AKIBIA'S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Federal FISMA Compliance Rated “Poor”
Last year responsibility for ensuring compliance with FISMA was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. The Office of Management and Budget’s report for FY2010 finds that government agencies aren’t doing so well with compliance to FISMA.
In fact, OMB’s annual report on implementation of the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 found federal compliance with information security guidelines to be poor.
“Only one agency received a compliance score of 100 percent for its information security program which, based on its IG's review, met all 62 attributes,” the report states. “The remaining agencies had at least one area that needed improvement. Three agencies did not have a cyber-security program in place for one security area, and one agency did not have a program in place for two security areas.”
Then you read an article where Secretary Janet Napolitano outlines DHS cyber-security focus and you see statements like: “we also must assist the private sector in securing itself”. Interesting. Shouldn’t they be focusing on governmental FISMA shortcomings before expanding to the private sector?
What does this mean for private companies in the future in terms of new regulations? I’m starting to wonder, should we be afraid when we hear “we’re from the government and we’re here to help”?
