AU-1 — Policy and Procedures

Official NIST control content

Control statement

a.Develop, document, and disseminate to [Organization-defined: organization-defined personnel or roles]:
1. 1.[Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] audit and accountability policy that:
  1. (a)Addresses purpose, scope, roles, responsibilities, management commitment, coordination among organizational entities, and compliance; and
  2. (b)Is consistent with applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines; and
2. 2.Procedures to facilitate the implementation of the audit and accountability policy and the associated audit and accountability controls;
b.Designate an [Organization-defined: official] to manage the development, documentation, and dissemination of the audit and accountability policy and procedures; and
c.Review and update the current audit and accountability:
1. 1.Policy [Organization-defined: frequency] and following [Organization-defined: events] ; and
2. 2.Procedures [Organization-defined: frequency] and following [Organization-defined: events].

Official NIST discussion

Discussion

Audit and accountability policy and procedures address the controls in the AU family that are implemented within systems and organizations. The risk management strategy is an important factor in establishing such policies and procedures. Policies and procedures contribute to security and privacy assurance. Therefore, it is important that security and privacy programs collaborate on the development of audit and accountability policy and procedures. Security and privacy program policies and procedures at the organization level are preferable, in general, and may obviate the need for mission- or system-specific policies and procedures. The policy can be included as part of the general security and privacy policy or be represented by multiple policies that reflect the complex nature of organizations. Procedures can be established for security and privacy programs, for mission or business processes, and for systems, if needed. Procedures describe how the policies or controls are implemented and can be directed at the individual or role that is the object of the procedure. Procedures can be documented in system security and privacy plans or in one or more separate documents. Events that may precipitate an update to audit and accountability policy and procedures include assessment or audit findings, security incidents or breaches, or changes in applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. Simply restating controls does not constitute an organizational policy or procedure.

Official OSCAL parameters

Organization-defined parameters

These values must be resolved through the organization’s tailoring and governance process. Bracketed parameter references in the control text identify where a decision is required.

organization-defined personnel or roles

personnel or rolespersonnel or roles to whom the audit and accountability policy is to be disseminated is/are defined;

personnel or rolespersonnel or roles to whom the audit and accountability procedures are to be disseminated is/are defined;

au-01_odp.03

officialan official to manage the audit and accountability policy and procedures is defined;

frequencythe frequency at which the current audit and accountability policy is reviewed and updated is defined;

eventsevents that would require the current audit and accountability policy to be reviewed and updated are defined;

frequencythe frequency at which the current audit and accountability procedures are reviewed and updated is defined;

eventsevents that would require audit and accountability procedures to be reviewed and updated are defined;

Original Bare Metal Cyber perspective

From control text to operational evidence

Use Policy and Procedures as a testable risk decision. Translate the official statement into accountable people, repeatable processes, configured technology, and evidence that demonstrates the outcome over time. In this family, pay particular attention to audit event design, trustworthy collection, retention, review, and investigation support.

Implementation workflow

Define the control boundary, responsible owner, inherited portions, and systems or processes in scope.
Resolve each organization-defined parameter before declaring the control implemented.
Document how the implementation satisfies every clause of the official control statement.
Collect evidence as a normal byproduct of operation rather than only before an assessment.
Review exceptions, changes, and monitoring results on a risk-based cadence.

Evidence examples

logging standards and event-selection decisions
sample audit records and retention settings
time-synchronization evidence
alert and review records

Common failure patterns

collecting logs without defined use cases
critical events missing from the audit trail
retention shorter than investigative needs
logs accessible to the same administrators being monitored

Questions practitioners should ask

What risk decision is this control intended to support in this system?
Which parts are implemented locally, inherited, shared, or not applicable—and what evidence supports that decision?
Do the documented narrative, deployed configuration, operating process, and collected evidence agree?
What event or threshold requires the implementation to be reviewed or changed?

Official NIST SP 800-53A content

Assessment objectives and methods

Show the assessment objective

AU-01a.
1. AU-01a.[01]an audit and accountability policy is developed and documented;
2. AU-01a.[02]the audit and accountability policy is disseminated to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles];
3. AU-01a.[03]audit and accountability procedures to facilitate the implementation of the audit and accountability policy and associated audit and accountability controls are developed and documented;
4. AU-01a.[04]the audit and accountability procedures are disseminated to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles];
5. AU-01a.01
  1. AU-01a.01(a)
    1. AU-01a.01(a)[01]the [Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] of the audit and accountability policy addresses purpose;
    2. AU-01a.01(a)[02]the [Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] of the audit and accountability policy addresses scope;
    3. AU-01a.01(a)[03]the [Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] of the audit and accountability policy addresses roles;
    4. AU-01a.01(a)[04]the [Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] of the audit and accountability policy addresses responsibilities;
    5. AU-01a.01(a)[05]the [Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] of the audit and accountability policy addresses management commitment;
    6. AU-01a.01(a)[06]the [Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] of the audit and accountability policy addresses coordination among organizational entities;
    7. AU-01a.01(a)[07]the [Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] of the audit and accountability policy addresses compliance;
  2. AU-01a.01(b)the [Organization-defined: au-01_odp.03] of the audit and accountability policy is consistent with applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines;
AU-01b.the [Organization-defined: official] is designated to manage the development, documentation, and dissemination of the audit and accountability policy and procedures;
AU-01c.
1. AU-01c.01
  1. AU-01c.01[01]the current audit and accountability policy is reviewed and updated [Organization-defined: frequency];
  2. AU-01c.01[02]the current audit and accountability policy is reviewed and updated following [Organization-defined: events];
2. AU-01c.02
  1. AU-01c.02[01]the current audit and accountability procedures are reviewed and updated [Organization-defined: frequency];
  2. AU-01c.02[02]the current audit and accountability procedures are reviewed and updated following [Organization-defined: events].

Examine

Audit and accountability policy and procedures
system security plan
privacy plan
other relevant documents or records

Interview

Organizational personnel with audit and accountability responsibilities
organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities

Official relationships

Related controls

These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.

Source record

Authoritative sources

Bare Metal Cyber is an independent educational publisher and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NIST. Official control requirements and interpretations remain with NIST and the responsible authorizing organization.