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CA-8(1) CA · Assessment, Authorization, and Monitoring

Independent Penetration Testing Agent or Team

LOW MODERATE ✓ HIGH
1 Overlay 1 Related Control
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Requirements NIST SOURCE

Employ an independent penetration testing agent or team to perform penetration testing on the system or system components.

Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)

Independent penetration testing agents or teams are individuals or groups who conduct impartial penetration testing of organizational systems. Impartiality implies that penetration testing agents or teams are free from perceived or actual conflicts of interest with respect to the development, operation, or management of the systems that are the targets of the penetration testing. CA-2(1) provides additional information on independent assessments that can be applied to penetration testing.

Implementation Guidance

Engineering Interpretation

Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.

No engineering interpretation has been authored for CA-8(1) yet. This section is architected to receive it — see the Requirements and Assessment sections above for the authoritative NIST source content in the meantime.

Assessment

NIST SP 800-53A REV 5.2.0

Assessment Objectives

  1. an independent penetration testing agent or team is employed to perform penetration testing on the system or system components.

Examine

[SELECT FROM: Assessment, authorization, and monitoring policy; procedures addressing penetration testing; assessment plan; penetration test report; assessment report; security assessment evidence; system security plan; privacy plan; other relevant documents or records].

Interview

[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with assessment responsibilities; organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities].

Overlays

Showing the OT/ICS overlay for the parent control CA-8 — see the CA-8(1) entries within each baseline below.

OT/ICS Overlay SP 800-82r3

NIST SP 800-82r3 Appendix F, Table 22. Blank baseline means the control/control enhancement is not selected in that initial OT baseline.

LOW

Not applicable at this tier.

MODERATE

Not applicable at this tier.

HIGH

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)
  • Included: (1)

STIGs & CCIs

No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for CA-8(1). This section is architected to display, per product: STIG ID, Finding ID, Severity, Title, Description, Check, Fix, CCI, and NIST control mapping — but nothing is populated here until a real DISA STIG/CCI dataset is ingested.

Learn more about STIG/CCI integration →

Evidence

Potential Evidence — Derived

Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.

Policy

  • Assessment, authorization, and monitoring policy
  • assessment plan
  • system security plan
  • privacy plan

Other Records

  • procedures addressing penetration testing
  • penetration test report
  • assessment report
  • security assessment evidence
  • other relevant documents or records