Indicators of Compromise
LOW MODERATE HIGHRequirements NIST SOURCE
Discover, collect, and distribute to [personnel or roles] , indicators of compromise provided by [sources].
Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)
Indicators of compromise (IOC) are forensic artifacts from intrusions that are identified on organizational systems at the host or network level. IOCs provide valuable information on systems that have been compromised. IOCs can include the creation of registry key values. IOCs for network traffic include Universal Resource Locator or protocol elements that indicate malicious code command and control servers. The rapid distribution and adoption of IOCs can improve information security by reducing the time that systems and organizations are vulnerable to the same exploit or attack. Threat indicators, signatures, tactics, techniques, procedures, and other indicators of compromise may be available via government and non-government cooperatives, including the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, the Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Information Sharing Program, and the CERT Coordination Center.
Implementation Guidance
Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.
No engineering interpretation has been authored for SI-4(24) 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
- sources that provide indicators of compromise are defined;
- personnel or roles to whom indicators of compromise are to be distributed is/are defined;
- indicators of compromise provided by <SI-04(24)_ODP[01] sources> are discovered;
- indicators of compromise provided by <SI-04(24)_ODP[01] sources> are collected;
- indicators of compromise provided by <SI-04(24)_ODP[01] sources> are distributed to <SI-04(24)_ODP[02] personnel or roles>.
Examine
[SELECT FROM: System and information integrity policy; system and information integrity procedures; procedures addressing system monitoring; system design documentation; system monitoring tools and techniques documentation; system configuration settings and associated documentation; system monitoring logs or records; system audit records; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].
Interview
[SELECT FROM: System/network administrators; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities; system developer; organizational personnel installing, configuring, and/or maintaining the system; organizational personnel responsible for monitoring system hosts].
Test
[SELECT FROM: Organizational processes for system monitoring; organizational processes for the discovery, collection, distribution, and use of indicators of compromise; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing a system monitoring capability; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the discovery, collection, distribution, and use of indicators of compromise].
Overlays
STIGs & CCIs
No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for SI-4(24). 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 information integrity policy
- system security plan
Configuration
- system design documentation
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
Testing
- Organizational processes for system monitoring
- organizational processes for the discovery, collection, distribution, and use of indicators of compromise
- mechanisms supporting and/or implementing a system monitoring capability
- mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the discovery, collection, distribution, and use of indicators of compromise
Other Records
- system and information integrity procedures
- procedures addressing system monitoring
- system monitoring tools and techniques documentation
- system monitoring logs or records
- system audit records
- other relevant documents or records