“Identity Crisis” writes: I am a contractor working on development of a system that is jointly owned by a DoD agency and a federal civil agency (Dept. of Treasury). My company is expected to do most of the “heavy lifting” to develop the RMF package for this system and we…
“Overlay Layover” asks: I’m a little bit confused about how to find available security controls overlays. According to the RMF policy (DoD Instruction 8510.01) and the RMF Knowledge Service, approved overlays can be found on the CNSS.GOV website. Well, I keep looking there and all I see are the same…
“In Search of Perfection” writes: One of my customers was told by their Security Control Assessor (SCA) that they could not get Authorization To Operate (ATO) unless their POA&M had zero open items; in other words, they are expected to be 100% compliant with all the controls in their baseline….
Dear Dr. RMF, Meredith writes: Hi Dr. RMF! We are working on the RMF package in eMASS for a new system and there is a check box labeled “National Security System”. We’re not sure whether to check this box or not. One of my colleagues thinks we should check the…
Dear Dr. RMF, “Assessed” writes: Please help me better understand RMF Assess Only. Some of my colleagues are saying we should consider pursuing an Assess Only ATO because it’s so much easier than going through the full ATO process. Is that even for real? Dr. RMF responds: RMF Assess Only…
JZ writes: I have a question regarding Control Enhancement AC-6(3). The control states that the organization authorizes network access to organization-defined privileged commands only for organization-defined compelling operational needs and documents the rationale for such access in the security plan for the information system. Does this mean that every privilege…
Daphne in Kansas City asks: Dr. RMF, we are bidding on a multi-year contract to provide services to a DoD agency. The process is down to the final stage and we are looking good to win the work. Assuming we are awarded the work, the government will be requiring us…
Sean from US Navy asks: Dr. RMF, we are working on an acquisition for several new medical imaging devices in our hospital. Each of these new devices contains an embedded computer running the Linux operating system. A connection to the hospital’s data network is used to send imaging data to…
Tony from OSD asks: Dr. RMF, I currently assess a boundary that includes all of our desktops, laptops, network printers, and some local printers. There are a number of devices (i.e. desktop/laptops) that don’t store Personally Identifiable Information (PII) per se, but will disseminate PII to our records management boundary…
Dear Dr. RMF, I have a boundary for a web application. My SISO wants to move another web application into this approved boundary. The move is because both have similar operating characteristics, security and privacy requirements, and reside in the same environment of operation. As the SCA for the receiving…
