# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PE-11 — Emergency Power - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pe-11-emergency-power - 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) › PE — Physical and Environmental Protection - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `PE-11`·critical·Component: **Physical and Environmental Protection** ## What this control requires > Providing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to ensure an orderly shutdown of the system or transition to long-term alternate power in the event of a primary power source failure. The UPS protects critical systems from power disruptions by providing stored energy, allowing for a smooth transition to backup power or a safe system shutdown. This control supports the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) capability within the Physical and Environmental Protection family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control PE-11 ### In plain English Providing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to ensure an orderly shutdown of the system or transition to long-term alternate power in the event of a primary power source failure. 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 **critical** in the source catalogue. Treat gaps here as production incidents in the risk register, not housekeeping. ## 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 **Physical and Environmental Protection**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control PE-11) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Logging Monitoring **AWS.** Org-trail CloudTrail to a central log archive account, GuardDuty in every region, and Security Hub for cross-source correlation. **Azure.** Pipe every diagnostic setting into a central Log Analytics workspace; onboard Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM/SOAR. **GCP.** Aggregate audit logs in a dedicated logging project with sink to BigQuery; enable Security Command Center Premium and route findings to Chronicle SIEM. #### 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. - **Physical.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Protection.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Environmental.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Event.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, system, controls, source, failure, protection, recovery, capability. ## Evidence to collect - **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document. Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Emergency Power. ## Common pitfalls - Per-account logging that nobody stitches together at the org level — incidents that cross accounts go undetected for days. - 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. - [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) A1.2** — Management of Backup, Recovery, and Environmental Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/a1-2-management-of-backup-recovery-and-environmental-controls) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control PE-11(2)** — Alternate Power Supply -- Self-Contained](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pe-11-2-alternate-power-supply-self-contained) - [**Control PE-11(1)** — Alternate Power Supply -- Minimal Operational Capability](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pe-11-1-alternate-power-supply-minimal-operational-capability) - [**Control PE-9(1)** — Redundant Cabling](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pe-9-1-redundant-cabling) - [**Control PE-14(1)** — Automatic Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pe-14-1-automatic-controls) - [**Control CP-10(2)** — Transaction Recovery](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cp-10-2-transaction-recovery) - [**Control PE-10(1)** — Accidental And Unauthorized Activation](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pe-10-1-accidental-and-unauthorized-activation) ## 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 PE-11` Topics: governance riskenvironmental controlsbackup recoverylogging 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.