Control statement
- a.Conduct a risk assessment, including:
- 1.Identifying threats to and vulnerabilities in the system;
- 2.Determining the likelihood and magnitude of harm from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of the system, the information it processes, stores, or transmits, and any related information; and
- 3.Determining the likelihood and impact of adverse effects on individuals arising from the processing of personally identifiable information;
- b.Integrate risk assessment results and risk management decisions from the organization and mission or business process perspectives with system-level risk assessments;
- c.Document risk assessment results in [Organization-defined: ra-03_odp.01];
- d.Review risk assessment results [Organization-defined: frequency];
- e.Disseminate risk assessment results to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles] ; and
- f.Update the risk assessment [Organization-defined: frequency] or when there are significant changes to the system, its environment of operation, or other conditions that may impact the security or privacy state of the system.
Discussion
Risk assessments consider threats, vulnerabilities, likelihood, and impact to organizational operations and assets, individuals, other organizations, and the Nation. Risk assessments also consider risk from external parties, including contractors who operate systems on behalf of the organization, individuals who access organizational systems, service providers, and outsourcing entities. Organizations can conduct risk assessments at all three levels in the risk management hierarchy (i.e., organization level, mission/business process level, or information system level) and at any stage in the system development life cycle. Risk assessments can also be conducted at various steps in the Risk Management Framework, including preparation, categorization, control selection, control implementation, control assessment, authorization, and control monitoring. Risk assessment is an ongoing activity carried out throughout the system development life cycle. Risk assessments can also address information related to the system, including system design, the intended use of the system, testing results, and supply chain-related information or artifacts. Risk assessments can play an important role in control selection processes, particularly during the application of tailoring guidance and in the earliest phases of capability determination.
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 Assessment 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 risk framing, threat and vulnerability analysis, impact, criticality, and response 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
- risk assessments and threat models
- vulnerability findings and prioritization records
- supply-chain risk assessments
- risk response and acceptance decisions
Common failure patterns
- risk registers detached from technical evidence
- vulnerability severity treated as business impact
- assessments not updated after material change
- accepted risks have no owner or expiration
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
- RA-03a.
- RA-03a.01a risk assessment is conducted to identify threats to and vulnerabilities in the system;
- RA-03a.02a risk assessment is conducted to determine the likelihood and magnitude of harm from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of the system; the information it processes, stores, or transmits; and any related information;
- RA-03a.03a risk assessment is conducted to determine the likelihood and impact of adverse effects on individuals arising from the processing of personally identifiable information;
- RA-03b.risk assessment results and risk management decisions from the organization and mission or business process perspectives are integrated with system-level risk assessments;
- RA-03c.risk assessment results are documented in [Organization-defined: ra-03_odp.01];
- RA-03d.risk assessment results are reviewed [Organization-defined: frequency];
- RA-03e.risk assessment results are disseminated to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles];
- RA-03f.the risk assessment is updated [Organization-defined: frequency] or when there are significant changes to the system, its environment of operation, or other conditions that may impact the security or privacy state of the system.
Examine
- Risk assessment policy
- risk assessment procedures
- security and privacy planning policy and procedures
- procedures addressing organizational assessments of risk
- risk assessment
- risk assessment results
- risk assessment reviews
- risk assessment updates
- system security plan
- privacy plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with risk assessment responsibilities
- organizational personnel with security and privacy responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for risk assessment
- mechanisms supporting and/or conducting, documenting, reviewing, disseminating, and updating the risk assessment
Related controls
These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.
Related defensive techniques
D3FEND maps this base control or one of its enhancements to the following defensive techniques. The ontology relation label is preserved and does not by itself prove implementation or effectiveness.
MITRE D3FEND™ and the D3FEND logo are trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Bare Metal Cyber is not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE.
Related NIST SP 800-171 requirements
These Rev. 3 requirements cite this base control or one of its enhancements as a source. The relationship does not by itself determine contractual applicability or complete implementation.
Related NIST SP 800-172 requirements
These Rev. 3 requirements cite this base control or one of its enhancements as a source. The relationship does not by itself determine contractual applicability or complete implementation.
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.
RA-3(1) — Supply Chain Risk Assessment
- (a)Assess supply chain risks associated with [Organization-defined: systems, system components, and system services] ; and
- (b)Update the supply chain risk assessment [Organization-defined: frequency] , when there are significant changes to the relevant supply chain, or when changes to the system, environments of operation, or other conditions may necessitate a change in the supply chain.
Official discussion
Supply chain-related events include disruption, use of defective components, insertion of counterfeits, theft, malicious development practices, improper delivery practices, and insertion of malicious code. These events can have a significant impact on the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of a system and its information and, therefore, can also adversely impact organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, and the Nation. The supply chain-related events may be unintentional or malicious and can occur at any point during the system life cycle. An analysis of supply chain risk can help an organization identify systems or components for which additional supply chain risk mitigations are required.
