Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication
✓ LOW ✓ MODERATE ✓ HIGHRequirements NIST SOURCE
Requirement Context
This element is part of AC-14 — Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication. See the Assessment section below for the related SP 800-53A examine/interview/test procedures. No engineering interpretation has been authored for this control yet.
Requirement Context
This element is part of AC-14 — Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication. See the Assessment section below for the related SP 800-53A examine/interview/test procedures. No engineering interpretation has been authored for this control yet.
Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)
Specific user actions may be permitted without identification or authentication if organizations determine that identification and authentication are not required for the specified user actions. Organizations may allow a limited number of user actions without identification or authentication, including when individuals access public websites or other publicly accessible federal systems, when individuals use mobile phones to receive calls, or when facsimiles are received. Organizations identify actions that normally require identification or authentication but may, under certain circumstances, allow identification or authentication mechanisms to be bypassed. Such bypasses may occur, for example, via a software-readable physical switch that commands bypass of the logon functionality and is protected from accidental or unmonitored use. Permitting actions without identification or authentication does not apply to situations where identification and authentication have already occurred and are not repeated but rather to situations where identification and authentication have not yet occurred. Organizations may decide that there are no user actions that can be performed on organizational systems without identification and authentication, and therefore, the value for the assignment operation can be "none."
Implementation Guidance
Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.
No engineering interpretation has been authored for AC-14 yet. This section is architected to receive it — see the Requirements and Assessment sections above for the authoritative NIST source content in the meantime.
Assessment
Assessment Objectives
- user actions that can be performed on the system without identification or authentication are defined;
- <AC-14_ODP user actions> that can be performed on the system without identification or authentication consistent with organizational mission and business functions are identified;
- user actions not requiring identification or authentication are documented in the security plan for the system;
- a rationale for user actions not requiring identification or authentication is provided in the security plan for the system.
Examine
[SELECT FROM: Access control policy; procedures addressing permitted actions without identification or authentication; system configuration settings and associated documentation; security plan; list of user actions that can be performed without identification or authentication; system audit records; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].
Interview
[SELECT FROM: System/network administrators; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities].
Overlays
STIGs & CCIs
No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for AC-14. This section is architected to display, per product: STIG ID, Finding ID, Severity, Title, Description, Check, Fix, CCI, and NIST control mapping — but nothing is populated here until a real DISA STIG/CCI dataset is ingested.
Learn more about STIG/CCI integration →Evidence
Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.
Policy
- Access control policy
- security plan
- system security plan
Configuration
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
Other Records
- procedures addressing permitted actions without identification or authentication
- list of user actions that can be performed without identification or authentication
- system audit records
- other relevant documents or records