Although in the statistical process control (SPC) literature, there are considerable number of researches related to the multivariates variables control charting (focusing on the variable quality characteristics), fewer investigations could be found regarding the multivariate attributes control charts (relying on the attribute quality characteristics). More specifically considering the multivariate attributes control charting, it would be more interesting to monitor the auto‐correlated data, since the real‐world processes usually include the data based on an auto‐correlation structure. Ignoring the auto‐correlation structure in developing a multivariate control chart increases the type I and type II errors simultaneously and consequently reduces the performance of the chart. The most important difficulty with developing multivariate attributes control charts is the absence of the joint distribution for the quality characteristics. This deficiency can be dispelled through the use of the copula approach for developing the joint distribution.In this paper, we use the Markov approach for modeling the auto‐correlated data. Then, the copula approach is used to make the joint distribution of two auto‐correlated binary data series. Finally, based on this joint distribution, we develop a cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart. Hence, the proposed chart is entitled the copula Markov CUSUM chart. The proposed control chart is compared with the most recent and effective existing one in the literature. Based on the average number of observations to signal (ANOS) measure, it is considered that the developed control chart performs better than the other one. In addition, a real case study related to two correlated diseases such as the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and the Obesity, in which each has an auto‐correlated structure, is investigated to verify the applicability of the control chart. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.