CISA and NSA release Enduring Security Framework Guidance on Identity and Access Management

Release Date: March 21, 2023

As part of the Enduring Security Framework (ESF), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) has released Identity and Access Management Recommended Best Practices Guide for Administrators. These recommended best practices provide system administrators with actionable recommendations to better secure their systems from threats to Identity and Access Management (IAM).

IAM—a framework of business processes, policies, and technologies that facilitate the management of digital identities—ensures that users only gain access to data when they have the appropriate credentials. This paper provides recommended best practices and mitigations to counter threats to IAM related to:

• identity governance
• environmental hardening
• identity federation/single sign-on
• multifactor authentication
• IAM auditing and monitoring

This guidance was developed and published by a CISA- and NSA-led working panel with ESF, a public-private cross-sector partnership that aims to address risks that threaten critical infrastructure and national security systems.