The National Institute of Standards and Technology on Sept. 10 released the final version of a step-by-step guide for agencies to measure the effectiveness of their information security programs and plans. The special publication, "Security Self-Assessment Guide for Information Technology Systems," is a how-to guide that complements the CIO Council's Federal IT Security Assessment Framework. The council developed the framework to help agencies determine where, within six levels of effectiveness, their security programs fall and what areas can be improved. The NIST guide provides a questionnaire on security in three areas: management controls, operational controls and technical controls.
Within those areas, there are subquestions on 17 topics. One focuses on all the steps necessary to ensure that an agency is providing adequate reviews of its security controls, including asking whether independent reviews are performed whenever key changes are made.
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