The Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) requires agencies to develop, document, and implement an information security program to protect their information and information systems, including those provided or managed by another agency, contractor, or source. FISMA also requires agencies to have an annual assessment of their information systems.
We contracted with the independent certified public accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP to conduct an audit of USAID’s compliance with FISMA during fiscal year (FY) 2019. The audit firm concluded that USAID generally implemented an effective information security program by implementing 144 of 157 instances of selected security controls for selected information systems. However, USAID did not implement 13 control instances, which fall into 5 of the 8 FISMA domains that Federal inspectors general used in FY 2019 to assess the maturity of their agencies’ information security programs. To address the weaknesses identified in the report, OIG made seven recommendations.