# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SC-5 — Denial-Of-Service Protection - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-5-denial-of-service-protection - 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-5`·high·Component: **System and Communications Protection** ## What this control requires > Protect against or limit the effects of organization-defined denial-of-service (DoS) events. Employ tailored controls--such as boundary filtering, capacity planning, and redundancy--to mitigate risks across network protocols and system components. This control supports the DoS Mitigation and Resilience Framework capability within the System and Communications Protection family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control SC-5 ### In plain English Protect against or limit the effects of organization-defined denial-of-service (DoS) events. 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-5) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Network Security **AWS.** VPC Flow Logs to S3, default-deny security groups, AWS Network Firewall for north-south, and Transit Gateway for hub-and-spoke segmentation. **Azure.** NSGs with deny-by-default, Azure Firewall Premium with TLS inspection, Private Endpoints for PaaS, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud's secure score for drift. **GCP.** VPC Service Controls perimeters around sensitive APIs, Cloud NGFW Enterprise for L7 inspection, Private Service Connect for managed services. #### 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. - **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Network.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Protection.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Limit.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, organization, system, service, mitigate risks, controls, protection, components. ## Evidence to collect - **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document. Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Denial-Of-Service Protection. ## Common pitfalls - Default-allow egress rules; East-West traffic with no segmentation; jump hosts on the public internet with password auth. - 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](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-4-11-information-location) - [**HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.312(b)** — Audit Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-312-b-audit-controls) - [**BSI C5:2020 COS-08** — Policies for data transmission](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/cos-08-policies-for-data-transmission) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control SC-5(2)** — Capacity, Bandwidth, And Redundancy](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-5-2-capacity-bandwidth-and-redundancy) - [**Control SC-29** — Heterogeneity](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-29-heterogeneity) - [**Control SC-6** — Resource Availability](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-6-resource-availability) - [**Control SC-39(2)** — Separate Execution Domain Per Thread](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-39-2-separate-execution-domain-per-thread) - [**Control SC-15(4)** — Explicitly Indicate Current Participants](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-15-4-explicitly-indicate-current-participants) - [**Control SC-7(20)** — Dynamic Isolation And Segregation](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sc-7-20-dynamic-isolation-and-segregation) ## 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-5` Topics: governance riskcapacity managementnetwork securitypolicy 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.