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What is PE-9(1) Power Equipment and Cabling | Redundant Cabling? | Physically separate and redundant power cables ensure that power continues to flow in the event that one of the cables is cut or otherwise damaged. |
What is PE-9(2) Power Equipment and Cabling | Automatic Voltage Controls? | Automatic voltage controls can monitor and control voltage. Such controls include voltage regulators, voltage conditioners, and voltage stabilizers. |
What is PE-10 Emergency Shutoff? | Emergency power shutoff primarily applies to organizational facilities that contain concentrations of system resources, including data centers, mainframe computer rooms, server rooms, and areas with computer-controlled machinery. |
What is PE-11 Emergency Power? | An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is an electrical system or mechanism that provides emergency power when there is a failure of the main power source. A UPS is typically used to protect computers, data centers, telecommunication equipment, or other electrical equipment where an unexpected power disruption could cause injuries, fatalities, serious mission or business disruption, or loss of data or information. A UPS differs from an emergency power system or backup generator in that the UPS provides near-instantaneous protection from unanticipated power interruptions from the main power source by providing energy stored in batteries, supercapacitors, or flywheels. The battery duration of a UPS is relatively short but provides sufficient time to start a standby power source, such as a backup generator, or properly shut down the system. |
What is PE-11(1) Emergency Power | Alternate Power Supply — Minimal Operational Capability? | Provision of an alternate power supply with minimal operating capability can be satisfied by accessing a secondary commercial power supply or other external power supply. |
What is PE-11(2) Emergency Power | Alternate Power Supply — Self-contained? | The provision of a long-term, self-contained power supply can be satisfied by using one or more generators with sufficient capacity to meet the needs of the organization. |
What is PE-12 Emergency Lighting? | The provision of emergency lighting applies primarily to organizational facilities that contain concentrations of system resources, including data centers, server rooms, and mainframe computer rooms. Emergency lighting provisions for the system are described in the contingency plan for the organization. If emergency lighting for the system fails or cannot be provided, organizations consider alternate processing sites for power-related contingencies. |
What is PE-12(1) Emergency Lighting | Essential Mission and Business Functions? | Organizations define their essential missions and functions. |
What is PE-13 Fire Protection? | The provision of fire detection and suppression systems applies primarily to organizational facilities that contain concentrations of system resources, including data centers, server rooms, and mainframe computer rooms. Fire detection and suppression systems that may require an independent energy source include sprinkler systems and smoke detectors. An independent energy source is an energy source, such as a microgrid, that is separate, or can be separated, from the energy sources providing power for the other parts of the facility. |
What is PE-13(1) Fire Protection | Detection Systems — Automatic Activation and Notification? | Organizations can identify personnel, roles, and emergency responders if individuals on the notification list need to have access authorizations or clearances (e.g., to enter to facilities where access is restricted due to the classification or impact level of information within the facility). Notification mechanisms may require independent energy sources to ensure that the notification capability is not adversely affected by the fire. |
What is PE-13(2) Fire Protection | Suppression Systems — Automatic Activation and Notification? | Organizations can identify specific personnel, roles, and emergency responders if individuals on the notification list need to have appropriate access authorizations and/or clearances (e.g., to enter to facilities where access is restricted due to the impact level or classification of information within the facility). Notification mechanisms may require independent energy sources to ensure that the notification capability is not adversely affected by the fire. |
What is PE-13(4) Fire Protection | Inspections? | Authorized and qualified personnel within the jurisdiction of the organization include state, county, and city fire inspectors and fire marshals. Organizations provide escorts during inspections in situations where the systems that reside within the facilities contain sensitive information. |
What is PE-14 Environmental Controls? | The provision of environmental controls applies primarily to organizational facilities that contain concentrations of system resources (e.g., data centers, mainframe computer rooms, and server rooms). Insufficient environmental controls, especially in very harsh environments, can have a significant adverse impact on the availability of systems and system components that are needed to support organizational mission and business functions. |
What is PE-14(1) Environmental Controls | Automatic Controls? | The implementation of automatic environmental controls provides an immediate response to environmental conditions that can damage, degrade, or destroy organizational systems or systems components. |
What is PE-14(2) Environmental Controls | Monitoring with Alarms and Notifications? | The alarm or notification may be an audible alarm or a visual message in real time to personnel or roles defined by the organization. Such alarms and notifications can help minimize harm to individuals and damage to organizational assets by facilitating a timely incident response. |
What is PE-15 Water Damage Protection? | The provision of water damage protection primarily applies to organizational facilities that contain concentrations of system resources, including data centers, server rooms, and mainframe computer rooms. Isolation valves can be employed in addition to or in lieu of master shutoff valves to shut off water supplies in specific areas of concern without affecting entire organizations. |
What is PE-15(1) Water Damage Protection | Automation Support? | Automated mechanisms include notification systems, water detection sensors, and alarms. |
What is PE-16 Delivery and Removal? | Enforcing authorizations for entry and exit of system components may require restricting access to delivery areas and isolating the areas from the system and media libraries. |
What is PE-17 Alternate Work Site? | Alternate work sites include government facilities or the private residences of employees. While distinct from alternative processing sites, alternate work sites can provide readily available alternate locations during contingency operations. Organizations can define different sets of controls for specific alternate work sites or types of sites depending on the work-related activities conducted at the sites. Implementing and assessing the effectiveness of organization-defined controls and providing a means to communicate incidents at alternate work sites supports the contingency planning activities of organizations. |
What is PE-18 Location of System Components? | Physical and environmental hazards include floods, fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorism, vandalism, an electromagnetic pulse, electrical interference, and other forms of incoming electromagnetic radiation. Organizations consider the location of entry points where unauthorized individuals, while not being granted access, might nonetheless be near systems. Such proximity can increase the risk of unauthorized access to organizational communications using wireless packet sniffers or microphones, or unauthorized disclosure of information. |
What is PE-19 Information Leakage? | Information leakage is the intentional or unintentional release of data or information to an untrusted environment from electromagnetic signals emanations. The security categories or classifications of systems (with respect to confidentiality), organizational security policies, and risk tolerance guide the selection of controls employed to protect systems against information leakage due to electromagnetic signals emanations. |
What is PE-19(1) Information Leakage | National Emissions Policies and Procedures? | Emissions Security (EMSEC) policies include the former TEMPEST policies. |
What is PE-20 Asset Monitoring and Tracking? | Asset location technologies can help ensure that critical assets—including vehicles, equipment, and system components—remain in authorized locations. Organizations consult with the Office of the General Counsel and senior agency official for privacy regarding the deployment and use of asset location technologies to address potential privacy concerns. |
What is PE-21 Electromagnetic Pulse Protection? | An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a short burst of electromagnetic energy that is spread over a range of frequencies. Such energy bursts may be natural or man-made. EMP interference may be disruptive or damaging to electronic equipment. Protective measures used to mitigate EMP risk include shielding, surge suppressors, ferro-resonant transformers, and earth grounding. EMP protection may be especially significant for systems and applications that are part of the U.S. critical infrastructure. |
What is PE-22 Component Marking? | Hardware components that may require marking include input and output devices. Input devices include desktop and notebook computers, keyboards, tablets, and smart phones. Output devices include printers, monitors/video displays, facsimile machines, scanners, copiers, and audio devices. Permissions controlling output to the output devices are addressed in AC-3 or AC-4. Components are marked to indicate the impact level or classification level of the system to which the devices are connected, or the impact level or classification level of the information permitted to be output. Security marking refers to the use of human-readable security attributes. Security labeling refers to the use of security attributes for internal system data structures. Security marking is generally not required for hardware components that process, store, or transmit information determined by organizations to be in the public domain or to be publicly releasable. However, organizations may require markings for hardware components that process, store, or transmit public information in order to indicate that such information is publicly releasable. Marking of system hardware components reflects applicable laws, executive orders, directives, policies, regulations, and standards. |
