NIST 800-53

NIST SP 800-53 is a catalog of security and privacy controls for federal information systems, serving as the foundation for many compliance frameworks.

NIST Special Publication 800-53 provides a comprehensive catalog of security controls required for federal systems.

Control families (20): - Access Control (AC) - Awareness and Training (AT) - Audit and Accountability (AU) - Assessment, Authorization and Monitoring (CA) - Configuration Management (CM) - Contingency Planning (CP) - Identification and Authentication (IA) - And 13 more...

Impact levels: - Low: 125+ controls - Moderate: 260+ controls - High: 340+ controls

Uses: - FedRAMP authorization - FISMA compliance - Reference for private sector frameworks

Why It Matters

NIST 800-53 is the most comprehensive security control catalog available and serves as the foundation for FedRAMP, FISMA, and many private-sector security programs. Understanding 800-53 controls provides a common reference point for mapping between frameworks—if you implement 800-53 Moderate controls, you have significant overlap with SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA requirements.

Key Points

Foundation for FedRAMP and FISMA

Controls organized in 20 families

Three impact levels: Low, Moderate, High

Rev 5 added privacy controls

Used as reference for many other frameworks

Applicable Compliance Frameworks

NIST CSF

Related Terms

FedRAMP

FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) is a US government program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment for cloud products and services used by federal agencies.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework

NIST CSF is a voluntary framework providing guidance on managing cybersecurity risk, organized around five core functions: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover.