EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · PS - Personnel Security

PS-4 Personnel Termination

Upon termination of individual employment: a. Disable system access within organization-defined time period; b. Terminate or revoke any authenticators and credentials associated with the individual; c. Conduct exit interviews that include a discussion of organization-defined information security topics; d. Retrieve all security-related organizational system-related property; and e. Retain access to organizational information and systems formerly controlled by terminated individual.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, PS-4. 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.

8
artefacts
2
held by a system
3
at each review
moderate
to go live
HR system / LMS
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

  • Records of personnel termination actions · HR system / LMS
  • List of system accounts · Identity provider / directory

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Records of terminated or revoked authenticators/credentials · Identity provider / directory
  • Records of exit interviews · Document repository
  • Test of Organizational processes for personnel termination; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing personnel termination notifications; mechanisms for disabling system access/revoking authenticators · HR system / LMS

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Personnel security policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Procedures addressing personnel termination · HR system / LMS
  • System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 2 of 8 artefacts that already live in a system (HR system / LMS); 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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PS-3(4) Personnel Screening | Citizenship Requirements · PS-4(1) Personnel Termination | Post-employment Requirements