What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on SI-5(1) Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives | Automated Alerts and Advisories?

System and information integrity policy; System and information integrity procedures; Procedures addressing security alerts, advisories, and directives; System design documentation; System configuration settings and associated documentation; Automated mechanisms supporting the distribution of security alert and advisory information.

What is the most common gap auditors find on SI-5(1)?

Security advisories are forwarded by individual email instead of the defined automated broadcast mechanism

NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · SI - System and Information Integrity

`SI-5(1)` Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives | Automated Alerts and Advisories

Broadcast security alert and advisory information throughout the organization using organization-defined automated mechanisms.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, SI-5(1). 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

moderate

to go live

SIEM / log platform

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

Procedures addressing security alerts, advisories, and directives · SIEM / log platform
Automated mechanisms supporting the distribution of security alert and advisory information · SIEM / log platform
Records of security alerts and advisories · SIEM / log platform

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

System audit records · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Test of Organizational processes for defining, receiving, generating, and disseminating security alerts and advisories; automated mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the dissemination of security alerts and advisories · SIEM / log platform

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

System and information integrity policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System and information integrity procedures · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System design documentation · Document repository
System configuration settings and associated documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 3 of 10 artefacts that already live in a system (SIEM / log platform); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Security advisories are forwarded by individual email instead of the defined automated broadcast mechanism
Automated advisory broadcasts reach IT staff but not the other organizational elements that need them

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

SI-5 Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives · SI-6 Security and Privacy Function Verification