What is PE-23 Facility Location? | Physical and environmental hazards include floods, fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorism, vandalism, an electromagnetic pulse, electrical interference, and other forms of incoming electromagnetic radiation. The location of system components within the facility is addressed in PE-18. |
What is PL-1 Policy and Procedures? | Planning policy and procedures for the controls in the PL family implemented within systems and organizations. The risk management strategy is an important factor in establishing such policies and procedures. Policies and procedures contribute to security and privacy assurance. Therefore, it is important that security and privacy programs collaborate on their development. Security and privacy program policies and procedures at the organization level are preferable, in general, and may obviate the need for mission level or system-specific policies and procedures. The policy can be included as part of the general security and privacy policy or be represented by multiple policies that reflect the complex nature of organizations. Procedures can be established for security and privacy programs, for mission/business processes, and for systems, if needed. Procedures describe how the policies or controls are implemented and can be directed at the individual or role that is the object of the procedure. Procedures can be documented in system security and privacy plans or in one or more separate documents. Events that may precipitate an update to planning policy and procedures include, but are not limited to, assessment or audit findings, security incidents or breaches, or changes in laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. Simply restating controls does not constitute an organizational policy or procedure. |
What is PL-2 System Security and Privacy Plans? | System security and privacy plans are scoped to the system and system components within the defined authorization boundary and contain an overview of the security and privacy requirements for the system and the controls selected to satisfy the requirements. The plans describe the intended application of each selected control in the context of the system with a sufficient level of detail to correctly implement the control and to subsequently assess the effectiveness of the control. The control documentation describes how system-specific and hybrid controls are implemented and the plans and expectations regarding the functionality of the system. System security and privacy plans can also be used in the design and development of systems in support of life cycle-based security and privacy engineering processes. System security and privacy plans are living documents that are updated and adapted throughout the system development life cycle (e.g., during capability determination, analysis of alternatives, requests for proposal, and design reviews). Section 2.1 describes the different types of requirements that are relevant to organizations during the system development life cycle and the relationship between requirements and controls.
Organizations may develop a single, integrated security and privacy plan or maintain separate plans. Security and privacy plans relate security and privacy requirements to a set of controls and control enhancements. The plans describe how the controls and control enhancements meet the security and privacy requirements but do not provide detailed, technical descriptions of the design or implementation of the controls and control enhancements. Security and privacy plans contain sufficient information (including specifications of control parameter values for selection and assignment operations explicitly or by reference) to enable a design and implementation that is unambiguously compliant with the intent of the plans and subsequent determinations of risk to organizational operations and assets, individuals, other organizations, and the Nation if the plan is implemented.
Security and privacy plans need not be single documents. The plans can be a collection of various documents, including documents that already exist. Effective security and privacy plans make extensive use of references to policies, procedures, and additional documents, including design and implementation specifications where more detailed information can be obtained. The use of references helps reduce the documentation associated with security and privacy programs and maintains the security- and privacy-related information in other established management and operational areas, including enterprise architecture, system development life cycle, systems engineering, and acquisition. Security and privacy plans need not contain detailed contingency plan or incident response plan information but can instead provide—explicitly or by reference—sufficient information to define what needs to be accomplished by those plans.
Security- and privacy-related activities that may require coordination and planning with other individuals or groups within the organization include assessments, audits, inspections, hardware and software maintenance, acquisition and supply chain risk management, patch management, and contingency plan testing. Planning and coordination include emergency and nonemergency (i.e., planned or non-urgent unplanned) situations. The process defined by organizations to plan and coordinate security- and privacy-related activities can also be included in other documents, as appropriate. |
What is PL-4 Rules of Behavior? | Rules of behavior represent a type of access agreement for organizational users. Other types of access agreements include nondisclosure agreements, conflict-of-interest agreements, and acceptable use agreements (see PS-6). Organizations consider rules of behavior based on individual user roles and responsibilities and differentiate between rules that apply to privileged users and rules that apply to general users. Establishing rules of behavior for some types of non-organizational users, including individuals who receive information from federal systems, is often not feasible given the large number of such users and the limited nature of their interactions with the systems. Rules of behavior for organizational and non-organizational users can also be established in AC-8. The related controls section provides a list of controls that are relevant to organizational rules of behavior. PL-4b, the documented acknowledgment portion of the control, may be satisfied by the literacy training and awareness and role-based training programs conducted by organizations if such training includes rules of behavior. Documented acknowledgements for rules of behavior include electronic or physical signatures and electronic agreement check boxes or radio buttons. |
What is PL-4(1) Rules of Behavior | Social Media and External Site/application Usage Restrictions? | Social media, social networking, and external site/application usage restrictions address rules of behavior related to the use of social media, social networking, and external sites when organizational personnel are using such sites for official duties or in the conduct of official business, when organizational information is involved in social media and social networking transactions, and when personnel access social media and networking sites from organizational systems. Organizations also address specific rules that prevent unauthorized entities from obtaining non-public organizational information from social media and networking sites either directly or through inference. Non-public information includes personally identifiable information and system account information. |
What is PL-7 Concept of Operations? | The CONOPS may be included in the security or privacy plans for the system or in other system development life cycle documents. The CONOPS is a living document that requires updating throughout the system development life cycle. For example, during system design reviews, the concept of operations is checked to ensure that it remains consistent with the design for controls, the system architecture, and the operational procedures. Changes to the CONOPS are reflected in ongoing updates to the security and privacy plans, security and privacy architectures, and other organizational documents, such as procurement specifications, system development life cycle documents, and systems engineering documents. |
What is PL-8 Security and Privacy Architectures? | The security and privacy architectures at the system level are consistent with the organization-wide security and privacy architectures described in PM-7, which are integral to and developed as part of the enterprise architecture. The architectures include an architectural description, the allocation of security and privacy functionality (including controls), security- and privacy-related information for external interfaces, information being exchanged across the interfaces, and the protection mechanisms associated with each interface. The architectures can also include other information, such as user roles and the access privileges assigned to each role; security and privacy requirements; types of information processed, stored, and transmitted by the system; supply chain risk management requirements; restoration priorities of information and system services; and other protection needs.
SP 800-160-1 provides guidance on the use of security architectures as part of the system development life cycle process. OMB M-19-03 requires the use of the systems security engineering concepts described in SP 800-160-1 for high value assets. Security and privacy architectures are reviewed and updated throughout the system development life cycle, from analysis of alternatives through review of the proposed architecture in the RFP responses to the design reviews before and during implementation (e.g., during preliminary design reviews and critical design reviews).
