Framework overlap

Does ISO 27799 cover NIST SP 800-115 (Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment)?

You hold ISO 27799 and have been told to do NIST SP 800-115 (Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment). Here is how much overlaps, control by control.

50% of NIST SP 800-115 (Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment) you already have

ISO 27799 already covers about 50% of NIST SP 800-115 (Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment), leaving 4 of 8 controls as genuinely new work.

Already covered 2 Likely covered 2 New work 4

What is genuinely new work

Nothing in ISO 27799 reaches these. This is the list to scope.

NISTSP115-4
Target Vulnerability Validation - Password Cracking, Pen Testing, Social Engineering
NISTSP115-5
Planning Phase - Engagement Coordination and Logistics
NISTSP115-6
Execution Phase - Discovery, Attack, and Reporting
NISTSP115-7
Post-Test Activities - Remediation, Mitigation, and Re-testing
Show the 4 you already have
NISTSP115-2
Review Techniques - Documentation, Logs, Rulesets, Configurations
NISTSP115-8
Operational Considerations - Tools, Reporting Templates, ISMS Integration, Annex Material
NISTSP115-1
Scope, Methodology, and Assessment Planning
NISTSP115-3
Target Identification and Analysis - Network Discovery, Port and Service ID, Vuln Scanning

How this is calculated

Already covered means a mapping runs from a control in ISO 27799 to that control. Likely covered means no direct mapping exists but both frameworks map to the same control in a third standard. New work means neither. We keep those separate rather than adding them into one friendlier number, because blending them would present a two-hop inference as a verified fact.

Coverage is not symmetric. Run it the other way and you will get a different number; both are correct.

From 332,959 cross-framework control mappings across 723 frameworks, 531 of them verified against their source documents. It does not tell you that you are compliant: a mapped control means the two standards ask for the same thing, not that you have done it.

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