# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 AC-19 — Access Control For Mobile Devices - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ac-19-access-control-for-mobile-devices - Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5) › AC — Access Control - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `AC-19`·high·Component: **Access Control** ## What this control requires > Establishes configuration and connection requirements for organization-controlled mobile devices, including when outside controlled areas; authorizes connections to organizational systems. This control supports the Mobile Device Management (MDM) System capability within the Access Control family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control AC-19 ### In plain English Establishes configuration and connection requirements for organization-controlled mobile devices, including when outside controlled areas; authorizes connections to organizational systems. In practice, this means you can prove you access management-level controls on a defined cadence. ## Why it matters SP 800-53 is the catalogue every U.S. federal authorisation (FedRAMP, FISMA, CMMC) and most regulated industries point at. A missing control surfaces as a Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) item that an Authorizing Official must approve before the Authority To Operate is granted or renewed. This control is rated **high**. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation. ## What an auditor looks for A 3PAO (FedRAMP) or Independent Assessor (NIST RMF) tests against NIST SP 800-53A assessment procedures. For each control they expect a documented implementation that addresses every assessment objective (Examine, Interview, Test) and an implementation summary in the System Security Plan. Within **Access Control**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control AC-19) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Endpoint Protection **MDM.** Make MDM enrollment a hard gate for device access (Intune compliance + Conditional Access, or Jamf + Okta device trust). Unmanaged devices simply don't get a session token. **EDR.** Deploy CrowdStrike / SentinelOne / Defender for Endpoint to every server and laptop; alert on any host that stops sending telemetry for >24h. #### Configuration Management **Policy-as-code.** Codify the control as Service Control Policies (AWS), Azure Policy initiatives, or Organisation Policy (GCP) so the platform enforces what the document promises. **IaC.** Gate Terraform / Pulumi / CloudFormation changes with Checkov / tfsec / OPA so misconfigurations never reach production. **Drift.** Run a CSPM (Wiz / Prisma / Defender for Cloud / Security Command Center) over every account and route findings to a single risk register. ### Operational checklist - **Access.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Configuration.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Device.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Protection.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, access control, organization, system, mobile devices, protection, configuration, capability. ## Evidence to collect - **User Device Scan.** MDM compliance state per user device (Intune / Jamf / Workspace ONE). Endpoint compliance telemetry (Intune, Jamf) proves managed coverage. Focus: Access Control For Mobile Devices. ## Common pitfalls - Pilot MDM rollouts that quietly exclude executives or engineers; carving out the highest-risk users is the most common audit failure. - Manual cloud-console changes that never make it back to Terraform — drift accumulates until the next outage forces a reconciliation. ## How it maps to other frameworks Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit. - [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.1.18** — Access Control for Mobile Devices](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-1-18-access-control-for-mobile-devices) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control AC-7(2)** — Purge Or Wipe Mobile Device](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ac-7-2-purge-or-wipe-mobile-device) - [**Control AC-20(2)** — Portable Storage Devices -- Restricted Use](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ac-20-2-portable-storage-devices-restricted-use) - [**Control AC-19(4)** — Restrictions For Classified Information](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ac-19-4-restrictions-for-classified-information) - [**Control AC-20(4)** — Network Accessible Storage Devices -- Prohibited Use](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ac-20-4-network-accessible-storage-devices-prohibited-use) - [**Control SC-7(7)** — Split Tunneling For Remote Devices](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-7-7-split-tunneling-for-remote-devices) - [**Control AC-19(5)** — Full Device Or Container-Based Encryption](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ac-19-5-full-device-or-container-based-encryption) ## References - [NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5](https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/risk-management/sp800-53-controls) - Catalogue identifier: `Control AC-19` Topics: endpoint securityendpoint protectionconfiguration management ## Related compliance guidance - [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): Start with the full NIST SP 800-53 implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs. - [NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC: a practical guide to protecting CUI in the cloud](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3): If your obligation is protecting CUI in your own systems for a federal or defence contract, this derived subset — not the full catalogue — is the requirement. - [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most commercial SaaS already hold a SOC 2 Type 2, and FedRAMP 20x Class A is designed for providers that have one.