In today’s modern computing architectures, it is becoming less common for organizations to control all information resources. There may be key dependencies on external information services and service providers. Describing such dependencies in the security and privacy architectures is necessary for developing a comprehensive mission and business protection strategy. Establishing, developing, documenting, and maintaining under configuration control a baseline configuration for organizational systems is critical to implementing and maintaining effective architectures. The development of the architectures is coordinated with the senior agency information security officer and the senior agency official for privacy to ensure that the controls needed to support security and privacy requirements are identified and effectively implemented. In many circumstances, there may be no distinction between the security and privacy architecture for a system. In other circumstances, security objectives may be adequately satisfied, but privacy objectives may only be partially satisfied by the security requirements. In these cases, consideration of the privacy requirements needed to achieve satisfaction will result in a distinct privacy architecture. The documentation, however, may simply reflect the combined architectures.
PL-8 is primarily directed at organizations to ensure that architectures are developed for the system and, moreover, that the architectures are integrated with or tightly coupled to the enterprise architecture. In contrast, SA-17 is primarily directed at the external information technology product and system developers and integrators. SA-17, which is complementary to PL-8, is selected when organizations outsource the development of systems or components to external entities and when there is a need to demonstrate consistency with the organization’s enterprise architecture and security and privacy architectures. |
What is PL-8(1) Security and Privacy Architectures | Defense in Depth? | Organizations strategically allocate security and privacy controls in the security and privacy architectures so that adversaries must overcome multiple controls to achieve their objective. Requiring adversaries to defeat multiple controls makes it more difficult to attack information resources by increasing the work factor of the adversary; it also increases the likelihood of detection. The coordination of allocated controls is essential to ensure that an attack that involves one control does not create adverse, unintended consequences by interfering with other controls. Unintended consequences can include system lockout and cascading alarms. The placement of controls in systems and organizations is an important activity that requires thoughtful analysis. The value of organizational assets is an important consideration in providing additional layering. Defense-in-depth architectural approaches include modularity and layering (see SA-8(3)), separation of system and user functionality (see SC-2), and security function isolation (see SC-3). |
What is PL-8(2) Security and Privacy Architectures | Supplier Diversity? | Information technology products have different strengths and weaknesses. Providing a broad spectrum of products complements the individual offerings. For example, vendors offering malicious code protection typically update their products at different times, often developing solutions for known viruses, Trojans, or worms based on their priorities and development schedules. By deploying different products at different locations, there is an increased likelihood that at least one of the products will detect the malicious code. With respect to privacy, vendors may offer products that track personally identifiable information in systems. Products may use different tracking methods. Using multiple products may result in more assurance that personally identifiable information is inventoried. |
What is PL-9 Central Management? | 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(2), AC-2(3), AC-2(4), AC-4(all), AC-17(1), AC-17(2), AC-17(3), AC-17(9), AC-18(1), AC-18(3), AC-18(4), AC-18(5), AC-19(4), AC-22, AC-23, AT-2(1), AT-2(2), AT-3(1), AT-3(2), AT-3(3), AT-4, AU-3, AU-6(1), AU-6(3), AU-6(5), AU-6(6), AU-6(9), AU-7(1), AU-7(2), AU-11, AU-13, AU-16, CA-2(1), CA-2(2), CA-2(3), CA-3(1), CA-3(2), CA-3(3), CA-7(1), CA-9, CM-2(2), CM-3(1), CM-3(4), CM-4, CM-6, CM-6(1), CM-7(2), CM-7(4), CM-7(5), CM-8(all), CM-9(1), CM-10, CM-11, CP-7(all), CP-8(all), SC-43, SI-2, SI-3, SI-4(all), SI-7, SI-8. |
What is PL-10 Baseline Selection? | Control baselines are predefined sets of controls specifically assembled to address the protection needs of a group, organization, or community of interest. Controls are chosen for baselines to either satisfy mandates imposed by laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines or address threats common to all users of the baseline under the assumptions specific to the baseline. Baselines represent a starting point for the protection of individuals’ privacy, information, and information systems with subsequent tailoring actions to manage risk in accordance with mission, business, or other constraints (see PL-11). Federal control baselines are provided in SP 800-53B. The selection of a control baseline is determined by the needs of stakeholders. Stakeholder needs consider mission and business requirements as well as mandates imposed by applicable laws, executive orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidelines. For example, the control baselines in SP 800-53B are based on the requirements from FISMA and PRIVACT. The requirements, along with the NIST standards and guidelines implementing the legislation, direct organizations to select one of the control baselines after the reviewing the information types and the information that is processed, stored, and transmitted on the system; analyzing the potential adverse impact of the loss or compromise of the information or system on the organization’s operations and assets, individuals, other organizations, or the Nation; and considering the results from system and organizational risk assessments. CNSSI 1253 provides guidance on control baselines for national security systems. |
What is PL-11 Baseline Tailoring? | The concept of tailoring allows organizations to specialize or customize a set of baseline controls by applying a defined set of tailoring actions. Tailoring actions facilitate such specialization and customization by allowing organizations to develop security and privacy plans that reflect their specific mission and business functions, the environments where their systems operate, the threats and vulnerabilities that can affect their systems, and any other conditions or situations that can impact their mission or business success. Tailoring guidance is provided in SP 800-53B. Tailoring a control baseline is accomplished by identifying and designating common controls, applying scoping considerations, selecting compensating controls, assigning values to control parameters, supplementing the control baseline with additional controls as needed, and providing information for control implementation. The general tailoring actions in SP 800-53B can be supplemented with additional actions based on the needs of organizations. Tailoring actions can be applied to the baselines in SP 800-53B in accordance with the security and privacy requirements from FISMA, PRIVACT, and OMB A-130. Alternatively, other communities of interest adopting different control baselines can apply the tailoring actions in SP 800-53B to specialize or customize the controls that represent the specific needs and concerns of those entities. |
What is PM-1 Information Security Program Plan? | An information security program plan is a formal document that provides an overview of the security requirements for an organization-wide information security program and describes the program management controls and common controls in place or planned for meeting those requirements. An information security program plan can be represented in a single document or compilations of documents. Privacy program plans and supply chain risk management plans are addressed separately in PM-18 and SR-2, respectively.
An information security program plan documents implementation details about program management and common controls. The plan provides sufficient information about the controls (including specification of parameters for assignment and selection operations, explicitly or by reference) to enable implementations that are unambiguously compliant with the intent of the plan and a determination of the risk to be incurred if the plan is implemented as intended. Updates to information security program plans include organizational changes and problems identified during plan implementation or control assessments.
Program management controls may be implemented at the organization level or the mission or business process level, and are essential for managing the organization’s information security program. Program management controls are distinct from common, system-specific, and hybrid controls because program management controls are independent of any particular system. Together, the individual system security plans and the organization-wide information security program plan provide complete coverage for the security controls employed within the organization.
Common controls available for inheritance by organizational systems are documented in an appendix to the organization’s information security program plan unless the controls are included in a separate security plan for a system. The organization-wide information security program plan indicates which separate security plans contain descriptions of common controls.
