FedShield™

Security Certification and Accreditation Service

Guidelines have been established for the security certification and accreditation of systems of the federal agencies of the United States government. These guidelines have been developed to help achieve more secure information systems within the U.S. federal government by:

Enabling more consistent, comparable, and repeatable assessments of security controls in federal information systems
Promoting a better understanding of agency-related mission risks resulting from the operation of information systems and
Creating more complete, reliable, and trustworthy information for authorizing officials—to facilitate more informed security accreditation decisions

Security certification and accreditation are important activities that support a risk management process and are an integral part of a federal agency’s information security program.

One example of a legislation that directly impacts the security of all federal information systems is the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). FISMA is Title III of the E-Government Act (Public Law 107-347). It was passed by the 107 the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2002. FISMA requires each U.S. federal agency to develop, document, and implement an agency-wide program to provide information security for the information and information systems that support the operations and assets of the agency, including those provided or managed by another agency, contractor or other source. Further, the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) specifies identity management and access control practices for government employees and contractors.

FISMA and HSDP-12 are resulting in organizations taking a risk-based, cost-effective approach to securing sensitive information and systems.

ecfirst.com assists organizations with their security certification and accreditation-related initiatives for full compliance with legislative requirements and established guidelines and standards.

ecfirst.com professionals are credentialed and have deep knowledge and field experience to accelerate your activities for certification and accreditation. Talk to ecfirst.com about your priorities and objectives for security certification and accreditation. Contact Lorna Waggoner at 1.877.899.9974 x17 to describe your requirements.

Role of the NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a critical role to play in enabling federal agencies comply with FISMA. The NIST’s FISMA-related responsibilities include:

Development of standards, guidelines, and associated methods and techniques for information systems
Development of standards and guidelines, including the establishment of minimum requirements for information systems used by agencies
Development of standards and guidelines, including the establishment of minimum requirements for providing adequate information security for all agency operations and assets

Federal agencies must be compliant with FISMA requirements – and FISMA is all about information security. ecfirst.com can help you with your FISMA and HSPD-12 challenges and priorities. ecfirst.com solutions help your organization implement the security controls required in NIST Security Guidelines and Specifications for certification and accreditation.

Getting Started

Why should you partner with us to manage your regulatory compliance requirements? ecfirst.com is an Inc. 500 business tat is endorsed by many organizations including the American Hospital Association (AHA). ecfirst.com service enables organizations to meet regulatory compliance requirements. Talk to us. You will find us an organization that listens carefully to your challenges and priorities. We can customize a solution that is tailored to your specific needs. Our pricing is extremely competitive and our work is guaranteed.

Our Guarantee to You!

Business Security Goals

Business leaders are driven by shareholders, customers, lenders, regulators, law makers, and others to: