NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-15(3) — Disabling And Removal In Secure Work Areas

What this control requires

Disable or remove collaborative computing devices and applications from organization-defined systems or system components in organization-defined secure work areas. This measure prevents potential compromises, including eavesdropping on sensitive conversations, ensuring that devices do not remain active in secure environments like Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs). This control supports the Collaborative Computing Device Management System capability within the System and Communications Protection family.

In plain English

Disable or remove collaborative computing devices and applications from organization-defined systems or system components in organization-defined secure work areas. In practice, this means you can prove you disable 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 System and Communications Protection, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control SC-15(3)) 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.

Operational checklist

• Disable. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Information. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Security. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Device. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Protection. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: management, information, organization, system, removal, protection, environments, components.

Evidence to collect

• User Device Scan. MDM compliance state per user device (Intune / Jamf / Workspace ONE).

Endpoint compliance telemetry (Intune, Jamf) proves managed coverage. Focus: Disabling And Removal In Secure Work Areas.

Common pitfalls

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

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 3.13.1 — Boundary Protection

Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

• Control SC-7(7) — Split Tunneling For Remote Devices
• Control SC-15 — Collaborative Computing Devices And Applications
• Control SC-5(1) — Restrict Ability To Attack Other Systems
• Control SC-15(1) — Physical Or Logical Disconnect
• Control SC-25 — Thin Nodes
• Control SC-37(1) — Ensure Delivery And Transmission

References

• NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5
• Catalogue identifier: Control SC-15(3)

Topics: endpoint securityendpoint protection