is breached. Three months helps you stay lean while staying useful.

• Storage cost realism: Video files, especially high-resolution footage, can gobble up space quickly. Access-control logs aren’t tiny either—timestamps, badge IDs, door locations, event types add up. A three-month policy is often a practical compromise between security value and ongoing storage expense.

• Operational simplicity: Setting a fixed window makes policy enforcement straightforward. It’s easier to automate retention cycles, delete older data securely, and audit compliance when you’re working with a clean, repeatable rule.

What counts as “footage” and “data” in this context

Here’s the practical nuance. When people talk about retention, they aren’t just counting hours of video. They’re also thinking about:

• Video footage from cameras: raw video files or streams stored on network video recorders (NVRs) or cloud storage. This includes all frames captured during the retention window.

• Access-control data: logs from door readers, turnstiles, and badge systems. These events include who tried to enter, when, and where, plus outcomes (granted, denied, timed out).

• Metadata and system logs: alarm timestamps, camera health data, reconciliation logs that help you map events to specific times and places.

A short example helps: imagine a security incident in a retail store. If it happened on day 90, you still have a chance to verify the sequence of badge uses, camera angles, and doors involved. If you’ve kept data only for 30 days, that investigation could fall apart just when you need it most.

The trade-offs: what you gain and what you risk

• Keeping data too briefly (think one month): you might miss key context or corroborating details about longer-running events. Small but meaningful clues vanish, leaving blind spots.

• Holding data longer (six months, a year): you get a richer historical picture, but you pay higher storage costs and face bigger privacy considerations. The longer you retain, the more you’ll need to justify retention to stakeholders and regulators.

The middle ground, three months, is a practical middle line that many teams find workable. It’s not a hard rule carved in stone, but it’s a starting point that aligns with typical incident windows and privacy risk tolerance.

Turning policy into action: how to implement a three-month window

If you’re responsible for this area, here’s a straightforward way to bring a three-month policy to life without turning your tech stack into a maintenance nightmare.

• Define the scope clearly: Identify which cameras and which access-control systems fall under the policy. Decide whether this window applies to raw video, processed video (like summaries or clips), and related logs.

• Set a retention calendar: Implement automated deletion after 90 days. Ensure the system can purge video data and logs securely, with an auditable trail showing when and what was deleted.

• Use secure storage and access controls: Encrypt stored footage and logs at rest. Limit who can access these materials, and require multi-factor authentication for anyone handling retention or deletion tasks.

• Account for tamper resistance: Enable tamper-evident storage for video, and log all retention actions. You want to know if someone tried to alter retention records.

• Plan for legal and regulatory considerations: Different industries and regions may have privacy or data protection obligations. Make sure your 90-day policy doesn’t conflict with any local rules or client requirements.

• Create a retention exception process: Sometimes you’ll need to preserve data longer for investigations. Document a formal process for extending retention in specific cases, with approval workflows and escalation paths.

Practical tips you can actually use

• Automate the cycle: Use your NVRs, cameras, and access-control software to trigger deletion after 90 days. If you rely on a SIEM or data lake, set a policy that aligns with the same window.

• Review regularly: Schedule a quarterly review of your retention policy. Confirm there are no changes in regulations, business needs, or system capabilities.

• Separate redundancy from retention: Keep backups only as long as they’re necessary for disaster recovery, but don’t double-count backup retention against your 90-day policy. You don’t want to store the same footage twice for months on end.

• Tie it to business processes: If you have a high-security area (IT server room, cash handling), you might decide to keep footage slightly longer for those doors or cameras. Document why and how that exception applies.

• Test your deletions: Periodically run tests to verify that data disappears as expected. A failing deletion process is a real risk—so test, then test again.

Common situations that challenge a three-month rule

• High-risk environments: In locations with elevated risk or regulatory scrutiny, some teams extend retention modestly or implement a tiered approach—longer for critical cameras, shorter for public spaces. The key is to document the rationale and keep it controlled.

• Incident investigations: If you’re actively investigating something, you may temporarily hold data longer than 90 days. Have a documented escalation path to extend retention for a defined period.

• Mismatched systems: Different vendors store data differently. If you’re integrating several systems, ensure the 90-day policy remains synchronized across platforms. Inconsistencies breed confusion and potential gaps.

A quick checklist you can copy-paste into your policy document

• Define scope: which cameras and logs are covered?

• Set retention: 90 days as the standard window

• Require encryption at rest and access controls

• Enable tamper-evident logging for retention actions

• Automate deletion on day 91

• Schedule quarterly policy reviews

• Establish an exception process with approvals

• Align with any legal/privacy obligations

From theory to everyday practice

Let’s bring it back to something tangible. You’re not just ticking a compliance checkbox—you’re shaping how your organization protects people, property, and data. A three-month retention window helps you stay vigilant without turning your security program into a data warehouse. It keeps you prepared to respond to incidents, while respecting privacy and budget constraints. And in a world where breaches can happen in a blink, having a well‑defined, realistically scoped window is peace of mind you can measure.

A few reflections to keep it human

• Data is powerful, but so is restraint. It’s easy to chase a perfect archive, but the cost and privacy burden rise with every extra day of footage stored.

• Security isn’t just a tech issue; it’s how people work with tools. Training staff to handle retention tasks properly reduces the chance of mistakes.

• The best policies feel fair. When your team can explain why three months matters, they’re more likely to follow it consistently.

In the end, the three-month rule isn’t about being stingy. It’s about being smart with both technology and ethics. It’s about building a security posture that’s effective, cost-conscious, and respectful of people’s privacy. And when a real incident occurs, you want to be able to look back, clearly see what happened, and move forward with confidence.

If you’re exploring PCI DSS-focused security work, this balance—security value plus privacy respect—shows up again and again. It’s the kind of practical nuance that separates good controls from great ones. Three months is a practical anchor you can grow from, tweak when needed, and defend with solid, everyday reasoning.

Want to keep the momentum? Start by mapping your cameras and access-control logs to a simple 90-day timeline. Check your storage capacity, your encryption, and your deletion workflows. Then step back, breathe, and watch the policy take shape—quietly powerful, reliably clear, and just right for many organizations.