Audit Division 20-064 May 2020

Office of the Inspector General

U.S. Department of Justice

OVERSIGHT ★ INTEGRITY ★ GUIDANCE

Audit of the Federal Bureau of 

Prisons’ Sentry System Pursuant to 

the Federal Information Security 

Modernization Act of 2014 Fiscal 

Year 2019 
i 

Commentary and Summary

Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Sentry System Pursuant to the 

Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014

Fiscal Year 2019

Objectives

The objectives of this audit were to determine whether 

the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) Sentry system 

program and practices were consistent with the 

requirements of the Federal Information Security 

Modernization Act (FISMA). In addition, the audit was 

designed to perform a vulnerability assessment of the 

Sentry system and evaluate selected system security 

controls.

Results in Brief

The audit identified a weakness in one of the six control 

areas that need to be strengthened to ensure BOP’s 

Sentry system and data are adequately protected. In 

addition, we identified control deficiencies in two of the 

eight domain areas of BOP’s Information Security 

Program. These findings and subsequent 

recommendations are reported in the Audit of the BOP’s 

Information Security Program Pursuant to the FISMA of 

2014, Fiscal Year 2019.

Recommendations

This audit provides one recommendation for improving 

BOP’s Sentry system, which was presented to the 

Justice Management Division (JMD) for implementation. 

To ensure BOP was immediately aware of the 

deficiencies identified during this audit, the auditors 

presented the finding to BOP management as well, prior 

to the issuance of this report. JMD and BOP 

management concurred with the identified weakness.

Public Release

The OIG is publicly releasing this Commentary and 

Summary of the report rather than the full report itself 

because Inspectors General are required by FISMA to 

take appropriate steps to ensure the protection of 

information that, if disclosed, may adversely affect 

information security. Such protections shall be 

commensurate with the risk.

Audit Approach

KPMG LLP conducted this performance audit of BOP’s 

Sentry system under the direction of the Department of 

Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and in 

accordance with Generally Accepted Government 

Auditing Standards (GAGAS) and the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) reporting requirements. 

The OIG reviewed KPMG LLP's report and related 

documentation for compliance with GAGAS. The OIG’s 

review was not intended to enable the OIG to make a 

conclusion about the effectiveness of BOP’s information 

security controls. KPMG LLP is responsible for the 

attached auditors' report dated November 5, 2019, and 

the conclusions expressed in the report. The OIG’s 

review disclosed no instances where KPMG LLP did not 

comply, in all material respects, with GAGAS and OMB 

reporting requirements.

Background

FISMA was passed by Congress and signed into law by 

the President in 2014. FISMA assigns responsibilities to 

federal agencies, the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST), and OMB to strengthen federal 

information system security. This includes directing 

NIST to develop standards and guidelines for ensuring 

the effectiveness of information security controls over 

information systems that support federal agencies’ 

operations and assets, and requiring the head of each 

agency to implement policies and procedures to costeffectively reduce risks to an acceptable level.

Annually, agency Inspectors General are required to 

either perform an independent evaluation or contract an 

independent external auditor to perform an evaluation of 

the agency’s information security program and practices 

to ensure the effectiveness of the program and 

practices. Each evaluation must include: (1) testing the 

effectiveness of information security policies, 

procedures, and practices of a representative subset of 

the agency’s information systems; (2) an assessment 

(based on the results of the testing) of compliance with 

FISMA; and (3) separate representations, as 

appropriate, regarding information security related to 

national security systems.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530-0001

 

Also at Oversight.gov

The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ OIG) is a 

statutorily created independent entity whose mission is to detect and deter 

waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in the Department of Justice, and to 

promote economy and efficiency in the Department’s operations.

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programs, employees, contractors, grants, or contracts please visit or call the

DOJ OIG Hotline at oig.justice.gov/hotline or (800) 869-4499.

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