Knowledge is Power

Sitewide Search

Search Bare Metal Cyber

Search courses, individual lessons, wiki entries, books, podcasts, magazine articles, Daily Cyber News, and Darwin.

NIST SP 800-53 Learning Center

PE-9 — Power Equipment and Cabling

Read the official control and assessment content, then use the separately labeled Bare Metal Cyber perspective to connect the requirement to implementation, evidence, and sustained operation.

2Enhancements
0Parameters
2Baseline memberships
3Assessment methods

PE — Physical and Environmental Protection · NIST SP 800-53 Release 5.2.0

ModerateHigh
Official NIST control content

Control statement

Protect power equipment and power cabling for the system from damage and destruction.

Official NIST discussion

Discussion

Organizations determine the types of protection necessary for the power equipment and cabling employed at different locations that are both internal and external to organizational facilities and environments of operation. Types of power equipment and cabling include internal cabling and uninterruptable power sources in offices or data centers, generators and power cabling outside of buildings, and power sources for self-contained components such as satellites, vehicles, and other deployable systems.

Original Bare Metal Cyber perspective

From control text to operational evidence

Use Power Equipment and Cabling 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 physical access, facility protection, environmental safeguards, and visitor accountability.

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

  • badge and visitor logs
  • physical access reviews
  • facility diagrams and sensor records
  • environmental and power test results

Common failure patterns

  • logical security assumptions invalidated by physical access
  • tailgating and visitor exceptions normalized
  • critical infrastructure not included in access reviews
  • environmental alarms not integrated into response

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
  1. PE-09[01]power equipment for the system is protected from damage and destruction;
  2. PE-09[02]power cabling for the system is protected from damage and destruction.

Examine

  • Physical and environmental protection policy
  • procedures addressing power equipment/cabling protection
  • facilities housing power equipment/cabling
  • system security plan
  • other relevant documents or records

Interview

  • Organizational personnel with the responsibility to protect power equipment/cabling
  • organizational personnel with information security responsibilities

Test

  • Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the protection of power equipment/cabling
Official relationships

Related controls

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

Official NIST enhancements

Control enhancements

Enhancements add specificity, strength, or scope to the base control. Baseline badges show explicit selections in the official SP 800-53B OSCAL profiles.

Official NIST control enhancement

PE-9(1) — Redundant Cabling

Employ redundant power cabling paths that are physically separated by [Organization-defined: distance].

Official discussion

Physically separate and redundant power cables ensure that power continues to flow in the event that one of the cables is cut or otherwise damaged.

Organization-defined parameters (1)
distancedistance by which redundant power cabling paths are to be physically separated is defined;
Assessment objectives and methods

redundant power cabling paths that are physically separated by [Organization-defined: distance] are employed.

Examine

  • Physical and environmental protection policy
  • procedures addressing power equipment/cabling protection
  • facilities housing power equipment/cabling
  • system security plan
  • other relevant documents or records

Interview

  • Organizational personnel with the responsibility to protect power equipment/cabling
  • organizational personnel with information security responsibilities

Test

  • Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the protection of power equipment/cabling
Official NIST control enhancement

PE-9(2) — Automatic Voltage Controls

Employ automatic voltage controls for [Organization-defined: critical system components].

Official discussion

Automatic voltage controls can monitor and control voltage. Such controls include voltage regulators, voltage conditioners, and voltage stabilizers.

Organization-defined parameters (1)
critical system componentsthe critical system components that require automatic voltage controls are defined;
Assessment objectives and methods

automatic voltage controls for [Organization-defined: critical system components] are employed.

Examine

  • Physical and environmental protection policy
  • procedures addressing voltage control
  • security plan
  • list of critical system components requiring automatic voltage controls
  • automatic voltage control mechanisms and associated configurations
  • system security plan
  • other relevant documents or records

Interview

  • Organizational personnel with responsibilities for environmental protection of system components
  • organizational personnel with information security responsibilities

Test

  • Mechanisms supporting and/or implementing automatic voltage controls
Source record

Authoritative sources