EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · AC - Access Control

AC-20(1) Use of External Systems | Limits on Authorized Use

Permit authorized individuals to use an external system to access the system or to process, store, or transmit organization-controlled information only after: (a) Verification of the implementation of controls on the external system as specified in the organization’s security and privacy policies and security and privacy plans; or (b) Retention of approved system connection or processing agreements with the organizational entity hosting the external system.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, AC-20(1). The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 in the compliance library.

Base controls and their enhancements. Which apply follows the baseline you are assessed against (for example FedRAMP Moderate or High, or the low, moderate and high baselines of SP 800-53B). Text in square brackets is a parameter your organisation sets.

6
artefacts
0
held by a system
1
at each review
hard
to go live
Policy repository / GRC workspace
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Test of Mechanisms implementing limits on use of external systems · Identity provider / directory

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Access control policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Procedures addressing the use of external systems · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • System connection or processing agreements · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Account management documents · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

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AC-20 Use of External Systems · AC-20(2) Use of External Systems | Portable Storage Devices: Restricted Use