Written with contributions from Bryon Singh, Director of Security Operations, RailWorks Corporation
In Back to the Future, time is everything. Doc Brown’s DeLorean time machine relies on precise synchronization to travel to specific moments in history. A miscalculation of even a few seconds could mean arriving in the wrong year, or worse, the wrong timeline.
In cybersecurity, time synchronization isn’t about time travel, but it’s just as critical. CIS Safeguard 8.4 emphasizes the need to standardize time across enterprise systems to ensure accurate logging, incident correlation, and forensic analysis.
What Is CIS Safeguard 8.4?
CIS Safeguard 8.4 is part of the Audit Log Management control family. It states:
“Use a standardized time synchronization protocol such as Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize time across enterprise assets.”
This safeguard ensures that all systems: servers, endpoints, network devices, and cloud assets, use a common time source. Without it, logs can become misaligned, making it difficult to trace events or detect coordinated attacks.
Why It Matters
In Back to the Future, Doc Brown sets the DeLorean’s time circuits to exact timestamps—October 26, 1985, 1:21 AM, for example. If the car’s internal clock were off by even a few minutes, Marty McFly could have missed his chance to return home.
In cybersecurity, accurate timestamps are essential for:
- Incident response: Correlating logs across systems to trace attacker movements.
- SIEM analysis: Ensuring alerts and events are properly sequenced.
- Compliance audits: Demonstrating control over system activity.
- Forensics: Reconstructing timelines during breach investigations.
How to Implement It
To align with CIS Safeguard 8.4, organizations should:
- Deploy a centralized time server using NTP or Secure NTP.
- Configure all enterprise assets to sync with the time server.
- Use authenticated NTP to prevent spoofing or tampering.
- Monitor time drift and alert on significant deviations.
- Ensure cloud assets also sync with trusted time sources.
Pop Culture Parallel: Time Travel Requires Precision
In Back to the Future Part II, a misconfigured time jump sends the characters to an alternate 1985—a dystopian version ruled by Biff Tannen. The lesson? Precision in timekeeping matters. In cybersecurity, inaccurate logs can lead to misdiagnosed incidents, missed threats, or failed audits.
Final Thoughts
CIS Safeguard 8.4 may seem like a small technical detail, but it’s foundational. Without standardized time, your security tools are flying blind—like a DeLorean without a flux capacitor.
So take a cue from Doc Brown: “The future depends on it.” Synchronize your systems, align your logs, and keep your enterprise on the right timeline.
Resources
Here’s a link to the Policy Templates provided free of charge from the fine folks at the Center for Internet Security:
Looking for even more detail? Here you go. If this still doesn’t satisfy your curiosity, DM me.
CIS Control 8 – Audit Log Management
Collect, alert, review, and retain audit logs of events that could help detect, understand, or recover from an attack.
CIS Safeguard 8.4 – Standardize Time Synchronization
Standardize time synchronization. Configure at least two synchronized time sources across enterprise assets, where supported.