13.11·medium·Component: DetectWhat this control requires
Tune security event alerting thresholds monthly, or more frequently.
In plain English
Tune security event alerting thresholds monthly, or more frequently. In practice, this means you can prove you tune edr-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.
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 Detect, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control 13.11) 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.
Logging Monitoring
AWS. Org-trail CloudTrail to a central log archive account, GuardDuty in every region, and Security Hub for cross-source correlation.
Azure. Pipe every diagnostic setting into a central Log Analytics workspace; onboard Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM/SOAR.
GCP. Aggregate audit logs in a dedicated logging project with sink to BigQuery; enable Security Command Center Premium and route findings to Chronicle SIEM.
Operational checklist
- Tune. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
- Scope: edr.
Evidence to collect
- Edr Scan.
edr_scanevidence
EDR telemetry (CrowdStrike, Defender for Endpoint) confirms threat detection. Focus: Tune Security Event Alerting Thresholds.
Common pitfalls
- Pilot MDM rollouts that quietly exclude executives or engineers; carving out the highest-risk users is the most common audit failure.
- Per-account logging that nobody stitches together at the org level — incidents that cross accounts go undetected for days.
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.
Related controls in CIS Controls v8
- Control 13.2 — Deploy a Host-Based Intrusion Detection Solution
- Control 8.9 — Centralize Audit Logs
- Control 8.11 — Conduct Audit Log Reviews
- Control 10.7 — Use Behavior-Based Anti-Malware Software
- Control 3.14 — Log Sensitive Data Access
- Control 8.6 — Collect DNS Query Audit Logs
References
- Center for Internet Security — CIS Controls v8
- Catalogue identifier:
Control 13.11
Topics: governance riskedr xdrendpoint protectionlogging monitoringthreat intelligence