Businesses that work with the Department of Defense (DoD) as contractors or vendors need to meet specific cybersecurity regulations. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a guide to assist businesses with adherence to Defense Federal Acquisition Register Supplement (DFARS) standards. The fifth of the 14 Families of Requirements for NIST 800-171 compliance is Identification and Authentication.
What is Identification & Authentication in Terms of NIST 800-171?
This is a central authentication requirement to manage permissions and access to the network. Through this, a business can identify and properly authenticate all network users,and impose a common schema for user identification with strong authentication. The NIST guidelines also require implementing multi-factor authentication. Planning and implementation of this process requires thoughtful network architecting, meeting minimum requirements for network access, and applicable policies.
A single sign-on (SSO) system, managed through a Central Authentication Service (CAS) provides user identification and authentication. Windows Active Directory and Azure AD are commonly used central authentication services, and can be easily integrated with multi-factor authentication solutions. Identification and authentication have 2 Basic, 9 Derived requirements.
Basic Requirements
- 3.5.1 Identify system users, processes acting on behalf of users, and devices.
- 3.5.2 Authenticate (or verify) the identities of users, processes, or devices, as a prerequisite to allowing access to organizational systems.
Derived Requirements
- 3.5.3 Use multifactor authentication for local and network access to privileged accounts and for network access to non-privileged accounts
- 3.5.4 Employ replay-resistant authentication mechanisms for network access to privileged and nonprivileged accounts.
- 3.5.5 Prevent reuse of identifiers for a defined period.
- 3.5.6 Disable identifiers after a defined period of inactivity
- 3.5.7 Enforce a minimum password complexity and change of characters when new passwords are created.
- 3.5.8 Prohibit password reuse for a specified number of generations.
- 3.5.9 Allow temporary password use for system logons with an immediate change to a permanent password.
- 3.5.10 Store and transmit only cryptographically-protected passwords.
- 3.5.11 Obscure feedback of authentication information.
For a guide to digital identities check out SP 800-63. To learn more about NIST SP 800-171 Compliance please visit NIST.SP.800-171r2.pdf and be sure to review the assessment guide:SP 800-171A, Assessing Security Requirements for CUI | CSRC.
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