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If your organization does business or contracts with the U.S. federal government, you’re probably subject to the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). FISMA is a federal regulation for improving the overall security posture of governmental bodies. This includes federal bureaus, agencies, departments - as well as external subcontractors and vendors.
What is FISMA Compliance?
FISMA compliance mandates all third-parties that do business with the federal government meet FISMA standards. This is verified via an annual FISMA audit and assessment, where you’ll work directly with the government to demonstrate that your system security plan is up to par. To make sure you meet FISMA compliance requirements - and maintain your government contracts - you’ll want to work with an experienced compliance partner.
Schedule A Consultation To Be FISMA Compliant
How to Get FISMA Certified?
A certified FISMA compliance advisor like RSI Security can help you tackle the following essential steps towards FISMA compliance:
- Inventory of critical information systems
- Risk-based categorization of systems and data
- Security control audit and remediation
- Complete risk assessment of systems and data
- Develop and implement a system security plan
- Ongoing FISMA certification and accreditation
- Continuous compliance and threat monitoring
Covering all the above FISMA requirements will help you obtain - and keep - an authority to operate (ATO) as a certified partner of the federal government. FISMA’s goal is to ensure that all sensitive information pertaining to the government or individual citizens is protected to the utmost, especially when third-parties are involved.
FISMA Compliance Requirements
FISMA's minimum requirements for compliance are based upon the security controls defined in NIST SP 800-53. There are 17 areas of cybersecurity covered by the FISMA requirements:
- Access control
- Awareness and training
- Audits and accountability
- Certification, accreditation, and assessments
- Configuration management
- Contingency planning
- Identification and authentication
- Incident response
- Maintenance
- Media protection
- Physical and environmental protection
- Planning
- Personnel security
- Risk Assessment
- Systems and services acquisition
- System and communications protection
- System and information integrity
Organizations must establish, document, and implement formal security policies and procedures for these areas of concern.
Rethinking Your Cybersecurity.
Our FISMA Compliance Services
- Audit and prepare to meet FISMA security requirements
- Integrating FISMA cloud standards into your IT stack
- Penetration testing to ensure you meet security requirements
- Dedicated FISMA expert to help you understand audit requirements
- Work with both FedRAMP and FISMA governmental bodies
- A full assessment of security controls, both digital and physical
- FISMA compliance advisory services for each step of the way
Benefits of being FISMA Compliant
- Adopting FISMA guidelines as a risk management framework
- Continuous cybersecurity monitoring and assessment
- Promotes security organizational awareness and training
- System security plan for response and remediation
- FISMA cloud standards help protect your data in the cloud
- Reduce the risk of losing federal contracts or your ATO
- Maintain a strong security posture to reduce data breach risk
WHY CHOOSE US
Why Work with RSI Security for FISMA Compliance?
RSI Security’s personalized approach is designed to get our clients FISMA certified in record time - and with minimal stress. Our compliance and cybersecurity experts have intimate knowledge of FISMA levels, FISMA control requirements, and the overall FISMA framework. We’ll help you take FISMA security measures to the next level by mapping out your access controls, developing a system security plan, and gathering the proper documentation.
FISMA reporting requirements can be complex, so RSI Security will be there to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Our team also has years of experience helping local and state governments improve their cybersecurity posture, as well as working with vendors and subcontractors to ensure compliance.
Download our FISMA compliance Data Sheet Here
FISMA Compliance FAQs
Most federal agencies and non-federal organizations that are engaged in contracts with the government must be FISMA compliant.
FISMA security was established to mitigate the threat of cyberattacks that would threaten national security. The requirements are intended to protect data and systems from unauthorized access and activities while protecting the integrity, privacy, and availability of data systems.
A FISMA audit is an evaluation used to examine whether U.S. government agencies—and organizations in contracts with them—are securing and monitoring data and systems as required by the defined standards.
FISMA and FedRAMP are based on the NIST 800-53 document, but they have different goals.
FISMA requirements are meant to keep the data and systems of U.S. government agencies and organizations engaged in contracts with the government protected. FedRAMP is focused on ensuring the protection of federal data when government agencies make use of cloud technology.
Since the use of cloud technology is already widespread, the chances that most organizations that are required to be FISMA compliant will also have to comply with FedRAMP are high.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is the government agency that published Special Publication (SP) 800-53. FISMA is a law enforcement entity that enforces information security requirements for U.S. government agencies and organizations contracted with them. It was built upon the standards defined in NIST 800-53.
For organizations required to be FISMA compliant, violations can mean putting national security at risk. As a result, penalties can be significant. Potential repercussions include:
- Reputational damage – Any cybersecurity incident could impact an organization's reputation. A major breach that could also have implications for national security could have a devastating effect.
- Governmental hearings – Depending on the incident, a government hearing could be required to determine the scope of a FISMA compliance violation. This can be costly, time-consuming, and could negatively impact the organization's future.
- Future contract ineligibility – For organizations in contracts with government agencies, violations could lead to a ban from entering any future contracts.
- Lost federal funding – Violations could lead to the loss of some or all federal funding.
Besides these penalties, failure to comply could indicate a poorly-secured IT infrastructure and the existence of unmanaged security risks. RSI Security will help your organization implement a FISMA security program that protects you from penalties and keeps data and systems secure.
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