CMMC Practice CA.L2-3.12.1 – Security Control Assessment: Periodically assess the security controls in organizational systems to determine if the controls are effective in their application.
Links to Publicly Available Resources
This document provides assessment guidance for conducting Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) assessments for Level 2. The document provides guidelines regarding planning and conducting penetration testing and analyzing and reporting on the findings. This is a methodology to test the operational security of physical locations, human interactions, and all forms of communications such as wireless, wired, analog, and digital. This article describes the steps involved with planning a security test of your network. This guidance helps with understanding the proper commissioning and use of penetration tests. This NIST Special Publication is a guide to the basic technical aspects of conducting information security assessments. OWASP's mission is to help the world improve the security of its software. This link provides information about one methodology for web application penetration testing This link from OWASP provides a list of web security testing tools. The OWASP Top 10 is an awareness document for web application security. It represents a broad consensus about the most critical security risks to web applications. Project members include a variety of security experts from around the world who have shared their expertise to produce this list. This guidance is intended for entities that are required to conduct a penetration test. This is a link to avaliable SANS penetration testing courses. This whitepaper discusses how to properly define, verify, and control the scope of your security assessment. The penetration testing execution standard covers all aspects of conducting a penetration test.
Discussion [NIST SP 800-171 R2]
Organizations assess security controls in organizational systems and the environments in which those systems operate as part of the system development life cycle. Security controls are the safeguards or countermeasures organizations implement to satisfy security requirements. By assessing the implemented security controls, organizations determine if the security safeguards or countermeasures are in place and operating as intended. Security control assessments ensure that information security is built into organizational systems; identify weaknesses and deficiencies early in the development process; provide essential information needed to make risk-based decisions; and ensure compliance to vulnerability mitigation procedures. Assessments are conducted on the implemented security controls as documented in system security plans.
Security assessment reports document assessment results in sufficient detail as deemed necessary by organizations, to determine the accuracy and completeness of the reports and whether the security controls are implemented correctly, operating as intended, and producing the desired outcome with respect to meeting security requirements. Security assessment results are provided to the individuals or roles appropriate for the types of assessments being conducted.
Organizations ensure that security assessment results are current, relevant to the determination of security control effectiveness, and obtained with the appropriate level of assessor independence. Organizations can choose to use other types of assessment activities such as vulnerability scanning and system monitoring to maintain the security posture of systems during the system life cycle.
NIST SP 800-53 provides guidance on security and privacy controls for systems and organizations. SP 800-53A provides guidance on developing security assessment plans and conducting assessments.
Further Discussion
Avoid a “set it and forget it” mentality when implementing security controls. The security landscape is constantly changing. Reassess existing controls at periodic intervals in order to validate their effectiveness in your environment. Set the assessment schedule according to organizational needs. Consider regulatory obligations and internal policies when assessing the controls.
Outputs from security control assessments typically include:
- documented assessment results;
- proposed new controls, or updates to existing controls;
- remediation plans; and
- newly identified risks.
This practice, CA.L2-3.12.1, which ensures determining security controls are implemented properly, promotes effective security assessments for organizational systems required by CA.L2-3.12.3.