FISMA

Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002

Other short titles	Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002
Long title	An Act to strengthen Federal Government information security, including through the requirement for the development of mandatory information security risk management standards.
Acronyms (colloquial)	FISMA
Nicknames	E-Government Act of 2002
Enacted by	the 107th United States Congress
Effective	December 17, 2002
Citations
Public law	107-347
Statutes at Large	116 Stat. 2899 aka 116 Stat. 2946
Codification
Acts repealed	Computer Security Act of 1987
Titles amended	44 U.S.C.: Public Printing and Documents
U.S.C. sections created	44 U.S.C. ch. 35, subch. III § 3541 et seq.
U.S.C. sections amended	44 U.S.C. ch. 1 § 101 44 U.S.C. ch. 35, subch. I § 3501 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 3844 by Thomas M. Davis (R–VA) on March 5, 2002 Committee consideration by House Government Reform, House Science Passed the House on November 15, 2002 (passed without objection) Passed the Senate on November 15, 2002 (passed unanimous consent) Signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 17, 2002

The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 ("FISMA", 44 U.S.C. § 3541, et seq.) is a United States federal law enacted in 2002 as Title III of the E-Government Act of 2002 (Pub.L. 107–347, 116 Stat. 2899). The act recognized the importance of information security to the economic and national security interests of the United States. The act requires each federal agency to develop, document, and implement an agency-wide program to provide information security for the information and information systems that support the operations and assets of the agency, including those provided or managed by another agency, contractor, or other source.

FISMA has brought attention within the federal government to cybersecurity and explicitly emphasized a "risk-based policy for cost-effective security." FISMA requires agency program officials, chief information officers, and inspectors general (IGs) to conduct annual reviews of the agency’s information security program and report the results to Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB uses this data to assist in its oversight responsibilities and to prepare this annual report to Congress on agency compliance with the act. In FY 2008, federal agencies spent $6.2 billion securing the government’s total information technology investment of approximately $68 billion or about 9.2 percent of the total information technology portfolio.

FISMA assigns specific responsibilities to federal agencies, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in order to strengthen information security systems. In particular, FISMA requires the head of each agency to implement policies and procedures to cost-effectively reduce information technology security risks to an acceptable level.

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