Audit of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Implementation of the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 for Fiscal Year 2023

For this year’s review, IGs were required to assess 20 Core IG FISMA Reporting Metrics and 20 Supplemental IG FISMA Reporting Metrics across five security function areas — Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover — to determine the effectiveness of their agencies’ information security program and the maturity level of each function area.1 The maturity levels are: Level 1 - Ad Hoc, Level 2 - Defined, Level 3 - Consistently Implemented, Level 4 - Managed and Measurable, and Level 5 - Optimized. To be considered effective, the NRC’s information security program must be rated Level 4 – Managed and Measurable.The audit included an assessment of the NRC’s information security programs and practices consistent with the FISMA and reporting instructions issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The scope also included assessing selected security controls outlined in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-53, Revision 5, Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations, for a sample of systems in the NRC’s FISMA inventory of information systems. Audit fieldwork covered the NRC’s headquarters located in Rockville, MD from January 2023 to June 2023. The audit covered the period from October 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.We concluded that the NRC implemented effective information security policies, procedures, and practices, since it achieved an overall Level 4 – Managed and Measurable maturity level; therefore, the NRC has an effective information security program. Although we concluded that the NRC implemented an effective information security program overall, its implementation of a subset of selected controls was not fully effective. We noted new and repeat weaknesses in its security program related to the risk management, supply chain risk management, configuration management, identity and access management, security training, incident response, and contingency planning domains of the FY 2023 IG FISMA Reporting Metrics. As a result, we made three new recommendations to assist the NRC in strengthening its information security program. Additionally, we noted 21 prior year recommendations remain open from the FY 2022 FISMA audit and FY 2021 FISMA evaluation based on inspection of evidence received during fieldwork.