Adaptive Authentication
LOW MODERATE HIGHRequirements NIST SOURCE
Require individuals accessing the system to employ [supplemental authentication techniques or mechanisms] under specific [circumstances or situations].
Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)
Adversaries may compromise individual authentication mechanisms employed by organizations and subsequently attempt to impersonate legitimate users. To address this threat, organizations may employ specific techniques or mechanisms and establish protocols to assess suspicious behavior. Suspicious behavior may include accessing information that individuals do not typically access as part of their duties, roles, or responsibilities; accessing greater quantities of information than individuals would routinely access; or attempting to access information from suspicious network addresses. When pre-established conditions or triggers occur, organizations can require individuals to provide additional authentication information. Another potential use for adaptive authentication is to increase the strength of mechanism based on the number or types of records being accessed. Adaptive authentication does not replace and is not used to avoid the use of multi-factor authentication mechanisms but can augment implementations of multi-factor authentication.
Implementation Guidance
Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.
No engineering interpretation has been authored for IA-10 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
- supplemental authentication techniques or mechanisms to be employed when accessing the system under specific circumstances or situations are defined;
- circumstances or situations that require individuals accessing the system to employ supplemental authentication techniques or mechanisms are defined;
- individuals accessing the system are required to employ <IA-10_ODP[01] supplemental authentication techniques or mechanisms> under specific <IA-10_ODP[02] circumstances or situations>.
Examine
[SELECT FROM: Identification and authentication policy; procedures addressing adaptive/supplemental identification and authentication techniques or mechanisms; system security plan; system design documentation; system configuration settings and associated documentation; supplemental identification and authentication techniques or mechanisms; system audit records; other relevant documents or records].
Interview
[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with system operations responsibilities; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities; system/network administrators; system developers; organizational personnel with identification and authentication responsibilities].
Test
[SELECT FROM: Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing identification and authentication capabilities].
STIGs & CCIs
No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for IA-10. 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
- Identification and authentication policy
- system security plan
Configuration
- system design documentation
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
Testing
- Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing identification and authentication capabilities
Other Records
- procedures addressing adaptive/supplemental identification and authentication techniques or mechanisms
- supplemental identification and authentication techniques or mechanisms
- system audit records
- other relevant documents or records