EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · PE - Physical and Environmental Protection

PE-6 Monitoring Physical Access

a. Monitor physical access to the facility where the system resides to detect and respond to physical security incidents; b. Review physical access logs organization-defined frequency and upon occurrence of organization-defined events or potential indications of events; and c. Coordinate results of reviews and investigations with the organizational incident response capability.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, PE-6. 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.

7
artefacts
2
held by a system
2
at each review
moderate
to go live
Physical access / facilities
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

  • Physical access logs or records · Physical access / facilities
  • Physical access monitoring records · Physical access / facilities

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Physical access log reviews · Physical access / facilities
  • Test of Organizational processes for monitoring physical access; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing physical access monitoring; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the review of physical access logs · Physical access / facilities

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Physical and environmental protection policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Procedures addressing physical access monitoring · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 2 of 7 artefacts that already live in a system (Physical access / facilities); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

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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PE-5(2) Access Control for Output Devices | Link to Individual Identity · PE-6(1) Monitoring Physical Access | Intrusion Alarms and Surveillance Equipment