Control statement
- a.Identify and document:
- 1.Assumptions affecting risk assessments, risk responses, and risk monitoring;
- 2.Constraints affecting risk assessments, risk responses, and risk monitoring;
- 3.Priorities and trade-offs considered by the organization for managing risk; and
- 4.Organizational risk tolerance;
- b.Distribute the results of risk framing activities to [Organization-defined: personnel] ; and
- c.Review and update risk framing considerations [Organization-defined: frequency].
Discussion
Risk framing is most effective when conducted at the organization level and in consultation with stakeholders throughout the organization including mission, business, and system owners. The assumptions, constraints, risk tolerance, priorities, and trade-offs identified as part of the risk framing process inform the risk management strategy, which in turn informs the conduct of risk assessment, risk response, and risk monitoring activities. Risk framing results are shared with organizational personnel, including mission and business owners, information owners or stewards, system owners, authorizing officials, senior agency information security officer, senior agency official for privacy, and senior accountable official for risk management.
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.
From control text to operational evidence
Use Risk Framing 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 enterprise program governance, accountability, resources, metrics, and organization-wide risk decisions.
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
- program charters and policies
- governance meeting records
- risk and performance metrics
- resource and responsibility assignments
Common failure patterns
- program metrics count activity instead of outcomes
- system-level risks never reach enterprise governance
- responsibilities assigned without authority or resources
- privacy and security managed in separate silos
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?
Assessment objectives and methods
Show the assessment objective
- PM-28a.
- PM-28a.01
- PM-28a.01[01]assumptions affecting risk assessments are identified and documented;
- PM-28a.01[02]assumptions affecting risk responses are identified and documented;
- PM-28a.01[03]assumptions affecting risk monitoring are identified and documented;
- PM-28a.02
- PM-28a.02[01]constraints affecting risk assessments are identified and documented;
- PM-28a.02[02]constraints affecting risk responses are identified and documented;
- PM-28a.02[03]constraints affecting risk monitoring are identified and documented;
- PM-28a.03
- PM-28a.03[01]priorities considered by the organization for managing risk are identified and documented;
- PM-28a.03[02]trade-offs considered by the organization for managing risk are identified and documented;
- PM-28a.04organizational risk tolerance is identified and documented;
- PM-28a.01
- PM-28b.the results of risk framing activities are distributed to [Organization-defined: personnel];
- PM-28c.risk framing considerations are reviewed and updated [Organization-defined: frequency].
Examine
- Information security program plan
- privacy program plan
- supply chain risk management strategy
- documentation of risk framing activities
- policies and procedures for risk framing activities
- risk management strategy
Interview
- Organizational personnel (including mission, business, and system owners or stewards
- authorizing officials
- senior agency information security officer
- senior agency official for privacy
- and senior accountable official for risk management)
Test
- Organizational procedures and practices for authorizing, conducting, managing, and reviewing personally identifiable information processing
- organizational processes for risk framing
- mechanisms supporting the development, review, update, and approval of risk framing
Related controls
These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.
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.