“New AO, new game?” writes: We just found out our Authorizing Official will be retiring next month and there is still no word on who his replacement will be. What sort of problems can we anticipate when a new AO takes over the reins? How much flexibility will he/she have…
“Death by POAM” writes: I just started a new job and I am a bit surprised at what I am seeing with the POA&Ms for the various systems in my new agency. At my previous place of employment we carefully maintained POA&Ms for several systems. In all cases, each line…
“Let’s Get Physical” asks: Control Enhancement AT-3(2) states “The organization provides … training in the employment and operation of physical security controls”. Our system is hosted in the cloud (by a commercial cloud service provider) and therefore we have no physical security controls within our system boundary. At first we…
“Just want to be informed” writes: As a consultant, I try very hard to keep up with all the RMF publications so I can best serve my clients. On the NIST website I found a mailing list you can subscribe to. I signed up and now I receive regular e-mails…
“Thirsty for Knowledge” asks: About a year ago I completed the 4-day RMF for DoD IT training with BAI. It was time well spent and has helped me in numerous ways. Now I’m searching for additional training that can help me build on the knowledge I gained in that RMF…
“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…
