CHAPTER 15, PART 1

SECURITY CONTROLS IN THE SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE /SYSTEMS

DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

1 BACKGROUND

USDA has traditionally depended upon diverse and rapidly changing commercially available IT resources to support its business practices and deliver services to the public.  Often those resources have been implemented without consideration or implementation of minimum secure access controls and therefore, leaves sensitive information vulnerable to exploitation.  The current heightened sense of national alert and the administration’s focus on the security of Federal Information Technology (IT) assets requires that USDA take immediate action to secure our systems.