FISMA Center

The FISMA Center provides training and resources to assist U. S. federal agencies in complying with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). FISMA is a good law. Before FISMA, U. S. federal agencies were required to comply with very few information security regulations. Prior to FISMA, information security at U. S. federal agencies was potluck some things were secure and some weren't depending on the security safeguards that the agency chose to bring to the table.
Today, information security at U. S. federal agencies is no longer potluck - it is on the menu. Some agencies are still figuring out how to cook the goose, while others have developed gourmet security programs. However, one thing can be said for sure, most agencies are trying harder than they used to try. They are creating budgets for information security, designating Information System Security Officers for each and every system and major application, and are trying to put in place viable security controls.
The goal of the FISMA Center is to help U. S. federal agencies make a positive difference when it comes to complying with FISMA. The process by which agencies comply with FISMA has come to be known as Certification and Accreditation (C&A). The annual Federal Computer Security Report Card is based mostly on how well U. S. agencies perform when it comes to C&A. Our goal is to help all agencies improve their grade, and in the process, improve their information security program.