What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on INQ-03 Conditions for Access to or Disclosure of Data in Investigation Requests?

Signed disclosure authorisations dated before the data was released; Traceable link between each disclosure and its completed legal assessment; Approval matrix showing who is permitted to authorise a release; Log of requests declined because no valid basis could be established.

What is the most common gap auditors find on INQ-03?

Data released on the strength of the agency's assertion alone

BSI C5 (121-criteria catalogue) · C5: Dealing with Investigation Requests from Government Agencies

`INQ-03` Conditions for Access to or Disclosure of Data in Investigation Requests

Grant access to or disclose cloud customer data for a government investigation only once the legal assessment has confirmed that an applicable and valid legal basis exists and that the request must be met on that basis.

Source: BSI C5 (121-criteria catalogue), INQ-03. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open BSI C5 (121-criteria catalogue) in the compliance library.

The edition of the catalogue is not stamped here; check the edition your attestation is issued against.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

moderate

to go live

SIEM / log platform

where the evidence lives

teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

Log of requests declined because no valid basis could be established · SIEM / log platform

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Signed disclosure authorisations dated before the data was released · Document repository
Traceable link between each disclosure and its completed legal assessment · Document repository
Approval matrix showing who is permitted to authorise a release · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 1 of 4 artefacts that already live in a system (SIEM / log platform); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Data released on the strength of the agency's assertion alone
Approval given verbally with no signed authorisation retained
No request has ever been declined, suggesting the assessment is not a real gate
Release made while the legal assessment was still open

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

Build my evidence sheet

INQ-02 Informing Cloud Customers about Investigation Requests · INQ-04 Limiting Access to or Disclosure of Data in Investigation Requests