Events that may precipitate an update to the information security program plan include, but are not limited to, organization-wide assessment or audit findings, security incidents or breaches, or changes in laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. |
What is PM-2 Information Security Program Leadership Role? | The senior agency information security officer is an organizational official. For federal agencies (as defined by applicable laws, executive orders, regulations, directives, policies, and standards), this official is the senior agency information security officer. Organizations may also refer to this official as the senior information security officer or chief information security officer. |
What is PM-3 Information Security and Privacy Resources? | Organizations consider establishing champions for information security and privacy and, as part of including the necessary resources, assign specialized expertise and resources as needed. Organizations may designate and empower an Investment Review Board or similar group to manage and provide oversight for the information security and privacy aspects of the capital planning and investment control process. |
What is PM-4 Plan of Action and Milestones Process? | The plan of action and milestones is a key organizational document and is subject to reporting requirements established by the Office of Management and Budget. Organizations develop plans of action and milestones with an organization-wide perspective, prioritizing risk response actions and ensuring consistency with the goals and objectives of the organization. Plan of action and milestones updates are based on findings from control assessments and continuous monitoring activities. There can be multiple plans of action and milestones corresponding to the information system level, mission/business process level, and organizational/governance level. While plans of action and milestones are required for federal organizations, other types of organizations can help reduce risk by documenting and tracking planned remediations. Specific guidance on plans of action and milestones at the system level is provided in CA-5. |
What is PM-5 System Inventory? | OMB A-130 provides guidance on developing systems inventories and associated reporting requirements. System inventory refers to an organization-wide inventory of systems, not system components as described in CM-8. |
What is PM-5(1) System Inventory | Inventory of Personally Identifiable Information? | An inventory of systems, applications, and projects that process personally identifiable information supports the mapping of data actions, providing individuals with privacy notices, maintaining accurate personally identifiable information, and limiting the processing of personally identifiable information when such information is not needed for operational purposes. Organizations may use this inventory to ensure that systems only process the personally identifiable information for authorized purposes and that this processing is still relevant and necessary for the purpose specified therein. |
What is PM-6 Measures of Performance? | Measures of performance are outcome-based metrics used by an organization to measure the effectiveness or efficiency of the information security and privacy programs and the controls employed in support of the program. To facilitate security and privacy risk management, organizations consider aligning measures of performance with the organizational risk tolerance as defined in the risk management strategy. |
What is PM-7 Enterprise Architecture? | The integration of security and privacy requirements and controls into the enterprise architecture helps to ensure that security and privacy considerations are addressed throughout the system development life cycle and are explicitly related to the organization’s mission and business processes. The process of security and privacy requirements integration also embeds into the enterprise architecture and the organization’s security and privacy architectures consistent with the organizational risk management strategy. For PM-7, security and privacy architectures are developed at a system-of-systems level, representing all organizational systems. For PL-8, the security and privacy architectures are developed at a level that represents an individual system. The system-level architectures are consistent with the security and privacy architectures defined for the organization. Security and privacy requirements and control integration are most effectively accomplished through the rigorous application of the Risk Management Framework SP 800-37 and supporting security standards and guidelines. |
What is PM-7(1) Enterprise Architecture | Offloading? | Not every function or service that a system provides is essential to organizational mission or business functions. Printing or copying is an example of a non-essential but supporting service for an organization. Whenever feasible, such supportive but non-essential functions or services are not co-located with the functions or services that support essential mission or business functions. Maintaining such functions on the same system or system component increases the attack surface of the organization’s mission-essential functions or services. Moving supportive but non-essential functions to a non-critical system, system component, or external provider can also increase efficiency by putting those functions or services under the control of individuals or providers who are subject matter experts in the functions or services. |
What is PM-8 Critical Infrastructure Plan? | Protection strategies are based on the prioritization of critical assets and resources. The requirement and guidance for defining critical infrastructure and key resources and for preparing an associated critical infrastructure protection plan are found in applicable laws, executive orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidelines. |
What is PM-9 Risk Management Strategy? | An organization-wide risk management strategy includes an expression of the security and privacy risk tolerance for the organization, security and privacy risk mitigation strategies, acceptable risk assessment methodologies, a process for evaluating security and privacy risk across the organization with respect to the organization’s risk tolerance, and approaches for monitoring risk over time. The senior accountable official for risk management (agency head or designated official) aligns information security management processes with strategic, operational, and budgetary planning processes. The risk executive function, led by the senior accountable official for risk management, can facilitate consistent application of the risk management strategy organization-wide. The risk management strategy can be informed by security and privacy risk-related inputs from other sources, both internal and external to the organization, to ensure that the strategy is broad-based and comprehensive. The supply chain risk management strategy described in PM-30 can also provide useful inputs to the organization-wide risk management strategy. |
What is PM-10 Authorization Process? | Authorization processes for organizational systems and environments of operation require the implementation of an organization-wide risk management process and associated security and privacy standards and guidelines. Specific roles for risk management processes include a risk executive (function) and designated authorizing officials for each organizational system and common control provider. The authorization processes for the organization are integrated with continuous monitoring processes to facilitate ongoing understanding and acceptance of security and privacy risks to organizational operations, organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, and the Nation. |
What is PM-11 Mission and Business Process Definition? | Protection needs are technology-independent capabilities that are required to counter threats to organizations, individuals, systems, and the Nation through the compromise of information (i.e., loss of confidentiality, integrity, availability, or privacy). Information protection and personally identifiable information processing needs are derived from the mission and business needs defined by organizational stakeholders, the mission and business processes designed to meet those needs, and the organizational risk management strategy. Information protection and personally identifiable information processing needs determine the required controls for the organization and the systems. Inherent to defining protection and personally identifiable information processing needs is an understanding of the adverse impact that could result if a compromise or breach of information occurs. The categorization process is used to make such potential impact determinations. Privacy risks to individuals can arise from the compromise of personally identifiable information, but they can also arise as unintended consequences or a byproduct of the processing of personally identifiable information at any stage of the information life cycle. Privacy risk assessments are used to prioritize the risks that are created for individuals from system processing of personally identifiable information. These risk assessments enable the selection of the required privacy controls for the organization and systems. Mission and business process definitions and the associated protection requirements are documented in accordance with organizational policies and procedures. |
What is PM-12 Insider Threat Program? | Organizations that handle classified information are required, under Executive Order 13587 EO 13587 and the National Insider Threat Policy ODNI NITP, to establish insider threat programs. The same standards and guidelines that apply to insider threat programs in classified environments can also be employed effectively to improve the security of controlled unclassified and other information in non-national security systems. Insider threat programs include controls to detect and prevent malicious insider activity through the centralized integration and analysis of both technical and nontechnical information to identify potential insider threat concerns. A senior official is designated by the department or agency head as the responsible individual to implement and provide oversight for the program. In addition to the centralized integration and analysis capability, insider threat programs require organizations to prepare department or agency insider threat policies and implementation plans, conduct host-based user monitoring of individual employee activities on government-owned classified computers, provide insider threat awareness training to employees, receive access to information from offices in the department or agency for insider threat analysis, and conduct self-assessments of department or agency insider threat posture.
