Access Control for Transmission PE-4
Physical and Environmental Protection · Moderate baseline ✗ Not implemented
Status — program-wide
What references this control
No risks name this control in their Framework field yet.
No policies reference it yet.
Link a risk or policy to this control
Attaching adds PE-4 to the item's Framework field; the ✨ AI button suggests the best match. You can also edit the Framework field on a risk / policy directly.
Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5, Physical and Environmental Protection family NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5. The baseline shows the lowest SP 800-53B baseline (Low / Moderate / High) this control appears in NIST SP 800-53B.
Control guide — plain-English, per NIST SP 800-53
PE-4 (Access Control for Transmission) is about protecting the cables and lines that carry your system's data inside the building, so someone cannot quietly tap, cut, or tamper with them. Think network cabling and the wiring closets and paths it runs through. It is a Moderate-baseline control.
What good looks like
- Keep network and power cabling out of easy reach — inside walls, conduit, locked cabinets, or a secured rack.
- Protect wiring closets and patch panels the same way you protect the server itself.
- Avoid leaving live network jacks exposed in open or public areas.
- Label and document cable runs so tampering or an added device is easy to spot.
- Use conduit or a lockable enclosure where lines pass through shared or unsecured space.
Framework mapping
- NIST CSF 2.0 — PR.AA-06 — Physical access to assets is managed, monitored, and enforced commensurate with risk
How to move it toward Implemented
- Route the lab server's network cable so it is not exposed — run it inside the rack, a locked cabinet, or conduit rather than loose across an open room.
- Check for any unused network jacks near the server that someone could plug into, and physically block or disconnect them.
- Take a dated photo of the cable path and closet, and note where lines run, so you have a baseline to compare against later.
- Attach the dated cable-path photos and closet notes as hardening evidence on the asset, naming
PE-4in the Requirement field — that moves it from ‘To assess’ toward ‘Completed’.