# CIS Controls v8 9.7 — Deploy and Maintain Email Server Anti-Malware Protections

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/9-7-deploy-and-maintain-email-server-anti-malware-protections
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [CIS Critical Security Controls v8](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8) › Control 9 — Email and Web Browser Protections
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**CIS Controls v8**·Control `9.7`·medium·Component: **Protect**

## What this control requires

> Deploy and maintain email server anti-malware protections, such as attachment scanning and/or sandboxing.
> 
> — CIS Controls v8, Control 9.7

### In plain English

Deploy and maintain email server anti-malware protections, such as attachment scanning and/or sandboxing. In practice, this means you can prove you deploy email-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 **Protect**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control 9.7) 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.

#### Vulnerability Management

**Scanners.** Pair an unauthenticated scanner (Nessus / Qualys / Tenable.io) for external surface with an authenticated agent for OS/library CVEs on every host.

**SLA.** Document remediation SLAs by CVSS / EPSS: critical 7 days, high 30 days, medium 90 days; report monthly trend to leadership.

**Containers.** Scan images in CI (Trivy / Grype / Snyk Container) AND at runtime; block deploys on critical findings without exception.

### Operational checklist

-   **Deploy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Deploy And Maintain.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Protect.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** email, vulnerability, email server anti-malware protections, 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: Deploy and Maintain Email Server Anti-Malware Protections.

## Common pitfalls

-   Pilot MDM rollouts that quietly exclude executives or engineers; carving out the highest-risk users is the most common audit failure.
-   Scans that hit only the perimeter; missing authenticated scans of OS, runtime libs and base images so most CVEs are invisible.

## Related controls in CIS Controls v8

-   [**Control 10.6** — Centrally Manage Anti-Malware Software](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/10-6-centrally-manage-anti-malware-software)
-   [**Control 10.1** — Deploy and Maintain Anti-Malware Software](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/10-1-deploy-and-maintain-anti-malware-software)
-   [**Control 10.7** — Use Behavior-Based Anti-Malware Software](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/10-7-use-behavior-based-anti-malware-software)
-   [**Control 10.4** — Configure Automatic Anti-Malware Scanning of Removable Media](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/10-4-configure-automatic-anti-malware-scanning-of-removable-media)
-   [**Control 13.2** — Deploy a Host-Based Intrusion Detection Solution](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/13-2-deploy-a-host-based-intrusion-detection-solution)
-   [**Control 13.11** — Tune Security Event Alerting Thresholds](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/13-11-tune-security-event-alerting-thresholds)

## References

-   [Center for Internet Security — CIS Controls v8](https://www.cisecurity.org/controls/v8)
-   Catalogue identifier: `Control 9.7`

Topics: governance riskedr xdrendpoint protectionthreat intelligencevulnerability management

## Related compliance guidance

- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Configuration checks like this one are the technical half of a SOC 2 / ISO 27001 programme — the guide shows where they fit, what else an auditor expects, and how to evidence them.
- [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 compliance: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022): ISO 27001 Annex A.8 (technological controls) is where cloud hardening evidence lands; the guide shows how to run the ISMS around it.