Federal Government Information Technology

TSP Gets Lowest Possible Score on Information Security Audit

Government Executive: The agency that administers the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement program received the lowest of five possible scores on a recent audit to determine its compliance with federal information security standards.

Auditors with the consulting firm Williams Adley examined the information security program of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which administers the Thrift Savings Plan, under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act. In the first annual study of FRTIB’s policies, the agency scored a Level 1 in accordance with the law’s fiscal 2017 inspector general reporting metrics, out of a possible five.

Although FRTIB had started a number of initiatives to upgrade its IT infrastructure and cybersecurity in recent years, auditors found those policies to remain primarily “ad hoc” in nature. An effective information security program is scored at Level 4, which includes collection of “quantitative and qualitative measures on the effectiveness of policies, procedures and strategy” at an agency and assessment for what changes are necessary.

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