The National Security Agency last week announced the first companies to undergo an appraisal of their information security practices in a program aimed at helping government and commercial organizations improve their systems security. According to the Infosec Assessment Training and Rating . . .
The National Security Agency last week announced the first companies to undergo an appraisal of their information security practices in a program aimed at helping government and commercial organizations improve their systems security. According to the Infosec Assessment Training and Rating Program, organizations that need to assess their vulnerability can call on companies that are qualified to perform such assessments within NSA-defined guidelines and standards, according to NSA.

This marks the first time civilian agencies have been able to access security assessment companies that have undergone this type of government evaluation and it enables customers to judge whether a provider is capable of meeting its requirements.

Many agencies are using the General Services Administration's Safeguard contract, which offers more than 25 vendors who perform such cybersecurity assessments, but GSA does not provide any standard evaluation of the vendors' capabilities.

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