CPCSC Level 2 Control

Last updated June 25, 2026

03.03.08Audit and accountability

CPCSC Level 2 03.03.08: Protection of Audit Information

Apply protection of audit information to produce reliable logs and review routines that show what happened in the environment for CPCSC Level 2 readiness. This guide separates the official ITSP.10.171 control language from practical implementation, evidence, auditor questions, and related controls.

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Formal Control Language

Official ITSP.10.171 wording for 03.03.08. Use the Cyber Centre publication and contract requirements as the source of truth for certification, assessment, or procurement submissions.

  • Protect audit information and audit logging tools from unauthorized access, modification, and deletion
  • Authorize access to management of audit logging functionality to only a subset of privileged users or roles

Contains information sourced from Government of Canada material used under the Open Government Licence - Canada.

What This Means In Plain English

Protection of Audit Information is part of the CPCSC Level 2 Audit and accountability family. This is about keeping logs that are useful enough to reconstruct security-relevant activity and reviewed often enough to catch issues.

For a founder, CISO, engineer, or compliance owner, the practical question is whether protection of audit information is visible in real operating evidence: a setting, workflow, ticket, log, approval, review, or exception record that can survive an external assessment.

Level 2 is different from Level 1 because the evidence has to survive an external assessment. A policy statement helps, but the stronger answer is a record that shows who did the work, when it ran, what system setting or workflow enforced it, and how exceptions were handled.

How To Implement It

1

Define the in-scope systems, owners, users, vendors, and data flows affected by protection of audit information.

2

Define events to log, centralize logs where possible, synchronize time, protect logs from tampering, and document alert or review workflows.

3

Translate the formal requirement into one or two operating procedures: who performs it, how often, where it is recorded, and who approves exceptions.

4

Configure the relevant systems so the control is enforced by identity, endpoint, cloud, network, ticketing, monitoring, vendor, or documentation workflows rather than memory.

5

Keep evidence in a consistent folder, GRC system, ticket queue, or audit workspace so an assessor can trace the control from requirement to implementation to review.

Evidence Normally Gathered

Protection of Audit Information: logging standard.

Protection of Audit Information: SIEM or log dashboard screenshots.

Protection of Audit Information: event source inventory.

Protection of Audit Information: log review tickets.

Protection of Audit Information: time synchronization settings.

Protection of Audit Information: log retention settings.

Protection of Audit Information: owner assignment and review cadence.

Protection of Audit Information: exception, remediation, or POA&M records when the control is not fully implemented.

Common Auditor Questions

Where is protection of audit information implemented in the in-scope environment?

Who owns protection of audit information, and how do they know it is operating?

Show the evidence that proves protection of audit information ran during the assessment period.

What happens when protection of audit information fails, is bypassed, or has an exception?

How does this control connect to the system security plan, risk register, POA&M, and related CPCSC controls?

Sources

Source and attribution.

Formal control language is sourced from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security ITSP.10.171 publication. CPCSC Level 2 assessment context references the Government of Canada CPCSC program overview and ITSP.10.171-01 assessment guidance.

CPCSC Program OverviewITSP.10.171ITSP.10.171-01Open Government Licence - Canada