# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-47 — Alternate Communications Paths - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-47-alternate-communications-paths - 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) › SC — System and Communications Protection - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `SC-47`·critical·Component: **System and Communications Protection** ## What this control requires > Establish alternate communications paths for system operations and organizational command and control to reduce the risk of a single communication path disruption impacting system operations. This includes designating alternative decision-makers in case primary decision-makers are unavailable and defining their actions during incidents. This control supports the Alternate Communication Systems capability within the System and Communications Protection family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control SC-47 ### In plain English Establish alternate communications paths for system operations and organizational command and control to reduce the risk of a single communication path disruption impacting system operations. In practice, this means you can prove you protection 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-47) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Incident Response **Runbook.** Maintain a runbook keyed by incident type with named roles (IC, comms, scribe), an out-of-band comms channel, and a 72-hour timeline for external notification. **Tabletop.** Run a quarterly tabletop exercise (ransomware, insider, supply-chain) and feed gaps back into the runbook. ### Operational checklist - **Protection.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Response.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **System.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Control.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Alternate.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, actions, system, incidents, protection, capability, operations, systems. ## Evidence to collect - **Ticketing Workflow.** `ticketing_workflow` evidence Workflow metrics (ServiceNow, Jira) show approvals and remediation. Focus: Alternate Communications Paths. ## Common pitfalls - Runbooks that name a role but no person, or list a paging channel that no longer exists. ## 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 3.14.1** — Flaw Remediation](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-14-1-flaw-remediation) - [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC7.4** — Incident Response](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc7-4-incident-response) - [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.27** — Learning from information security incidents](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-27-learning-from-information-security-incidents) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control IR-4(3)** — Continuity Of Operations](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-4-3-continuity-of-operations) - [**Control IR-4(15)** — Public Relations And Reputation Repair](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-4-15-public-relations-and-reputation-repair) - [**Control IR-4(11)** — Integrated Incident Response Team](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-4-11-integrated-incident-response-team) - [**Control IR-7(2)** — Coordination With External Providers](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-7-2-coordination-with-external-providers) - [**Control SC-18(3)** — Prevent Downloading And Execution](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-18-3-prevent-downloading-and-execution) - [**Control SI-4(7)** — Automated Response To Suspicious Events](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/si-4-7-automated-response-to-suspicious-events) ## 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 SC-47` Topics: incident responsechange 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.