NIST sets FISMA standards for federal IT systems

"The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released the final standard for securing agency computer systems under the Federal Information Security Management Act.

Federal Information Processing Standard 200 sets minimum security requirements for federal systems in 17 security areas. It is the third of three publications required from NIST under FISMA, which requires executive branch agencies to establish consistent, manageable IT security programs for non-national security systems. The intent of FISMA is to implement risk-based processes for selecting and implementing security controls. "