# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 AU-14(3) — Remote Viewing And Listening

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/au-14-3-remote-viewing-and-listening
- 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) › AU — Audit and Accountability
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `AU-14(3)`·high·Component: **Audit and Accountability**

## What this control requires

> Provides capability for authorized users to remotely view and hear user session content in real-time for monitoring purposes. This control supports the Remote Session Monitor capability within the Audit and Accountability family.
> 
> — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control AU-14(3)

### In plain English

Provides capability for authorized users to remotely view and hear user session content in real-time for monitoring purposes. In practice, this means you can prove you policy 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 **Audit and Accountability**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control AU-14(3)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Policy Management

**Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

### Operational checklist

-   **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Audit.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Session.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Remote.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Content.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** management, time, monitor, capability, content, accountability, authorized, policy.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Remote Viewing And Listening.

## Common pitfalls

-   Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.

## 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 3.3.3** — Audit Record Generation](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-3-3-audit-record-generation)
-   [**HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.310(d)(2)(iii)** — Device and Media Controls - Accountability](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-310-d-2-iii-device-and-media-controls-accountability)
-   [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC4.1** — Control Monitoring](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc4-1-control-monitoring)
-   [**BSI C5:2020 SP-01** — Documentation, communication and provision of policies and instructions](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/sp-01-documentation-communication-and-provision-of-policies-and-instructions)

## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

-   [**Control AU-14** — Session Audit](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/au-14-session-audit)
-   [**Control AU-13** — Monitoring For Information Disclosure](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/au-13-monitoring-for-information-disclosure)
-   [**Control AU-14(1)** — System Start-Up](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/au-14-1-system-start-up)
-   [**Control AU-12** — Audit Record Generation](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/au-12-audit-record-generation)
-   [**Control AU-12(1)** — System-Wide And Time-Correlated Audit Trail](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/au-12-1-system-wide-and-time-correlated-audit-trail)
-   [**Control AU-12(3)** — Changes By Authorized Individuals](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/au-12-3-changes-by-authorized-individuals)

## 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 AU-14(3)`

Topics: governance riskcontinuous monitoringpolicy 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.
