NIST revises cybersecurity guidance to address cloud, mobile computing threats

Government adoption of mobile and cloud computing technologies may boost agency production, but the technologies are also targets of online security breaches.

To address the need for greater cyber security among the federal government, the National Institute of Standards and Technology recently announced a new revision to its Federal Information Security Management Act, or FISMA.

"The changes we propose in Revision 4 are directly linked to the current state of the threat space - the capabilities, intentions and targeting activities of adversaries - and analysis of attack data over time," said FISMA project leader and NIST fellow Ron Ross.

Some of the revisions include security standards and more comprehensive guidelines to deal with cyber threats, according to the announcement.

Both public and private IT professionals believe their own infrastructures are in a precarious position regarding hackers. According to a recent study conducted by network traffic intelligence and analytics firm Narus, nearly 94 percent of companies said that security threats are on the rise and 85 percent indicated federal agencies cannot effectively defend against such attacks.