What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on MP-7(2) Media Use | Prohibit Use of Sanitization-resistant Media?

System media protection policy; System use policy; Procedures addressing media usage restrictions; Rules of behavior; System configuration settings and associated documentation; System security plan.

What is the most common gap auditors find on MP-7(2)?

Sanitization-resistant media such as certain solid-state devices are in use without restriction

NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · MP - Media Protection

`MP-7(2)` Media Use | Prohibit Use of Sanitization-resistant Media

Prohibit the use of sanitization-resistant media in organizational systems.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, MP-7(2). 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.

artefacts

held by a system

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

Rules of behavior · Data governance / DLP tooling

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Test of Organizational processes for media use; mechanisms prohibiting use of media on systems or system components · Data governance / DLP tooling

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

System media protection policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System use policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Procedures addressing media usage restrictions · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System configuration settings and associated documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 1 system-held artefact from your Data governance / DLP tooling on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Sanitization-resistant media such as certain solid-state devices are in use without restriction
No inventory identifies which media types in use resist sanitization

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.

Build my evidence sheet

MP-7 Media Use · MP-8 Media Downgrading