AU-8 AU · Audit and Accountability

Time Stamps

✓ LOW ✓ MODERATE ✓ HIGH
1 Overlay 4 Related Controls
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Requirements NIST SOURCE

Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)

Time stamps generated by the system include date and time. Time is commonly expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or local time with an offset from UTC. Granularity of time measurements refers to the degree of synchronization between system clocks and reference clocks (e.g., clocks synchronizing within hundreds of milliseconds or tens of milliseconds). Organizations may define different time granularities for different system components. Time service can be critical to other security capabilities such as access control and identification and authentication, depending on the nature of the mechanisms used to support those capabilities.

Implementation Guidance

Engineering Interpretation

Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.

No engineering interpretation has been authored for AU-8 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

NIST SP 800-53A REV 5.2.0

Assessment Objectives

  1. granularity of time measurement for audit record timestamps is defined;
  2. internal system clocks are used to generate timestamps for audit records;
  3. timestamps are recorded for audit records that meet <AU-08_ODP granularity of time measurement> and that use Coordinated Universal Time, have a fixed local time offset from Coordinated Universal Time, or include the local time offset as part of the timestamp.

Examine

[SELECT FROM: Audit and accountability policy; system security plan; privacy plan; procedures addressing timestamp generation; system design documentation; system configuration settings and associated documentation; system audit records; other relevant documents or records].

Interview

[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities; system/network administrators; system developers].

Test

[SELECT FROM: Mechanisms implementing timestamp generation].

Overlays

OT/ICS Overlay SP 800-82r3

NIST SP 800-82r3 Appendix F, Table 22. Blank baseline means the control/control enhancement is not selected in that initial OT baseline.

LOW

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)

MODERATE

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)

HIGH

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)

STIGs & CCIs

No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for AU-8. 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

Potential Evidence — Derived

Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.

Policy

  • Audit and accountability policy
  • system security plan
  • privacy plan

Configuration

  • system design documentation
  • system configuration settings and associated documentation

Testing

  • Mechanisms implementing timestamp generation

Other Records

  • procedures addressing timestamp generation
  • system audit records
  • other relevant documents or records