NIST 800-53

Background

NIST 800-53 is the main framework for the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) and Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliance. It is a set of detailed security controls designed to help organizations defend their data and information systems against cyber-attacks and data breaches. NIST 800-53 was designed for federal agencies but can be utilized by any organization looking to improve its cybersecurity posture. The 800-53 requirements are viewed as best practices for organizations looking to secure contracts with federal agencies.

The controls in NIST 800-53 can be customized to address the specific needs of an organization. There are twenty 800-53 control families that are comprised of more than 1,000 individual controls. The controls are grouped into three baselines: low, moderate, or high-security impact. Organizations need to identify the appropriate security impact using a process regulated by FIPS 199.

• Access Control
• Awareness and Training
• Audit and Accountability
• Assessment, Authorization, and Monitoring
• Configuration Management
• Contingency Planning
• Identification and Authentication
• Incident Response
• Maintenance
• Media Protection
• Physical and Environmental Protection
• Planning
• Program Management
• Personnel Security
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Processing and Transparency
• Risk Assessment
• System and Services Acquisition
• System and Communications Protection
• System and Information Integrity
• Supply Chain Risk Management

Achieving NIST 800-53 Compliance

Typically, organizations begin the journey to NIST 800-53 compliance with a risk assessment. A properly conducted assessment will expose existing gaps in your security program that are exposing the organization to risk. The information learned in the assessment can be used to determine what NIST 800-53 controls your organization needs to implement to mitigate that risk and better protect data.
When the necessary controls have been implemented, the organization needs to undergo a comprehensive audit to ensure the controls meet the NIST 800-53 requirements. The audit can be conducted internally or by a third party.

Benefits of NIST 800-53 Compliance

NIST 800-53 is a highly respected cybersecurity standard. Implementing the associated controls will result in an information security program your organization can trust to protect sensitive data, protect against cyber incidents, and minimize the risk of a breach. Your NIST 800-53 compliance can serve as a business driver as many companies and agencies will only work with partners that have proven cybersecurity measures in place.

Meeting NIST 800-53 requirements can play a major role in achieving compliance with other standards such as FISMA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR. Using NIST 800-53 as the foundation of your regulatory compliance efforts can streamline workflows, saving time and money.

How We Can Help

CompliancePoint’s team of cybersecurity experts offers decades of experience your organization can leverage. We can help design and implement controls that will meet the requirements of whichever NIST standard is the right fit for you. Once implemented, we can help manage your security program on an ongoing basis to ensure continuous compliance.