PM-16_threat-awareness-program

PM-16 Threat Awareness Program

High-Level Description

Family: Program Management (PM) Framework: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5

Because of the constantly changing and increasing sophistication of adversaries, especially the advanced persistent threat (APT), it may be more likely that adversaries can successfully breach or compromise organizational systems. One of the best techniques to address this concern is for organizations to share threat information, including threat events (i.e., tactics, techniques, and procedures) that organizations have experienced, mitigations that organizations have found are effective against certain types of threats, and threat intelligence (i.e., indications and warnings about threats). Threat information sharing may be bilateral or multilateral. Bilateral threat sharing includes government-to-commercial and government-to-government cooperatives. Multilateral threat sharing includes organizations taking part in threat-sharing consortia. Threat information may require special agreements and protection, or it may be freely shared.

What to Check

• Verify PM-16 Threat Awareness Program is documented in SSP
• Confirm control is operating effectively
• Review evidence of continuous monitoring for PM-16

How to Test

Step 1: Review Documentation

Examine the System Security Plan (SSP) and related artifacts for PM-16 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

Implement a threat awareness program that includes a cross-organization information-sharing capability for threat intelligence.

Implementation Guidance

Because of the constantly changing and increasing sophistication of adversaries, especially the advanced persistent threat (APT), it may be more likely that adversaries can successfully breach or compromise organizational systems. One of the best techniques to address this concern is for organizations to share threat information, including threat events (i.e., tactics, techniques, and procedures) that organizations have experienced, mitigations that organizations have found are effective against certain types of threats, and threat intelligence (i.e., indications and warnings about threats). Threat information sharing may be bilateral or multilateral. Bilateral threat sharing includes government-to-commercial and government-to-government cooperatives. Multilateral threat sharing includes organizations taking part in threat-sharing consortia. Threat information may require special agreements and protection, or it may be freely shared.

Risk Assessment

CWE Categories

References

• NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 - PM-16
• 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 (IR-4, PM-12) reviewed