# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SI-7(1) — Integrity Checks

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/si-7-1-integrity-checks
- 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) › SI — System and Information Integrity
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `SI-7(1)`·high·Component: **System and Information Integrity**

## What this control requires

> Perform integrity checks on organization-defined software, firmware, and information at specified intervals or events such as startup, transitional states, or security-relevant events. This ensures the integrity of the system after critical events like the identification of new threats, or hardware, software, or firmware installation. This control supports the Integrity Verification Tools capability within the System and Information Integrity family.
> 
> — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control SI-7(1)

### In plain English

Perform integrity checks on organization-defined software, firmware, and information at specified intervals or events such as startup, transitional states, or security-relevant events. In practice, this means you can prove you security-relevant information-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 Information Integrity**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control SI-7(1)) 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

-   **Security-Relevant.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Information.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Protection.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Hardware.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **System.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** information, organization, system, protection, checks, hardware, software, firmware.

## 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: Integrity Checks.

## Common pitfalls

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

## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

-   [**Control SA-17(2)** — Security-Relevant Components](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-17-2-security-relevant-components)
-   [**Control SI-3(8)** — Detect Unauthorized Commands](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/si-3-8-detect-unauthorized-commands)
-   [**Control SI-4(13)** — Analyze Traffic And Event Patterns](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/si-4-13-analyze-traffic-and-event-patterns)
-   [**Control SA-17(5)** — Conceptually Simple Design](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-17-5-conceptually-simple-design)
-   [**Control SI-4(23)** — Host-Based Devices](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/si-4-23-host-based-devices)
-   [**Control SA-17(6)** — Structure For Testing](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-17-6-structure-for-testing)

## 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 SI-7(1)`

Topics: endpoint securityendpoint protection

## 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.