In the intricate landscape of cybersecurity, access controls stand as vigilant gatekeepers, regulating entry to sensitive data and critical systems. These controls are the cornerstone of safeguarding digital assets against unauthorized access and potential breaches. Let’s explore the pivotal role of access controls, delving into their significance and impact on bolstering cybersecurity defenses.
AC.L2-3.1.10: Use session lock with pattern-hiding displays to prevent access and viewing of data after a period of inactivity.
- This control objective emphasizes the importance of implementing session locks with pattern-hiding displays to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access when user sessions are inactive. Pattern-hiding displays prevent visual eavesdropping on the screen content when the session is locked
AC.L2-3.1.11: Terminate(automatically) a user session after a defined condition.
- This objective requires automatically terminating user sessions after a specified period of inactivity or based on other defined conditions to reduce the risk of unauthorized access to systems and data.
AC.L2-3.1.5: Employ the principle of least privilege, including for specific security functions and privileged accounts.
- The principle of least privilege dictates that users should only be granted the minimum level of access or permissions necessary to perform their job functions. This control objective emphasizes applying this principle to all users, including those with privileged accounts and access to sensitive security functions.
AC.L2-3.1.7: Prevent non-privileged users from executing privileged functions and capture the execution of such functions in audit logs.
- This control objective focuses on preventing non-privileged users from executing privileged functions and ensuring that the execution of such functions by authorized users is logged for monitoring and auditing purposes.
AC.L2-3.1.8: Limit unsuccessful logon attempts.
- The objective is to limit the number of unsuccessful login attempts to prevent brute force attacks and unauthorized access to systems. Implementing limits on failed login attempts can help mitigate the risk of password guessing and credential-based attacks.
AU.L2-3.3.7: Provide a system capability that compares and synchronizes internal system clocks with an authoritative source to generate time stamps for audit records.
- This control objective requires ensuring that system clocks are synchronized with authoritative time sources to maintain accurate time stamps for audit records. Synchronized time stamps are crucial for forensic analysis, incident response, and compliance purposes.
IA.L2-3.5.5: Prevent reuse of identifiers for a defined period.
- This objective aims to enhance security by preventing the reuse of identifiers (such as usernames or account names) for a specified period after the have been retired or deactivated.
IA.L2-3.5.6: Disable identifiers after a defined period of inactivity.
- The objective is to improve security by automatically disabling identifiers (user accounts) after a period of inactivity to reduce the risk of unauthorized access and potential misuse of dormant accounts.
IA.L2-3.5.7: Enforce a minimum password complexity and change of characters when new passwords are created.
- This control objective mandates enforcing minimum password complexity requirements and prompting users to change passwords periodically to enhance password security and reduce the risk of password-based attacks.
IA.L2-3.5.8: Prohibit password reuse for a specified number of generations.
- The objective is to enhance password security by prohibiting users from reusing previously used passwords for a defined number of password generations. This measure helps prevent attackers from exploiting old passwords compromised in previous security incidents.
IA.L2-3.5.9: Allow temporary password use for system logons with an immediate change to a permanent password.
- This control objective allows for the use of temporary passwords for system logons, provided that users are required to change them immediately to permanent passwords upon initial login. Temporary passwords are often used for initial access or password resets and should be replaced promptly to mitigate security risks.
These control objectives are designed to strengthen cybersecurity measures and protect controlled unclassified information (CUI) in accordance with the CMMC framework’s requirements. Implementing these controls helps organizations enhance their overall security posture and achieve compliance with CMMC standards.