Laura P. Taylor - FISMA Compliance Handbook: Second Edition

This book is a better book due to the support of many individuals. Ben Rearick, my project manager, was instrumental in keeping the momentum of the book going forward by keeping me on schedule. Thank you to Chris Katsaropoulos, the editor of Elsevier, for giving me the opportunity to update the first edition. Technical Editor, Patricia Moulder, read through the drafts and offered excellent suggestions for polishing up the rough edges. The entire Elsevier team is a world-class publishing organization, and others at Elsevier who helped with various ad hoc matters include Steve Elliott, Stephen Fiedler, Malathi Samayan, and Amy Pedersen. Jim Meyer of Coordinated Response was kind enough to help write many of the abstracts for the online version (and on short notice) when I needed an extra helping hand. Thank you to my colleague Francis Benjamin for helping to review some of the final proofs.

Without the first edition of this book, there would be no second edition. Editors Gary Byrne and Matt Shepherd made much appreciated contributions to the first edition. Stephen Northcutt of SANS was instrumental in helping get the first edition of this book off the ground. Thank you to Chris Williams and Andrew Williams who gave me the opportunity to write the first edition of this book for Syngress. The first edition of this book started out originally as an OReilly book, and therefore, Id also like to thank my former editors at OReilly Media, Allison Randal and Tatiana Apandi Diaz, who helped me refine some of the earlier drafts of this book. Thank you also to Nathan Torkington of OReilly who was one of the early believers in this book. If Bobby Porter (FISMA Center Advisory Board) had not cajoled me into taking on a FISMA project shortly after FISMA was passed, the first edition would have never been written. Richard Bejtlich provided insightful critique on the first edition which was taken into consideration during the writing of the second edition.

Various members of the FISMA Center Advisory Board offered recommendations on some of the tools discussed in : Seth Friedman, Glenn Jacobsen, and Kevin Sanchez-Cherry. Glenn was also a contributing author to the first edition. Anton Chuvakin offered a few tips for this chapter as well.

Certain individuals that Ive worked with, known, and exchanged ideas with over the years have provided me with various insights and perspectives on FISMA (or other information security topics) which likely enabled me to make this book more intelligible. Alphabetically by last name, Id like to thank Dawn Adams, Janet Bauer, Bo Berlas, Bruce Brody, David Caplan, Anthony Cornish, Jaren Dougherty, Pranjali Desai, Ralph Echemendia, David Felton, Thomas Galligan, Kurt Garbars, Justin Matteo, Jim Molini, Bob Morningstar, Pete Nicoletti, Ron Ross, Rachael Sokolowski, Verdis Spearman, Angela Vessels, Dan Waddell, and Randy Williams. A special thank you to Alan Paller who tries to keep the rest of us honest by focusing on which security controls give you the most bang for your buck.

Thank you to Wanda Headley, Library Manager at the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, for help with research on natural hazards. Additionally, Eileen McVey, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Central Library, helped with information on natural hazard probabilities.

Various members of the FedRAMP team created the diagrams found in were created by an anonymous early FedRAMP visionary.

Thank you to Jennifer Leggio of Sourcefire for contributing to .

Thank you to my good friend Brien Posey for review comments on an early draft. Theres not likely another information technology author as widely published as Brien and his opinion always counts for a lot.

Thank you to my Mother (who is not easily impressed) for challenging me to demonstrate favorable outcomes to all endeavors. Dad (R.I.P.), a little more forgiving, was happy with the first edition, even though he could not have cared less about FISMA.

Last, but always at the forefront of my thoughts, I am most grateful to my college-aged son, Sam Taylor, for keeping the humor flowing during the writing of the last few chapters, providing a welcome relief from the stress of deadlines.