The operating system must implement DoW-approved encryption to protect the confidentiality of remote access sessions.

Without confidentiality protection mechanisms, unauthorized individuals may gain access to sensitive information via a remote access session.

Remote access is access to DoW nonpublic information systems by an authorized user (or an information system) communicating through an external, nonorganization-controlled network. Remote access methods include, for example, dial-up, broadband, and wireless.

Encryption provides a means to secure the remote connection to prevent unauthorized access to the data traversing the remote access connection (e.g., RDP), thereby providing a degree of confidentiality. The encryption strength of a mechanism is selected based on the security categorization of the information.

Verify the operating system implements DoW-approved encryption to protect the confidentiality of remote access sessions. If it does not, this is a finding.

Configure the operating system to implement DoW-approved encryption to protect the confidentiality of remote access sessions.