SC-38 Operations Security
Employ the following operations security controls to protect key organizational information throughout the system development life cycle: organization-defined operations security controls.
Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, SC-38. 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.
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
- Security control assessments · Document repository
- Risk assessments · Document repository
- Threat and vulnerability assessments · Vulnerability scanner / patch tooling
- Test of Organizational processes for protecting organizational information throughout the system development life cycle; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing safeguards to protect organizational information throughout the system development life cycle · Document repository
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- System and communications protection policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- Procedures addressing operations security · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- Security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- List of operations security safeguards · Document repository
- Plans of action and milestones · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- System development life cycle documentation · Document repository
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- No operations security controls protect key organizational information across the life cycle
- The operations security controls were never defined
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 sheetSC-37(1) Out-of-band Channels | Ensure Delivery and Transmission · SC-39 Process Isolation