id: "AU-08" title: "Time Stamps" family: "AU" family_name: "Audit and Accountability" sort_id: "au-08" priority: "P2" implementation_level: "system" enhancements: - au-8.1 - au-8.2
Use internal system clocks to generate time stamps for audit records; and
Record time stamps for audit records that meet {{ insert: param, au-08_odp }} and that use Coordinated Universal Time, have a fixed local time offset from Coordinated Universal Time, or that include the local time offset as part of the time stamp.
Guidance
Time stamps generated by the system include date and time. Time is commonly expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or local time with an offset from UTC. Granularity of time measurements refers to the degree of synchronization between system clocks and reference clocks (e.g., clocks synchronizing within hundreds of milliseconds or tens of milliseconds). Organizations may define different time granularities for different system components. Time service can be critical to other security capabilities such as access control and identification and authentication, depending on the nature of the mechanisms used to support those capabilities.
Assessment Objective: internal system clocks are used to generate timestamps for audit records;
Assessment Objective: timestamps are recorded for audit records that meet {{ insert: param, au-08_odp }} and that use Coordinated Universal Time, have a fixed local time offset from Coordinated Universal Time, or include the local time offset as part of the timestamp.
Audit and accountability policy
system security plan
privacy plan
procedures addressing timestamp generation
system design documentation
system configuration settings and associated documentation
system audit records
other relevant documents or records
Organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities
system/network administrators
system developers
Mechanisms implementing timestamp generation