Information technology officials across the Federal government
today agree that information security will be the next priority
IT issue following Year 2000. Every day, the information that
USDA agencies manage affects the financial markets and lives
of individuals. We must exercise due diligence in its protection.
As we achieve greater ease in the dissemination of information,
the Department must walk a fine line between information exchange
and information protection: this is especially important in
an age of instant access and global exchange. As networks
expand and connect, security concerns will expand exponentially.
In May 1998, President Clinton signed Presidential Decision
Directives (PDD) 62, "Combating Terrorism," and PDD 63, ":Protecting
America's Critical Infrastructure." These directives lay out
a dramatically new approach to protecting the nation against
unconventional threats and assign new responsibilities to
agencies for protecting their critical infrastructures, especially
their cyber-based systems.
To meet these new requirements, we established a USDA Critical
Infrastructure Assurance Task Force, consisting of security
and telecommunications specialists. The task force is charged
with developing a plan to heighten awareness about risk to
our information systems and strategies, and cost-effectively
and efficiently protect USDA's critical infrastructure.
Plans, policies, and procedures must also be centrally developed
and managed to afford the greatest protection to the Department
as a whole.
Currently the OCIO provides Department-wide guidance and
training on information security issues. OCIO also participates
with leading government security organizations to ensure the
Department's security policies and practices are up to-date.
USDA Security and PII Awareness Poster Contest
The Department of Agriculture will kick-off the USDA Security
and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Awareness Campaign
with a Poster
Contest. This Awareness Campaign is designed to promote
and market preventive measures in key areas of security especially
personally identifiable information. USDA needs every employee
and contractor, working as a team, to help prevent security
breaches and share information and communicate measures to
reduce PII incidents across USDA.
NOTE: The same link is used twice in the
Contest Rules (once embedded in "Personally Identifiable
Information"; and once written out). The correct link
for information on personally identifiable information is
http://www.usda.gov/documents/Get_the_FAQs_on_PII.doc.
USDA is authorized to use, reproduce, publish, and
publicly display the poster and/or design, in whole or in
part, in any manner, for any security awareness purpose.
Coming January 2009 – USDA Cyber Security Awareness Month 3rd Annual Expo
Details
(PDF 382KB)
The Federal Information
Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002 requires
the Chief Information Officer of each Federal department to
assess and report on the status of his or her information
security program. This report meets that requirement and has
been prepared according to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 FISMA reporting instructions.
FY
2006 FISMA Transmittal Letter (PDF 38KB)
FY
2006 OCIO FISMA Report (PDF 787KB)
http://www.ocio.usda.gov/security/index.html
Last Modified:
09/03/2008
|
