CIS Controls v8·Control 13.3·high·Component: Detect

What this control requires

Deploy a network intrusion detection solution on enterprise assets, where appropriate. Example implementations include the use of a Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) or equivalent cloud service provider (CSP) service.
— CIS Controls v8, Control 13.3

In plain English

Deploy a network intrusion detection solution on enterprise assets, where appropriate. In practice, this means you can prove you deploy network-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 Detect, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control 13.3) 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.

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.

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

  • Deploy. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Scope: network, network intrusion detection solution, nids, equivalent cloud service provider, csp, enterprise.

Evidence to collect

  • Infra Scan. Continuous infrastructure-posture telemetry — AWS Config, Azure Policy compliance, GCP Organisation Policy, Wiz / Prisma findings.
  • Vendor Risk Management. vendor_risk_management evidence

Infrastructure posture tooling (AWS Config, Azure Policy, Nessus) verifies platform hardening. Third-party risk management evidence (assessments, contracts, due diligence) shows supplier oversight. Focus: Deploy a Network Intrusion Detection Solution.

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.
  • Default-allow egress rules; East-West traffic with no segmentation; jump hosts on the public internet with password auth.
  • Manual cloud-console changes that never make it back to Terraform — drift accumulates until the next outage forces a reconciliation.

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

References

Topics: network securityvendor riskcloud infrastructurecloud posturevendor managementconfiguration management