Managed IT Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)

FISMA is a law that was passed by the federal government of the United States in 2002. The law requires federal agencies to create, record and maintain programs for information security and protection. FISMA was also developed to significantly reduce risks to data belonging to federal agencies and also limit the finances used by federal agencies on information security. As such FISMA ensures cost effective methods are used to maintain information security. Security standards and controls were developed to make it possible for FISMA to be effective. FISMA has since grown and now includes state programs like Medicare

Who FISMA applies to

When FISMA was created, it applied to United States federal agencies only but later it begun to be applied by all organizations that were in possession and management of federal information. State and local authorities that issue programs like Medicare, cloud providers and contractors, approved by the federal government also comply with FISMA. Organizations in the private sector that are in contract with the federal government are also required to comply with FISMA.

OUR FISMA AUDIT SERVICES

The compliance solution implemented by ISC is an attestation service for FISMA audits. We provide FISMA gap assessments for deciding where precisely one may be exposed, risk evaluations for discovering where one may be weak, and compliance audits for guaranteeing that the public or private sector organization completely complies with FISMA. These services ensure that you are up to date with federal regulations and keep your systems and data secure.

FISMA gap analysis

Our FISMA Gap Analysis tells you the state of your existing safeguards to determine which ones align with FISMA and require enhancement. These include access control mechanisms, encryption, policies regarding the employees, and even the measures put in place in cases of security breaches. The findings assist in developing a blueprint showing that your organization complies with all federal security standards.

FISMA compliance audit

After you’ve created a FISMA-compliant security plan, ISC can independently verify your work. We offer third-party validation to confirm your policies and procedures meet FISMA requirements. This formal audit provides documented proof that your security measures are up to standard, providing greater confidence in your organization’s security posture.

Integrated Federal Cybersecurity and Compliance Engagements

FISMA Risk Assessments are needed whenever you change your information system. Our auditors follow NIST guidelines to identify vulnerabilities, assess their risk, and evaluate the potential impact of breaches. This helps you decide which risks are acceptable and which ones need extra security measures to protect your system.

Integrated Federal Cybersecurity and Compliance Engagements

You may be required to meet several government standards in search of federal contracts. At ISC, organizations meet federal compliance demands, including FISMA, FEDRAMP, NIST, and DFARS, as well as non-federal requirements such as ISO and PCI-DSS. Our auditors assist you in understanding which regulations apply to your organization and how you can meet those requirements effectively to match your security measures with federal and industry standards and, thus, contract.

PREPARING FOR AN FISMA AUDIT

Have you just started learning about the federal compliance auditing requirements? This is the reason why it is crucial for people to understand that preparing for FISMA involves familiarizing with several guidelines and controls, as well as the federal levels and metrics of compliance. Here then is all you need to know about information security guidelines that would enable you prepare well and make sure you are comply with all the security standards that are required for the audit.

The Relationship Between NIST and FISMA

FISMA is a law that provides legal framework for the protection of federal information and acquires security part from NIST. NIST develops the standards and security controls necessary for FISMA compliance, as well as the risk management and risk assessment frameworks used in the audit process.

FISMA guidelines

FISMA provides guidelines using NIST standards and security controls for;

Each and every enterprise, which operates at the federal level, as well as every single company, which has a contract with the USA government, is obliged to provide records of every single asset utilized within the scope of informational systems. FISMA also mandates that the organizations demonstrate how the information system is connected to the network.

Information should be organized according to how sensitive it is, and how crucial it is, then it should be grouped in a way that can be used to give priority to if need be. This also assists, the agencies in identifying which information deserves the most security and attention. When information is not classified it goes round and round within the agency without being accessed whenever necessary that is why it should be classified.

FISMA borrows its security requirements from. According to NIST, a successful risk assessment should include an identification of all the risks at the organization level, business level and information system level.

Threats are not static but are dynamic in nature hence every day a new threat may crop up or an existing one may upscale its operations, meaning Organization can never be over protected or over guarded. FISMA mandates that organizations must always be vigilant to check whether the systems they have are still adequate to safeguard federal possessions.

Security is held at the highest level of organizations whereby officials conduct annual security awareness on the organization’s environment. To achieve FISMA certification, organization go through four levels of review namely: To achieve FISMA certification, organization go through four levels of review namely:
  • Initiate and plan
  • Certified
  • Accredited
  • Continued monitor

FISMA Risk Levels

There is the classification of the risk sectaries to CDI and CUI. This is about attesting a risk level to each type of data that you process – in electronic or in non-electronic form.

(like Contractor agreements and Proprietary business information) will almost not affect your operation if violated.

Moderate-Impact information (like process manuals and financial information) would cause a huge hit to the organization’s mission if lost. If a breach is carried out it could lead to the loss of some or all organizational assets, a substantial loss in terms of money, or a serious harm to people.

(e.g. military strategies and vision/mission statements of critical infrastructure organizations) would be disastrous to government organizations or persons – potentially even fatal – if leaked.

After arriving at the required risk levels for information and systems it is possible to predict what threats one has to protect against.

FISMA Controls

To be compliant, organizations must implement controls across the following categories:

FISMA Metric

Once controls are in place, FISMA requires continuous monitoring and documentation of an organization’s progress. Each organization’s head of information security must report on key metrics, such as:
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