V-255610

Discussion

Inaccurate time stamps make it more difficult to correlate events and can lead to an inaccurate analysis. Determining the correct time a particular event occurred on a system is critical when conducting forensic analysis and investigating system events. Sources outside of the configured acceptable allowance (drift) may be inaccurate. Additionally, unnecessary synchronization may have an adverse impact on system performance and may indicate malicious activity. Synchronizing internal information system clocks provides uniformity of time stamps for information systems with multiple system clocks and systems connected over a network.

Check Content

Review the device configuration.

The following command shows clock information:
show clock detail

If the output does not show NTP as the time source, this is a finding.

If a dot appears in front of the time, the device has been configured to use NTP, but NTP is not synchronized. This is also a finding.