# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CP-8(3) — Separation Of Primary And Alternate Providers - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cp-8-3-separation-of-primary-and-alternate-providers - 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) › CP — Contingency Planning - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `CP-8(3)`·high·Component: **Contingency Planning** ## What this control requires > Acquire alternate telecom services from providers separate from the primary to reduce shared vulnerabilities. Ensure continuity during disruptions. If using the same provider, verify physical/logical separation per risk assessments. This control supports the Diversification capability within the Contingency Planning family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control CP-8(3) ### In plain English Acquire alternate telecom services from providers separate from the primary to reduce shared vulnerabilities. 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 **Contingency Planning**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control CP-8(3)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Business Continuity **BC/DR.** Define RTO/RPO per service, test backup restoration quarterly, and run a tabletop of full-region failover annually. **Backups.** Immutable backups (S3 Object Lock / Azure immutable storage / GCS bucket lock) plus an air-gapped copy for ransomware resilience. #### Physical Security **Inheritance.** For cloud-only operations, inherit physical controls from the provider's SOC 2 / ISO 27001 report and document the inheritance in the SoA. #### 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. - **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Physical.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Separation.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Separate.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, assessments, services, capability, security policy, vulnerability, separation. ## Evidence to collect - **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document. Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Separation Of Primary And Alternate Providers. ## Common pitfalls - DR plans that have never been tested in earnest, or that depend on an MFA token only one person can produce. - Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced. - Scans that hit only the perimeter; missing authenticated scans of OS, runtime libs and base images so most CVEs are invisible. ## 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. - [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.7.3** — Securing offices, rooms and facilities](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-7-3-securing-offices-rooms-and-facilities) - [**HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.308(a)(5)(i)** — Security Awareness and Training](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-a-5-i-security-awareness-and-training) - [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.12.1** — Security Assessment](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-12-1-security-assessment) - [**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) - [**CIS Controls v8 7.1** — Establish and Maintain a Vulnerability Management Process](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/7-1-establish-and-maintain-a-vulnerability-management-process) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control CP-7(1)** — Separation From Primary Site](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cp-7-1-separation-from-primary-site) - [**Control CP-7(2)** — Accessibility](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cp-7-2-accessibility) - [**Control SA-19(4)** — Anti-Counterfeit Scanning](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-19-4-anti-counterfeit-scanning) - [**Control CP-8** — Telecommunications Services](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cp-8-telecommunications-services) - [**Control SA-8(7)** — Reduced Complexity](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-8-7-reduced-complexity) - [**Control SA-12(11)** — Penetration Testing / Analysis Of Elements, Processes, And Actors](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-12-11-penetration-testing-analysis-of-elements-processes-and-actors) ## 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 CP-8(3)` Topics: governance riskbusiness continuityphysical securitypolicy managementvulnerability 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.