NIST OLIR Program Participation | Start Here

Program Overview

What Is the NIST OLIR Program?

The NIST OLIR Program facilitates Subject Matter Experts in defining standardized Online Informative References between elements of their work and NIST publications.

NIST IR 8278, National Online Informative References (OLIR) Program: Program Overview and OLIR Uses, explains what OLIRs are, what benefits they provide, how anyone can search and access OLIRs, and how SMEs can contribute their own OLIRs.

NIST Publications

CSF · SP 800-53 · SP 800-171 · AI RMF

SCF Controls

34 Domains · Comprehensive SCF

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NIST OLIR

Informative Reference Catalog

STRM-Based Crosswalk Mapping

Important note

SCF participation in the NIST OLIR Program is not an endorsement by NIST. NIST provides the program infrastructure; the SCF is responsible for the content of its submitted OLIRs.

Significance

Why Does OLIR Participation Matter?

The SCF’s participation in the NIST OLIR Program means the crosswalk mapping between SCF controls and key NIST publications has been formally reviewed and accepted by NIST as meeting the OLIR program standards.

Third-Party Validation

NIST acceptance of the SCF’s submitted OLIRs provides independent validation that the crosswalk mappings meet the rigorous standards of NIST IR 8278 and NIST IR 8477.

Authoritative Reference

OLIRs accepted into the NIST catalog are publicly accessible, allowing organizations and auditors to reference the SCF-to-NIST mappings as an authoritative source.

Regulatory Trust

For organizations subject to NIST-based requirements (FedRAMP, CMMC, etc.), OLIR participation demonstrates that SCF-to-NIST mappings are credible and recognized at the federal level.

Broader Ecosystem

OLIR participation connects the SCF to the broader NIST cybersecurity ecosystem, including NIST CSF, SP 800-53, SP 800-171, AI RMF, and other key frameworks.

OLIR Structure

What Is Contained in OLIR Documents?

OLIR documents follow a standardized structure defined by NIST. Each OLIR submitted by the SCF documents the formal relationship between SCF controls and elements of a NIST publication.

Focal Document

The document being mapped (e.g., NIST CSF v1.1 or NIST SP 800-171 R2). Each element of the focal document is identified as a Focal Document Element (FDE) with a unique identifier and description.

Reference Document

The SCF serves as the Reference Document. Each SCF control that maps to a FDE is identified with its control ID, name, and a documented STRM relationship type and strength.

Relationship Type

Each FDE-to-SCF mapping uses one of the 5 STRM relationship types: Subset Of, Intersects With, Equal To, Superset Of, or No Relationship, consistent with NIST IR 8477 methodology.

Relationship Strength

A numeric strength score (1–10) accompanies each mapping to indicate the degree of semantic overlap between the FDE and the SCF control, providing nuance beyond a binary match/no-match determination.

SCF Submissions

SCF-Submitted OLIRs

Users can go to https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/olir/informative-reference-catalog#/ and search for "secure controls framework" to find what mappings exist in NIST OLIR.

NIST OLIR Project SCF Participation