EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · PM - Program Management

PM-31 Continuous Monitoring Strategy

Develop an organization-wide continuous monitoring strategy and implement continuous monitoring programs that include: a. Establishing the following organization-wide metrics to be monitored: organization-defined metrics; b. Establishing organization-defined monitoring frequencies and organization-defined assessment frequencies for control effectiveness; c. Ongoing monitoring of organizationally-defined metrics in accordance with the continuous monitoring strategy; d. Correlation and analysis of information generated by control assessments and monitoring; e. Response actions to address results of the analysis of control assessment and monitoring information; and f. Reporting the security and privacy status of organizational systems to organization-defined personnel or roles organization-defined frequency.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, PM-31. 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.

10
artefacts
0
held by a system
2
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

  • Information security continuous monitoring program assessment documentation, reporting, metrics, and artifacts · SIEM / log platform
  • Test of Organizational procedures and mechanisms used for information security, privacy, and supply chain continuous monitoring · SIEM / log platform

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Information security program plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Privacy program plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Supply chain risk management plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Continuous monitoring strategy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Risk management strategy · Document repository
  • Information security continuous monitoring program documentation, reporting, metrics, and artifacts · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Assessment and authorization policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Procedures addressing the continuous monitoring of controls · 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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PM-30(1) Supply Chain Risk Management Strategy | Suppliers of Critical or Mission-essential Items · PM-32 Purposing