Final Public Draft of NIST Special Publication 800-53 Revision 4
February 5, 2013
NIST announces the release of Draft Special Publication 800-53, Revision 4, Security and Privacy Controls for Federal information Systems and Organizations (Final Public Draft). Special Publication 800-53, Revision 4, represents the culmination of a two-year initiative to update the guidance for the selection and specification of security controls for federal information systems and organizations. This update, the most comprehensive since the initial publication of the controls catalog in 2005, was conducted as part of the Joint Task Force Transformation Initiative in cooperation and collaboration with the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and the Committee on National Security Systems. NIST received and responded to several thousand comments during the extensive public review and comment period.
The proposed changes included in Special Publication 800-53, Revision 4, support the federal information security strategy of “Build It Right, Then Continuously Monitor” and are directly linked to the current threat space (i.e., capabilities, intentions, and targeting of adversaries) as well as the attack data collected and analyzed over a substantial period of time. In this update, there is renewed emphasis on security controls that can be implemented to increase the reliability, trustworthiness, and resiliency of information systems, system components, and information system services—especially in those systems, components, and services supporting critical organizational missions and business operations (including, for example, critical infrastructure applications). In particular, the major changes in Revision 4 include:
Final Approval of NIST Interagency Report (IR) 7511 Revision 3 is now available
February 5, 2013
NIST announces the release of NIST Interagency Report (NISTIR) 7511 Revision 3, Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) Version 1.2 Validation Program Test Requirements. NISTIR 7511 defines the requirements that must be met by products to achieve SCAP 1.2 Validation. Validation is awarded based on a defined set of SCAP capabilities by independent laboratories that have been accredited for SCAP testing by the NIST National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program. NISTIR 7511 Revision 3 has been written primarily for accredited laboratories and for vendors interested in producing SCAP validated products.
DRAFT Special Publication 800-63-2, Electronic Authentication Guideline is now available for comment
February 1, 2013
NIST announces the release of Draft Special Publication 800-63-2, Electronic Authentication Guideline for public review and comment. This recommendation provides technical guidelines for Federal agencies implementing electronic authentication and is not intended to constrain the development or use of standards outside of this purpose. The recommendation covers remote authentication of users (such as employees, contractors, or private individuals) interacting with government IT systems over open networks. It defines technical requirements for each of four levels of assurance in the areas of identity proofing, registration, tokens, management processes, authentication protocols and related assertions. This publication will supersede NIST Special Publication 800-63-1.
This draft is a limited update of Special Publication 800-63-1 and substantive changes are made only in section 5. Registration and Issuance Processes. The substantive changes in the revised draft are intended to facilitate the use of professional credentials in the identity proofing process, and to reduce the need to use postal mail to an address of record to issue credentials for level 3 remote registration. Other changes to section 5 are minor explanations and clarifications. New or revised text is highlighted in the review draft. Other sections of NIST Special Publication 800-63-1 have not been changed in this draft.
Please submit comments on the revision to eauth-comments@nist.gov with the subject line: “Draft SP 800-63-2 Comments”. The comment period closes on March 4, 2013.
Update Status on (Draft) NIST Special Publication 800-53 Revision 4
January 18, 2013
NIST anticipates the release of Special Publication 800-53, Revision 4, Security and Privacy Controls for Federal information Systems and Organizations (Final Public Draft) on Tuesday, February 5th. The final public comment period will run from February 5th through March 1st. Final publication is expected by the end of April.
NIST Computer Security Division released a paper "The Role of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Mobile Security".