The RMF Control Family AR, Accountability, Audit, and Risk Management, addresses the need for organizations to hold individuals accountable for their actions, audit system activity, and manage risk.
Controls in the AR Control Family
The AR Control Family includes the following controls:
- AR-1: Accountability: This control requires organizations to hold individuals accountable for their actions on information systems. This includes establishing clear roles and responsibilities for security, and tracking and reporting on user activity.
- AR-2: Audit and Accountability: This control requires organizations to audit system activity to detect security incidents and ensure compliance with security policies and procedures. This includes auditing system logs, user activity, and security events.
- AR-3: Risk Management: This control requires organizations to implement a risk management program to identify, assess, and mitigate risks to information systems. This includes conducting risk assessments, developing risk mitigation plans, and monitoring risks on an ongoing basis.
Benefits of Implementing the AR Control Family
There are a number of benefits to implementing the AR Control Family, including:
- Improved security: The AR Control Family helps to improve the security of information systems by holding individuals accountable, auditing system activity, and managing risk.
- Reduced risk: The AR Control Family helps to reduce the risk of security incidents by detecting and mitigating risks to information systems.
- Compliance: The AR Control Family can help organizations comply with applicable laws and regulations, such as the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
- Increased trust: By implementing the AR Control Family, organizations can demonstrate to their customers and partners that they are taking steps to protect their data.
How to Implement the AR Control Family
To implement the AR Control Family, organizations should follow these steps:
- Develop and implement an accountability policy and procedures. This policy should define the roles and responsibilities for security, and the process for tracking and reporting on user activity.
- Implement an audit and accountability program. This program should include auditing system logs, user activity, and security events.
- Implement a risk management program. This program should include conducting risk assessments, developing risk mitigation plans, and monitoring risks on an ongoing basis.
- Monitor and audit the accountability, audit and accountability, and risk management programs to ensure that they are effective.
- Regularly review and update the accountability policy and procedures, audit and accountability program, and risk management program.
Conclusion
The AR Control Family is an essential part of the RMF. By implementing the AR Control Family, organizations can improve the security of their information systems, reduce the risk of security incidents, comply with applicable laws and regulations, and increase trust with their customers and partners.
Additional tips for implementing the AR Control Family
- Use a risk-based approach to accountability. This means holding individuals accountable for actions that pose a high risk to the organization’s information systems.
- Use a layered approach to accountability. This means using multiple accountability measures to reduce the risk of unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of information systems.
- Use a least privilege approach to accountability. This means granting individuals the minimum level of access to information systems necessary to perform their job duties.
- Monitor and audit accountability measures on an ongoing basis. This helps to ensure that accountability measures are effective and that individuals are held accountable for their actions.
By following these tips, you can effectively implement the AR Control Family and improve the security of your organization’s information systems.