SC-16 Transmission of Security and Privacy Attributes

Guidance: nonePolicy clause: noneWhat these mean

Baselines	Implementation level	Enhancements
Not in a baseline	System	3 (0 in a baseline)

Related controls: AC-3, AC-4, AC-16

Control statement

Associate [Assignment: organization-defined security and privacy attributes] with information exchanged between systems and between system components.

NIST discussion

Security and privacy attributes can be explicitly or implicitly associated with the information contained in organizational systems or system components. Attributes are abstractions that represent the basic properties or characteristics of an entity with respect to protecting information or the management of personally identifiable information. Attributes are typically associated with internal data structures, including records, buffers, and files within the system. Security and privacy attributes are used to implement access control and information flow control policies; reflect special dissemination, management, or distribution instructions, including permitted uses of personally identifiable information; or support other aspects of the information security and privacy policies. Privacy attributes may be used independently or in conjunction with security attributes.

Control enhancements

SC-16(1) Integrity Verification

Baselines: Not in a baseline

Verify the integrity of transmitted security and privacy attributes.

Discussion and assessment objectives for SC-16(1)

Part of verifying the integrity of transmitted information is ensuring that security and privacy attributes that are associated with such information have not been modified in an unauthorized manner. Unauthorized modification of security or privacy attributes can result in a loss of integrity for transmitted information.

Determine if:

SC-16(01)[01] the integrity of transmitted security attributes is verified;
SC-16(01)[02] the integrity of transmitted privacy attributes is verified.

Examine: System and communications protection policy; procedures addressing the transmission of security and privacy attributes; access control policy and procedures; system design documentation; system configuration settings and associated documentation; system audit records; system security plan; privacy plan; other relevant documents or records.

Interview: System/network administrators; organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities.

Test: Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing verification of the integrity of transmitted security and privacy attributes.

SC-16(2) Anti-spoofing Mechanisms

Baselines: Not in a baseline

Implement anti-spoofing mechanisms to prevent adversaries from falsifying the security attributes indicating the successful application of the security process.

Discussion and assessment objectives for SC-16(2)

Some attack vectors operate by altering the security attributes of an information system to intentionally and maliciously implement an insufficient level of security within the system. The alteration of attributes leads organizations to believe that a greater number of security functions are in place and operational than have actually been implemented.

Determine if anti-spoofing mechanisms are implemented to prevent adversaries from falsifying the security attributes indicating the successful application of the security process.

Interview: System/network administrators; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities.

Test: Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing anti-spoofing mechanisms.

SC-16(3) Cryptographic Binding

Baselines: Not in a baseline

Implement [Assignment: organization-defined mechanisms or techniques] to bind security and privacy attributes to transmitted information.

Discussion and assessment objectives for SC-16(3)

Cryptographic mechanisms and techniques can provide strong security and privacy attribute binding to transmitted information to help ensure the integrity of such information.

Determine if [Assignment: organization-defined mechanisms or techniques] are implemented to bind security and privacy attributes to transmitted information.

Interview: System/network administrators; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities.

Test: Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing anti-spoofing mechanisms.

Assessment objectives (SP 800-53A)

Objectives and methods for SC-16

Determine if:

SC-16[01] [Assignment: organization-defined security attributes] are associated with information exchanged between systems;
SC-16[02] [Assignment: organization-defined security attributes] are associated with information exchanged between system components;
SC-16[03] [Assignment: organization-defined privacy attributes] are associated with information exchanged between systems;
SC-16[04] [Assignment: organization-defined privacy attributes] are associated with information exchanged between system components.

Examine: System and communications protection policy; procedures addressing the transmission of security and privacy attributes; access control policy and procedures; information flow control policy; system design documentation; system configuration settings and associated documentation; system audit records; system security plan; privacy plan; other relevant documents or records.

Interview: System/network administrators; organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities.

Test: Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the transmission of security and privacy attributes between systems.

Independent guidance, not an official NIST publication. Control text is from NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 and SP 800-53A (public domain). Original content is licensed CC BY 4.0; program templates and the downloadable kit are dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0.