NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 Common Control Library

NIST control statement

a. Establish an alternate processing site, including necessary agreements to permit the transfer and resumption of [Assignment: system operations] for essential mission and business functions within [Assignment: time period] when the primary processing capabilities are unavailable; b. Make available at the alternate processing site, the equipment and supplies required to transfer and resume operations or put contracts in place to support delivery to the site within the organization-defined time period for transfer and resumption; and c. Provide controls at the alternate processing site that are equivalent to those at the primary site.

Discussion

Alternate processing sites are geographically distinct from primary processing sites and provide processing capability if the primary processing site is not available. The alternate processing capability may be addressed using a physical processing site or other alternatives, such as failover to a cloud-based service provider or other internally or externally provided processing service. Geographically distributed architectures that support contingency requirements may also be considered alternate processing sites. Controls that are covered by alternate processing site agreements include the environmental conditions at alternate sites, access rules, physical and environmental protection requirements, and the coordination for the transfer and assignment of personnel. Requirements are allocated to alternate processing sites that reflect the requirements in contingency plans to maintain essential mission and business functions despite disruption, compromise, or failure in organizational systems.

NIST control statement

Identify an alternate processing site that is sufficiently separated from the primary processing site to reduce susceptibility to the same threats.

Discussion

Threats that affect alternate processing sites are defined in organizational assessments of risk and include natural disasters, structural failures, hostile attacks, and errors of omission or commission. Organizations determine what is considered a sufficient degree of separation between primary and alternate processing sites based on the types of threats that are of concern. For threats such as hostile attacks, the degree of separation between sites is less relevant.

NIST control statement

Identify potential accessibility problems to alternate processing sites in the event of an area-wide disruption or disaster and outlines explicit mitigation actions.

Discussion

Area-wide disruptions refer to those types of disruptions that are broad in geographic scope with such determinations made by organizations based on organizational assessments of risk.

NIST control statement

Develop alternate processing site agreements that contain priority-of-service provisions in accordance with availability requirements (including recovery time objectives).

Discussion

Priority of service agreements refer to negotiated agreements with service providers that ensure that organizations receive priority treatment consistent with their availability requirements and the availability of information resources for logical alternate processing and/or at the physical alternate processing site. Organizations establish recovery time objectives as part of contingency planning.

NIST control statement

Prepare the alternate processing site so that the site can serve as the operational site supporting essential mission and business functions.

Discussion

Site preparation includes establishing configuration settings for systems at the alternate processing site consistent with the requirements for such settings at the primary site and ensuring that essential supplies and logistical considerations are in place.

NIST control statement

Withdrawn in this source release; review the official source for disposition.

NIST control statement

Plan and prepare for circumstances that preclude returning to the primary processing site.

Discussion

There may be situations that preclude an organization from returning to the primary processing site such as if a natural disaster (e.g., flood or a hurricane) damaged or destroyed a facility and it was determined that rebuilding in the same location was not prudent.

NIST control statement

Centrally manage [Assignment: controls and related processes].

Discussion

Central management refers to organization-wide management and implementation of selected controls and processes. This includes planning, implementing, assessing, authorizing, and monitoring the organization-defined, centrally managed controls and processes. As the central management of controls is generally associated with the concept of common (inherited) controls, such management promotes and facilitates standardization of control implementations and management and the judicious use of organizational resources. Centrally managed controls and processes may also meet independence requirements for assessments in support of initial and ongoing authorizations to operate and as part of organizational continuous monitoring. Automated tools (e.g., security information and event management tools or enterprise security monitoring and management tools) can improve the accuracy, consistency, and availability of information associated with centrally managed controls and processes. Automation can also provide data aggregation and data correlation capabilities; alerting mechanisms; and dashboards to support risk-based decision-making within the organization. As part of the control selection processes, organizations determine the controls that may be suitable for central management based on resources and capabilities. It is not always possible to centrally manage every aspect of a control. In such cases, the control can be treated as a hybrid control with the control managed and implemented centrally or at the system level. The controls and control enhancements that are candidates for full or partial central management include but are not limited to: [AC-2(1)](#ac-2.1), [AC-2(2)](#ac-2.2), [AC-2(3)](#ac-2.3), [AC-2(4)](#ac-2.4), [AC-4(all)](#ac-4), [AC-17(1)](#ac-17.1), [AC-17(2)](#ac-17.2), [AC-17(3)](#ac-17.3), [AC-17(9)](#ac-17.9), [AC-18(1)](#ac-18.1), [AC-18(3)](#ac-18.3), [AC-18(4)](#ac-18.4), [AC-18(5)](#ac-18.5), [AC-19(4)](#ac-19.4), [AC-22](#ac-22), [AC-23](#ac-23), [AT-2(1)](#at-2.1), [AT-2(2)](#at-2.2), [AT-3(1)](#at-3.1), [AT-3(2)](#at-3.2), [AT-3(3)](#at-3.3), [AT-4](#at-4), [AU-3](#au-3), [AU-6(1)](#au-6.1), [AU-6(3)](#au-6.3), [AU-6(5)](#au-6.5), [AU-6(6)](#au-6.6), [AU-6(9)](#au-6.9), [AU-7(1)](#au-7.1), [AU-7(2)](#au-7.2), [AU-11](#au-11), [AU-13](#au-13), [AU-16](#au-16), [CA-2(1)](#ca-2.1), [CA-2(2)](#ca-2.2), [CA-2(3)](#ca-2.3), [CA-3(1)](#ca-3.1), [CA-3(2)](#ca-3.2), [CA-3(3)](#ca-3.3), [CA-7(1)](#ca-7.1), [CA-9](#ca-9), [CM-2(2)](#cm-2.2), [CM-3(1)](#cm-3.1), [CM-3(4)](#cm-3.4), [CM-4](#cm-4), [CM-6](#cm-6), [CM-6(1)](#cm-6.1), [CM-7(2)](#cm-7.2), [CM-7(4)](#cm-7.4), [CM-7(5)](#cm-7.5), [CM-8(all)](#cm-8), [CM-9(1)](#cm-9.1), [CM-10](#cm-10), [CM-11](#cm-11), [CP-7(all)](#cp-7), [CP-8(all)](#cp-8), [SC-43](#sc-43), [SI-2](#si-2), [SI-3](#si-3), [SI-4(all)](#si-4), [SI-7](#si-7), [SI-8](#si-8).