CIS Controls v8 14.3 — Train Workforce Members on Authentication Best Practices

What this control requires

Train workforce members on authentication best practices. Example topics include MFA, password composition, and credential management.

In plain English

Train workforce members on authentication best practices. In practice, this means you can prove you protect mfa-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 critical in the source catalogue. Treat gaps here as production incidents in the risk register, not housekeeping.

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 14.3) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

1. Write a short policy stating intent, scope and named owner.
2. Encode it as a platform guardrail — SCP, Azure Policy initiative, Organisation Policy, or repository policy.
3. Wire a monitoring signal that catches drift (CSPM rule, SIEM rule, scheduled query, Workspace alert) and ticket it.
4. Review on a documented cadence and capture the review in the risk register or compliance tracker.

Operational checklist

• Protect. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Train. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: mfa, password composition, credential management, identity management.

Evidence to collect

• Identity Scan. IAM / IdP exports — Entra ID, Okta, IAM Identity Center, Workspace directory — showing accounts, roles, MFA state and last sign-in.

Identity analytics (Okta, SailPoint, Access Analyzer) demonstrates least-privilege. Focus: Train Workforce Members on Authentication Best Practices.

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 800-53 Rev. 5 IA-2(3) — Local Access To Privileged Accounts
• ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.8.23 — Web filtering
• ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.8 — Identity management
• SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC1.5 — Accountability for Internal Control Responsibilities
• NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.13.4 — Information in Shared System Resources

Related controls in CIS Controls v8

• Control 5.2 — Use Unique Passwords
• Control 9.2 — Use DNS Filtering Services
• Control 5.6 — Centralize Account Management
• Control 6.5 — Require MFA for Administrative Access
• Control 6.3 — Require MFA for Externally-Exposed Applications
• Control 6.1 — Establish an Access Granting Process

References

• Center for Internet Security — CIS Controls v8
• Catalogue identifier: Control 14.3

Topics: identity accessidentity managementaccess reviewprivileged accessmulti factor auth