An Explanation Of What An NIST 800-53 Assessment Is

A NIST 800-53 Assessment is another form of Information Security Assessment designed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to determine the network security of all United States federal information systems, with the sole exception of those which are directly related to national security. It is an extensive catalog of regulations and requirements which all such information systems need to meet in order to achieve their federal information systems certification and accreditation. Security measures must be shown to be in accordance with the Federal Information Processing Standard 200, as well as the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002.

This strict and important vulnerability assessment addresses a full array of 17 different areas of system and network security. Some of the potential weaknesses examined by this type of Information Security Assessment include: disaster recovery means and methods, business continuity measures and safeguards, access control stipulations, incident response protocols, and more. This assessment is essentially a gap assessment, where your systems and organization are measured against the NIST standard, and the areas in which the standard is not properly met are targeted, analyzed, and reported back to you for future correction.

The Many Benefits Of An NIST 800-53 Assessment

If you are unsure about whether or not your company needs a NIST 800-53 Assessment, the first thing to do is to determine if one is required on account of regulatory compliance, (for almost all entities of the federal government, as well as healthcare systems). If not, it can still not be understated that a NIST 800-53 Assessment is certainly a good idea, and should be considered good business practice for those seeking the highest level of information security. Even if regulations do not require the completion of this type of ISA, high-profile customers might as well. People and businesses want to know that the information they are providing to you will be every bit as secure as your own information is.

Another benefit of a NIST 800-53 Assessment from Ezentria is that we will be able to tell you, in great detail, not only where the dangers to the security of your information are to be found, but also what you can do to mitigate or eliminate those gaps. We also offer Information Security Courses and Information Security Training to best help you and your clients achieve total confidence in the security of your systems and data.