CA-7 Continuous Monitoring

Description

Continuous monitoring programs facilitate ongoing awareness of threats, vulnerabilities, and information security to support organizational risk management decisions. The terms continuous and ongoing imply that organizations assess/analyze security controls and information security-related risks at a frequency sufficient to support organizational risk-based decisions.

The results of continuous monitoring programs generate appropriate risk response actions by organizations. Continuous monitoring programs also allow organizations to maintain the security authorizations of information systems and common controls over time in highly dynamic environments of operation with changing mission/business needs, threats, vulnerabilities, and technologies.

Having access to security-related information on a continuing basis through reports/dashboards gives organizational officials the capability to make more effective and timely risk management decisions, including ongoing security authorization decisions. Automation supports more frequent updates to security authorization packages, hardware/software/firmware inventories, and other system information. Effectiveness is further enhanced when continuous monitoring outputs are formatted to provide information that is specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timely.

Continuous monitoring activities are scaled in accordance with the security categories of information systems.

Applicability

The intended audience includes the Chief Information Security and Privacy Officer (CISPO), information resource owners and custodians.

Implementation

TAMU-CC develops a continuous monitoring strategy and implements a continuous monitoring program that includes:

1. TAMU-CC monitors the security controls in the information system on an ongoing basis;
2. Establishment of at least monthly monitoring and annually for assessments supporting such monitoring;
3. Ongoing security control assessments in accordance with the TAMU-CC continuous monitoring strategy;
4. Ongoing security status monitoring of organization-defined metrics in accordance with the TAMU-CC continuous monitoring strategy;
5. Correlation and analysis of security-related information generated by assessments and monitoring;
6. Response actions to address results of the analysis of security-related information; and
7. Reporting the security status of organization and the information system to Chief Information Office and University President/CEO annually.

Revision History

Last Updated: February 21, 2025

Previous Versions:

• June 29, 2023
• May 31, 2022
• March 25, 2021
• September 16, 2019