AC-2(13)_disable-accounts-for-high-risk-individuals

AC-2(13) Disable Accounts for High-risk Individuals

Enhancement of: AC-2

High-Level Description

Family: Access Control (AC) Framework: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5

Users who pose a significant security and/or privacy risk include individuals for whom reliable evidence indicates either the intention to use authorized access to systems to cause harm or through whom adversaries will cause harm. Such harm includes adverse impacts to organizational operations, organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, or the Nation. Close coordination among system administrators, legal staff, human resource managers, and authorizing officials is essential when disabling system accounts for high-risk individuals.

What to Check

• Verify AC-2(13) Disable Accounts for High-risk Individuals is documented in SSP
• Confirm control is operating effectively
• Review evidence of continuous monitoring for AC-2(13)
• Verify enhancement builds upon base control AC-2

How to Test

Step 1: Review Documentation

Examine the System Security Plan (SSP) and related artifacts for AC-2(13) implementation details. Verify the organization has documented how this control is satisfied.

Step 2: Validate Implementation

# For cloud environments, use cloud-audit-mcp tools
# For on-premises, review system configurations directly

# Example: Check if account management policies exist
grep -r "account.management\|access.control" /etc/security/ 2>/dev/null

Step 3: Test Operating Effectiveness

Verify the control is actively functioning, not just documented. Check logs, configurations, and operational evidence.

Tools

Remediation Guide

Control Statement

Disable accounts of individuals within [organization-defined] of discovery of [organization-defined].

Implementation Guidance

Users who pose a significant security and/or privacy risk include individuals for whom reliable evidence indicates either the intention to use authorized access to systems to cause harm or through whom adversaries will cause harm. Such harm includes adverse impacts to organizational operations, organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, or the Nation. Close coordination among system administrators, legal staff, human resource managers, and authorizing officials is essential when disabling system accounts for high-risk individuals.

Risk Assessment

CWE Categories

References

• NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 - AC-2(13)
• NIST SP 800-53A Rev 5 (Assessment Procedures)
• NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 Full Catalog

Checklist

• Control documented in SSP
• Implementation evidence collected
• Operating effectiveness validated
• Continuous monitoring in place
• Related controls (AU-6, SI-4) reviewed