3.13 — System & Communications Protection

System & Communications Protection (SC) Policy

Establishes requirements for monitoring, controlling, and protecting communications at system boundaries — covering 16 controls per NIST SP 800-171 Rev 2.

Family: 3.13 — SCControls: 16Owner: Kit E. Floyd, Jr.Last Review: April 3, 2026
SELF-ASSESSMENT

Control statuses below reflect an internal self-assessment prepared with AI assistance. Statuses marked "Implemented" may be organizational claims without verifiable evidence. See POA&M for known gaps.

Policy Statement

OCSI shall monitor, control, and protect organizational communications at external and key internal boundaries of organizational systems. Cryptographic mechanisms shall be employed to protect the confidentiality and integrity of CUI in transit and at rest.

Control Implementation
ControlRequirementImplementationStatus
3.13.1Monitor, control, and protect communications at the external boundaries and key internal boundaries of organizational systemsExternal boundary protected via: HTTPS/TLS encryption for all traffic, GoDaddy SSL certificate, Content Security Policy (CSP) restricting resource loading, X-Frame-Options preventing framing. Internal boundary: authenticated Command Center isolates CUI from public pages. Implemented
3.13.2Employ architectural designs, software development techniques, and systems engineering principles that promote effective information securitySeparation of concerns: public marketing site isolated from CUI-containing Command Center. No server-side code reduces attack surface. CSP prevents code injection. Principle of least privilege in application design. Static HTML reduces vulnerability footprint. Implemented
3.13.3Separate user functionality from system management functionalityPublic-facing site (marketing content) completely separated from Command Center (CUI management). Command Center requires authentication. No admin functionality exposed on public pages. Deploy mechanism separated from application. Implemented
3.13.4Prevent unauthorized and unintended information transfer via shared system resourcesBrowser origin isolation ensures localStorage is domain-scoped. No cross-origin data sharing. CSP prevents data exfiltration via unauthorized outbound connections. SessionStorage scoped to individual browser tabs. Implemented
3.13.5Implement subnetworks for publicly accessible system components that are physically or logically separated from internal networksPublic website content served as static HTML — no connection to internal databases or networks. CUI stored client-side in browser localStorage, not on shared server filesystem. GoDaddy infrastructure provides network-level isolation. Implemented
3.13.6Deny network communications traffic by default and allow network communications traffic by exceptionCSP implements default-deny policy: default-src 'self' blocks all non-approved sources. Only explicitly allowlisted CDN domains permitted (Google Fonts, FontAwesome). .htaccess restricts directory browsing and file access. Implemented
3.13.7Prevent remote devices from simultaneously establishing non-remote connections with organizational systems and communicating via some other connection to resources in external networksWeb application architecture prevents split-tunneling concerns — browser-based access does not establish persistent network connections. No VPN or direct network access required. Implemented
3.13.8Implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure of CUI during transmissionAll communications encrypted via HTTPS/TLS (SSL certificate managed by GoDaddy). HSTS header enforces HTTPS. FTP deployment uses secure channel. No unencrypted data transmission paths exist. Implemented
3.13.9Terminate network connections associated with communications sessions at the end of the sessions or after a defined period of inactivitySessions terminated after 30 minutes of inactivity (mousemove/keydown activity reset). Absolute 8-hour session maximum. SessionStorage clears on browser close. Visual warning displayed 5 minutes before timeout. Implemented
3.13.10Establish and manage cryptographic keys for cryptography employed in organizational systemsSHA-256 credential hashing uses Web Crypto API built-in key management. SSL/TLS certificate managed by GoDaddy with automatic renewal. No custom cryptographic keys requiring manual management. Implemented
3.13.11Employ FIPS-validated cryptography when used to protect the confidentiality of CUIPARTIAL. SHA-256 via Web Crypto API is FIPS 140-2 compatible for hashing. TLS 1.2+ for transport. However, SHA-256 is used for password hashing (not recommended — bcrypt/Argon2 preferred), and plaintext password in source code negates cryptographic protection. Partial
3.13.12Prohibit remote activation of collaborative computing devices and provide indication of devices in use to users present at the deviceWeb application does not access collaborative computing devices (cameras, microphones). Permissions-Policy header explicitly denies: camera=(), microphone=(), geolocation=(). No remote activation capability exists. Implemented
3.13.13Control and monitor the use of mobile codePARTIAL. CSP restricts JavaScript execution to first-party scripts. FontAwesome and Google Fonts are style-only. However, CSP includes 'unsafe-inline' for styles (required for current architecture), which weakens protection. No nonce-based inline script controls. Partial
3.13.14Control and monitor the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologiesOCSI system does not implement VoIP. No real-time communications features in the web application. Business VoIP, if used, governed by separate organizational policy. Implemented
3.13.15Protect the authenticity of communications sessionsHTTPS/TLS provides session authenticity via certificate validation. SessionStorage-based authentication tokens tied to browser session. SHA-256 hash verification protects credential authenticity. Implemented
3.13.16Protect the confidentiality of CUI at restNOT IMPLEMENTED — CRITICAL GAP. CUI in browser localStorage is stored as plaintext JSON. There is NO application-level encryption at rest. Same-origin policy provides isolation but is NOT encryption. Any person with physical access to the device can read all CUI data in browser DevTools. Device-level encryption is not enforced by the application. Not Implemented
Security Headers Summary
HeaderValueControl(s)
Content-Security-Policydefault-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' fonts.googleapis.com cdnjs.cloudflare.com; font-src fonts.gstatic.com cdnjs.cloudflare.com; script-src 'self'; img-src 'self' data:; connect-src 'self'3.13.1, 3.13.6, 3.13.13
X-Frame-OptionsDENY3.13.1
X-Content-Type-Optionsnosniff3.13.2
Strict-Transport-Securitymax-age=31536000; includeSubDomains3.13.8
Referrer-Policystrict-origin-when-cross-origin3.13.4
Permissions-Policycamera=(), microphone=(), geolocation=()3.13.12
Review Schedule: SC policy reviewed semi-annually. Security headers verified monthly. SSL certificate status monitored continuously via GoDaddy.