MA-4(6)_cryptographic-protection

DevOps & Security

Implement the following cryptographic mechanisms to protect the integrity and confidentiality of nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic communications: [

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/CyberStrikeus/CyberStrike/blob/HEAD/.cyberstrike/skill/NIST/SP800-53_rev5/MA_maintenance/MA-4(6)_cryptographic-protection/SKILL.md

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MA-4(6) Cryptographic Protection

Enhancement of: MA-4

High-Level Description

Family: Maintenance (MA) Framework: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5

Failure to protect nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic communications can result in unauthorized individuals gaining access to organizational information. Unauthorized access during remote maintenance sessions can result in a variety of hostile actions, including malicious code insertion, unauthorized changes to system parameters, and exfiltration of organizational information. Such actions can result in the loss or degradation of mission or business capabilities.

What to Check

Verify MA-4(6) Cryptographic Protection is documented in SSP
Confirm control is operating effectively
Review evidence of continuous monitoring for MA-4(6)
Verify enhancement builds upon base control MA-4

How to Test

Step 1: Review Documentation

Examine the System Security Plan (SSP) and related artifacts for MA-4(6) implementation details. Verify the organization has documented how this control is satisfied.

Step 2: Validate Implementation

# For cloud environments, use cloud-audit-mcp tools
# For on-premises, review system configurations directly

# Example: Check if account management policies exist
grep -r "account.management\|access.control" /etc/security/ 2>/dev/null

Step 3: Test Operating Effectiveness

Verify the control is actively functioning, not just documented. Check logs, configurations, and operational evidence.

Tools

Tool	Purpose	Usage
Manual Review	Documentation and interview-based	N/A

Remediation Guide

Control Statement

Implement the following cryptographic mechanisms to protect the integrity and confidentiality of nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic communications: [organization-defined].

Implementation Guidance

Risk Assessment

Finding	Severity	Impact
MA-4(6) Cryptographic Protection not implemented	Medium	Maintenance
MA-4(6) partially implemented	Low	Incomplete Maintenance

CWE Categories

CWE ID	Title
N/A	No direct CWE mapping

References

Checklist

Control documented in SSP
Implementation evidence collected
Operating effectiveness validated
Continuous monitoring in place
Related controls (SC-8, SC-12, SC-13) reviewed