EvidenceSheet
CIS Controls v8.1 · CIS Control 18: Penetration Testing

18.1 Establish and Maintain a Penetration Testing Program

Run a penetration testing programme suited to the enterprise's size, complexity, industry and maturity. The programme defines scope (network, web applications, APIs, hosted services, physical premises controls), frequency, limits such as permitted hours and excluded attack types, points of contact, how findings are routed internally for remediation, and retrospective requirements. Implementation Groups: IG2 and IG3 (not in the IG1 baseline; applies from IG2 upward). Asset type: Documentation. Security function: Govern.

Source: CIS Controls v8.1, 18.1. 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 CIS Controls v8.1 in the compliance library.

Scope: Implementation Groups: IG2, IG3. Security function: Govern; asset type: Documentation.

Each safeguard shows its Implementation Groups. IG1 is the essential baseline for every enterprise, IG2 adds to it, IG3 is all 153. Version 8.1 adds the Govern security function and asks for more processes to be documented; numbering is unchanged from v8.

3
artefacts
1
held by a system
1
at each review
moderate
to go live
Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
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

  • Rules of engagement templates · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Programme review record · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Penetration testing programme document with scope, frequency, limits, contacts and remediation routing · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 1 of 3 artefacts that already live in a system (Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

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

17.9 Establish and Maintain Security Incident Thresholds · 18.2 Perform Periodic External Penetration Tests