Security Fundamentals for Federal Agencies

Cybersecurity experts are urging government agencies to protect their data with up-to-date, foundational security controls, and agencies are listening. But how can they determine where exactly to focus their efforts to maximize efficiency and ensure a strong security stance? A new whitepaper from Tripwire details the four key components federal agencies need in order to establish and maintain a robust security posture; policy compliance, file integrity monitoring, log management and vulnerability management.

Policy compliance could mean meeting either regulatory requirements or internal agency standards. Not only do agencies need to implement the controls defined in a policy, but they must also be able to demonstrate (to an auditor, most of the time) that those controls are in place and working. Policy compliance tools should be evaluated on their ability to provide, validate and support policy controls. Such tools should reduce the time it takes to prepare for an audit. If an agency’s regulatory framework includes fines or other punitive measures, budget for such policy tools can be justified since policy compliance tools reduce the risk of a failed audit. Tripwire Enterprise’s File Integrity Manager, Policy Manager and Remediation Manager together continually assess system changes and report on your agency’s compliance status with out-of-the-box compliance testing for FISMA, NERC CIP, SOX and others.

Each and every security breach correlates to a change within a system. As such, agency environments require preventative and detective controls that identify change. While file integrity monitoring is nothing new, its core capabilities have evolved dramatically in recent years. It now encompasses a wide range of tools and tactics that fall under the umbrella term “integrity management.” This includes ensuring that your systems are secured, establishing a secure baseline, monitoring for change from that baseline and acting on important changes. Integrity (Read more...)