Measure Bandwidth in Operational Environments
LOW MODERATE HIGHRequirements NIST SOURCE
Measure the bandwidth of [subset of identified covert channels] in the operational environment of the system.
Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)
Measuring covert channel bandwidth in specified operational environments helps organizations determine how much information can be covertly leaked before such leakage adversely affects mission or business functions. Covert channel bandwidth may be significantly different when measured in settings that are independent of the specific environments of operation, including laboratories or system development environments.
Implementation Guidance
Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.
No engineering interpretation has been authored for SC-31(3) 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
- subset of identified covert channels whose bandwidth is to be measured in the operational environment of the system is defined;
- the bandwidth of <SC-31(03)_ODP subset of identified covert channels> is measured in the operational environment of the system.
Examine
[SELECT FROM: System and communications protection policy; procedures addressing covert channel analysis; system design documentation; system configuration settings and associated documentation; covert channel analysis documentation; system audit records; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].
Interview
[SELECT FROM: System/network administrators; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities; organizational personnel with covert channel analysis responsibilities; system developers/integrators].
Test
[SELECT FROM: Organizational process for conducting covert channel analysis; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing covert channel analysis; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the capability to measure the bandwidth of covert channels].
STIGs & CCIs
No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for SC-31(3). 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
- System and communications protection policy
- system security plan
Configuration
- system design documentation
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
Testing
- Organizational process for conducting covert channel analysis
- mechanisms supporting and/or implementing covert channel analysis
- mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the capability to measure the bandwidth of covert channels
Other Records
- procedures addressing covert channel analysis
- covert channel analysis documentation
- system audit records
- other relevant documents or records