What is a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template?
Organizations use a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template to evaluate how well third-party vendors align with the security controls of a framework used to safeguard federated information systems and processes. Compliance with NIST 800-53 is mandatory for all U.S. federal government agencies and contractors; however, given the exemplary level of information system protection NIST 800-53 offers, the standard can be adopted by any organization hoping to significantly enhance the security of its sensitive data, across internal and external attack surfaces.
With the standard's well-developed reputation for superior information security, a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template is an invaluable tool for organizations in highly regulated industries most vulnerable to data breaches, such as healthcare and finance.
Key changes in a NIST 800-53 revision 5 risk assessment template
With the standard undergoing five iterations, the latest edition of a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template is significantly different to its initial design. Notable changes in revision 5 include:
- Integration of Privacy and Security Controls: The standard now mandates that organizations consider privacy when implementing security measures.
- Updated Control Baselines: These baselines align more closely with risk management practices, allowing for more tailored security controls based on the organization's risk profile.
- Enhanced Supply Chain Risk Management: Given the growing threats in this attack surface region, the importance of safeguarding the entire supply chain against cyberattacks has been amplified.
- Improved Focus on Cyber Resilience: The new guidelines push for resilience against cyberattacks, ensuring continuity and recovery in the face of potential security breaches.
- Automated Monitoring Support: Revision 5 also includes updated control formats facilitating automation and continuous monitoring, offering ongoing protection against emerging risks.
Why Is a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template important?
A NIST 800-53 risk assessment template helps organizations improve the security postures of their third-party vendors, reducing the risk of suffering a third-party breach. It also serves as a helpful compliance aid, allowing federal agencies to identify potential third-party security risks impacting their compliance with NIST 800-53 revision 5.
Here are some reasons why a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template might be important for your organization:
- Simplifies Vendor Risk Mitigation: A NIST 800-53 risk assessment template offers a structured approach to identifying potentially critical vendor-related security risks. This systematic method is repeatable, so it can be integrated into the ongoing monitoring component of a Vendor Risk Management program for tracking emerging third-party security and compliance risks.
- Supports Federal Compliance: For federal agencies and contractors, this NIST 800-53 risk assessment could ensure third-party risk exposures meet the tolerance levels of FISMA, reducing the risk of costly penalties resulting from non-compliance with the federal legislation.
- Enhances Organizational Risk Management: The comprehensive security measures encouraged through a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template support proactive identification and management of security vulnerabilities before they're discovered and exploited by cybercriminals.
- Promotes Cross-Industry Adoption: Though initially intended for federal agencies, the standard is industry-agnostic, allowing any organization to implement a data security program trusted to protect a nation's most sensitive data.
- Enables Continuous Monitoring: With support for ongoing monitoring, a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template can be used to ensure that vendor data security controls remain effective over time in a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape.
Components of a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template
This NIST 800-53 risk assessment template toolkit is comprised of two components:
1. NIST 800-53 security questionnaire
The questionnaire in this toolkit is the foundation of the risk assessment process. It is the mechanism by which information about a vendor's security practices is collected. The questionnaire template maps to all 20 controls of version 5 of NIST 800-53, helping internal security teams pinpoint specific compliance gaps in a vendor's responses.
The questionnaire component of this NIST 800-53 risk assessment template toolkit is sent to vendors to collect information about their data security practices and identify areas of misalignment with the standards of NIST 800-53.
The questionnaire is divided into two sections: one for the vendor and the other for internal use based on the vendor's responses.
Vendor component of the questionnaire
For each question, third-party vendors have two fields to complete:
- Primary response: A direct response to the question being asked. Options are either “Yes,” “No,” or “Not Applicable.”
- Implementation details: An explanation of how controls associated with each question have been implemented.
Vendors should always offer implementation details, even when responding "No" or "NA." In these circumstances, the vendor should provide a reason for their response choices.
Internal components of the questionnaire
The internal security team completes the internal component of the questionnaire based on the insights from each response. Internal security teams have four fields to complete:
- Risk severity: A qualitative measure of the level of risk associated with the response.
- Risk treatment: The level of criticality associated with corresponding remediation measures.
- Treatment plan details: An overview of required remediation responses to reduce risks within tolerance levels.
- Risk owner: The name of the internal employee assigned to oversee the management of the security risks throughout its entire lifecycle.
