NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PE-22 — Component Marking

What this control requires

This control requires marking system hardware components to indicate the impact or classification level of information they are permitted to process, store, or transmit. Markings apply to input and output devices such as computers, tablets, printers, and monitors, and help ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and security policies. This control supports the Security Marking System capability within the Physical and Environmental Protection family.

In plain English

This control requires marking system hardware components to indicate the impact or classification level of information they are permitted to process, store, or transmit. 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.

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-22) 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.

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.
• Information. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Process. 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.
• Scope: management, information, system, protection, hardware, compliance, components, capability.

Evidence to collect

• User Device Scan. MDM compliance state per user device (Intune / Jamf / Workspace ONE).
• Policy Document. A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.

Endpoint compliance telemetry (Intune, Jamf) proves managed coverage. Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Component Marking.

Common pitfalls

• Pilot MDM rollouts that quietly exclude executives or engineers; carving out the highest-risk users is the most common audit failure.
• 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 3.4.11 — Information Location

Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

• Control AC-17(1) — Monitoring And Control
• Control IA-6 — Authentication Feedback
• Control PE-19(1) — National Emissions Policies And Procedures
• Control PE-19 — Information Leakage
• Control PE-5(3) — Marking Output Devices
• Control PE-13(3) — Automatic Fire Suppression

References

• NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5
• Catalogue identifier: Control PE-22

Topics: governance riskendpoint securityendpoint protectionpolicy management