Organization-defined parameters (2)
Assessment objectives and methods
- RA-03(01)(a)supply chain risks associated with [Organization-defined: systems, system components, and system services] are assessed;
- RA-03(01)(b)the supply chain risk assessment is updated [Organization-defined: frequency] , when there are significant changes to the relevant supply chain, or when changes to the system, environments of operation, or other conditions may necessitate a change in the supply chain.
Examine
- Supply chain risk management policy
- inventory of critical systems, system components, and system services
- risk assessment policy
- security planning policy and procedures
- procedures addressing organizational assessments of supply chain risk
- risk assessment
- risk assessment results
- risk assessment reviews
- risk assessment updates
- acquisition policy
- system security plan
- supply chain risk management plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with risk assessment responsibilities
- organizational personnel with security responsibilities
- organizational personnel with supply chain risk management responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for risk assessment
- mechanisms supporting and/or conducting, documenting, reviewing, disseminating, and updating the supply chain risk assessment
Related controls
RA-3(2) — Use of All-source Intelligence
Use all-source intelligence to assist in the analysis of risk.
Official discussion
Organizations employ all-source intelligence to inform engineering, acquisition, and risk management decisions. All-source intelligence consists of information derived from all available sources, including publicly available or open-source information, measurement and signature intelligence, human intelligence, signals intelligence, and imagery intelligence. All-source intelligence is used to analyze the risk of vulnerabilities (both intentional and unintentional) from development, manufacturing, and delivery processes, people, and the environment. The risk analysis may be performed on suppliers at multiple tiers in the supply chain sufficient to manage risks. Organizations may develop agreements to share all-source intelligence information or resulting decisions with other organizations, as appropriate.
Assessment objectives and methods
all-source intelligence is used to assist in the analysis of risk.
Examine
- Risk assessment policy
- security planning policy and procedures
- procedures addressing organizational assessments of risk
- risk assessment
- risk assessment results
- risk assessment reviews
- risk assessment updates
- risk intelligence reports
- system security plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with risk assessment responsibilities
- organizational personnel with security responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for risk assessment
- mechanisms supporting and/or conducting, documenting, reviewing, disseminating, and updating the risk assessment
RA-3(3) — Dynamic Threat Awareness
Determine the current cyber threat environment on an ongoing basis using [Organization-defined: means].
Official discussion
The threat awareness information that is gathered feeds into the organization’s information security operations to ensure that procedures are updated in response to the changing threat environment. For example, at higher threat levels, organizations may change the privilege or authentication thresholds required to perform certain operations.
Organization-defined parameters (1)
Assessment objectives and methods
the current cyber threat environment is determined on an ongoing basis using [Organization-defined: means].
Examine
- Risk assessment policy
- security planning policy and procedures
- procedures addressing organizational assessments of risk
- risk assessment
- risk assessment results
- risk assessment reviews
- risk assessment updates
- risk reports
- system security plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with risk assessment responsibilities
- organizational personnel with security responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for risk assessment
- mechanisms supporting and/or conducting, documenting, reviewing, disseminating, and updating the risk assessment
Related controls
RA-3(4) — Predictive Cyber Analytics
Employ the following advanced automation and analytics capabilities to predict and identify risks to [Organization-defined: systems or system components]: [Organization-defined: organization-defined advanced automation and analytics capabilities].
Official discussion
A properly resourced Security Operations Center (SOC) or Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT) may be overwhelmed by the volume of information generated by the proliferation of security tools and appliances unless it employs advanced automation and analytics to analyze the data. Advanced automation and analytics capabilities are typically supported by artificial intelligence concepts, including machine learning. Examples include Automated Threat Discovery and Response (which includes broad-based collection, context-based analysis, and adaptive response capabilities), automated workflow operations, and machine assisted decision tools. Note, however, that sophisticated adversaries may be able to extract information related to analytic parameters and retrain the machine learning to classify malicious activity as benign. Accordingly, machine learning is augmented by human monitoring to ensure that sophisticated adversaries are not able to conceal their activities.
Organization-defined parameters (4)
Assessment objectives and methods
- RA-03(04)[01][Organization-defined: advanced automation capabilities] are employed to predict and identify risks to [Organization-defined: systems or system components];
- RA-03(04)[02][Organization-defined: advanced analytics capabilities] are employed to predict and identify risks to [Organization-defined: systems or system components].
Examine
- Risk assessment policy
- security planning policy and procedures
- procedures addressing organizational assessments of risk
- risk assessment
- risk assessment results
- risk assessment reviews
- risk assessment updates
- risk reports
- system security plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with risk assessment responsibilities
- organizational personnel with security responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for risk assessment
- mechanisms supporting and/or conducting, documenting, reviewing, disseminating, and updating the risk assessment
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.