ControlCase

IT Certifications, Continuous Compliance and Cybersecurity Services Provider

NIST 800-53

Assess your security and privacy controls
against NIST 800-53

NIST 800-53 is the information security standard used for both FISMA and FedRAMP. ControlCase, a FedRAMP Third Party Assessment Organization (3PAO), provides NIST 800-53 readiness assessments and full compliance assessments across all 20 control families.

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Assess Once, Comply to Many

Foundation for FISMA and FedRAMP

NIST 800-53 serves as the information security standard for both FISMA and FedRAMP, so a single control program supports multiple federal requirements.

Security and Privacy in One Catalogue

Rev. 5 consolidates security and privacy controls into a single catalog, addressing both functionality and assurance.

Right-Sized to Your Systems

Baseline control sets are scaled to the FIPS 199 categorization of the system in scope, so you implement what your mission impact level requires.

Maps to Other Frameworks

NIST publishes crosswalks from 800-53 Rev. 5 to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, the Privacy Framework, and ISO/IEC 27001:2022, supporting an assess-once approach.

What is NIST SP 800-53?

What is NIST SP 800-53?

NIST SP 800-53 provides a catalog of security and privacy controls for information systems and organizations, designed to protect organizational operations and assets, individuals, other organizations, and the Nation from threats, including hostile attacks, human errors, natural disasters, structural failures, foreign intelligence entities, and privacy risks. The controls are flexible and customizable, implemented as part of an organization-wide process to manage risk. NIST creates and promotes the standards federal agencies use to implement the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).

The current version is Revision 5, published September 2020 with updates through December 10, 2020. NIST issued a minor release, Release 5.2.0, on August 27, 2025, adding controls SA-15(13), SA-24, and SI-02(07) and revising others. The standard covers categorization systems by mission impact, minimum security requirements, and guidance on selecting, assessing, certifying, and accrediting controls. The companion publications are SP 800-53A (assessment procedures) and SP 800-53B (control baselines).

The 20 control families: Access Control (AC), Awareness and Training (AT), Audit and Accountability (AU), Assessment, Authorization, and Monitoring (CA), Configuration Management (CM), Contingency Planning (CP), Identification and Authentication (IA), Incident Response (IR), Maintenance (MA), Media Protection (MP), Physical and Environmental Protection (PE), Planning (PL), Program Management (PM), Personnel Security (PS), PII Processing and Transparency (PT), Risk Assessment (RA), System and Services Acquisition (SA), System and Communications Protection (SC), System and Information Integrity (SI), and Supply Chain Risk Management (SR).

Why Choose ControlCase for NIST 800-53 Assessment?

FedRAMP 3PAO
ControlCase is an accredited FedRAMP Third Party Assessment Organization with the technical competence FedRAMP requires to assess cloud providers against NIST 800-53-based requirements.
Readiness and Full Assessment
ControlCase offers both a NIST 800-53 Readiness Assessment to identify gaps and support remediation, and a full NIST 800-53 Compliance Assessment of your environment.
Adaptable, Repeatable Approach
ControlCase's approach is adaptable to most ticketing systems, repeatable, transparent in tracking progress against applicable questions only, and trackable with assessor comments and date stamps.
Integrated Compliance and Control Mapping
ControlCase's Compliance Hub TM solution provides control mapping with other standards and regulations out of the box, so the evidence gathered for your NIST 800-53 assessment can be reused across your other compliance obligations through the One Audit approach.

Which Baseline Applies to Your Systems?

Baseline 1
Low

149 controls, per ControlCase.

Baseline 2
Moderate

287 controls, per ControlCase.

Baseline 3
High

370 controls, per ControlCase.

ControlCase NIST 800-53 Assessment Process

STEP 01
Scope and Categorization
Confirm the FIPS 199 security categorization of the IT systems in scope. This determines whether the Low, Moderate, or High baseline applies and therefore which controls are assessed.
STEP 02
Readiness Assessment
ControlCase performs a readiness assessment to identify gaps, reviewing the 20 control domains and all controls required by your FIPS 199 categorization.
STEP 03
Readiness Assessment Report
ControlCase delivers a Readiness Assessment Report identifying any control weaknesses that should be addressed to allow your organization to achieve compliance with NIST 800-53.
STEP 04
Remediation Support
ControlCase helps with the remediation efforts required to meet NIST 800-53 requirements, closing the weaknesses identified in the readiness phase.
STEP 05
Compliance Assessment
ControlCase performs a full NIST 800-53 audit of your environment, covering the controls required by your FIPS 199 categorization.
STEP 06
Reporting and POA&M
ControlCase provides a report documenting the results of the assessment, clearly identifying what was tested and what was not tested. The report includes a Plan of Actions and Milestones (POA&M) to allow remediation of identified security control weaknesses.
STEP 01
Scope and Categorization
Confirm the FIPS 199 security categorization of the IT systems in scope. This determines whether the Low, Moderate, or High baseline applies and therefore which controls are assessed.
STEP 02
Readiness Assessment
ControlCase performs a readiness assessment to identify gaps, reviewing the 20 control domains and all controls required by your FIPS 199 categorization.
STEP 03
Readiness Assessment Report
ControlCase delivers a Readiness Assessment Report identifying any control weaknesses that should be addressed to allow your organization to achieve compliance with NIST 800-53.
STEP 04
Remediation Support
ControlCase helps with the remediation efforts required to meet NIST 800-53 requirements, closing the weaknesses identified in the readiness phase.
STEP 05
Compliance Assessment
ControlCase performs a full NIST 800-53 audit of your environment, covering the controls required by your FIPS 199 categorization.
STEP 06
Reporting and POA&M
ControlCase provides a report documenting the results of the assessment, clearly identifying what was tested and what was not tested. The report includes a Plan of Actions and Milestones (POA&M) to allow remediation of identified security control weaknesses.

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