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 03.10.03 Escort Visitors

Individuals with permanent physical access authorization credentials are not considered visitors. Audit logs can be used to monitor visitor activity.

Assessment GuidanceExamine 0/11

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

Discussion

Do not allow visitors, even those people you know well, to walk around your facility without an escort. Make sure that all non-employees wear special visitor badges and/or are escorted by an employee at all times while on the property.

Example Coming back from a meeting, you see the friend of a coworker walking down the hallway near your office. You know this person well and trust them, but are not sure why they are in the building. You stop to talk, and the person explains that they are meeting a coworker for lunch, but cannot remember where the lunchroom is. You walk the person back to the reception area to get a visitor badge and wait until someone can escort them to the lunch room [a]. You report this incident and the company decides to install a badge reader at the main door so visitors cannot enter without an escort [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 physical access control responsibilities
  • Personnel with information security responsibilities
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 physical access control
  • Mechanisms supporting or implementing physical access control
  • Physical access control devices

Potential Assessment Considerations

  • Are personnel required to accompany visitors to areas in a facility with physical access to organizational systems [a]?
  • Are visitors clearly distinguishable from regular personnel [b]?
  • Is visitor activity monitored (e.g., use of cameras or guards, reviews of secure areas upon visitor departure, review of visitor audit logs) [b]?

Key References

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 3.10.3FAR Clause 52.204-21 Partial b.1.ix

Evidence

  1. 03.10.03.a

    Visitors are escorted

  1. 03.10.03.b

    Visitor activity is monitored