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FISMA Compliance Software Solutions

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The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) is a US law that imposes information security standards and requirements on all US federal agencies. It was amended in 2014 by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, which aimed to enable the federal government to better respond to cyber attacks on its departments and agencies.

Guidance for complying with FISMA IT requirements is provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which lays out standards for categorizing information, recommendations on the types of information and systems to be included in each category, and minimum information security requirements.

Who needs to comply with FISMA?

The objective of FISMA is to ensure the effectiveness of information security controls over information resources that support federal operations and assets by implementing cost-effective security solutions based on the estimated level of cybersecurity risk.

In the beginning, only federal agencies had to comply with FISMA reporting and security requirements. Now, state agencies that manage federal programs, contractors who work with federal agencies, and private sector companies that work with federal agencies must also comply with FISMA.

Who needs to comply with FISMA?

Federal Agencies

Agencies that manage federal programs

Contractors of federal agencies

Stakeholders working with federal systems

Organizations that rely on federal funds

Achieving compliance can be challenging and expensive. Companies have to install new security software for FISMA compliance, and employees have to prepare for SOX reporting. Syteca is insider risk management software that helps you cover most SOX cybersecurity requirements and simplify the auditing process.

FISMA compliance requirements

FISMA requirements for federal organizations and their contractors:

FISMA requirements

01

Inventory information systems

02

Prepare a system security plan

03

Get certified and accredited

04

Categorize risks

05

Evaluate security controls

06

Access risks

07

Ensure continuous monitoring

Inventory information systems. FISMA requires all federal agencies to create and maintain an inventory of information systems that they operate or that are under their control. This inventory must identify the interfaces between all systems within the agency’s network.

Prepare a system security plan. All federal agencies have to develop a security plan and update it regularly. These plans have to comply with NIST SP 800-18 Guide for Developing Security Plans for Federal Information Systems.

Get certified and accredited. Each federal agency has to conduct periodic security reviews to show that they can manage their systems to be FISMA compliant. This is accomplished through a four-phase process: initiation and planning, certification, accreditation, and continuous monitoring.

Assess risks. Federal organizations and their contractors have to validate their security controls and determine if any additional controls are needed to protect critical information. The resulting set of security controls establishes a level of security due diligence for the federal agency and its contractors.

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Third-party vendor security monitoring

Categorize risks. Each federal agency has to follow FIPS 199 Standards for Security Categorization of Federal Information and Information Systems. This document provides information on how to categorize risks as well as requirements to ensure the highest level of security. Another helpful guide is NIST SP 800-60 Guide for Mapping Types of Information and Information Systems to Security Categories.

Evaluate security controls. Security controls include access controls, incident response, configuration management, and identification and authentication. All major security controls for complying with FISMA are defined in NIST SP 800-53 [PDF]. You should also explore the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 200 Minimum Security Requirements for Federal Information and Information Systems to learn more about minimum security requirements.

The NIST Risk Management Framework is an essential guide to FISMA compliance, as it offers a risk-based approach to selecting, implementing, and monitoring security controls.

Ensure continuous monitoring. All accredited systems used within a federal agency and by its contractors have to be monitored. Continuous monitoring is required to efficiently manage an organization’s security and eliminate vulnerabilities.

Meeting FISMA security controls with Syteca

Covering NIST 800-53 security controls is essential for FISMA compliance.

Syteca offers a set of features to improve access controls, strengthen identification and authentication mechanisms, cover the audit and accountability control family of requirements, and ensure a robust incident response.

Overview of functionality

Control familyRequirementsSyteca features
Access Control
  • Account management (AC-2)
  • Access enforcement (AC-3)
  • System use notification (AC-8)
Audit and Accountability
  • Audit events (AU-2)
  • Time stamps (AU-8)
  • Session audit (AU-14)
  • Audit review, analysis, and reporting (AU-6)
  • Protection of audit information (AU-9)
Identification and Authentication
  • Identification and authorization for organizational users (IA-2)
  • Identification and authorization for non-organizational users (IA-8)
Incident Response
  • Incident handling (IR-4)
  • Incident monitoring (IR-5)

Explore more capabilities of Syteca, which covers most NIST 800-53 requirements.

Using Syteca to meet FISMA continuous monitoring requirements

Syteca provides the capability to monitor insider activity, detect abnormal behavior, and respond to incidents. In particular, Syteca:

  • Allows for online and offline monitoring of both in-house and remote users
  • Collects monitoring data in secure storage if the connection is down
  • Offers Protected mode to prevent monitoring being stopped
  • Records each user session in searchable audio and video formats
  • Generates detailed, easy-to-analyze reports

You can configure any number of reports and customize them with a corporate logo and contact information. Syteca can generate your reports ad-hoc or on a schedule.

Meet other IT security requirements with Syteca

ISO 27001

PCI DSS

SWIFT CSP

SOX

FISMA

GDPR

NIST 800-53

NIST 800-171

NERC

GLBA

NISPOM Change 2 and H.R. 666

SOC 2

HIPAA

DORA

NIS2

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Contact our team to learn how our insider risk management software can safeguard your organization’s data from any risks caused by human factors. Book a call with us at a time that suits you best, and let’s explore how we can help you achieve your security goals.

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