Experiencing a Breach?
GET IN TOUCH

FISMA Compliance 

Garner trust with secured information and operations for your federal agency with dedicated compliance and cybersecurity expertise for FISMA.   

SPEAK WITH AN EXPERT
OVERVIEW

Understanding
FISMA Compliance

In 2002, the government of the United States passed the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) as a part of the E-Government Act. It was a part of the Federal Risks and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). As per FISMA, all federal agencies must implement the recommended best practices for information security.

 

These guidelines were jointly framed by the NIST and FISMA, with NIST maintaining and updating the recommendations and FISMA issuing guidance. These guidelines were jointly framed by the NIST and FISMA, with NIST maintaining and updating the recommendations and FISMA issuing guidance. Explore how SharkStriker helps federal agencies in becoming FISMA compliant.

FISMA compliance Understanding
APPLICABILITY

Who Needs to Be FISMA Compliant?

FISMA applies to all the federal agencies and private organizations managing federal programs like Medicare insurance for unemployment and Medicaid programs.

BENEFITS

What are the benefits of being FISMA compliant?

  • Makes eligible for federal government funding
  • Round-the-clock information security 
  • Addresses risk management across different levels with best practices
  • Provides a systematic way to classify information
  • Improves data security standards for citizens
  • Bridges awareness gaps in cybersecurity through periodical training
  • Offers systematic guidance and best practices for incident response
  • Provides the measures to assess, address, and manage third-party risks
REQUIREMENTS

FISMA Compliance Checklist

FISMA has specified requirements under these main domains:

01
Information Security Inventory
FISMA requires organizations to regularly maintain system inventory for their IT infrastructure. It must include all the processes and systems that store, send, receive, process, and transmit information.
02
Security Controls
All the subject federal agencies must ensure the controls for security and integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information systems. They must implement the controls specified in the NIST 800-53 with more than 20 security controls for agencies. Agencies must implement all the controls depending on the FISMA category they belong to.
03
Risk Categorization
Organizations must assess their posture for security risks and categorize and address them with security measures. They must document the whole process with measures to treat all the security risks.
04
Risk Assessment
Any federal agency that has implemented changes in the system must conduct periodical three-tier risk assessments recommended in the NIST SP 800-30 by utilizing the Risk Management Framework. They must further identify and implement the controls needed upon assessment.
05
System Security Plan
They must prepare a comprehensive plan that encompasses the security posture management of the organization. It must define all the security measures & controls and specify how they will be implemented in a System Security Plan. It must regularly be updated.
06
Assessment and Authorization
Every agency must conduct a security review and show proof of implementing, maintaining, and monitoring systems for FISMA compliance annually. All the controls are to be assessed and checked whether they are performing optimally and are serving their purpose. Only upon authorization of the assessment by an appointed authority will the systems be allowed to operate. 
07
Continuous Monitoring
For long-term adherence to the FISMA guidelines, federal agencies are required to implement measures for continuous monitoring of all the FISMA controls. They must perform periodical risk assessments and check for deviations in the implemented measures. Additionally, they must periodically assess all the third-party vendors for risk and ensure that they are implementing all the recommended measures for security.
APPROACH

Here is how we can help federal agencies become FISMA compliant

We assist agencies in evaluating their infrastructures, identifying system risks and determine the effectiveness of their status quo security controls. Based on the risk assessments, we suggest the missing/additional security measures & controls wherever required.

Through comprehensive risk assessment of information systems, we categorize them based on their risk levels and the information type stored in them. It helps ascertain the controls and measures to ensure the security of sensitive information and High-Value Asset systems (HVAs).

We help agencies establish mechanisms for continuous monitoring of FISMA-accredited systems to keep weaknesses in check. We also help them establish a clear System Security and Privacy Plan(SSPP), empowering them to swiftly respond to data breaches and other cyber incidents.

Through the identification and implementation of all the applicable security controls from NIST SP 800-53 relevant to their systems and function, we help agencies maintain baseline security controls.

We provide the required cybersecurity and compliance assistance during annual security reviews, from preparing for the security review to becoming a FISMA-certified agency.

BEST PRACTICES

FISMA best practices we help implement

  • Performing an extensive inventory of the organization’s operated systems, including contractor-operated systems, High-Value Assets (HVA), and OT and IoT environments
  • Ensuring that all the systems have Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and encryption measures in place
  • Checking whether there are suitable mechanisms for logging, monitoring, and alerting all the cybersecurity activities
  • Implementing IPv6
  • Establishing a team of well-rounded cybersecurity professionals, including VAPT expert, forensics expert, and incident responder
  • Testing the infrastructure using various methods and techniques like: Pentesting Dynamic/Static code analysis before production environment deployment , Red Teaming/Blue Teaming 
  • Developing a mechanism for Centralized Patch management and public/private reporting of vulnerabilities.
  • Periodical testing and enhancement of cyber resilience as per the latest threat intelligence

Get security and compliance experts to meet your FISMA compliance goals

SPEAK WITH OUR TEAM