Achieve FISMA compliance requirements

FISMA, known as the Federal Information Security Management Act, is a United States federal law enacted in 2002 as part of the E-Government Act. It imposes stringent standards to safeguard the security, confidentiality, and integrity of U.S. federal property and information. Under FISMA, federal agencies are required to ensure the security of information collected or maintained by the agency, as well as the information systems used or operated by the agency itself, or by its contractors or other organizations on its behalf. These laws mandate that federal agencies, along with their contractors, service providers, and organizations operating government IT systems, adhere to specific policies, procedures, and processes to mitigate the constantly evolving data threats.

What are FISMA compliance requirements?

FISMA mandates federal agencies to develop, document, and implement an information security and protection program.

The FISMA standards are listed below:

• Maintaining an inventory of information systems.
• Categorizing information and information systems according to risk level.
• Maintaining a system security plan.
• Utilizing security controls.
• Conducting risk assessments.
• Certification and accreditation.
• Conducting continuous monitoring.

How to be FISMA compliant using ManageEngine ADManager Plus

Achieving FISMA compliance requires a comprehensive approach involving various technical and procedural measures. When working towards FISMA compliance, organizations should consider ADManager Plus as part of their overall strategy. It is essential to address other important FISMA requirements, this solution can assist in monitoring your AD environment, generating detailed reports on AD objects and user logon activity, and helping you on your path to FISMA compliance.

Benefits of using ADManager Plus to comply with FISMA

Here are a few ways in which ADManager Plus can help:

1. User account management: FISMA requires federal agencies to establish and enforce policies and procedures for user account management. ADManager Plus simplifies user provisioning and deprovisioning tasks by providing a centralized console to create, modify, and disable user accounts. It allows you to streamline user lifecycle management and enforce security policies, such as strong password policies and account expiration settings.
2. Access control and privilege management: FISMA emphasizes the importance of access controls and least privilege principles. ADManager Plus provides tools to manage user group memberships and access rights within Active Directory. It allows you to create, modify, and delete groups, add or remove members, and manage access permissions for various resources.
3. Security reporting and auditing: FISMA requires regular audits and evaluations of security programs. ADManager Plus provides built-in reports and customizable templates to generate comprehensive reports on user accounts, group memberships, password status, and other critical security parameters. These reports can be used for compliance audits and security assessments.
4. User activity tracking: ADManager Plus provides the ability to track user activity within Active Directory. It tracks user logon and logoff events, account lockouts, password changes, and other user actions. This activity monitoring helps detect and investigate security incidents or unauthorized access attempts, which is crucial for FISMA compliance.
5. Role-based access control (RBAC): FISMA emphasizes the need for RBAC to control access to sensitive information. ADManager Plus enables you to define granular roles and permissions for administrators, allowing you to enforce the principle of least privilege. You can assign specific privileges to different administrators based on their responsibilities, ensuring proper access control and segregation of duties.

Other compliance mandates

• HIPAA
• SOX
• GLBA
• PCI-DSS
• GDPR
• POPIA

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