NIST Special Publication 800-53 Rev. 5 — Security and Privacy Controls compliance software
Assess and evidence NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 controls — the catalogue behind FISMA, FedRAMP and the Risk Management Framework.
What NIST SP 800-53 requires
NIST SP 800-53 Revision 5 is the most comprehensive public control catalogue in use: twenty families of security and privacy controls spanning access control, audit, configuration, contingency planning, incident response, supply chain and more. It underpins U.S. federal programmes (FISMA, FedRAMP, the RMF) and is widely adopted internationally as a benchmark.
Rev. 5 made the catalogue outcome-based and integrated privacy controls throughout, added supply-chain risk management as a family, and decoupled the catalogue from federal-only use — explicitly addressing any organisation managing security and privacy risk.
Because of its breadth, 800-53 is often the reference model that other obligations map into. Running it on a shared control platform lets organisations answer customer and regulator questionnaires from one evidenced baseline.
Who it applies to
- U.S. federal agencies and their contractors (FISMA/RMF)
- Cloud providers pursuing FedRAMP authorisation
- Defence and government supply-chain participants
- Enterprises adopting 800-53 as their master control baseline
At a glance
- Issuing body: NIST — Revision 5 (2020)
- Control families: 20 families (AC, AU, CA, CM, CP, IA, IR … SR)
- Baselines: Low / Moderate / High via SP 800-53B
- Programmes built on it: FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST RMF
How GRCLens supports NIST SP 800-53
NIST SP 800-53 runs on the same shared control model as every other framework in GRCLens, so evidence captured once can satisfy several obligations at the same time.
Family-by-family assessment
Controls organised by family with implementation status, owners, comments and dated evidence per control.
Baseline scoping
Mark controls not applicable with justification to reflect your selected baseline and tailoring decisions.
Evidence reuse across frameworks
800-53 controls overlap heavily with ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2; the shared control model reuses evidence across them.
Assessment reporting
Exportable implementation reports supporting system security plan and assessment package preparation.
NIST SP 800-53 frequently asked questions
Is NIST SP 800-53 mandatory?
For U.S. federal agencies and systems under FISMA, yes, via the RMF. Outside government it is voluntary but widely adopted as a comprehensive baseline, and often required contractually in government supply chains.
How does 800-53 relate to FedRAMP?
FedRAMP authorises cloud services against 800-53 baselines with additional parameters. GRCLens organises the underlying control assessment and evidence that feeds such packages.
Rev. 4 or Rev. 5?
GRCLens ships Revision 5, the current catalogue, which integrated privacy throughout and added the supply-chain (SR) family.
Can 800-53 share evidence with ISO 27001?
Yes. The two overlap substantially, and the shared control model means one artefact can evidence both where the control intent is the same.
One platform, many obligations
Talk to us about NIST SP 800-53
Security Solution Consultants provides NIST framework advisory services alongside the platform, so you can combine tooling with hands-on expertise.
Contact us