NIST 800-171 3.2.1 (AT.L2-3.2.1): Security Awareness

Ensure that managers, systems administrators, and users of organizational systems are made aware of the security risks associated with their activities and of the applicable policies, standards, and procedures related to the security of those systems.

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, requirement 3.2.1

CMMC Level 2 practice AT.L2-3.2.1Published 2026-11-11

What 3.2.1 means in practice

Everyone who uses the system, from managers to administrators, learns the security risks of their work and the policies they must follow. Awareness can come through training, briefings, posters or simulated phishing, but you need records of who received it and when.

SPRS points and the CMMC POA&M

CMMC Level 2 practice: AT.L2-3.2.1
SPRS points: 5 points. When it is not met, the DoD Assessment Methodology subtracts 5 from the score of 110.
CMMC POA&M: Not allowed. It is worth 5 points, and 32 CFR 170.21(a)(2)(ii) admits only requirements worth 1 point, with one exception: 3.13.11 when encryption is used but not FIPS validated.

Sources: NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Methodology, version 1.2.1 (June 24, 2020), Annex A; 32 CFR 170.21, Plan of Action and Milestones requirements.

What an assessor checks for 3.2.1

NIST SP 800-171A gives 4 determination statements for 3.2.1, each found satisfied or other than satisfied. Determine if:

3.2.1[a] security risks associated with organizational activities involving CUI are identified.
3.2.1[b] policies, standards, and procedures related to the security of the system are identified.
3.2.1[c] managers, systems administrators, and users of the system are made aware of the security risks associated with their activities.
3.2.1[d] managers, systems administrators, and users of the system are made aware of the applicable policies, standards, and procedures related to the security of the system.

NIST SP 800-171A (June 2018), assessment objectives for 3.2.1

Evidence that shows 3.2.1 is met

The awareness program content and how often it runs.
Completion records for all users, new hires included.
Acknowledgements of the security policies that apply to each user.

How PolicyCortex gathers the evidence

No PolicyCortex collector reads the evidence for 3.2.1. Your team provides the evidence listed above.

Related pages

Calculator: SPRS score calculator: mark 3.2.1 and the other 109 requirements and see the score.
Sample package: Sample package: an SSP, a POA&M and an evidence chain the product generated from demonstration data.
Family: All 3 Awareness and Training requirements (3.2).
Previous: 3.1.22: Public Information
Next: 3.2.2: Role-Based Training
All requirements: All 110 NIST SP 800-171 requirements, by family.

Related records

Guides and articles describe the work. The evidence that work produces is described in three proof pages, the architecture page, and the two pages on authorization.

proof.state: Proof of State. What the environment was, as of a date someone else picks: point-in-time records, content hashed and chained.
proof.change: Proof of Change. Who or what altered the environment, under what authority, with before and after state hashes.
proof.agency: Proof of Agency. What a machine was permitted to do before it acted, what it did, and what would have stopped it.
architecture: Architecture. How the chain is built and where the evidence is stored in each delivery mode.
authorization: Continuous ATO. How an authorizing official's decision is recorded with its package, and how the authorized system is checked against it every hour.
baseline: NIST SP 800-53. The Low, Moderate and High baselines as evidence, with the SSP, SAR and POA&M generated from one record.