SC-45 System Time Synchronization. Synchronize system clocks within and between systems and system components
System Time Synchronization. Synchronize system clocks within and between systems and system components.
5
artefacts
3
held by a system
0
at each review
easy
to go live
SIEM / log platform
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review
system holds itEvidence a system already holds
- Configuration on representative systems showing the time source in use and the synchronisation interval · Cloud console / configuration management
- Monitoring evidence of clock offset across the estate, showing drift within an acceptable bound · SIEM / log platform
- Evidence that time on log producing and log receiving systems agrees, since log correlation depends on it · SIEM / log platform
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
none for this control
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Identification of the authoritative time source and the synchronisation hierarchy for systems and components · Document repository
- Alerting when a system loses synchronisation or drifts beyond tolerance · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Automate the pull from your SIEM / log platform. Retention and alert rules exported from the SIEM; review evidence is the closed-alert record with reviewer and time.
Common gaps auditors find
- Servers synchronised while network devices, appliances and containers use their own or the hypervisor clock
- No offset monitoring, so a silently failed time client is invisible until log correlation fails during an investigation
- Different time zones recorded without offset, making cross system sequencing ambiguous
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 sheetSC-44 Detonation Chambers. Employ a detonation chamber capability within [organization-defined] · SC-46 Cross Domain Policy Enforcement. Implement a policy enforcement mechanism [organization-defined] between the physical and/or network interfaces for the connecting security domains