Control statement
Incorporate security and privacy roles and responsibilities into organizational position descriptions.
Discussion
Specification of security and privacy roles in individual organizational position descriptions facilitates clarity in understanding the security or privacy responsibilities associated with the roles and the role-based security and privacy training requirements for the roles.
From control text to operational evidence
Use Position Descriptions 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 personnel risk, screening, agreements, transfer, termination, and access consequences.
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
- screening and suitability records
- access agreements
- transfer and termination checklists
- role change and offboarding evidence
Common failure patterns
- access persists after transfer or separation
- contractor lifecycle handled outside normal controls
- sensitive-role screening not risk based
- termination actions cannot be shown to occur promptly
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
- PS-09[01]security roles and responsibilities are incorporated into organizational position descriptions;
- PS-09[02]privacy roles and responsibilities are incorporated into organizational position descriptions.
Examine
- Personnel security policy
- personnel security procedures
- procedures addressing position descriptions
- security and privacy position descriptions
- system security plan
- privacy plan
- privacy program plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with personnel security responsibilities
- organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities
- organizational personnel with human capital management responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for managing position descriptions
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.