EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-218 (SSDF) · Produce Well Secured Software

PW.9.1 Configure Software to Have Secure Settings by Default

Ship software with secure default configuration so that customers receive a secure posture out of the box. Document the security implications of any settings that customers can change.

Source: NIST SP 800-218 (SSDF), PW.9.1. 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 800-218 (SSDF) in the compliance library.

4
artefacts
1
held by a system
1
at each review
moderate
to go live
Cloud console / configuration management
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

  • Telemetry on customer adoption of insecure settings · Cloud console / configuration management

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Default configuration review · Cloud console / configuration management

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Documentation of security implications of settings · Document repository
  • Deprecation plan for unsafe defaults · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 1 of 4 artefacts that already live in a system (Cloud console / configuration management); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

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

PW.8.2 Execute Security Testing · PW.9.2 Implement and Document Secure Defaults