Census Bureau to Automate IT Security Functions with Xacta IA Manager; Xacta to Standardize and Streamline Census Bureau's Approach to Certification and Accreditation for FISMA Compliance

Business Wire, Nov 3, 2004

ASHBURN, Va. -- Xacta(R) Corporation today announced that the United States Census Bureau has signed a bureau-wide agreement for Xacta IA Manager(TM), the company's flagship security compliance and risk management offering. Xacta, a leading supplier of government-validated, secure enterprise solutions, will provide the bureau with the ability to automate all of its information technology (IT) security management functions, create a consistent and repeatable approach to certification and accreditation (C&A) processes, as well as maintain a continuous insight into the bureau's IT security risk posture. The three-year contract enables the entire bureau to perform an unlimited number of C&A assessments to comply with both bureau-specific security regulations and Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) guidelines.

The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the United States' people and economy. The bureau conducts a full population census every 10 years, and it conducts censuses of the economy, as well as of state and local governments, every five years. The Census Bureau leverages information management technologies and online access to records for its 12,000 federal employees, as well as the country's large population of educators and citizens. The sheer volume of this critical information warrants an acute need for standardization in the bureau's approach to IT security management and associated documentation.

Using Xacta IA Manager, the Census Bureau will synchronize and automate activities associated with IT risk management and remediation to ensure a consistent and repeatable approach to C&A. Xacta IA Manager captures Xacta's proven risk and compliance assessment methodologies with wizard-driven templates that simplify C&A processes - allowing the bureau to establish a centralized security management platform that facilitates compliance assessment, continuous risk management, and security process enforcement.

The scanning tools inherent in Xacta IA Manager greatly accelerate the information gathering and security certification testing processes. Once baseline assessments are complete, the product can be configured to continually and automatically update risk and compliance posture, as well as corresponding C&A and FISMA documentation. These features reduce the time and effort the Census Bureau dedicates to complying with C&A reporting requirements, greatly increasing the bureau's overall efficiency and security.

"We're pleased that the Census Bureau chose Xacta IA Manager to help evolve its overall approach to IT security from being a time-consuming project to part of its mission and business processes," said Richard P. Tracy, chief security officer for Xacta. "Xacta IA Manager allows agencies like the Census Bureau to implement a fully integrated C&A and FISMA reporting methodology that can be followed as part of day-to-day operations."

About Xacta

Xacta Corporation, a Telos company, develops, markets, and sells government-validated secure enterprise solutions to federal, state and local agencies, as well as to commercial customers. Xacta's offerings include enterprise IT security management solutions, enterprise security consulting services, enterprise messaging, secure wireless networking, and high assurance credentialing solutions. Its solutions are represented to the federal government on Telos' GSA schedule. For more information, visit www.xacta.com.

"Xacta IA Manager" is a trademark, and "Xacta" is a registered trademark, of Xacta Corporation. "Telos" is a registered trademark of Telos Corporation. All other product, service, and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.