NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-42(2) — Authorized Use

What this control requires

Implement measures to ensure that data or information collected by organizational sensors is used strictly for authorized purposes. These measures may include additional training for personnel to prevent misuse, and, where external parties are involved in data storage or processing, establishing contractual restrictions to limit the use of sensor data to its intended purpose. This control supports the Sensor data management and policy enforcement capability within the System and Communications Protection family.

In plain English

Implement measures to ensure that data or information collected by organizational sensors is used strictly for authorized purposes. 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 System and Communications Protection, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control SC-42(2)) 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.
• Restrictions. 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.
• Data. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: management, enforcement, information, system, personnel, protection, capability, storage.

Evidence to collect

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

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Authorized Use.

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.

• NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.14.3 — Security Alerts, Advisories, and Directives
• India DPDP Act 2023 SE-005 — Information Security Governance, Training & Audit
• HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(D) — Security Management Process -Information System Activity Review
• ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.1 — Policies for information security

Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

• Control SA-19(1) — Anti-Counterfeit Training
• Control AT-6 — Training Feedback
• Control IR-2(3) — Breach
• Control SC-16(1) — Integrity Verification
• Control SC-46 — Cross Domain Policy Enforcement
• Control MP-8 — Media Downgrading

References

• NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5
• Catalogue identifier: Control SC-42(2)

Topics: governance riskdata protectionawareness trainingpolicy managementsecurity training