Insider threat programs can leverage the existence of incident handling teams that organizations may already have in place, such as computer security incident response teams. Human resources records are especially important in this effort, as there is compelling evidence to show that some types of insider crimes are often preceded by nontechnical behaviors in the workplace, including ongoing patterns of disgruntled behavior and conflicts with coworkers and other colleagues. These precursors can guide organizational officials in more focused, targeted monitoring efforts. However, the use of human resource records could raise significant concerns for privacy. The participation of a legal team, including consultation with the senior agency official for privacy, ensures that monitoring activities are performed in accordance with applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. |
What is PM-13 Security and Privacy Workforce? | Security and privacy workforce development and improvement programs include defining the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform security and privacy duties and tasks; developing role-based training programs for individuals assigned security and privacy roles and responsibilities; and providing standards and guidelines for measuring and building individual qualifications for incumbents and applicants for security- and privacy-related positions. Such workforce development and improvement programs can also include security and privacy career paths to encourage security and privacy professionals to advance in the field and fill positions with greater responsibility. The programs encourage organizations to fill security- and privacy-related positions with qualified personnel. Security and privacy workforce development and improvement programs are complementary to organizational security awareness and training programs and focus on developing and institutionalizing the core security and privacy capabilities of personnel needed to protect organizational operations, assets, and individuals. |
What is PM-14 Testing, Training, and Monitoring? | A process for organization-wide security and privacy testing, training, and monitoring helps ensure that organizations provide oversight for testing, training, and monitoring activities and that those activities are coordinated. With the growing importance of continuous monitoring programs, the implementation of information security and privacy across the three levels of the risk management hierarchy and the widespread use of common controls, organizations coordinate and consolidate the testing and monitoring activities that are routinely conducted as part of ongoing assessments supporting a variety of controls. Security and privacy training activities, while focused on individual systems and specific roles, require coordination across all organizational elements. Testing, training, and monitoring plans and activities are informed by current threat and vulnerability assessments. |
What is PM-15 Security and Privacy Groups and Associations? | Ongoing contact with security and privacy groups and associations is important in an environment of rapidly changing technologies and threats. Groups and associations include special interest groups, professional associations, forums, news groups, users’ groups, and peer groups of security and privacy professionals in similar organizations. Organizations select security and privacy groups and associations based on mission and business functions. Organizations share threat, vulnerability, and incident information as well as contextual insights, compliance techniques, and privacy problems consistent with applicable laws, executive orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidelines. |
What is PM-16 Threat Awareness Program? | Because of the constantly changing and increasing sophistication of adversaries, especially the advanced persistent threat (APT), it may be more likely that adversaries can successfully breach or compromise organizational systems. One of the best techniques to address this concern is for organizations to share threat information, including threat events (i.e., tactics, techniques, and procedures) that organizations have experienced, mitigations that organizations have found are effective against certain types of threats, and threat intelligence (i.e., indications and warnings about threats). Threat information sharing may be bilateral or multilateral. Bilateral threat sharing includes government-to-commercial and government-to-government cooperatives. Multilateral threat sharing includes organizations taking part in threat-sharing consortia. Threat information may require special agreements and protection, or it may be freely shared. |
What is PM-16(1) Threat Awareness Program | Automated Means for Sharing Threat Intelligence? | To maximize the effectiveness of monitoring, it is important to know what threat observables and indicators the sensors need to be searching for. By using well-established frameworks, services, and automated tools, organizations improve their ability to rapidly share and feed the relevant threat detection signatures into monitoring tools. |
What is PM-17 Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information on External Systems? | Controlled unclassified information is defined by the National Archives and Records Administration along with the safeguarding and dissemination requirements for such information and is codified in 32 CFR 2002 and, specifically for systems external to the federal organization, 32 CFR 2002.14h. The policy prescribes the specific use and conditions to be implemented in accordance with organizational procedures, including via its contracting processes. |
What is PM-18 Privacy Program Plan? | A privacy program plan is a formal document that provides an overview of an organization’s privacy program, including a description of the structure of the privacy program, the resources dedicated to the privacy program, the role of the senior agency official for privacy and other privacy officials and staff, the strategic goals and objectives of the privacy program, and the program management controls and common controls in place or planned for meeting applicable privacy requirements and managing privacy risks. Privacy program plans can be represented in single documents or compilations of documents.
The senior agency official for privacy is responsible for designating which privacy controls the organization will treat as program management, common, system-specific, and hybrid controls. Privacy program plans provide sufficient information about the privacy program management and common controls (including the specification of parameters and assignment and selection operations explicitly or by reference) to enable control implementations that are unambiguously compliant with the intent of the plans and a determination of the risk incurred if the plans are implemented as intended.
Program management controls are generally implemented at the organization level and are essential for managing the organization’s privacy program. Program management controls are distinct from common, system-specific, and hybrid controls because program management controls are independent of any particular information system. Together, the privacy plans for individual systems and the organization-wide privacy program plan provide complete coverage for the privacy controls employed within the organization.
Common controls are documented in an appendix to the organization’s privacy program plan unless the controls are included in a separate privacy plan for a system. The organization-wide privacy program plan indicates which separate privacy plans contain descriptions of privacy controls. |
What is PM-19 Privacy Program Leadership Role? | The privacy officer is an organizational official. For federal agencies—as defined by applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines—this official is designated as the senior agency official for privacy. Organizations may also refer to this official as the chief privacy officer. The senior agency official for privacy also has roles on the data management board (see PM-23) and the data integrity board (see PM-24). |
What is PM-20 Dissemination of Privacy Program Information? | For federal agencies, the webpage is located at www.[agency].gov/privacy. Federal agencies include public privacy impact assessments, system of records notices, computer matching notices and agreements, PRIVACT exemption and implementation rules, privacy reports, privacy policies, instructions for individuals making an access or amendment request, email addresses for questions/complaints, blogs, and periodic publications. |
What is PM-20(1) Dissemination of Privacy Program Information | Privacy Policies on Websites, Applications, and Digital Services? | Organizations post privacy policies on all external-facing websites, mobile applications, and other digital services. Organizations post a link to the relevant privacy policy on any known, major entry points to the website, application, or digital service. In addition, organizations provide a link to the privacy policy on any webpage that collects personally identifiable information. Organizations may be subject to applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, or policies that require the provision of specific information to the public. Organizational personnel consult with the senior agency official for privacy and legal counsel regarding such requirements. |
What is PM-21 Accounting of Disclosures? | The purpose of accounting of disclosures is to allow individuals to learn to whom their personally identifiable information has been disclosed, to provide a basis for subsequently advising recipients of any corrected or disputed personally identifiable information, and to provide an audit trail for subsequent reviews of organizational compliance with conditions for disclosures. For federal agencies, keeping an accounting of disclosures is required by the PRIVACT; agencies should consult with their senior agency official for privacy and legal counsel on this requirement and be aware of the statutory exceptions and OMB guidance relating to the provision.
