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Enterprise Standards

The DISC Enterprise Solutions are developed utilizing government and industry standards and best practices. Our Level IV data center facilities utilize state-of-the-art, enterprise class infrastructure technologies to deliver optimal yet cost-effective solutions. DISC has a diverse and dedicated staff of Information Technology professionals who are proficient in systems architecture and integration, infrastructure management and operation and disaster recovery. They work with customers to deliver secure and highly available solutions. The DISC's secure IT infrastructure consists of virtualized mainframe and midrange platforms as well as virtualized network and storage infrastructure. The systems and applications managed by DISC are national in scope, mission critical and essential for the operations of the United States government throughout the Sec/Dev/Ops lifecycle.

The Enterprise Architecture Division (EAD) offers professional services that include enterprise application development, Geospatial Information Systems (GIS), web and mobile application development, Software as a Service (SaaS), maintenance and operations, security services, 508 compliance testing and learning management services (AgLearn).

Architecture

Leading cultural change for cloud adoption

Enabling an Actionable Architecture - Supports Agencies in making informed decisions concerning technology investments by implementing an “actionable architecture” which takes enterprise architecture from being a goal and moves it to becoming a platform for decision support. Actionable architecture brings architecture to the forefront as a way to centralize and visualize relationships among systems, people, processes and data to make smarter decisions.

For over 40 years, USDA OCIO DISC has provided exceptional service, sustaining strong customer relationships within USDA.

CLOUD ARCHITECTURE SERVICES

  • Provides direction, design and planning for cloud and hosting related services;
  • Cloud migration planning and execution;
  • Leads the development of plans, policies, standards and programs in the areas of secure multi-tenant cloud hosting services;
  • Ensures all designs and implementations include proven and comprehensive security methods and controls.
Security
  • Contingency Management
    • All DISC FED employees have had their COOP records to reflect their change in work locations - 200+ updates to MIR3 and RSA each.
    • Conducts disaster recovery exercises twice a year (February and August).
    • *Mainframe is only participating in February.
  • Risk Management
    • Log4j items within DISC at the beginning of January had 3031 vulnerabilities. As of November, there were 58 vulnerabilities which equates to a reduction of 98%
  • Internal Audit (Governance) Management
    • 1st federal agency to hold FedRAMP accreditation
    • Obtained FedRAMP Moderate accreditation since September 2013
    • Obtained DoD Impact Level 2 accreditation in March 2015
    • Obtained DoD Impact Level 4 accreditation in October 2017
    • Hold 8 FISMA High ATOs
      • Auxiliary Support System, Mainframe, Telecommunications Network, Enterprise Data Center, Midrange Systems, (DISC) Internal Services Universal Telecommunications Network – AT&T and AgCloud.
      • Of the above, Mainframe, Telecom, Midrange and AT&T are also considered High Value Assets, so an additional control overlay is applied.
  • Due to the security consolidation, the number of controls that the PaaS environment directly offers customers is greatly reduced. ISC is currently reviewing their security controls and activities to determine what controls they will offer and which will come from DISC. Additionally, if ISC doesn’t offer the controls that DISC believes are under ISC management of control, the number of controls in total, between ISC and DISC, will decrease from the current number of controls being offered.

DISC provides security management that are NIST, FISMA and FedRAMP compliant.​ 

Federal Information Security Modernization Act. (FISMA) is United States legislation that defines a comprehensive framework to protect government information, operations and assets against natural or man-made threats. FISMA was signed into law as part of the Electronic Government Act of 2002.

What is FISMA FedRAMP?

FedRAMP pertains specifically to cloud services and managed services. It authorizes these cloud services for use by government agencies, like a stamp of approval.

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring of cloud products and services. FedRAMP empowers agencies to use modern cloud technologies, with emphasis on the security and protection of federal information and helps accelerate the adoption of secure, cloud solutions.

FedRAMP consists of two primary entities: the Joint Authorization Board (JAB) and the Program Management Office (PMO). Members of the JAB include the chief information officers (CIOs) from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and General Services Administration. The JAB serves as the primary governance and decision-making body for FedRAMP.

The FedRAMP PMO resides within GSA and supports agencies and cloud service providers through the FedRAMP authorization process and maintains a secure repository of FedRAMP authorizations to enable the reuse of security packages.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was founded in 1901 and is now part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST is one of the nation's oldest physical science laboratories. Congress established the agency to remove a major challenge to U.S. industrial competitiveness at the time — a second-rate measurement infrastructure that lagged behind the capabilities of the United Kingdom, Germany and other economic rivals.

From the smart electric power grid and electronic health records to atomic clocks, advanced nanomaterials and computer chips, innumerable products and services rely in some way on technology, measurement and standards provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Today, NIST measurements support the smallest of technologies to the largest and most complex of human-made creations — from nanoscale devices so tiny that tens of thousands can fit on the end of a single human hair up to earthquake-resistant skyscrapers and global communication networks.

We offer the below security features:

  • Service Hotline

  • Security Operations Center

  • Security Sensor Array Operations Access

  • Vulnerability Scanning

  • Engineering Services

  • Operational Assessments

  • Forensics

  • Data Disaster Recovery

  • Incident Handling

  • Continuous Monitoring

  • System Test & Evaluation/Penetration Testing

  • Communications Security – COMSEC (National Security Systems)

  • Information Security Services Awareness & Training

  • Information Security Services Business Intelligence

  • Management Services Project Portfolio Management Services

  • Management Services IT Consultative Services

Provides Information Systems and Network Security services that provide safe network access, security administration, monitoring and assessment to meet data security management requirements.

What else is included?

DISC performs the following system security tasks for systems physically and/or logically located within the DISC Enterprise Network boundaries:

  • Enterprise Network Firewall and Access Control List administration
  • Enterprise Network Remote Access and Admission Controls administration
  • Enterprise Network Intrusion Detection System (IDS) monitoring
  • Enterprise Operating System (OS) vulnerability scanning and reporting to the Customer System Security Officer
  • Enterprise compliance scanning to ensure the systems are maintained with proper baseline configuration standards and patch management
  • Identity and Access Management administration which includes: » OS level security in the form of User ID/Password verification » Enforcement of strict security policies regarding system access
  • Optional Application Scanning is available for an additional cost
Acquisition

Except for Application Scanning, the cost of this service is included when DISC Network Services are utilized. Hosting services that include Network Security Services:

  • Platform as a Service
  • Infrastructure as a Service
  • Managed Hosting services Costs associated with optional Application Scanning services are based on software license fees and amount of actual professional services hours incurred
  • Utilize DISC Network Services instead of hosting a private networking solution
  • Provide at least 180 days notice for growth or retraction of processing requirements
  • Communicate projected networking requirements on a quarterly basis
  • Limit internet usage to business related activities

DISC also provides Security Governance Services that include limited control documentation, control inheritance and audit support.