Maintenance Personnel
✓ LOW ✓ MODERATE ✓ HIGHRequirements NIST SOURCE
Requirement Context
This element is part of MA-5 — Maintenance Personnel. See the Assessment section below for the related SP 800-53A examine/interview/test procedures. No engineering interpretation has been authored for this control yet.
Requirement Context
This element is part of MA-5 — Maintenance Personnel. See the Assessment section below for the related SP 800-53A examine/interview/test procedures. No engineering interpretation has been authored for this control yet.
Requirement Context
This element is part of MA-5 — Maintenance Personnel. See the Assessment section below for the related SP 800-53A examine/interview/test procedures. No engineering interpretation has been authored for this control yet.
Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)
Maintenance personnel refers to individuals who perform hardware or software maintenance on organizational systems, while PE-2 addresses physical access for individuals whose maintenance duties place them within the physical protection perimeter of the systems. Technical competence of supervising individuals relates to the maintenance performed on the systems, while having required access authorizations refers to maintenance on and near the systems. Individuals not previously identified as authorized maintenance personnel—such as information technology manufacturers, vendors, systems integrators, and consultants—may require privileged access to organizational systems, such as when they are required to conduct maintenance activities with little or no notice. Based on organizational assessments of risk, organizations may issue temporary credentials to these individuals. Temporary credentials may be for one-time use or for very limited time periods.
Enhancements NIST SOURCE
MA-5(1) Individuals Without Appropriate Access LOW MODERATE ✓ HIGH
- (a) Implement procedures for the use of maintenance personnel that lack appropriate security clearances or are not U.S. citizens, that include the following requirements:
- (1) Maintenance personnel who do not have needed access authorizations, clearances, or formal access approvals are escorted and supervised during the performance of maintenance and diagnostic activities on the system by approved organizational personnel who are fully cleared, have appropriate access authorizations, and are technically qualified; and
- (2) Prior to initiating maintenance or diagnostic activities by personnel who do not have needed access authorizations, clearances or formal access approvals, all volatile information storage components within the system are sanitized and all nonvolatile storage media are removed or physically disconnected from the system and secured; and
- (b) Develop and implement [alternate controls] in the event a system component cannot be sanitized, removed, or disconnected from the system.
Discussion
Procedures for individuals who lack appropriate security clearances or who are not U.S. citizens are intended to deny visual and electronic access to classified or controlled unclassified information contained on organizational systems. Procedures for the use of maintenance personnel can be documented in security plans for the systems.
MA-5(2) Security Clearances for Classified Systems LOW MODERATE HIGH
Verify that personnel performing maintenance and diagnostic activities on a system processing, storing, or transmitting classified information possess security clearances and formal access approvals for at least the highest classification level and for compartments of information on the system.
Discussion
Personnel who conduct maintenance on organizational systems may be exposed to classified information during the course of their maintenance activities. To mitigate the inherent risk of such exposure, organizations use maintenance personnel that are cleared (i.e., possess security clearances) to the classification level of the information stored on the system.
MA-5(3) Citizenship Requirements for Classified Systems LOW MODERATE HIGH
Verify that personnel performing maintenance and diagnostic activities on a system processing, storing, or transmitting classified information are U.S. citizens.
Discussion
Personnel who conduct maintenance on organizational systems may be exposed to classified information during the course of their maintenance activities. If access to classified information on organizational systems is restricted to U.S. citizens, the same restriction is applied to personnel performing maintenance on those systems.
MA-5(4) Foreign Nationals LOW MODERATE HIGH
Ensure that:
- (a) Foreign nationals with appropriate security clearances are used to conduct maintenance and diagnostic activities on classified systems only when the systems are jointly owned and operated by the United States and foreign allied governments, or owned and operated solely by foreign allied governments; and
- (b) Approvals, consents, and detailed operational conditions regarding the use of foreign nationals to conduct maintenance and diagnostic activities on classified systems are fully documented within Memoranda of Agreements.
Discussion
Personnel who conduct maintenance and diagnostic activities on organizational systems may be exposed to classified information. If non-U.S. citizens are permitted to perform maintenance and diagnostics activities on classified systems, then additional vetting is required to ensure agreements and restrictions are not being violated.
MA-5(5) Non-system Maintenance LOW MODERATE HIGH
Ensure that non-escorted personnel performing maintenance activities not directly associated with the system but in the physical proximity of the system, have required access authorizations.
Discussion
Personnel who perform maintenance activities in other capacities not directly related to the system include physical plant personnel and custodial personnel.
Implementation Guidance
Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.
No engineering interpretation has been authored for MA-5 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
Assessment Objectives
- a process for maintenance personnel authorization is established;
- a list of authorized maintenance organizations or personnel is maintained;
- non-escorted personnel performing maintenance on the system possess the required access authorizations;
- organizational personnel with required access authorizations and technical competence is/are designated to supervise the maintenance activities of personnel who do not possess the required access authorizations.
Examine
[SELECT FROM: Maintenance policy; procedures addressing maintenance personnel; service provider contracts; service-level agreements; list of authorized personnel; maintenance records; access control records; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].
Interview
[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with system maintenance responsibilities; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities].
Test
[SELECT FROM: Organizational processes for authorizing and managing maintenance personnel; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing authorization of maintenance personnel].
Overlays
STIGs & CCIs
No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for MA-5. 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
Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.
Policy
- Maintenance policy
- system security plan
Testing
- Organizational processes for authorizing and managing maintenance personnel
- mechanisms supporting and/or implementing authorization of maintenance personnel
Other Records
- procedures addressing maintenance personnel
- service provider contracts
- service-level agreements
- list of authorized personnel
- maintenance records
- access control records
- other relevant documents or records