NIST 800-53 Controls

Implementation of NIST 800-53 Rev 5 security and privacy controls.

Overview

Framework: NIST 800-53 Revision 5 Baseline: Moderate Impact Level Total Controls: 325 (FedRAMP Moderate baseline) Compliance Rate: 99.4% Last Assessment: January 2025

Control Families

Access Control (AC) - 21 Controls

Implementation Highlights:

AC-2: Account Management

// Automated account lifecycle
- User provisioning via GitLab OAuth
- 90-day account review
- Automatic deprovisioning
- Privileged account monitoring

AC-3: Access Enforcement

// RBAC enforcement at API gateway
app.use(rbacMiddleware({
  roles: ['admin', 'developer', 'user'],
  permissions: loadPermissionsFromDB(),
  enforce: 'strict'
}));

AC-7: Failed Login Attempts

// Lock account after 5 failed attempts
if (failedAttempts >= 5) {
  await lockAccount(userId, {
    duration: '15m',
    reason: 'excessive_failed_logins'
  });
}

Audit and Accountability (AU) - 12 Controls

AU-2: Event Logging

{
  "auditedEvents": [
    "authentication_success",
    "authentication_failure",
    "authorization_decision",
    "resource_access",
    "configuration_change",
    "privileged_operation",
    "security_alert",
    "admin_action"
  ],
  "retention": "90 days",
  "storage": "append-only",
  "encryption": "AES-256-GCM"
}

System and Communications Protection (SC) - 43 Controls

SC-8: Transmission Confidentiality

tls:
  version: "1.3"
  ciphers:
    - TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
    - TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256
  certificates:
    rotation: 90d
    authority: "Internal CA"

SC-13: Cryptographic Protection

encryption:
  atRest:
    algorithm: AES-256-GCM
    keySize: 256
    mode: GCM

  inTransit:
    protocol: TLS 1.3
    minKeySize: 2048

  signing:
    algorithm: RSA-SHA256
    keySize: 2048

Identification and Authentication (IA) - 11 Controls

IA-2(1): Multi-Factor Authentication

// MFA required for privileged accounts
const requireMFA = (user: User, resource: Resource): boolean => {
  return user.roles.includes('admin') ||
         resource.classification === 'sensitive';
};

if (requireMFA(user, resource) && !user.mfaVerified) {
  throw new AuthenticationError('MFA_REQUIRED');
}

Incident Response (IR) - 8 Controls

IR-4: Incident Handling

class IncidentHandler {
  async handleIncident(incident: SecurityIncident) {
    // 1. Detection
    await this.detect(incident);

    // 2. Analysis
    const analysis = await this.analyze(incident);

    // 3. Containment
    if (analysis.severity === 'critical') {
      await this.isolateAffectedSystems(incident);
    }

    // 4. Eradication
    await this.removeThreal(incident);

    // 5. Recovery
    await this.restoreServices(incident);

    // 6. Post-Incident
    await this.generateLessonsLearned(incident);
  }
}

AI-Specific Controls (NIST AI RMF)

NIST AI Risk Management Framework

Implementation:

import { NISTAIRiskManagementFramework } from '@bluefly/compliance-engine';

const aiRMF = new NISTAIRiskManagementFramework();

// GOVERN: Establish AI governance
await aiRMF.govern({
  policies: ['ai-ethics', 'bias-mitigation', 'transparency'],
  oversight: 'AI Governance Board',
  legalCompliance: ['GDPR', 'CCPA']
});

// MAP: Understand AI context
await aiRMF.map({
  aiSystems: [
    {
      name: 'Code Generation Agent',
      purpose: 'Generate code from natural language',
      dataUsed: 'Public code repositories',
      riskCategory: 'GENERAL_PURPOSE'
    }
  ]
});

// MEASURE: Assess AI risks
const assessment = await aiRMF.measure({
  algorithmicBias: 'LOW',
  dataPrivacy: 'MEDIUM',
  explainability: 'HIGH',
  performanceDegradation: 'LOW'
});

// MANAGE: Mitigate AI risks
await aiRMF.manage({
  mitigations: [
    'bias-testing',
    'data-anonymization',
    'explainability-tools',
    'human-oversight'
  ]
});

Control Assessment

Assessment Frequency

Assessment Tools

Automated:

# Compliance Engine validation
npm run compliance:validate --framework nist-800-53

# OpenSCAP scanning
oscap xccdf eval --profile moderate \
  --results results.xml \
  /usr/share/xml/scap/ssg/content/ssg-rhel8-ds.xml

Manual: - Quarterly penetration testing - Annual security assessment by 3PAO - Continuous monitoring reviews

Control Traceability Matrix

Map controls to implementation:

Continuous Monitoring

ConMon Dashboard:

{
  "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z",
  "controlsAssessed": 325,
  "compliant": 323,
  "nonCompliant": 2,
  "remediationPending": 2,
  "criticalFindings": 0,
  "highFindings": 0,
  "mediumFindings": 2,
  "complianceRate": "99.38%"
}

Reporting

Monthly ConMon Report

Sections: 1. Executive Summary 2. Control Status Summary 3. New/Changed Controls 4. Incidents and Response 5. Vulnerability Management 6. Plan of Action & Milestones

Generation:

npm run compliance:report \
  --framework nist-800-53 \
  --format pdf \
  --period monthly \
  --output ./reports/nist-conmon-2025-01.pdf

Next Steps

• FedRAMP Compliance →
• Security Architecture →
• RBAC Configuration →
• Encryption at Rest →