Accountability

The principle that an individual is entrusted to safeguard and control equipment, keying material, and information and is answerable to proper authority for the loss or misuse of that equipment or information. 

See CNSSI 4009-2015 (NSA/CSS Manual Number 3-16 (COMSEC)) for more information. 

The security goal that generates the requirement for actions of an entity to be traced uniquely to that entity. This supports non-repudiation, deterrence, fault isolation, intrusion detection and prevention, and after-action recovery and legal action. 

See CNSSI 4009-2015 (NIST SP 800-27 Rev. A) , NIST SP 800-12 Rev. 1 under Accountability and NIST SP 800-33 for more information. 

A property that ensures that the actions of an entity may be traced uniquely to that entity. 

See NIST SP 800-57 Part 1 Rev. 4 under Accountability and NIST SP 800-57 Part 2 under Accountability for more information. 

The property of being able to trace activities on a system to individuals who may then be held responsible for their actions. 

See NISTIR 4734 under Accountability for more information. 


The property that ensures that the actions of an entity may be traced uniquely to the entity. 

See  NISTIR 5153 under Accountability (ISO DIS 10181-2) for more information.