CIS Controls v8 14.8 — Train Workforce on the Dangers of Connecting to and Transmitting Enterprise Data Over Insecure Networks

What this control requires

Train workforce members on the dangers of connecting to, and transmitting data over, insecure networks for enterprise activities. If the enterprise has remote workers, training must include guidance to ensure that all users securely configure their home network infrastructure.

In plain English

Train workforce members on the dangers of connecting to, and transmitting data over, insecure networks for enterprise activities. In practice, this means you can prove you ensure 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 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 14.8) 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

• Ensure. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Configure. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Securely. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Protect. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Train. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: network, data, network infrastructure, enterprise.

Evidence to collect

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

Infrastructure posture tooling (AWS Config, Azure Policy, Nessus) verifies platform hardening. Focus: Train Workforce on the Dangers of Connecting to and Transmitting Enterprise Data Over Insecure Networks.

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.

• BSI C5:2020 COS-07 — Documentation of the network topology
• GDPR Article 25 — Data protection by design and by default
• NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.13.6 — Network Communications - Deny by Default - Allow by Exception

Related controls in CIS Controls v8

• Control 14.1 — Establish and Maintain a Security Awareness Program
• Control 12.6 — Use of Secure Network Management and Communication Protocols
• Control 12.8 — Establish and Maintain Dedicated Computing Resources for All Administrative Work
• Control 4.9 — Configure Trusted DNS Servers on Enterprise Assets
• Control 4.2 — Establish and Maintain a Secure Configuration Process for Network Infrastructure
• Control 8.4 — Standardize Time Synchronization

References

• Center for Internet Security — CIS Controls v8
• Catalogue identifier: Control 14.8

Topics: network securitycloud infrastructureawareness trainingcloud postureconfiguration managementsecurity training