15 Critical NIST 800-53 Controls for Supply Chain Risk Management

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 Rev. 5 is a comprehensive suite of best-practice security controls that many organizations leverage as a framework for their internal security programs. The standard features more than 1,000 different controls organized into control families. Such a broad array of available controls can quickly become overwhelming for security, risk management, and auditing teams to determine which are the most important to focus on. When you’re responsible for assessing not only your own organization’s internal controls, but also those of your third-party vendors and suppliers, the task can become even more complex.

In this post we discuss how to organize controls into functions and then identify the 15 most essential NIST controls for assessing third-party supplier or vendor security risk.

Critical Questions to Organize NIST 800-53 Controls for Supply Chain Risk Management

When considering which are the most applicable supply risk management NIST cybersecurity controls, start by answering these questions – sorted into one of the Five Functions in the NIST framework:

• Identify: Has the supplier identified its critical systems and components under a risk management framework? This is the foundation for developing a cybersecurity framework.
• Protect: Has the supplier defined and implemented controls to manage access to and visibility into critical systems? It’s essential to limit or contain threats through proactive control management.
• Detect: Does the supplier have visibility into new and emerging threats? It’s important identify events (e.g., incidents, weaknesses, and threats) that could ultimately affect your organization.
• Respond: Can the supplier identify and handle incidents and threats? This is all about taking action to contain and minimize impact from cybersecurity incidents.
• Recover: Does the supplier have the ability to recover critical systems and services? This question determines if the third party can restore capabilities or services impacted by a cybersecurity event.

How to Implement the Top 15 NIST Controls for Supply Chain Risk Management

NIST control auditing doesn’t end with simply identifying controls. For more on how to put these NIST controls into practice, download our executive brief, The Top 15 NIST Supply Chain Risk Management Controls and watch our on-demand webinar by the same name!

Ready to dive deeper? Check out NIST Third-Party Compliance Checklist, which delivers a comprehensive look at how third-party risk management practices map to recommendations outlined in NIST 800-53, NIST 800-161, and NST CSF.

Contact Prevalent today for a free maturity assessment or request a demo
to determine how your current SCRM policies stack up to these critical NIST controls.