What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on IA-3 Device Identification and Authentication?

SSP IA-3 statement describing how devices authenticate before connecting (certificates, 802.1X, mutual TLS) per device type; Device certificate inventory and network access control configuration requiring device authentication; Identification and authentication policy; MFA enrolment report for all privileged and remote users; Password policy configuration export from the identity provider; Service account credential vault inventory and rotation logs.

What is the most common gap auditors find on IA-3?

Password complexity enforced but reuse not blocked across systems

FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline) · IA - Identification and Authentication

`IA-3` Device Identification and Authentication

Uniquely identify and authenticate devices before establishing connection.

Source: FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline), IA-3. 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 FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline) in the compliance library.

A FedRAMP baseline is a subset of NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, enhancements included.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

easy

to go live

Identity provider / directory

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

Device certificate inventory and network access control configuration requiring device authentication · Key management / PKI
MFA enrolment report for all privileged and remote users · Identity provider / directory
Password policy configuration export from the identity provider · Identity provider / directory
Service account credential vault inventory and rotation logs · Identity provider / directory

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

none for this control

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

SSP IA-3 statement describing how devices authenticate before connecting (certificates, 802.1X, mutual TLS) per device type · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Identification and authentication policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Automate the pull from your Identity provider / directory. Scheduled export of users, roles and MFA state from the directory; access-review completion pulled from the IdP, not a spreadsheet.

Common gaps auditors find

Password complexity enforced but reuse not blocked across systems
Federation trust relationships not reviewed when partnerships change
MFA exceptions granted indefinitely without compensating controls

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

IA-2(12) Acceptance of PIV Credentials · IA-4 Identifier Management