SC.4 Authenticate Users Before Access
Authenticate users with a unique credential before granting access to applications and devices. Auto-logon must be disabled.
Source: UK Cyber Essentials, SC.4. 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 UK Cyber Essentials in the compliance library.
The version of the requirements is not stamped here; check the question set your certification body uses.
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
- Screen lock GPO · Policy repository / GRC workspace
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- No-auto-logon attestation · Vendor register / contract repository
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Kiosk hardening documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- shared kiosk auto-logon
- reception machine logged in 24/7
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.3 Disable Auto-Run Features · SC.5 Password-Based Authentication Quality