CM-14 — Signed Components

From control text to operational evidence

Use Signed Components as a testable risk decision. Translate the official statement into accountable people, repeatable processes, configured technology, and evidence that demonstrates the outcome over time. In this family, pay particular attention to secure baselines, controlled change, configuration visibility, and drift management.

Implementation workflow

• Define the control boundary, responsible owner, inherited portions, and systems or processes in scope.
• Resolve each organization-defined parameter before declaring the control implemented.
• Document how the implementation satisfies every clause of the official control statement.
• Collect evidence as a normal byproduct of operation rather than only before an assessment.
• Review exceptions, changes, and monitoring results on a risk-based cadence.

Evidence examples

• approved baseline configurations
• change tickets and approvals
• configuration scans and drift reports
• software and hardware inventories

Common failure patterns

• baselines documented but not enforced
• emergency changes never reconciled
• asset inventories that omit cloud or ephemeral resources
• security-impact analysis performed after deployment

Questions practitioners should ask

• What risk decision is this control intended to support in this system?
• Which parts are implemented locally, inherited, shared, or not applicable—and what evidence supports that decision?
• Do the documented narrative, deployed configuration, operating process, and collected evidence agree?
• What event or threshold requires the implementation to be reviewed or changed?