Government Agency Rapidly Adopts NIST 800-53 Rev 5

Summary

A government energy agency transformed its cumbersome manual compliance process into an automated, efficient model with RegScale, speeding up its adoption of NIST 800-53 Rev 5.

Challenge: impossible transition to NIST 800-53 Rev 5 with manual process

A government energy agency faced significant hurdles maintaining its Authority to Operate (ATO) under NIST 800-53 Rev 5. Their struggles centered around manual processes, disconnected systems, and siloed departments, making compliance a monumental effort. Transitioning to NIST 800-53 Rev 5 was on their radar, yet seemed a distant reality given their current state.

With almost 300 controls previously identified as “not implemented,” the urgency for a streamlined solution was extreme. The existing manual processes and tools were clearly inadequate for the impending transition.

Solution: enable rapid certification by automating with continuous controls monitoring

The agency embarked on a transformative journey starting with the digitization and rapid ingestion of existing Security Plan (SSP) documents and other critical documentation. They chose RegScale to leverage self-updating documents through APIs and integrations, along with an OSCAL-native platform for machine-to-machine communications. Centralized reporting and continuous monitoring became the new norm, allowing for an unprecedented level of oversight across all programs.

Result: swift transition to high visibility, improving efficiency and cybersecurit

Upon implementing RegScale’s continuous controls monitoring platform, the agency swiftly transitioned to NIST 800-53 Rev 5, leveraging the platform to activate the catalog, digitize compliance documentation, and ingest it all effortlessly.

The agency’s once disconnected systems are now a cohesive unit, with automated workflows that make compliance efficient and effective. The implementation of NIST 800-53 Rev 5 across all programs on a single platform streamlined the process, centralized reporting, and enhanced visibility. This journey from a cumbersome, manual compliance process to a proactive, always audit-ready state exemplifies a great leap forward in cybersecurity and ongoing compliance in the energy sector.