5.17 Authentication information
Requires a management process to control how authentication information is issued and looked after over time, including guidance to personnel on handling it appropriately.
5
artefacts
2
held by a system
2
at each review
moderate
to go live
Identity provider / directory
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review
system holds itEvidence a system already holds
- Rules on strength, reuse, expiry and storage, and the configuration enforcing them · Identity provider / directory
- Evidence of secure storage, such as hashing configuration for stored credentials and a controlled vault for shared or privileged secrets · Identity provider / directory
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Guidance issued to personnel on protecting authentication information, and evidence it was communicated · Identity provider / directory
- Records of reset and recovery, including how identity is verified before a reset is performed · Identity provider / directory
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- The process for allocating authentication information, including initial issue, secure delivery and forced change on first use · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Start with the 2 of 5 artefacts that already live in a system (Identity provider / directory); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.
Common gaps auditors find
- Initial credentials sent by email or told verbally, with no forced change on first use
- Shared credentials for administrative or third party access held in spreadsheets or documents rather than a vault
- Reset process with weak identity verification, which is the route most commonly exploited
- Rules applied to the corporate directory only, with application local credentials unmanaged
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