Overview
  1. 03.01: Access Control
  2. 03.02: Awareness and Training
  3. 03.03: Audit and Accountability
  4. 03.04: Configuration Management
  5. 03.05: Identification and Authentication
  6. 03.06: Incident Response
  7. 03.07: Maintenance
  8. 03.08: Media Protection
  9. 03.09: Personnel Security
  10. 03.10: Physical Protection
  11. 03.11: Risk Assessment
  12. 03.12: Security Assessment
  13. 03.13: System and Communications Protection
  14. 03.14: System and Information Integrity

Security Requirements for 03.05.01 Identification

Common device identifiers include Media Access Control (MAC), Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, or device-unique token identifiers. Management of individual identifiers is not applicable to shared system accounts. Typically, individual identifiers are the user names associated with the system accounts assigned to those individuals. Organizations may require unique identification of individuals in group accounts or for detailed accountability of individual activity. In addition, this requirement addresses individual identifiers that are not necessarily associated with system accounts. Organizational devices requiring identification may be defined by type, by device, or by a combination of type/device.[SP 800-63-3] provides guidance on digital identities.

Assessment GuidanceExamine 0/7

How an assessor determines this requirement is met. Source: CMMC Assessment Guide – Level 2, Version 2.13 (NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2).

Discussion

Make sure to assign individual, unique identifiers (e.g., user names) to all users and processes that access company systems. Authorized devices also should have unique identifiers. Unique identifiers can be as simple as a short set of alphanumeric characters (e.g., SW001 could refer to a network switch, SW002 could refer to a different network switch). This requirement, IA.L2-3.5.1, provides a vetted and trusted identity that supports the access control mechanism required by AC.L2-3.1.1.

Examples

  1. Example 1

    You want to make sure that all employees working on a project can access important information about it. Because this is work for the DoD and may contain CUI, you also need to prevent employees who are not working on that project from being able to access the information. You assign each employee is assigned a unique user ID, which they use to log into the system [a].

Assessment Methods

Examine
The process of reviewing, inspecting, observing, studying, or analyzing assessment objects (e.g., policies, procedures, plans, system designs, mechanisms) to facilitate understanding, achieve clarification, or obtain evidence.Example: An assessor reads the access control policy and inspects system configuration settings to confirm they match.

Not all of the evidence listed is required to meet this requirement — check the items your organization has collected.

Interview
The process of holding discussions with individuals or groups within an organization to facilitate understanding, achieve clarification, or identify the location of evidence.Example: An assessor asks a system administrator to describe how user accounts are approved, reviewed, and disabled.
  • Personnel with system operations responsibilities
  • Personnel with information security responsibilities
  • System or network administrators
  • Personnel with account management responsibilities
  • System developers
Test
The process of exercising assessment objects (e.g., activities, mechanisms) under specified conditions to compare actual behavior with expected behavior.Example: An assessor attempts to sign in with a disabled account to confirm that access is denied.
  • Organizational processes for uniquely identifying and authenticating users
  • Mechanisms supporting or implementing identification and authentication capability

Potential Assessment Considerations

  • Are unique identifiers issued to individual users (e.g., usernames) [a]?
  • Are the processes and service accounts that an authorized user initiates identified (e.g., scripts, automatic updates, configuration updates, vulnerability scans) [b]?
  • Are unique device identifiers used for devices that access the system identified [c]?

Key References

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 3.5.1FAR Clause 52.204-21 b.1.v

Evidence

  1. 03.05.01.a

    System users are identified

  1. 03.05.01.b

    Processes acting on behalf of users are identified

  1. 03.05.01.c

    Devices accessing the system are identified