NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 AT-2(2) — Insider Threat

What this control requires

Trains users to recognize and report insider threat indicators, such as unauthorized access attempts, using established organizational channels. This control supports the Insider Threat Training Module capability within the Awareness and Training family.

In plain English

Trains users to recognize and report insider threat indicators, such as unauthorized access attempts, using established organizational channels. 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 Awareness and Training, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control AT-2(2)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

1. Write a short policy stating intent, scope and named owner.
2. Encode it as a platform guardrail — SCP, Azure Policy initiative, Organisation Policy, or repository policy.
3. Wire a monitoring signal that catches drift (CSPM rule, SIEM rule, scheduled query, Workspace alert) and ticket it.
4. Review on a documented cadence and capture the review in the risk register or compliance tracker.

Operational checklist

• Access. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Review. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Insider. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Unauthorized. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Identity. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: management, threat, identity, review, capability, channels, intelligence.

Evidence to collect

• Identity Scan. IAM / IdP exports — Entra ID, Okta, IAM Identity Center, Workspace directory — showing accounts, roles, MFA state and last sign-in.

Identity analytics (Okta, SailPoint, Access Analyzer) demonstrates least-privilege. Focus: Insider Threat.

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.

• CIS Controls v8 14.9 — Conduct Role-Specific Security Awareness and Skills Training
• NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.2.2 — Role-Based Training
• ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.8.23 — Web filtering
• ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.8 — Identity management
• SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC1.5 — Accountability for Internal Control Responsibilities

Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

• Control AT-3(3) — Practical Exercises
• Control AT-3 — Role-Based Training
• Control AC-3(10) — Audited Override Of Access Control Mechanisms
• Control IA-5(1) — Password-Based Authentication
• Control RA-3(3) — Dynamic Threat Awareness
• Control IR-9(4) — Exposure To Unauthorized Personnel

References

• NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5
• Catalogue identifier: Control AT-2(2)

Topics: identity accessawareness trainingidentity managementaccess reviewprivileged accessthreat intelligence