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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
12-P-0363
March 21, 2012
Why We Did This Review
The review was performed to
assess the U.S. Chemical
Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board's (CSB's)
compliance with the Federal
Information Security
Management Act of 2002
(FISMA).
Background
FISMA requires federal
agencies to develop an
information security program
that protects the operations and
assets of the agency. An annual
independent evaluation of the
program must be performed by
the Inspector General or an
independent external auditor,
who shall report the results to
the Office of Management and
Budget. The U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency's Office of Inspector
General, which also serves as
the Inspector General for CSB,
contracted with KPMG LLP to
perform the fiscal year 2011
evaluation.
Evaluation of U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board's Compliance With the
Federal Information Security Management Act
(Fiscal Year 2011)
What KPMG Found
KPMG noted that CSB has an information security program in place that appears
to be functioning as designed. KPMG also noted that CSB takes information
security weaknesses seriously, as three of the four prior-year recommendations
were resolved. However, KPMG identified areas in which CSB could improve
upon its vulnerability scanning and patch management process, and inventory of
information technology assets.
In addition to reviewing CSB's information security practices, KPMG conducted
a security assessment of key CSB system and network devices. This assessment
disclosed several challenges CSB faces in securing its main information
technology system. KPMG found unpatched network devices, which elevated
CSB's risk of system and data compromise by unauthorized users. KPMG
provided detailed results of its assessment to CSB officials. KPMG also
identified 199 excess information technology devices, of a total of 408, which
could allow for misuse or loss of information technology devices or data.
What KPMG Recommends
KPMG recommends that CSB review and implement patches for network devices
as required, develop and implement standard baseline configurations for network
devices, and review the information technology inventory and remove the excess
inventory devices through appropriate means.
CSB agreed with the recommendations and provided agreed-upon corrective
actions.
For further information, contact
our Office of Congressional and
Public Affairs at (202) 566-2391.
The full report is at:
www.epa.gov/oiq/reports/2012!
20120321 -12-P-0363. pdf

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