Security Control Assessor (SCA) 101:

Learn the role of a security control assessor (SCA) as a cybersecurity professional who plans the SAP-based assessment, conducts a three-phase evaluation, and briefs the authorizing official.

Explore the NIST RMF and CSF frameworks and their mappings to SP 837 Rev2 and SP 853 Rev5, with 853 Rev5 mapping to select and 853 A mapping to assess.

Explore the foundations of the security assessment plan and the role of a security control assessor. Learn SAP basics and how an SCA evaluates security controls.

Practice developing a security assessment plan (sap) with a focus on assumptions relevant to the security control assessor (sca) role.

Coordinate a successful kickoff meeting by presenting tentative dates for interviews and test sessions, securing stakeholder buy-in for your team's availability, and preventing post-kickoff scheduling delays.

Examine phase reviews and updates system documentation for agency upload, focusing on annual SSPs and three-year items like the Business Impact Analysis, with signed final PDFs.

Explore how to examine continuous monitoring audit logs related to users through hands-on exercises, applying security control assessment practices to identify anomalies and ensure compliance.

Explore continuous monitoring, audit log review, and user accounts in security control assessments; learn how to monitor, review logs, and manage user accounts for effective security posture.

Engage in a hands-on exercise to examine continuous monitoring, review audit logs, and verify authorized users.

Examine continuous monitoring and audit log review to assess user status within security controls, and practice hands-on evaluation techniques.

Practice continuous monitoring and audit log review by examining user actions to strengthen security control assessor skills.

Examine continuous monitoring, audit log review, and user accounts to strengthen security control assessments. Apply best practices for ongoing monitoring and account governance to detect anomalies and ensure compliance.

Explore continuous monitoring and scan reports within security control assessment, and learn to interpret findings to strengthen defense.

Perform an exercise to examine continuous monitoring scan reports for non-findings, and interpret results to strengthen assessment practices.

Recap the process of examining continuous monitoring data and scan reports to strengthen security control assessments.

Explore how to examine continuous monitoring processes and analyze POA&M reports to support security control assessments and ongoing risk management.

Engage in an exercise that reviews poam, reinforcing security control assessor practices and poam review procedures within a formal security framework.

Recap the continuous monitoring POAM report by examining actions and milestones for ongoing progress updates.

Store all system documents in a single location during pre-assessment, coordinating with the system owner and the ISO to prevent scattered versions and speed compliance reviews.

Introduce interview sessions as a foundational skill for security control assessors, outlining their purpose, structure, and evaluation of interview responses.

Learn to invite the right stakeholders to interview sessions based on system type, including the CSP technical point of contact, division liaison, ESO, privacy analyst, and app server team.

Use 30-minute interview sessions to accommodate stakeholder availability, enabling efficient interview and test sessions, gathering necessary information, and keeping the assessment on track.

Explore an introductory test demonstration for the security control assessor 101, providing a concise overview of the demonstration and its relevance to security control assessment concepts.

Demonstrates secure configuration verification and functionality testing of a cloud-based SAS information system for grant applications, capturing screenshots to document the warning banner and role based access control.

Request a demo or walkthrough of the information system to view and validate configurations, verify functionality, and capture screenshots as evidence of security and privacy control implementations.

Master plan of action and milestones (POA&M) within Security Control Assessor (SCA) 101. Grasp how POA&M informs security control assessments.

Introduce the security assessment report (SAR) framework and its role in evaluating security controls, as part 1 of a 3-part series.

Explore the introduction to the security assessment report (SAR) in part two of the three-part series for the security control assessor (SCA) 101 course.

Meet with the Izo or the ISM regularly to address issues. Maintain a shared evidence location for quick review of security control implementation and schedule shorter interviews to stay efficient.