CIS Controls v8·Control 1.4·high·Component: Identify

What this control requires

Use DHCP logging on all DHCP servers or Internet Protocol (IP) address management tools to update the enterprise's asset inventory. Review and use logs to update the enterprise's asset inventory weekly, or more frequently.
— CIS Controls v8, Control 1.4

In plain English

Use DHCP logging on all DHCP servers or Internet Protocol (IP) address management tools to update the enterprise's asset inventory. In practice, this means you can prove you address servers-level controls on a defined cadence.

Why it matters

The CIS Controls are an industry-vetted, prioritised defence: skipping a safeguard widens the attack surface that the safeguards above and below it assume is closed. Audit frameworks (FedRAMP, PCI DSS, HIPAA) all cite CIS as evidence of due care.

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 CIS-aligned reviewer wants to see (a) which Implementation Group you are targeting, (b) a documented owner for the safeguard, and (c) a tooling or process artefact (config, scan output, ticket) that proves the safeguard runs on the cadence the control demands.

Within Identify, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control 1.4) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

Asset Inventory

AWS. AWS Config Aggregator across every account + region gives a real-time inventory; ship the daily snapshot to S3 and surface drift in Security Hub.

Azure. Azure Resource Graph plus Defender for Cloud's inventory blade enumerates every subscription; export to Log Analytics for retention and Workbooks for reporting.

GCP. Cloud Asset Inventory exports a daily feed of every resource and IAM binding; query via BigQuery and alert on appearance/disappearance.

Endpoints. Pipe MDM telemetry (Intune / Jamf / Workspace ONE) into your CMDB so laptops and phones are inventoried with the same rigour as cloud resources.

Code Review Testing

Pipeline. Require at least one human reviewer plus passing CI (lint, type, unit, security scan) before merge — protected branches enforce this.

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.

Operational checklist

  • Address. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Scope: servers, logs, tools, enterprise.

Evidence to collect

  • Policy Document. A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Logging to Update Enterprise Asset Inventory.

Common pitfalls

  • Inventories that exclude SaaS, shadow IT and ephemeral cloud resources (Lambda, Cloud Run, K8s pods) miss the assets where most modern incidents start.
  • Manual cloud-console changes that never make it back to Terraform — drift accumulates until the next outage forces a reconciliation.
  • Per-account logging that nobody stitches together at the org level — incidents that cross accounts go undetected for days.

Related controls in CIS Controls v8

References

Topics: governance riskasset inventorycode review testingconfiguration managementlogging monitoring