Organizations can use any system for keeping notations of disclosures, if it can construct from such a system, a document listing of all disclosures along with the required information. Automated mechanisms can be used by organizations to determine when personally identifiable information is disclosed, including commercial services that provide notifications and alerts. Accounting of disclosures may also be used to help organizations verify compliance with applicable privacy statutes and policies governing the disclosure or dissemination of information and dissemination restrictions. |
What is PM-22 Personally Identifiable Information Quality Management? | Personally identifiable information quality management includes steps that organizations take to confirm the accuracy and relevance of personally identifiable information throughout the information life cycle. The information life cycle includes the creation, collection, use, processing, storage, maintenance, dissemination, disclosure, and disposition of personally identifiable information. Organizational policies and procedures for personally identifiable information quality management are important because inaccurate or outdated personally identifiable information maintained by organizations may cause problems for individuals. Organizations consider the quality of personally identifiable information involved in business functions where inaccurate information may result in adverse decisions or the denial of benefits and services, or the disclosure of the information may cause stigmatization. Correct information, in certain circumstances, can cause problems for individuals that outweigh the benefits of organizations maintaining the information. Organizations consider creating policies and procedures for the removal of such information.
The senior agency official for privacy ensures that practical means and mechanisms exist and are accessible for individuals or their authorized representatives to seek the correction or deletion of personally identifiable information. Processes for correcting or deleting data are clearly defined and publicly available. Organizations use discretion in determining whether data is to be deleted or corrected based on the scope of requests, the changes sought, and the impact of the changes. Additionally, processes include the provision of responses to individuals of decisions to deny requests for correction or deletion. The responses include the reasons for the decisions, a means to record individual objections to the decisions, and a means of requesting reviews of the initial determinations.
Organizations notify individuals or their designated representatives when their personally identifiable information is corrected or deleted to provide transparency and confirm the completed action. Due to the complexity of data flows and storage, other entities may need to be informed of the correction or deletion. Notice supports the consistent correction and deletion of personally identifiable information across the data ecosystem. |
What is PM-23 Data Governance Body? | A Data Governance Body can help ensure that the organization has coherent policies and the ability to balance the utility of data with security and privacy requirements. The Data Governance Body establishes policies, procedures, and standards that facilitate data governance so that data, including personally identifiable information, is effectively managed and maintained in accordance with applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidance. Responsibilities can include developing and implementing guidelines that support data modeling, quality, integrity, and the de-identification needs of personally identifiable information across the information life cycle as well as reviewing and approving applications to release data outside of the organization, archiving the applications and the released data, and performing post-release monitoring to ensure that the assumptions made as part of the data release continue to be valid. Members include the chief information officer, senior agency information security officer, and senior agency official for privacy. Federal agencies are required to establish a Data Governance Body with specific roles and responsibilities in accordance with the EVIDACT and policies set forth under OMB M-19-23. |
What is PM-24 Data Integrity Board? | A Data Integrity Board is the board of senior officials designated by the head of a federal agency and is responsible for, among other things, reviewing the agency’s proposals to conduct or participate in a matching program and conducting an annual review of all matching programs in which the agency has participated. As a general matter, a matching program is a computerized comparison of records from two or more automated PRIVACT systems of records or an automated system of records and automated records maintained by a non-federal agency (or agent thereof). A matching program either pertains to Federal benefit programs or Federal personnel or payroll records. At a minimum, the Data Integrity Board includes the Inspector General of the agency, if any, and the senior agency official for privacy. |
What is PM-25 Minimization of Personally Identifiable Information Used in Testing, Training, and Research? | The use of personally identifiable information in testing, research, and training increases the risk of unauthorized disclosure or misuse of such information. Organizations consult with the senior agency official for privacy and/or legal counsel to ensure that the use of personally identifiable information in testing, training, and research is compatible with the original purpose for which it was collected. When possible, organizations use placeholder data to avoid exposure of personally identifiable information when conducting testing, training, and research. |
What is PM-26 Complaint Management? | Complaints, concerns, and questions from individuals can serve as valuable sources of input to organizations and ultimately improve operational models, uses of technology, data collection practices, and controls. Mechanisms that can be used by the public include telephone hotline, email, or web-based forms. The information necessary for successfully filing complaints includes contact information for the senior agency official for privacy or other official designated to receive complaints. Privacy complaints may also include personally identifiable information which is handled in accordance with relevant policies and processes. |
What is PM-27 Privacy Reporting? | Through internal and external reporting, organizations promote accountability and transparency in organizational privacy operations. Reporting can also help organizations to determine progress in meeting privacy compliance requirements and privacy controls, compare performance across the federal government, discover vulnerabilities, identify gaps in policy and implementation, and identify models for success. For federal agencies, privacy reports include annual senior agency official for privacy reports to OMB, reports to Congress required by Implementing Regulations of the 9/11 Commission Act, and other public reports required by law, regulation, or policy, including internal policies of organizations. The senior agency official for privacy consults with legal counsel, where appropriate, to ensure that organizations meet all applicable privacy reporting requirements. |
What is PM-28 Risk Framing? | Risk framing is most effective when conducted at the organization level and in consultation with stakeholders throughout the organization including mission, business, and system owners. The assumptions, constraints, risk tolerance, priorities, and trade-offs identified as part of the risk framing process inform the risk management strategy, which in turn informs the conduct of risk assessment, risk response, and risk monitoring activities. Risk framing results are shared with organizational personnel, including mission and business owners, information owners or stewards, system owners, authorizing officials, senior agency information security officer, senior agency official for privacy, and senior accountable official for risk management. |
What is PM-29 Risk Management Program Leadership Roles? | The senior accountable official for risk management leads the risk executive (function) in organization-wide risk management activities. |
What is PM-30 Supply Chain Risk Management Strategy? | An organization-wide supply chain risk management strategy includes an unambiguous expression of the supply chain risk appetite and tolerance for the organization, acceptable supply chain risk mitigation strategies or controls, a process for consistently evaluating and monitoring supply chain risk, approaches for implementing and communicating the supply chain risk management strategy, and the associated roles and responsibilities. Supply chain risk management includes considerations of the security and privacy risks associated with the development, acquisition, maintenance, and disposal of systems, system components, and system services. The supply chain risk management strategy can be incorporated into the organization’s overarching risk management strategy and can guide and inform supply chain policies and system-level supply chain risk management plans. In addition, the use of a risk executive function can facilitate a consistent, organization-wide application of the supply chain risk management strategy. The supply chain risk management strategy is implemented at the organization and mission/business levels, whereas the supply chain risk management plan (see SR-2) is implemented at the system level. |
What is PM-30(1) Supply Chain Risk Management Strategy | Suppliers of Critical or Mission-essential Items? | The identification and prioritization of suppliers of critical or mission-essential technologies, products, and services is paramount to the mission/business success of organizations. The assessment of suppliers is conducted using supplier reviews (see SR-6) and supply chain risk assessment processes (see RA-3(1)). An analysis of supply chain risk can help an organization identify systems or components for which additional supply chain risk mitigations are required. |
