# BSI C5:2020 INQ-01 — Legal Assessment of Investigative Inquiries

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/inq-01-legal-assessment-of-investigative-inquiries
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [BSI C5:2020 (Cloud Computing Compliance Criteria)](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020) › Investigative Cooperation (INQ)
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**BSI C5:2020**·Criterion `INQ-01`·high·Component: **Investigative Cooperation**

## What this control requires

> Subjects government investigation requests to legal assessment by CSP experts to verify validity and determine required actions. Ensures compliance with legal obligations while protecting cloud customer data from unauthorized disclosure.
> 
> — BSI C5:2020, Criterion INQ-01

### In plain English

Subjects government investigation requests to legal assessment by CSP experts to verify validity and determine required actions. In practice, this means you can prove you security - configuration-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

BSI C5 is the default cloud-security baseline German public-sector buyers and many DAX-listed enterprises expect; gaps here directly block procurement in the DACH region and frequently appear as must-have items in EU public-tender documents.

This control is rated **high**. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation.

## What an auditor looks for

A C5 attesting auditor (under ISAE 3000 / IDW PS 860) tests both the design and — for a Type 2 — the operating effectiveness over the attestation period. For each criterion they look for both the Basic and any in-scope Additional objectives.

Within **Investigative Cooperation**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Criterion INQ-01) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Cloud Posture

**CSPM.** Run Wiz / Prisma / Defender for Cloud / Security Command Center over every account; auto-ticket findings above your accepted-risk threshold.

#### Configuration Management

**Policy-as-code.** Codify the control as Service Control Policies (AWS), Azure Policy initiatives, or Organisation Policy (GCP) so the platform enforces what the document promises.

**IaC.** Gate Terraform / Pulumi / CloudFormation changes with Checkov / tfsec / OPA so misconfigurations never reach production.

**Drift.** Run a CSPM (Wiz / Prisma / Defender for Cloud / Security Command Center) over every account and route findings to a single risk register.

#### Network Security

**AWS.** VPC Flow Logs to S3, default-deny security groups, AWS Network Firewall for north-south, and Transit Gateway for hub-and-spoke segmentation.

**Azure.** NSGs with deny-by-default, Azure Firewall Premium with TLS inspection, Private Endpoints for PaaS, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud's secure score for drift.

**GCP.** VPC Service Controls perimeters around sensitive APIs, Cloud NGFW Enterprise for L7 inspection, Private Service Connect for managed services.

### Operational checklist

-   **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Data.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Legal.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** - configuration, cloud customer data, management.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Infra Scan.** Continuous infrastructure-posture telemetry — AWS Config, Azure Policy compliance, GCP Organisation Policy, Wiz / Prisma findings.

Infrastructure posture tooling (AWS Config, Azure Policy, Nessus) verifies platform hardening. Focus: Legal Assessment of Investigative Inquiries.

## Common pitfalls

-   Treating CSPM findings as a backlog instead of a hot queue: findings older than the policy SLA accumulate until the auditor asks why.
-   Manual cloud-console changes that never make it back to Terraform — drift accumulates until the next outage forces a reconciliation.
-   Default-allow egress rules; East-West traffic with no segmentation; jump hosts on the public internet with password auth.
-   Scans that hit only the perimeter; missing authenticated scans of OS, runtime libs and base images so most CVEs are invisible.

## How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

-   [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.4.6** — Least Functionality](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-4-6-least-functionality)
-   [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.34** — Privacy and protection of personal identifiable information (PII)](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-34-privacy-and-protection-of-personal-identifiable-information-pii)
-   [**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CP-8(2)** — Single Points Of Failure](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cp-8-2-single-points-of-failure)
-   [**CIS Controls v8 14.8** — Train Workforce on the Dangers of Connecting to and Transmitting Enterprise Data Over Insecure Networks](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/14-8-train-workforce-on-the-dangers-of-connecting-to-and-transmitting-enterprise-data)
-   [**GDPR Article 25** — Data protection by design and by default](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/gdpr/article-25-data-protection-by-design-and-by-default)

## Related controls in BSI C5:2020

-   [**Criterion COM-03** — Internal audits of the information security management system](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/com-03-internal-audits-of-the-information-security-management-system)
-   [**Criterion COM-04** — Information on information security performance and management assessment of the ISMS](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/com-04-information-on-information-security-performance-and-management-assessment-of-the)
-   [**Criterion DEV-05** — Risk assessment, categorisation and prioritisation of changes](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/dev-05-risk-assessment-categorisation-and-prioritisation-of-changes)
-   [**Criterion PSS-10** — Software Defined Networking](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/pss-10-software-defined-networking)
-   [**Criterion COS-04** — Cross-network access](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/cos-04-cross-network-access)
-   [**Criterion PI-03** — Secure deletion of data](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/pi-03-secure-deletion-of-data)

## References

-   [Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) — BSI C5:2020](https://www.bsi.bund.de/EN/Topics/CloudComputing/Compliance_Criteria_Catalogue/Compliance_Criteria_Catalogue_node.html)
-   Catalogue identifier: `Criterion INQ-01`

Topics: cloud infrastructurecloud postureconfiguration managementnetwork securityvulnerability management

## Related compliance guidance

- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Configuration checks like this one are the technical half of a SOC 2 / ISO 27001 programme — the guide shows where they fit, what else an auditor expects, and how to evidence them.
- [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 compliance: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022): ISO 27001 Annex A.8 (technological controls) is where cloud hardening evidence lands; the guide shows how to run the ISMS around it.
