ps-2-position-risk-designation

name	PS-2_position-risk-designation
description	Assign a risk designation to all organizational positions;
category	configuration
version	5.2.0
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["nist","sp800-53","rev5","ps-2","ps"]
tech_stack	["any"]
cwe_ids	[]
chains_with	["AC-5","AT-3","PE-2","PE-3","PL-2","PS-3","PS-6","SA-5","SA-21","SI-12"]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{"AC-5":"Chain with AC-5 for comprehensive security coverage","AT-3":"Chain with AT-3 for comprehensive security coverage","PE-2":"Chain with PE-2 for comprehensive security coverage"}

PS-2 Position Risk Designation

High-Level Description

Family: Personnel Security (PS) Framework: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5

Position risk designations reflect Office of Personnel Management (OPM) policy and guidance. Proper position designation is the foundation of an effective and consistent suitability and personnel security program. The Position Designation System (PDS) assesses the duties and responsibilities of a position to determine the degree of potential damage to the efficiency or integrity of the service due to misconduct of an incumbent of a position and establishes the risk level of that position. The PDS assessment also determines if the duties and responsibilities of the position present the potential for position incumbents to bring about a material adverse effect on national security and the degree of that potential effect, which establishes the sensitivity level of a position. The results of the assessment determine what level of investigation is conducted for a position. Risk designations can guide and inform the types of authorizations that individuals receive when accessing organizational information and information systems. Position screening criteria include explicit information security role appointment requirements. Parts 1400 and 731 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, establish the requirements for organizations to evaluate relevant covered positions for a position sensitivity and position risk designation commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of those positions.

What to Check

• Verify PS-2 Position Risk Designation is documented in SSP
• Validate all 3 control requirements are implemented
• Confirm control is operating effectively
• Review evidence of continuous monitoring for PS-2

How to Test

Step 1: Review Documentation

Examine the System Security Plan (SSP) and related artifacts for PS-2 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

Tool