Crosswalk
Definition
A published table that aligns controls from two frameworks side by side to show which controls address the same security objective. NIST, CIS, and ISO all publish official crosswalks. A crosswalk is a starting point; it typically notes approximate equivalences and flags where one framework is more or less detailed than the other.
Related terms
- Implementation Group (IG)
- A CIS Controls concept that divides the 153 safeguards across three tiers by organisational size and risk profile. IG1 (56 safeguards) covers...
- CIS Benchmark
- A technology-specific configuration hardening guide published by CIS for operating systems, cloud services, databases, and applications. Each Benchmark provides Level 1 (broadly...
- CIS Controls Self-Assessment Tool (CSAT)
- A free web-based tool provided by CIS that allows organisations to score their current implementation status for each Safeguard and generate a...
- CIS Controls v8
- The eighth version of the CIS Critical Security Controls, released in May 2021. It consolidates 18 Controls and 153 Safeguards, reorganised from...
- Control catalogue
- A structured list of security controls, each with an identifier, a statement of intent, and (in detailed catalogues) implementation guidance. Examples include...
- Control family
- A grouping of related controls within a catalogue. NIST SP 800-53 uses 20 families identified by two-letter codes: AC (Access Control), AU...
- Gap analysis
- The process of comparing what a framework requires against what an organisation has actually implemented, to identify controls that are absent, partial,...
- Safeguard
- The individual action item within a CIS Control. Each Safeguard specifies a concrete activity (for example, 'establish and maintain an accurate inventory...
- Unified control mapping
- An organisation-specific artefact that consolidates multiple crosswalks into a single table, adds columns for the organisation's own control implementations and evidence artefacts,...
Explained in these topics
- CIS Controls and Implementation GroupsA published mapping document that shows the correspondence between CIS Safeguards and the controls or subcategories of another framework such as NIST CSF, ISO...
- Mapping Controls Across FrameworksA published table that aligns controls from two frameworks side by side to show which controls address the same security objective. NIST, CIS, and ISO all publ...