DHS FISMA ratings go up

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://fcw.com/articles/2019/09/24/dhs-fisma-johnson.aspx

By Derek B. Johnson
FCW.com
September 24, 2019

The Department of Homeland Security's information security practices have gone 
from good to better, according to a new inspector general audit.

Measuring via a five-point scale developed through the Federal Information 
Security Modernization Act, DHS improved its scores for the "protect" 
(developing and implementing appropriate safeguards of critical services) and 
"detect" (monitoring for irregular system activity) functions from a three out 
of five to four. That gives the department a score of four out five in all 
FISMA cybersecurity functions except "recover," which remains at a three.

The "protect" function encompasses activities like properly configured 
workstations with core security settings, strong identity and access management 
controls, a clearly defined data protection and privacy policy and regular 
security awareness trainings for staff.

Two areas where DHS was dinged: spotty patching and a lack of effective metrics 
to measure how its networks perform blocking attempts at data exfiltration.

[...]



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