Identification and Authentication (Non-organizational Users) IA-8
Identification and Authentication · Low baseline ✗ Not implemented
Status — program-wide
What references this control
No risks name this control in their Framework field yet.
No policies reference it yet.
Link a risk or policy to this control
Attaching adds IA-8 to the item's Framework field; the ✨ AI button suggests the best match. You can also edit the Framework field on a risk / policy directly.
Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5, Identification and Authentication family NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5. The baseline shows the lowest SP 800-53B baseline (Low / Moderate / High) this control appears in NIST SP 800-53B.
Control guide — plain-English, per NIST SP 800-53
IA-8 (Identification and Authentication for Non-organizational Users) extends the same rule you apply to staff — prove who you are before you get in — to outsiders: contractors, partners, or the public, and any process acting for them. Everyone who touches the system, not just employees, must be uniquely identified and authenticated. It applies from the Low baseline up.
What good looks like
- Uniquely identify outside users — every external person or their process gets its own identity, never a shared guest login.
- Authenticate them before granting access, to the same standard you hold internal users to.
- Cover processes acting for outsiders, such as an API (Application Programming Interface) client calling on a partner’s behalf.
- Decide which external identities you accept — for example a federated login — and document that choice.
Framework mapping
- NIST CSF 2.0 — PR.AA-01 — Identities and credentials for authorized users, services, and hardware are managed by the organization
- CIS Controls v8 — Control 6 — Access Control Management
How to move it toward Implemented
- List every way a non-organizational user can reach the server — a public-facing service, a partner API (Application Programming Interface), a contractor SSH (Secure Shell) account — and confirm each path requires a unique login, not an anonymous or shared one.
- For external logins, prefer a named account or a federated identity over a generic ‘guest’ account, and give each outside user their own credential.
- Keep an inventory of the authentication systems that serve outside users so you know what is accepting external identities.
- Attach that inventory and access review as hardening evidence on the asset, naming
IA-8in the Requirement field — that moves it from ‘To assess’ toward ‘Completed’.