White Papers for Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)

Information Security: A Foundation for Compliance

Sourcefire

Regardless of industry, geographic location, or size, organizations today face an increasing regulatory burden as governments grapple with a variety of social and ethical concerns. Virtually everyone has witnessed distressing instances of financial fraud and shareholder abuse, rising concerns over individual privacy and the confidentiality of personal information, and fears – frequently justified – over the resiliency of information systems to external attack. These concerns have given rise over the last ten years to a seemingly unending stream of new laws and regulations attempting to correct the lapses.

The impact has been significant as companies work to understand the requirements of new regulations and how to best comply, and make investments in people and technology to demonstrate compliance. A recent study by AMR Research predicts that total compliance spending will reach $27 billion in 2006. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), for example, is expected to generate compliance costs – for people,
technology, and service providers – of $6 billion, all of that is before we begin to consider the costs of non-compliance. Legislators have underscored their concerns with substantial financial penalties, and even the threat of jail for corporate officers who fail to satisfy regulatory requirements.

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