PL-10 Baseline Selection

Baselines

Guidance

Control baselines are predefined sets of controls specifically assembled to address the protection needs of a group, organization, or community of interest. Controls are chosen for baselines to either satisfy mandates imposed by laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines or address threats common to all users of the baseline under the assumptions specific to the baseline. Baselines represent a starting point for the protection of individuals’ privacy, information, and information systems with subsequent tailoring actions to manage risk in accordance with mission, business, or other constraints (see PL-11 ). Federal control baselines are provided in [SP 800-53B](#46d9e201-840e-440e-987c-2c773333c752) . The selection of a control baseline is determined by the needs of stakeholders. Stakeholder needs consider mission and business requirements as well as mandates imposed by applicable laws, executive orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidelines. For example, the control baselines in [SP 800-53B](#46d9e201-840e-440e-987c-2c773333c752) are based on the requirements from [FISMA](#0c67b2a9-bede-43d2-b86d-5f35b8be36e9) and [PRIVACT](#18e71fec-c6fd-475a-925a-5d8495cf8455) . The requirements, along with the NIST standards and guidelines implementing the legislation, direct organizations to select one of the control baselines after the reviewing the information types and the information that is processed, stored, and transmitted on the system; analyzing the potential adverse impact of the loss or compromise of the information or system on the organization’s operations and assets, individuals, other organizations, or the Nation; and considering the results from system and organizational risk assessments. [CNSSI 1253](#4e4fbc93-333d-45e6-a875-de36b878b6b9) provides guidance on control baselines for national security systems.

References 10

• FIPS 199 National Institute of Standards and Technology (2004) Standards for Security Categorization of Federal Information and Information Systems. (U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.), Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS) 199.
• FIPS 200 National Institute of Standards and Technology (2006) Minimum Security Requirements for Federal Information and Information Systems. (U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.), Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS) 200.
• SP 800-30 Joint Task Force Transformation Initiative (2012) Guide for Conducting Risk Assessments. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-30, Rev. 1.
• SP 800-37 Joint Task Force (2018) Risk Management Framework for Information Systems and Organizations: A System Life Cycle Approach for Security and Privacy. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-37, Rev. 2.
• SP 800-39 Joint Task Force Transformation Initiative (2011) Managing Information Security Risk: Organization, Mission, and Information System View. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-39.
• SP 800-53B Joint Task Force (2020) Control Baselines and Tailoring Guidance for Federal Information Systems and Organizations. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-53B.
• SP 800-60-1 Stine KM, Kissel RL, Barker WC, Fahlsing J, Gulick J (2008) Guide for Mapping Types of Information and Information Systems to Security Categories. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-60, Vol. 1, Rev. 1.
• SP 800-60-2 Stine KM, Kissel RL, Barker WC, Lee A, Fahlsing J (2008) Guide for Mapping Types of Information and Information Systems to Security Categories: Appendices. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-60, Vol. 2, Rev. 1.
• SP 800-160-1 Ross RS, Oren JC, McEvilley M (2016) Systems Security Engineering: Considerations for a Multidisciplinary Approach in the Engineering of Trustworthy Secure Systems. (National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD), NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-160, Vol. 1, Includes updates as of March 21, 2018.
• CNSSI 1253 Committee on National Security Systems Instruction No. 1253, *Security Categorization and Control Selection for National Security Systems* , March 2014.

Related controls 5

• PL-02 System Security and Privacy Plans L M H P
• PL-11 Baseline Tailoring L M H P
• RA-02 Security Categorization L M H P
• RA-03 Risk Assessment L M H P
• SA-08 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles L M H P