3.8 Document Data Flows
Document how data moves, including flows to and from service providers, basing the documentation on the data management process. Review it yearly or after significant change. Implementation Groups: IG2 and IG3 (not in the IG1 baseline; applies from IG2 upward). Asset type: Data. Security function: Identify.
Source: CIS Controls v8.1, 3.8. 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.
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.
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
none for this control
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Annual review sign-off · Document repository
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Data flow diagrams for sensitive data including third-party transfers · Vendor register / contract repository
- Flow register listing source, destination, transfer method and owner · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Service provider flows omitted
- Diagrams out of date after system changes
- Flows documented without linking to data classification
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 sheet3.7 Establish and Maintain a Data Classification Scheme · 3.9 Encrypt Data on Removable Media