EvidenceSheet
CIS Controls v8.1 · CIS Control 3: Data Protection

3.11 Encrypt Sensitive Data at Rest

Encrypt sensitive data stored on servers, in applications and in databases. Storage-layer (server-side) encryption is the baseline that satisfies this safeguard; application-layer (client-side) encryption, which keeps plain text unavailable even to someone with access to the storage, may be added. Implementation Groups: IG2 and IG3 (not in the IG1 baseline; applies from IG2 upward). Asset type: Data. Security function: Protect.

Source: CIS Controls v8.1, 3.11. 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: Protect; asset type: Data.

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
Cloud console / configuration management
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

  • Storage and database encryption settings for systems holding sensitive data · Cloud console / configuration management

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Key management records showing key ownership and rotation · Key management / PKI

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Exception list for unencrypted stores with mitigation · Document repository

First move

Start with the 1 of 3 artefacts that already live in a system (Cloud console / configuration management); 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.

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3.10 Encrypt Sensitive Data in Transit · 3.12 Segment Data Processing and Storage Based on Sensitivity