Government responses to evolving security threats have, to more or less a degree, started to incorporate advanced mitigation postures that reflect a world of networked systems and complex digital supply chains. To address this changing landscape, the president issued Executive Order 14028, “Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity.” This 2021 order introduced a zero-trust… Read More
In the era of digitization, the security of cloud services, particularly those engaged with federal agencies, is paramount. The government uses the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)–to ensure cloud services meet stringent security standards to protect federal data. This article will dig into the intricacies of the FedRAMP High Impact Level and its… Read More
StateRAMP guidelines include network security standards from NIST 800-53, with specific requirements for implementing those guidelines based on the application and data processing. Implementing boundary controls is one of the more relevant and sometimes challenging aspects of compliance network security. Here, we will dig into how StateRAMP (and FedRAMP, to some extent) approach subnetworks and… Read More
In the unfortunate event that a breach occurs, organizations must have a plan in place to respond and recover. StateRAMP borrows requirements from FedRAMP and NIST 800-53 to define how exactly state and local governments can implement incident response into their overall security infrastructure.
As the old saying goes, the weakest link in any security system is the user. This isn’t an insult but rather a commentary on the impossibility of eliminating every vulnerability in a system that humans have to use daily. In terms of actually mitigating direct security threats associated with users, however, there can be no… Read More
Providers looking into StateRAMP authentication standards may find themselves staring into a stack of requirements documents across multiple security frameworks and government contexts. Not only is this unhelpful for these providers, but it also makes the process sound much more intimidating than it needs to be. In this article, we’ll take a high-level view of… Read More
With modern IT infrastructure becoming increasingly complex, intertwined systems managed through service providers and managing experts, the inevitable security problem rears its head. How can one organization, using several service providers, ensure their data security as it travels through those systems? Over the past decade, enterprise and government specialists have refined the practice of risk… Read More
The Internal Revenue Service is one of the largest and most essential federal government agencies… which means that there is a lot of opportunity for third-party contractors and managed service providers to offer products to support its mission. It also means that these contractors will be expected to adhere to security standards, specifically those outlined… Read More
The federal government has strict and comprehensive regulations on how agencies handle constituents’ personal information. This is just as true for tax information. The IRS leans on established guidelines associated with federal security to dictate regulations for agencies that handle tax information and, by and large, treats that information as a sensitive and critical part… Read More
FISMA is one of the foundational cybersecurity documents in the U.S. government. Its passage in 2002 and subsequent update in 2014 have defined the security landscape for federal IT systems and associated contractors. However, a one-two punch from Congress and the President has changed things again. With recent cyber threats causing major damage to public… Read More