Framework: NIST 800-53 Audio Course

Controlled Maintenance (MA-2) ensures that all maintenance activities—routine, preventive, or emergency—are performed under defined, authorized, and auditable conditions. For exam readiness, understand that MA-2 governs both internal and external maintenance, including work performed by contractors or vendors. It requires documented procedures, approval processes, supervision, and recordkeeping to protect systems from accidental damage or malicious modification during servicing. The control’s purpose is to maintain system integrity, confidentiality, and availability while ensuring maintenance actions are predictable and traceable.

Operationally, MA-2 relies on maintenance logs that record who performed the work, what was done, when it occurred, and what tools were used. Remote maintenance sessions must be authorized, encrypted, monitored, and terminated when complete. Systems are validated afterward to ensure normal operation and baseline integrity. Evidence includes approved work orders, maintenance logs, session recordings, and validation results. Metrics such as completion rate of authorized maintenance, number of unsupervised maintenance events detected, and time to close validation checks indicate control health. Pitfalls include performing maintenance without documented approval, failing to track external technicians, or neglecting to verify integrity post-maintenance. Mastering MA-2 demonstrates disciplined operational control over a high-risk system function often exploited through poor oversight.
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