16: Account Monitoring and Control

Maintain an inventory of each of the organization's authentication systems, including those located on-site or at a remote service provider.

Configure access for all accounts through as few centralized points of authentication as possible, including network, security, and cloud systems.

Require multi-factor authentication for all user accounts, on all systems, whether managed on-site or by a third-party provider.

Encrypt or hash with a salt all authentication credentials when stored.

Ensure that all account usernames and authentication credentials are transmitted across networks using encrypted channels.

Maintain an inventory of all accounts organized by authentication system.

Establish and follow an automated process for revoking system access by disabling accounts immediately upon termination or change of responsibilities of an employee or contractor . Disabling these accounts, instead of deleting accounts, allows preservation of audit trails.

Disable any account that cannot be associated with a business process or business owner.

Automatically disable dormant accounts after a set period of inactivity.

Ensure that all accounts have an expiration date that is monitored and enforced.

Automatically lock workstation sessions after a standard period of inactivity.

Monitor attempts to access deactivated accounts through audit logging.

Alert when users deviate from normal login behavior, such as time-of-day, workstation location, and duration.