Contractor or guest
An employee sponsors it and owns it; it ends when the contract ends.
Who should own a contractor or guest, and which ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2 and PCI DSS clauses apply?
The clauses the checker cites on a contractor or guest: ISO/IEC 27001 A.5.16, ISO/IEC 27001 A.5.18, SOC 2 CC6.2 and PCI DSS 8.2.7. Every clause it cites, across the seven regimes, is in the table below.
How the checker reads it
- It is a user account people sign in with: PCI DSS reads it under the user-account periods (8.2.6, 7.2.4, 8.3.9), never under 8.6.
- It needs a named person as owner; a blank owner, a team or a mailbox is finding 3, and an owner who has left by the staff list is finding 2.
- The type comes from your type column; when that is blank the checker reads the account name and labels the type assumed from the name, and any finding resting on it is read as a question by the reviewer.
Findings that can apply
9 of 14- 1. A leaver's own account is still enabled: Was this account disabled on the day the person left, and if not, what has it done since?
- 2. Owner has left, or owner not recognised: Who owns this account now, and should it still exist?
- 3. No owner named, or a team named with no accountable person: Which one person is accountable for this account and can say what it is for?
- 4. Dormant for more than the threshold: Is this account still needed, and if so by whom?
- 5. Privileged, and orphaned or dormant: Who holds these rights today, and do they still need them?
- 6. Password or key not changed within the period, or never: When was this credential last changed, and who knows it?
- 8. Credential stored in code, a config file or a script: Can this credential move into a vault, and who has read the file it sits in?
- 10. Not reviewed within the interval: Who reviews this account, and when is the next review due?
- 12. Created with no approval recorded: Where is the request and the approval for this account?
Clauses
6 cited| Regime | Clause |
|---|---|
| ISO/IEC 27001 | ISO/IEC 27001 A.5.16 Identity management |
| ISO/IEC 27001 | ISO/IEC 27001 A.5.18 Access rights |
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 CC6.2 Registering and authorising users before issuing credentials |
| PCI DSS | PCI DSS 8.2.7 Third-party remote access accounts controlled |
| CIS Controls | CIS Controls 5.1 Establish and Maintain an Inventory of Accounts |
| CIS Controls | CIS Controls 6.2 Establish an Access Revoking Process |
The first clause, set out
ISO/IEC 27001 A.5.16Identity managementIdentities are to be managed throughout their whole life cycle. Purpose (stated in ISO/IEC 27002:2022): enables unique identification of people and systems accessing organizational assets and appropriate assignment of access rights. As an Annex A reference control, it is compared with the controls determined in risk treatment (6.1.3 c) and recorded in the Statement of Applicability as included or excluded, with the justification and implementation status (6.1.3 d); implementation guidance is ISO/IEC 27002:2022 5.16.
A line that reads as this type
the type column left blank, invented valuesext-c7731 | | directory | | yes