Evidence and documentation

Evidence should let a reviewer move from a requirement, to an implementation statement, to a current artifact and a knowledgeable owner.

Evidence quality

Prefer artifacts that are:

• Relevant to the exact requirement and assessment objective.
• Current enough to represent how the system operates now.
• Authentic and tied to the system or owner.
• Traceable to the SSP statement and control family.
• Minimized to avoid disclosing unrelated sensitive information.

Typical evidence categories

• Approved policies and procedures
• Asset and account inventories
• Network and CUI-flow diagrams
• Configuration exports or screenshots
• Access reviews and authorization records
• Audit logs and monitoring records
• Incident-response exercises
• Training and personnel records
• Backup, recovery, and continuity tests
• Vendor and external-service documentation

Handling rules

Caution

An evidence inventory can be sensitive because it may reveal system names, control weaknesses, file locations, and responsible people. Store completed inventories and artifacts only in the approved controlled environment.

1. Use neutral evidence identifiers instead of local file paths in the SSP.
2. Record the owner, collection date, applicable requirement, and storage location.
3. Remove unrelated personal data, credentials, tokens, and secrets.
4. Preserve original artifacts when their source or history matters.
5. Review access before sharing the assessment package.

Keep documents consistent

The SSP, diagrams, inventories, policies, and evidence must describe the same environment. Contradictions can cause assessment findings.