NIST 800-53 Rev 5 Controls

Comprehensive security and privacy controls for federal information systems, with specific relevance to AI systems.

17 Controls
10 Control Families
14 High Priority

Control Families

AC

3

Access Control

High Priority:3

AU

1

Audit and Accountability

High Priority:1

CM

1

Configuration Management

High Priority:0

IA

1

Identification and Authentication

High Priority:1

IR

1

Incident Response

High Priority:1

RA

1

Risk Assessment

High Priority:0

SA

1

System and Services Acquisition

High Priority:0

SC

1

System and Communications Protection

High Priority:1

SI

2

System and Information Integrity

High Priority:2

SR

5

Supply Chain Risk Management

High Priority:5

All Controls

AC-2
High

Account Management

Access Control

The organization manages information system accounts, including establishing, activating, modifying, reviewing, disabling, and removing accounts.

AI Relevance

Critical for managing access to AI models, training data, and inference services. Ensures only authorized users can access sensitive AI resources.

AC-3IA-2IA-4+1
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AC-3
High

Access Enforcement

Access Control

The information system enforces approved authorizations for logical access to information and system resources in accordance with applicable access control policies.

AI Relevance

Essential for controlling access to AI models, APIs, training data, and inference results. Prevents unauthorized access to sensitive AI resources.

AC-2AC-4AC-6+1
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AC-6
High

Least Privilege

Access Control

The organization employs the principle of least privilege, allowing only authorized accesses for users (or processes acting on behalf of users) that are necessary to accomplish assigned tasks.

AI Relevance

Critical for AI systems to ensure users only have access to necessary models, data, and functions. Prevents privilege escalation in AI environments.

AC-2AC-3AC-4+1
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SI-4
High

System Monitoring

System and Information Integrity

The organization monitors the information system to detect attacks and indicators of potential attacks in accordance with monitoring objectives.

AI Relevance

Essential for monitoring AI system behavior, detecting model drift, identifying adversarial attacks, and ensuring AI system integrity.

AU-2IR-4SI-3+1
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SI-7
High

Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity

System and Information Integrity

The organization employs integrity verification tools to detect unauthorized changes to software, firmware, and information.

AI Relevance

Critical for ensuring AI model integrity, preventing model tampering, and maintaining trust in AI system outputs and behavior.

CM-6SI-3SI-4+1
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SC-8
High

Transmission Confidentiality and Integrity

System and Communications Protection

The information system protects the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted information.

AI Relevance

Essential for protecting AI model communications, API calls, and data transmission between AI system components.

SC-7SC-9SC-12+1
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AU-2
High

Audit Events

Audit and Accountability

The information system generates audit records for the events defined in AU-2 a. through AU-2 d.

AI Relevance

Critical for auditing AI system usage, tracking model access, monitoring inference requests, and supporting AI security incident response.

AU-3AU-6SI-4+1
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CM-6
Medium

Configuration Settings

Configuration Management

The organization establishes and documents configuration settings for information technology products employed within the information system.

AI Relevance

Essential for securing AI system configurations, model parameters, and deployment settings to prevent unauthorized modifications.

CM-2CM-3CM-4+1
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IA-2
High

Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)

Identification and Authentication

The information system uniquely identifies and authenticates organizational users (or processes acting on behalf of organizational users).

AI Relevance

Critical for authenticating users accessing AI systems, APIs, and sensitive AI resources to prevent unauthorized access.

AC-2AC-3IA-4+1
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IR-4
High

Incident Handling

Incident Response

The organization implements an incident handling capability for security incidents that includes preparation, detection and analysis, containment, eradication, and recovery.

AI Relevance

Essential for responding to AI security incidents, model attacks, data breaches, and AI system compromises.

IR-2IR-3IR-6+1
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RA-2
Medium

Security Categorization

Risk Assessment

The organization categorizes information and the information system in accordance with applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidance.

AI Relevance

Critical for categorizing AI systems, models, and data based on their sensitivity and potential impact on organizational operations.

RA-1RA-3RA-5+1
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SA-11
Medium

Developer Security Testing and Evaluation

System and Services Acquisition

The organization requires the developer of the information system, system component, or information system service to create and implement a security assessment plan.

AI Relevance

Essential for ensuring AI systems and models are developed with security in mind and undergo proper security testing.

SA-10SA-12SA-15+1
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SR-1
High

Supply Chain Risk Management Policy and Procedures

Supply Chain Risk Management

The organization develops, documents, and disseminates to personnel a supply chain risk management policy that addresses purpose, scope, roles, responsibilities, management commitment, coordination among organizational entities, and compliance.

AI Relevance

Critical for managing risks associated with AI model supply chains, third-party AI services, and AI component vendors.

SR-2SR-3SR-4+1
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SR-2
High

Supply Chain Risk Management Plan

Supply Chain Risk Management

The organization develops a plan to manage supply chain risks associated with the information system, system component, or information system service.

AI Relevance

Essential for planning and managing risks in AI supply chains, including model providers, data sources, and AI infrastructure vendors.

SR-1SR-3SR-4+1
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SR-3
High

Supply Chain Controls and Processes

Supply Chain Risk Management

The organization establishes and maintains supply chain controls and processes to manage supply chain risks.

AI Relevance

Critical for implementing controls to manage risks from AI model providers, data vendors, and AI infrastructure suppliers.

SR-1SR-2SR-4+1
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SR-4
High

Provenance

Supply Chain Risk Management

The organization establishes and maintains provenance over information, information systems, system components, and information system services.

AI Relevance

Essential for tracking the origin and history of AI models, training data, and AI system components to ensure trust and authenticity.

SR-1SR-2SR-3+1
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SR-5
High

Acquisition Strategies, Tools, and Methods

Supply Chain Risk Management

The organization employs the following controls to develop and implement supply chain risk management strategies, tools, and methods.

AI Relevance

Critical for developing effective strategies and tools to manage risks in AI supply chains, including model acquisition and data procurement.

SR-1SR-2SR-3+1
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Framework Context

NIST 800-53 Rev 5

Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems

Official Documentation →

NIST AI RMF

AI Risk Management Framework

AI RMF Documentation →

OWASP AISVS

AI Security Verification Standard

AISVS Documentation →