SFS 4: Data Storage and Handling
Assess how data is classified, stored, accessed, shared, retained, and deleted across local, network-attached, and cloud storage.
Scope and boundaries
This set covers the lifecycle of data and documents, including ownership, storage locations, access rules, encryption, sharing, retention, deletion, and privacy-related handling conditions. Questions should identify the relevant data classes and systems and connect the stated policy to observable configuration or records. Storage copies and protection belong here, while demonstrated restoration and recovery objectives belong to SFS 2. Cryptographic services are addressed in SFS A, and cross-system interfaces in SFS C.
The sixteen questions
Each SF position is one question. Both positions run from 0 to F.
| SF | Question page | Authoring record |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | SF 0 | 0040 |
| 1 | SF 1 | 0041 |
| 2 | SF 2 | 0042 |
| 3 | SF 3 | 0043 |
| 4 | SF 4 | 0044 |
| 5 | SF 5 | 0045 |
| 6 | SF 6 | 0046 |
| 7 | SF 7 | 0047 |
| 8 | SF 8 | 0048 |
| 9 | SF 9 | 0049 |
| A | SF A | 004A |
| B | SF B | 004B |
| C | SF C | 004C |
| D | SF D | 004D |
| E | SF E | 004E |
| F | SF F | 004F |
From questions to a profile
Only reviewed, accepted 0/1 assessments can populate the sixteen-bit set profile. SF 0 is the most significant bit and SF F the least significant bit. The completed result uses four hexadecimal digits, including leading zeros. A catalog definition does not establish a completed assessment profile.
Read assessment and validation, then encoding. A set profile preserves individual answers; it is not a summed security score.