5.1: Establish Secure Configurations

Sub-control 5.1 states that you must maintain documented security configuration standards for all authorized operating systems and software.

Asset Type Security Function Implementation Groups
Applications Protect 1, 2, 3

Dependencies

  • Sub-control 2.1: Maintain Inventory of Authorized Software

Inputs

  1. Authorized Software List: The list of authorized software. This can be pulled from sub-control 2.1.

  2. Security Configuration Standards: The list of enterprise security configuration standards.

Assumptions

  • Documentation of secure configuration standards should include any approved deviations/exceptions from industry-standard security baselines such as CIS benchmarks, DISA Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), or U.S. government configuration baselines (USGCB).

Operations

  1. Perform a calculation to compute the intersection (M1) of I1 and I2.

Measures

Measure Definition
M1 = List of authorized software with security configuration standards A list of all the software/applications the organization has, including operating systems, that have associated enterprise security configuration standards.

M2 = Count of items in M1

A count of the total number of items in M1.

M3 = List of authorized software with security configuration standards

A list of all the software/applications the organization has, including operating systems, that do not have associated enterprise security configuration standards.

M4 = Count of items in M3

A count of the total number of items in M3.

M5 = List of security configuration standards without associated software

A list of all the enterprise security configuration standards that do not have installed applications/software or operating systems within the organization.

M6 = Count of items in M5 A count of the total number of items in M5.
M7 = List of authorized software
  • A list of authorized applications/software and operating systems.
  • M8 = Count of items in M7 A count of the total number of items in M7.

    Metrics

    Security Configuration Standards Coverage

    Metric Calculation
    The percentage of the total OS/Software in an enterprise that have security configuration standards documented and maintained. (M8 - M4) / M8