What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on CA-3(6) Information Exchange | Transfer Authorizations?

Access control policy; Procedures addressing system connections; System and communications protection policy; System interconnection agreements; Information exchange security agreements; Memoranda of understanding or agreements.

What is the most common gap auditors find on CA-3(6)?

The system accepts data from interconnecting systems without verifying the sender holds requisite write authorizations

NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · CA - Assessment, Authorization, and Monitoring

`CA-3(6)` Information Exchange | Transfer Authorizations

Verify that individuals or systems transferring data between interconnecting systems have the requisite authorizations (i.e., write permissions or privileges) prior to accepting such data.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, CA-3(6). 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 NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 in the compliance library.

Base controls and their enhancements. Which apply follows the baseline you are assessed against (for example FedRAMP Moderate or High, or the low, moderate and high baselines of SP 800-53B). Text in square brackets is a parameter your organisation sets.

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

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Test of Mechanisms implementing restrictions on external system connections · SIEM / log platform

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Access control policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Procedures addressing system connections · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System and communications protection policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System interconnection agreements · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Information exchange security agreements · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Memoranda of understanding or agreements · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Service level agreements · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Non-disclosure agreements · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System design documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

The system accepts data from interconnecting systems without verifying the sender holds requisite write authorizations
No documented mechanism checks transfer authorizations before data from an interconnected system is accepted

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

CA-3 Information Exchange · CA-3(7) Information Exchange | Transitive Information Exchanges