2. NIST 800-53 risk assessment template
The second component of this NIST 800-53 risk assessment template toolkit includes the actual risk assessment. This document, sometimes called a NIST 800-53 risk assessment report, summarizes the questionnaire findings to form the basis of a risk treatment plan for each evaluated vendor.
Once you complete the NIST 800-53 risk assessment template, you can also use it as a report for stakeholders and senior management requesting to be involved in Third-Party Risk Management plans for critical vendors- those with access to highly sensitive company information.
NIST 800-53 risk assessment template example
Here are examples of the main components of a NIST 800-53 revision 5 risk assessment template
1. Vendor overview and main objectives of the NIST 800-53 risk assessment
This example first page of a NIST 800-53 risk assessment template outlines the vendor being evaluated and the main objectives of the risk assessment. The objective will depend on your reason for aligning with NIST 800-53, which could be to support FISMA compliance or mitigate your risk of suffering a third-party data breach.
2. Evidence used to generate the NIST 800-53 risk assessment template
In this NIST 800-53 risk assessment template example, two fields are provided for listing your data sources referenced to build the report - Questionnaires and Additional Evidence.
In the questionnaire field, indicate the primary vendor questionnaires used to gather data for the risk assessment, which in this case should be the questionnaire included in this NIST 800-53 risk assessment toolkit.
The Additional Evidence field lists other data sources referenced to define the vendor's security posture. These could include certifications or the vendor's Trust and Security pages.
3. Executive summary
The executive summary in this NIST 800-53 risk assessment template example provides board members with a concise overview of the report's findings and required follow-up risk treatment plans.
4. Vendor background
The vendor background component outlines the vendor's primary service offerings and explains their importance in supporting the business's primary operational objectives. This information justifies your choice for onboarding potentially critical vendors that could impact NIST 800-53 compliance efforts.
5. Assessment summary
In this NIST 800-53 risk assessment example, third-party risk insights gathered from all listed evidence sources are split across six categories that collectively provide the most comprehensive definition of the evaluated vendor's risk posture:
- Security Policies and Processes
- Infrastructure and Asset Management
- Data Classification and Handling
- Application Security
- Risk Management
- Recovery and Response
Here is an example of the Security Policies and Processes risk category field in the NIST 800-53 risk assessment template available in this toolkit. To the right, the number of detected risks across three severity levels are summarized to make the report easier to digest.
6. Key risks
The final section of this NIST 800-53 risk assessment template example consolidates all the risks identified in the assessment, their severity level, and corresponding risk treatment plans. Readers of your completed risk assessment report may jump to this section to quickly understand how much effort is required to align a vendor's security efforts with the standards of NIST 800-53.
How to use the NIST 800-53 risk assessment template
Follow this process to use this downloadable NIST 800-53 risk assessment template to evaluate each vendor's alignment with NIST 800-53.
Step 1: Understand all of the control families of NIST 800-53
To accurately determine which risk treatment plans should be prioritized, you need to familiarize yourself with all 20 controls of NIST 800-53 version 5. Create a document outlining how each control supports your specific data security management objectives. This effort is especially beneficial if alignment with NIST 800-53 is voluntary and a customized compliance program is being designed.
Step 2: Customize the questionnaire
For those voluntarily aligning with the NIST 800-53 standard, not all items in the questionnaire included in this NIST 800-53 risk assessment template toolkit may be applicable. Removing unnecessary control queries will allow the risk assessment to be completed more efficiently.
Step 3: Distribute the questionnaire
Distribute the questionnaire component of this NIST 800-53 risk assessment template to all third-party vendors with access to your sensitive data. For large third-party vendor networks, this effort may require a risk assessment management platform to avoid the logistical frustrations of tracking the progress of multiple questionnaires.
Step 4: Assess vendor responses
Based on the vendor's responses, complete the internal component of the vendor questionnaire, indicating the severity of each identified risk and its associated treatment.
Step 5: Complete the NIST 800-53 risk assessment template
Complete the NIST 800-53 risk assessment template, ensuring risk treatment plans are explained clearly for senior management with limited cybersecurity knowledge. Risk treatment plans should focus on high- and medium-severity risks since these risks will be the primary concerns of board members and senior management.
Step 6: Monitor ongoing alignment with NIST 800-53
Use this NIST 800-53 risk assessment template toolkit to regularly track the vendor's level of alignment with the standard. This process should be triggered outside of assessment schedules when new dangerous threats emerge in the vendor ecosystem. After completing each round of assessment, determine whether your Third-Party Risk Management strategies need to be adjusted to improve alignment with NIST 800-53.
