CPCSC Level 2 Control

Last updated June 25, 2026

03.14.03System and information integrity

CPCSC Level 2 03.14.03: Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives

Apply security alerts, advisories, and directives to find flaws, detect threats, monitor activity, and retain information appropriately 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 03.14.03. Use the Cyber Centre publication and contract requirements as the source of truth for certification, assessment, or procurement submissions.

  • Receive system security alerts, advisories, and directives from external organizations on an ongoing basis
  • Generate and disseminate internal system security alerts, advisories, and directives, as necessary

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

What This Means In Plain English

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives is part of the CPCSC Level 2 System and information integrity family. This is about keeping systems healthy and watching for compromise through patching, malware protection, advisories, monitoring, and retention controls.

For a founder, CISO, engineer, or compliance owner, the practical question is whether security alerts, advisories, and directives 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 security alerts, advisories, and directives.

2

Define patch timelines, monitor alerts, deploy malicious-code protection, review advisories, use dedicated admin paths, and keep information according to retention rules.

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

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives: patch reports.

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives: EDR coverage.

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives: alert review tickets.

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives: advisory tracking records.

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives: monitoring dashboards.

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives: retention settings.

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives: owner assignment and review cadence.

Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives: exception, remediation, or POA&M records when the control is not fully implemented.

Common Auditor Questions

Where is security alerts, advisories, and directives implemented in the in-scope environment?

Who owns security alerts, advisories, and directives, and how do they know it is operating?

Show the evidence that proves security alerts, advisories, and directives ran during the assessment period.

What happens when security alerts, advisories, and directives 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