What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on IA-7 Cryptographic Module Authentication?

SSP IA-7 statement identifying the cryptographic modules used for authentication and their FIPS 140 validation; CMVP certificate numbers for each module matched to the versions deployed; Identity proofing records for high assurance accounts; Authenticator lifecycle procedure including reset and revocation; Identification and authentication policy; MFA enrolment report for all privileged and remote users.

What is the most common gap auditors find on IA-7?

Federation trust relationships not reviewed when partnerships change

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

`IA-7` Cryptographic Module Authentication

Implement authentication to cryptographic modules meeting FIPS 140 (FedRAMP requires FIPS-validated).

Source: FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline), IA-7. 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

hard

to go live

Policy repository / GRC workspace

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

MFA enrolment report for all privileged and remote users · Identity provider / directory

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Identity proofing records for high assurance accounts · Identity provider / directory

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

SSP IA-7 statement identifying the cryptographic modules used for authentication and their FIPS 140 validation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
CMVP certificate numbers for each module matched to the versions deployed · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Authenticator lifecycle procedure including reset and revocation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Identification and authentication policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 1 system-held artefact from your Identity provider / directory on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Federation trust relationships not reviewed when partnerships change
MFA exceptions granted indefinitely without compensating controls
Shared accounts authenticate without traceability to individuals

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-6 Authentication Feedback · IA-8 Identification and Authentication (Non-Organizational Users)