At MathCraft, we recognize the immense job responsibilities of a Facility Security Officer (FSO) — a compliance officer, cybersecurity expert, IT manager, HR director, and industrial security specialist packaged into one role. It motivates us to provide technology solutions that alleviate FSO pain points and make it easy to maintain the rigorous compliance standards.
With so many hats worn daily, it can be easy to overlook a vital component of the position — the “Security” part. And unfortunately for FSOs, the consequences are much more severe should an incident (cyber or physical) occur since cleared personnel are involved.
There could be costly fees due to non-compliance with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM), business downtime caused by insider threats stealing critical company data, or a national security compromise from a foreign adversary getting their hands on sensitive military secrets. Regardless, the stakes are high.
Luckily, we’re here to address common security measures often overlooked by FSOs and how to avoid them.
Common Security Oversights for FSOs
Many security incidents are easily preventable with the proper knowledge and controls. Whether you’re looking to avoid cybersecurity threats like a data breach, ransomware, or insider attack or events at a physical federal workplace like a shooting or intruder situation, it all starts with diagnosing the issues.
All that said, here are some of the most common security mistakes FSOs make in their organization:
- Lack of regular security evaluations: Without consistent penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, control gap analysis, and risk assessments, there’s no way to identify your top threats and where in the organization they’ll most likely target. Additionally, you won’t be able to adopt the most suitable security controls for your specific cleared facility (cyber and physical) risks.
- Failure to account for insider threats: While many organizations focus their security efforts on outside threat actors, malicious insiders account for 14% of all incidents. This issue is far more significant in the defense contracting space because of the sensitivity of information that cleared personnel access.
- Inadequate monitoring systems: You can have the most robust preventative measures like a firewall, access controls, camera systems, and governance policies in the world. Something will eventually sneak by. Without comprehensive visibility of your cyberspace and physical facility, you leave your organization vulnerable to an intruder.
- Not regularly updating controls: The security measures of yesterday don’t necessarily meet today’s threats. It’s why software systems have security updates nearly every month and new security frameworks like Zero Trust security become popular. It is also why standards like the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) update so frequently.
- Insufficient response and recovery plans: Once you’re a victim of an attack, it’s all about reducing the impact. Unfortunately, many FSOs aren’t adequately prepared with incident response plans, backup systems, disaster recovery plans, or business continuity procedures after an incident.
- The “I’m compliant and therefore secure” assumption: With so many compliance standards to keep track of, it’s easy for FSOs to assume that following the rules alone makes you secure. That’s not the case. Most requirements are merely a baseline of security best practices that should be supplemented with additional controls.
How to Avoid Costly Errors with Proactive Security Measures
While there are tons of ways to secure your cleared facility, some things you can do to immediately get on the right track include:
Conduct regular audits
Evaluate current controls (IT and physical security) to ensure they’re activated and working correctly. Invest in vulnerability assessments, risk analysis, and pen-testing solutions to see what parts of your network and facility are most susceptible and need immediate updates. You can also use this time to check compliance changes and whether you’re within the scope of requirements.
Provide training to cleared personnel
Ensure all cleared personnel know what is expected of them regarding NISPOM requirements and their role during an incident. Additionally, they should get appropriate training on utilizing the security controls you adopt and detecting a potential insider threat among their colleagues with procedures on how to report it per the insider threat program.
Leverage the experts
You don’t need to do everything in-house. For many defense contractors, it’s more cost-effective to partner with a managed security service provider (MSSP), compliance and security advisory firm, or part-time officers, such as a fractional compliance officer or CISO specializing in cleared facility operations. These services help you understand your needs better and ensure you adopt best-in-class, proactive security measures tailored to your business.
Plan for the worst
With a cleared facility, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Like one of the Zero Trust principles, always assume you’ve been compromised and already have insider threats amongst your cleared employees. Adopt a comprehensive visibility system to spot anomalous activity and prepare a plan for scenarios like incident response, disaster recovery, deploying backup systems, and business continuity.
Proactive, Flexible Controls: The Benefits of Updating Security Protocols
Deploying proactive security measures that address commonly overlooked mistakes is highly beneficial to an FSO and the firm they represent:
- Reduces the likelihood of a successful attack taking place from an outside threat actor
- It lets you quickly mitigate against insider threats within your cleared personnel
- You’re better prepared to respond and recover from a cyber attack or physical incident at your cleared facility
- It keeps you in compliance
- It enables you to remain flexible to quickly add new controls for updated compliance standards, emerging technology, and the evolving threat landscape
- Increased chance of winning bid proposals by citing security controls as a benefit
Keep Cleared Personnel and Sensitive Data Safe with MathCraft
Between the sensitive information at stake and the requirements for handling cleared personnel, FSOs must maintain a versatile yet robust posture for their facility and cyberspace to prevent costly security mistakes.
Contact us today to learn how our suite of industrial security software provides an all-in-one solution to overseeing facility security operations, cleared personnel, and visitor management activities.