NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PM-10 — Authorization Process

What this control requires

Manage the security and privacy state of organizational systems and their environments through authorization processes. Designate individuals to fulfill specific roles within the organizational risk management process and integrate these authorization processes into a comprehensive risk management program. The process should align with organization-wide security and privacy standards and continuous monitoring to assess risks to operations, assets, and individuals. This control supports the Risk Management capability within the Program Management family.

In plain English

Manage the security and privacy state of organizational systems and their environments through authorization processes. 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 Program Management, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control PM-10) 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.
• Process. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Security. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Control. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Authorization. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: management, authorization, privacy, organization, environments, capability, operations, systems.

Evidence to collect

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

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Authorization Process.

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.

• HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.308(a)(3)(ii)(A) — Workforce security - Authorization and/or Supervision
• BSI C5:2020 SP-01 — Documentation, communication and provision of policies and instructions

Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

• Control PM-9 — Risk Management Strategy
• Control PM-29 — Risk Management Program Leadership Roles
• Control PL-2(3) — Plan And Coordinate With Other Organizational Entities
• Control PM-23 — Data Governance Body
• Control PS-8 — Personnel Sanctions
• Control PM-4 — Plan Of Action And Milestones Process

References

• NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5
• Catalogue identifier: Control PM-10

Topics: governance riskcontinuous monitoringpolicy managementprivacy management