# HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.310(d)(2)(iii) — Device and Media Controls - Accountability

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-310-d-2-iii-device-and-media-controls-accountability
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [HIPAA Security, Privacy & Breach-Notification Rules](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa) › Security Rule — §164.310
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)**·§ `164.310(d)(2)(iii)`·medium·Component: **Security Rule**

## What this control requires

> Maintain a record of the movements of hardware and electronic media and any person responsible therefore.
> 
> — HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164), § 164.310(d)(2)(iii)

### In plain English

Maintain a record of the movements of hardware and electronic media and any person responsible therefore. In practice, this means you can prove you security security-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

HIPAA non-compliance is a strict-liability matter: OCR civil monetary penalties are assessed per-record per-violation (up to USD 1.9 million per identical-violation calendar year as of 2024), and willful neglect can trigger criminal referral.

## What an auditor looks for

HHS OCR investigators and SOC-2+HIPAA auditors look for the specific 45 CFR § citation, whether the safeguard is required vs addressable (and if addressable, the documented decision), the implementation specification, the workforce member responsible, and the records that show it runs.

Within **Security Rule**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (§ 164.310(d)(2)(iii)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Policy Management

**Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

### Operational checklist

-   **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Device.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Person.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** security, management, media controls, media controls - accountability, policy.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.
-   **Infra Scan.** Continuous infrastructure-posture telemetry — AWS Config, Azure Policy compliance, GCP Organisation Policy, Wiz / Prisma findings.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Device and Media Controls - Accountability.

## Common pitfalls

-   Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.

## 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 SP-01** — Documentation, communication and provision of policies and instructions](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/sp-01-documentation-communication-and-provision-of-policies-and-instructions)
-   [**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PL-2(1)** — Concept Of Operations](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pl-2-1-concept-of-operations)
-   [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.7.14** — Secure disposal or re-use of equipment](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-7-14-secure-disposal-or-re-use-of-equipment)
-   [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) PI1.4** — Output Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/pi1-4-output-controls)
-   [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.8.4** — Media Marking](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-8-4-media-marking)

## Related controls in HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)

-   [**§ 164.310(d)(1)** — Device and Media Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-310-d-1-device-and-media-controls)
-   [**§ 164.310(d)(2)(ii)** — Device and Media Controls - Media Re-use](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-310-d-2-ii-device-and-media-controls-media-re-use)
-   [**§ 164.310(d)(2)(iv)** — Device and Media Controls - Data Backup and Storage Procedures](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-310-d-2-iv-device-and-media-controls-data-backup-and-storage-procedures)
-   [**§ 164.312(b)** — Audit Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-312-b-audit-controls)
-   [**§ 164.312(e)(2)(i)** — Transmission Security - Integrity Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-312-e-2-i-transmission-security-integrity-controls)
-   [**§ 164.308(a)(5)(i)** — Security Awareness and Training](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-5-i-security-awareness-and-training)

## References

-   [U.S. HHS Office for Civil Rights — HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/index.html)
-   Catalogue identifier: `§ 164.310(d)(2)(iii)`

Topics: governance riskpolicy management

## Related compliance guidance

- [HIPAA compliance for SaaS: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa): Start with the full HIPAA implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs.
- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most covered-entity customers accept a SOC 2 Type II report as the independent evidence that your HIPAA controls operate, since no HIPAA attestation exists.
- [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): NIST publishes mappings of the Security Rule standards and implementation specifications to SP 800-53 Rev. 5 controls alongside SP 800-66 Rev. 2, so an 800-53 control set doubles as a HIPAA crosswalk.