What is PM-31 Continuous Monitoring Strategy? | Continuous monitoring at the organization level facilitates ongoing awareness of the security and privacy posture across the organization to support organizational risk management decisions. The terms continuous and ongoing imply that organizations assess and monitor their controls and risks at a frequency sufficient to support risk-based decisions. Different types of controls may require different monitoring frequencies. The results of continuous monitoring guide and inform risk response actions by organizations. Continuous monitoring programs allow organizations to maintain the authorizations of systems and common controls in highly dynamic environments of operation with changing mission and business needs, threats, vulnerabilities, and technologies. Having access to security- and privacy-related information on a continuing basis through reports and dashboards gives organizational officials the capability to make effective, timely, and informed risk management decisions, including ongoing authorization decisions. To further facilitate security and privacy risk management, organizations consider aligning organization-defined monitoring metrics with organizational risk tolerance as defined in the risk management strategy. Monitoring requirements, including the need for monitoring, may be referenced in other controls and control enhancements such as, AC-2g, AC-2(7), AC-2(12)(a), AC-2(7)(b), AC-2(7)(c), AC-17(1), AT-4a, AU-13, AU-13(1), AU-13(2), CA-7, CM-3f, CM-6d, CM-11c, IR-5, MA-2b, MA-3a, MA-4a, PE-3d, PE-6, PE-14b, PE-16, PE-20, PM-6, PM-23, PS-7e, SA-9c, SC-5(3)(b), SC-7a, SC-7(24)(b), SC-18b, SC-43b, SI-4. |
What is PM-32 Purposing? | Systems are designed to support a specific mission or business function. However, over time, systems and system components may be used to support services and functions that are outside of the scope of the intended mission or business functions. This can result in exposing information resources to unintended environments and uses that can significantly increase threat exposure. In doing so, the systems are more vulnerable to compromise, which can ultimately impact the services and functions for which they were intended. This is especially impactful for mission-essential services and functions. By analyzing resource use, organizations can identify such potential exposures. |
What is PS-1 Policy and Procedures? | Personnel security policy and procedures for the controls in the PS family that are implemented within systems and organizations. The risk management strategy is an important factor in establishing such policies and procedures. Policies and procedures contribute to security and privacy assurance. Therefore, it is important that security and privacy programs collaborate on their development. Security and privacy program policies and procedures at the organization level are preferable, in general, and may obviate the need for mission level or system-specific policies and procedures. The policy can be included as part of the general security and privacy policy or be represented by multiple policies reflecting the complex nature of organizations. Procedures can be established for security and privacy programs, for mission/business processes, and for systems, if needed. Procedures describe how the policies or controls are implemented and can be directed at the individual or role that is the object of the procedure. Procedures can be documented in system security and privacy plans or in one or more separate documents. Events that may precipitate an update to personnel security policy and procedures include, but are not limited to, assessment or audit findings, security incidents or breaches, or changes in applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. Simply restating controls does not constitute an organizational policy or procedure. |
What is PS-2 Position Risk Designation? | Position risk designations reflect Office of Personnel Management (OPM) policy and guidance. Proper position designation is the foundation of an effective and consistent suitability and personnel security program. The Position Designation System (PDS) assesses the duties and responsibilities of a position to determine the degree of potential damage to the efficiency or integrity of the service due to misconduct of an incumbent of a position and establishes the risk level of that position. The PDS assessment also determines if the duties and responsibilities of the position present the potential for position incumbents to bring about a material adverse effect on national security and the degree of that potential effect, which establishes the sensitivity level of a position. The results of the assessment determine what level of investigation is conducted for a position. Risk designations can guide and inform the types of authorizations that individuals receive when accessing organizational information and information systems. Position screening criteria include explicit information security role appointment requirements. Parts 1400 and 731 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, establish the requirements for organizations to evaluate relevant covered positions for a position sensitivity and position risk designation commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of those positions. |
What is PS-3 Personnel Screening? | Personnel screening and rescreening activities reflect applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, guidelines, and specific criteria established for the risk designations of assigned positions. Examples of personnel screening include background investigations and agency checks. Organizations may define different rescreening conditions and frequencies for personnel accessing systems based on types of information processed, stored, or transmitted by the systems. |
What is PS-3(1) Personnel Screening | Classified Information? | Classified information is the most sensitive information that the Federal Government processes, stores, or transmits. It is imperative that individuals have the requisite security clearances and system access authorizations prior to gaining access to such information. Access authorizations are enforced by system access controls (see AC-3) and flow controls (see AC-4). |
What is PS-3(2) Personnel Screening | Formal Indoctrination? | Types of classified information that require formal indoctrination include Special Access Program (SAP), Restricted Data (RD), and Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). |
What is PS-3(3) Personnel Screening | Information Requiring Special Protective Measures? | Organizational information that requires special protection includes controlled unclassified information. Personnel security criteria include position sensitivity background screening requirements. |
What is PS-3(4) Personnel Screening | Citizenship Requirements? | None. |
What is PS-4 Personnel Termination? | System property includes hardware authentication tokens, system administration technical manuals, keys, identification cards, and building passes. Exit interviews ensure that terminated individuals understand the security constraints imposed by being former employees and that proper accountability is achieved for system-related property. Security topics at exit interviews include reminding individuals of nondisclosure agreements and potential limitations on future employment. Exit interviews may not always be possible for some individuals, including in cases related to the unavailability of supervisors, illnesses, or job abandonment. Exit interviews are important for individuals with security clearances. The timely execution of termination actions is essential for individuals who have been terminated for cause. In certain situations, organizations consider disabling the system accounts of individuals who are being terminated prior to the individuals being notified. |
What is PS-4(1) Personnel Termination | Post-employment Requirements? | Organizations consult with the Office of the General Counsel regarding matters of post-employment requirements on terminated individuals. |
What is PS-4(2) Personnel Termination | Automated Actions? | In organizations with many employees, not all personnel who need to know about termination actions receive the appropriate notifications, or if such notifications are received, they may not occur in a timely manner. Automated mechanisms can be used to send automatic alerts or notifications to organizational personnel or roles when individuals are terminated. Such automatic alerts or notifications can be conveyed in a variety of ways, including via telephone, electronic mail, text message, or websites. Automated mechanisms can also be employed to quickly and thoroughly disable access to system resources after an employee is terminated. |
What is PS-5 Personnel Transfer? | Personnel transfer applies when reassignments or transfers of individuals are permanent or of such extended duration as to make the actions warranted. Organizations define actions appropriate for the types of reassignments or transfers, whether permanent or extended. Actions that may be required for personnel transfers or reassignments to other positions within organizations include returning old and issuing new keys, identification cards, and building passes; closing system accounts and establishing new accounts; changing system access authorizations (i.e., privileges); and providing for access to official records to which individuals had access at previous work locations and in previous system accounts. |
What is PS-6 Access Agreements? | Access agreements include nondisclosure agreements, acceptable use agreements, rules of behavior, and conflict-of-interest agreements. Signed access agreements include an acknowledgement that individuals have read, understand, and agree to abide by the constraints associated with organizational systems to which access is authorized. Organizations can use electronic signatures to acknowledge access agreements unless specifically prohibited by organizational policy. |
What is PS-6(2) Access Agreements | Classified Information Requiring Special Protection? | Classified information that requires special protection includes collateral information, Special Access Program (SAP) information, and Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). Personnel security criteria reflect applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. |
What is PS-6(3) Access Agreements | Post-employment Requirements? | Organizations consult with the Office of the General Counsel regarding matters of post-employment requirements on terminated individuals. |
