Why do Federal agencies and state and local governments need ppn?

Federal government agencies are required to comply with FISMA and OMB Circular No. A-130. Compliance requires the protection of private, sensitive and confidential information that is maintained in electronic format. This protection requirement includes during the transfer of such information over communication links. These links may be to other internal agency departments, other Federal agencies, contractors, Federal data distributors, Federal data providers and other data users. ppn provides the secure data transfer network capabilities to easily comply with FISMA mandated requirements.

State and local governments that receive from, or have access to, or provide to the Federal government any private, sensitive or confidential information, in electronic format, are required to comply with the secure data transfer requirements mandated by FISMA.

It is the started opinion of OMB that the cyber-security of protected information requirements of FISMA apply to all State governmental agencies and all private businesses and organizations which have access to any Federal government maintained protected information or who provide protected information to the Federal government.

 

"…because FISMA applies to both information and information systems used by the agency, contractors, and other organizations and sources, it has somewhat broader applicability than that of prior security law. That is, agency IT security programs apply to all organizations (sources) which possess or use Federal information – or which operate, use, or have access to Federal information systems – on behalf of a Federal agency. Such other organizations may include contractors, grantees, state and local governments, industry partners, etc. FISMA therefore underscores longstanding OMB policy concerning sharing government information and interconnecting systems, i.e., Federal security requirements continue to apply and the agency is responsible for ensuring appropriate security controls"

ppn provides the secure data transfer network capabilities to easily comply with FISMA mandated requirements. For details on implementation of FISMA and its application to state and local governments