03.01.01 – Account Management (NIST 800-171 Rev. 3)

2025-05-21

Welcome to our breakdown of 03.01.01 – Account Management, the first control in the Access Control family under NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3.

This requirement lays the groundwork for managing who has access to your systems — and why. It applies to user accounts, admin roles, service accounts, and even emergency access.

03.01.01 – Account Management

At a high level, this control expects you to define, manage, and monitor all system accounts across your organization.

03.01.01 – Key Requirements

• Define which account types are allowed — and which are prohibited
• Create and disable accounts using a repeatable process
• Tie each account to valid authorization
• Revoke access promptly when someone changes roles or leaves
• Extend this to service accounts, emergency access, and third-party integrations

03.01.01 – Implementation Tips

Here are a few practical steps for implementing this control effectively:

• Write a clear and simple Access Control Policy
• Maintain a current list of all accounts
• Ensure every account maps to a person or authorized role
• Set up automated offboarding workflows
• Enforce logout or timeout policies for inactivity

03.01.01 – Evidence

When auditors come knocking, they’ll expect to see:

• Your written Access Control Policy
• Logs or reports showing when accounts were disabled
• A recent review of access lists
• A system-generated list of current accounts and their activity

Include in your SSP

Account management is not a silo — it ties directly into your System Security Plan (SSP). You'll reference this control when describing how your organization provisions, monitors, and deactivates accounts tied to Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

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Why it matters..

Account management is your first line of defense in cybersecurity. Without a reliable way to know who has access — and why — you're vulnerable to internal risks, outdated accounts, and external compromise.

• AI summaries
• Evidence uploads
• Control scoring
• Multi-user workspaces

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Stay tuned for the next post in this series:
03.01.02 – Access Enforcement
We’ll walk through how to ensure users only access what they're allowed to — and nothing more.

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