What is PS-7 External Personnel Security? | External provider refers to organizations other than the organization operating or acquiring the system. External providers include service bureaus, contractors, and other organizations that provide system development, information technology services, testing or assessment services, outsourced applications, and network/security management. Organizations explicitly include personnel security requirements in acquisition-related documents. External providers may have personnel working at organizational facilities with credentials, badges, or system privileges issued by organizations. Notifications of external personnel changes ensure the appropriate termination of privileges and credentials. Organizations define the transfers and terminations deemed reportable by security-related characteristics that include functions, roles, and the nature of credentials or privileges associated with transferred or terminated individuals. |
What is PS-8 Personnel Sanctions? | Organizational sanctions reflect applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. Sanctions processes are described in access agreements and can be included as part of general personnel policies for organizations and/or specified in security and privacy policies. Organizations consult with the Office of the General Counsel regarding matters of employee sanctions. |
What is PS-9 Position Descriptions? | Specification of security and privacy roles in individual organizational position descriptions facilitates clarity in understanding the security or privacy responsibilities associated with the roles and the role-based security and privacy training requirements for the roles. |
What is PT-1 Policy and Procedures? | Personally identifiable information processing and transparency policy and procedures address the controls in the PT family that are implemented within systems and organizations. The risk management strategy is an important factor in establishing such policies and procedures. Policies and procedures contribute to security and privacy assurance. Therefore, it is important that security and privacy programs collaborate on the development of personally identifiable information processing and transparency policy and procedures. Security and privacy program policies and procedures at the organization level are preferable, in general, and may obviate the need for mission- or system-specific policies and procedures. The policy can be included as part of the general security and privacy policy or be represented by multiple policies that reflect the complex nature of organizations. Procedures can be established for security and privacy programs, for mission or business processes, and for systems, if needed. Procedures describe how the policies or controls are implemented and can be directed at the individual or role that is the object of the procedure. Procedures can be documented in system security and privacy plans or in one or more separate documents. Events that may precipitate an update to personally identifiable information processing and transparency policy and procedures include assessment or audit findings, breaches, or changes in applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. Simply restating controls does not constitute an organizational policy or procedure. |
What is PT-2 Authority to Process Personally Identifiable Information? | The processing of personally identifiable information is an operation or set of operations that the information system or organization performs with respect to personally identifiable information across the information life cycle. Processing includes but is not limited to creation, collection, use, processing, storage, maintenance, dissemination, disclosure, and disposal. Processing operations also include logging, generation, and transformation, as well as analysis techniques, such as data mining.
Organizations may be subject to laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, or policies that establish the organization’s authority and thereby limit certain types of processing of personally identifiable information or establish other requirements related to the processing. Organizational personnel consult with the senior agency official for privacy and legal counsel regarding such authority, particularly if the organization is subject to multiple jurisdictions or sources of authority. For organizations whose processing is not determined according to legal authorities, the organization’s policies and determinations govern how they process personally identifiable information. While processing of personally identifiable information may be legally permissible, privacy risks may still arise. Privacy risk assessments can identify the privacy risks associated with the authorized processing of personally identifiable information and support solutions to manage such risks.
Organizations consider applicable requirements and organizational policies to determine how to document this authority. For federal agencies, the authority to process personally identifiable information is documented in privacy policies and notices, system of records notices, privacy impact assessments, PRIVACT statements, computer matching agreements and notices, contracts, information sharing agreements, memoranda of understanding, and other documentation.
Organizations take steps to ensure that personally identifiable information is only processed for authorized purposes, including training organizational personnel on the authorized processing of personally identifiable information and monitoring and auditing organizational use of personally identifiable information. |
What is PT-2(1) Authority to Process Personally Identifiable Information | Data Tagging? | Data tags support the tracking and enforcement of authorized processing by conveying the types of processing that are authorized along with the relevant elements of personally identifiable information throughout the system. Data tags may also support the use of automated tools. |
What is PT-2(2) Authority to Process Personally Identifiable Information | Automation? | Automated mechanisms augment verification that only authorized processing is occurring. |
What is PT-3 Personally Identifiable Information Processing Purposes? | Identifying and documenting the purpose for processing provides organizations with a basis for understanding why personally identifiable information may be processed. The term process includes every step of the information life cycle, including creation, collection, use, processing, storage, maintenance, dissemination, disclosure, and disposal. Identifying and documenting the purpose of processing is a prerequisite to enabling owners and operators of the system and individuals whose information is processed by the system to understand how the information will be processed. This enables individuals to make informed decisions about their engagement with information systems and organizations and to manage their privacy interests. Once the specific processing purpose has been identified, the purpose is described in the organization’s privacy notices, policies, and any related privacy compliance documentation, including privacy impact assessments, system of records notices, PRIVACT statements, computer matching notices, and other applicable Federal Register notices.
Organizations take steps to help ensure that personally identifiable information is processed only for identified purposes, including training organizational personnel and monitoring and auditing organizational processing of personally identifiable information.
Organizations monitor for changes in personally identifiable information processing. Organizational personnel consult with the senior agency official for privacy and legal counsel to ensure that any new purposes that arise from changes in processing are compatible with the purpose for which the information was collected, or if the new purpose is not compatible, implement mechanisms in accordance with defined requirements to allow for the new processing, if appropriate. Mechanisms may include obtaining consent from individuals, revising privacy policies, or other measures to manage privacy risks that arise from changes in personally identifiable information processing purposes. |
What is PT-3(1) Personally Identifiable Information Processing Purposes | Data Tagging? | Data tags support the tracking of processing purposes by conveying the purposes along with the relevant elements of personally identifiable information throughout the system. By conveying the processing purposes in a data tag along with the personally identifiable information as the information transits a system, a system owner or operator can identify whether a change in processing would be compatible with the identified and documented purposes. Data tags may also support the use of automated tools. |
What is PT-3(2) Personally Identifiable Information Processing Purposes | Automation? | Automated mechanisms augment tracking of the processing purposes. |
What is PT-4 Consent? | Consent allows individuals to participate in making decisions about the processing of their information and transfers some of the risk that arises from the processing of personally identifiable information from the organization to an individual. Consent may be required by applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, or guidelines. Otherwise, when selecting consent as a control, organizations consider whether individuals can be reasonably expected to understand and accept the privacy risks that arise from their authorization. Organizations consider whether other controls may more effectively mitigate privacy risk either alone or in conjunction with consent. Organizations also consider any demographic or contextual factors that may influence the understanding or behavior of individuals with respect to the processing carried out by the system or organization. When soliciting consent from individuals, organizations consider the appropriate mechanism for obtaining consent, including the type of consent (e.g., opt-in, opt-out), how to properly authenticate and identity proof individuals and how to obtain consent through electronic means. In addition, organizations consider providing a mechanism for individuals to revoke consent once it has been provided, as appropriate. Finally, organizations consider usability factors to help individuals understand the risks being accepted when providing consent, including the use of plain language and avoiding technical jargon. |
What is PT-4(1) Consent | Tailored Consent? | While some processing may be necessary for the basic functionality of the product or service, other processing may not. In these circumstances, organizations allow individuals to select how specific personally identifiable information elements may be processed. More tailored consent may help reduce privacy risk, increase individual satisfaction, and avoid adverse behaviors, such as abandonment of the product or service. |