The Google Search Appliance must synchronize with internal information system clocks which in turn, are synchronized on a 24 hour frequency with a 24 hour authoritative time source.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-60753	GSAP-00-000325	SV-75205r1_rule		Medium

Description
Determining the correct time a particular application event occurred on a system is critical when conducting forensic analysis and investigating system events. Synchronization of system clocks is needed in order to correctly correlate the timing of events that occur across multiple systems. To meet that requirement the organization will define an authoritative time source and frequency to which each system will synchronize its internal clock. An example is utilizing the NTP protocol to synchronize with centralized NTP servers. Time stamps generated by the information system must include both date and time. The time may be expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or local time with an offset from UTC. Applications not purposed to provide NTP services should not try to compete with or replace NTP functionality and should synchronize with internal information system clocks that are in turn synchronized with an organization defined authoritative time source.

Description

Determining the correct time a particular application event occurred on a system is critical when conducting forensic analysis and investigating system events. Synchronization of system clocks is needed in order to correctly correlate the timing of events that occur across multiple systems. To meet that requirement the organization will define an authoritative time source and frequency to which each system will synchronize its internal clock. An example is utilizing the NTP protocol to synchronize with centralized NTP servers. Time stamps generated by the information system must include both date and time. The time may be expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), a modern continuation of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or local time with an offset from UTC. Applications not purposed to provide NTP services should not try to compete with or replace NTP functionality and should synchronize with internal information system clocks that are in turn synchronized with an organization defined authoritative time source.

STIG	Date
Google Search Appliance Security Technical Implementation Guide	2015-07-07

Details

Check Text ( C-61687r1_chk )
Open the GSA Web Admin Console at https::8443. Login to the GSA management interface. Navigate to "Administration", select "Network Settings". If there are valid entries for all DNS servers, DNS suffixes, SMTP servers, NTP servers, this is not a finding.

Fix Text (F-66433r1_fix)
Open the GSA Web Admin Console at https::8443. Login to the GSA management interface. Navigate to "Administration", select "Network Settings". Ensure that valid entries for all DNS servers, DNS suffixes, SMTP servers, NTP servers.