CIS Controls v8 10.6 — Centrally Manage Anti-Malware Software

What this control requires

Centrally manage anti-malware software.

In plain English

Centrally manage anti-malware software. In practice, this means you can prove you manage software-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 Protect, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control 10.6) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

Endpoint Protection

MDM. Make MDM enrollment a hard gate for device access (Intune compliance + Conditional Access, or Jamf + Okta device trust). Unmanaged devices simply don't get a session token.

EDR. Deploy CrowdStrike / SentinelOne / Defender for Endpoint to every server and laptop; alert on any host that stops sending telemetry for >24h.

Operational checklist

• Manage. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Centrally Manage. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Protect. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: software, anti-malware software, edr.

Evidence to collect

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

EDR telemetry (CrowdStrike, Defender for Endpoint) confirms threat detection. Focus: Centrally Manage Anti-Malware Software.

Common pitfalls

• Pilot MDM rollouts that quietly exclude executives or engineers; carving out the highest-risk users is the most common audit failure.

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.

• ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.8.7 — Protection against malware

Related controls in CIS Controls v8

• Control 10.1 — Deploy and Maintain Anti-Malware Software
• Control 10.7 — Use Behavior-Based Anti-Malware Software
• Control 10.4 — Configure Automatic Anti-Malware Scanning of Removable Media
• Control 9.7 — Deploy and Maintain Email Server Anti-Malware Protections
• Control 13.2 — Deploy a Host-Based Intrusion Detection Solution
• Control 13.11 — Tune Security Event Alerting Thresholds

References

• Center for Internet Security — CIS Controls v8
• Catalogue identifier: Control 10.6

Topics: governance riskedr xdrendpoint protectionthreat intelligence