← ISO 27001 · A.5 — Organisational

A.5.17 — Authentication information

critical authenticationmfa

Requirement

Allocation and management of authentication information shall be controlled by a management process, including advising personnel on the appropriate handling of authentication information.

What the engine looks for

Every group below must be satisfied — by an affirmative statement, not a plan, a hedge or a denial — for the control to count as covered. A term ending in … matches any word it begins. Supporting terms do not change the verdict — they raise confidence and distinguish a policy that names a mechanism from one that gestures at a category.

Required element 1 — any one of
passwordcredentialauthenticationsecretauthenticat…
Required element 2 — any one of
policycomplexityrotationmanagervaultmfamulti-factor
Supporting terms — specificity signals
1passwordsecrets managerno hardcodedminimum lengthpassphrasebreach check
Contradiction markers

Finding any of these outranks coverage — a policy that admits the gap is worse than silence.

passwords in code hardcoded credentials shared password no mfa passwords in the repository credentials in the repository secrets in the repository passwords in the repo credentials in the repo passwords in source control credentials in source control secrets in source control committed to the repository plaintext passwords

Equivalent controls elsewhere

Matched on shared topics. Satisfying this control usually moves these too.

FrameworkControlTitleShared topics
PCI DSS 4.0.1 8.4 Multi-factor authentication into the CDE and for remote access mfa authentication
HIPAA 164.312(d) Person or entity authentication (R) authentication mfa
GLBA 314.4(c)(5) Multi-factor authentication for any individual accessing information systems mfa authentication
NIST CSF 2.0 PR.AA-03 Users, services and hardware are authenticated authentication mfa
PCI DSS 4.0.1 8.3 Strong authentication factors authentication
PCI DSS 4.0.1 8.6 System and application accounts are managed authentication
HIPAA 164.312(a)(1) Access control — unique identification and emergency access (R/A) authentication
NIST CSF 2.0 PR.AA-01 Identities and credentials are managed authentication