CJIS Compliance & IT Services for Law Enforcement Agencies

CJIS compliance means meeting the security requirements established by the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy for protecting Criminal Justice Information (CJI). These requirements govern how sensitive criminal justice data is accessed, stored, processed, transmitted, and protected. Organizations subject to CJIS requirements must maintain appropriate cybersecurity controls, access management, authentication, encryption, monitoring, incident response, personnel security, and other safeguards designed to prevent unauthorized access to CJI.

CJIS stands for Criminal Justice Information Services, a division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI CJIS Division provides information, tools, and services used by law enforcement, criminal justice, national security, and authorized partner organizations throughout the United States. The CJIS Security Policy establishes security requirements designed to ensure that Criminal Justice Information remains protected throughout its lifecycle, from its creation and transmission to its storage, access, and eventual disposal.

Organizations that access, process, store, transmit, or support systems containing Criminal Justice Information may be required to meet CJIS Security Policy requirements. This commonly includes law enforcement agencies, police departments, sheriff’s offices, courts, correctional organizations, state and local government agencies, and authorized noncriminal justice agencies. Technology companies, Managed Service Providers, cloud providers, contractors, and other third parties that support systems containing CJI may also be subject to applicable CJIS security requirements and agency agreements.

Criminal Justice Information, or CJI, is information provided through FBI CJIS systems that authorized organizations use to perform criminal justice and other approved functions. CJI can include biometric information, identity history, information about individuals or organizations, property information associated with personally identifiable information, and case or incident history. Because this information can be highly sensitive, organizations with access to CJI must implement appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect it from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or loss.

CJIS security requirements address multiple areas of cybersecurity and information protection, including identity and access management, multi-factor authentication, encryption, audit logging, security monitoring, incident response, personnel security, physical security, system configuration, vulnerability management, and secure communications. Organizations must also maintain appropriate security policies, documentation, user access controls, and security awareness practices. The specific requirements that apply can depend on how an organization accesses CJI, its technology environment, and requirements established by its state or CJIS Systems Agency.

Yes. A Managed Service Provider (MSP) can provide IT and cybersecurity services to organizations operating within a CJIS environment, provided the applicable CJIS Security Policy requirements, contractual obligations, personnel requirements, and security controls are addressed. A qualified MSP can help organizations manage secure networks, endpoints, identity and access controls, cybersecurity monitoring, backups, cloud services, documentation, and other technologies supporting CJI. Choosing an MSP that understands CJIS requirements can make maintaining a secure and compliant IT environment significantly easier.

Yes. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an important component of the CJIS Security Policy’s identity and authentication requirements. The current CJIS framework incorporates Authenticator Assurance Levels and requires multi-factor authentication when Authenticator Assurance Level 2 (AAL2) applies. MFA strengthens security by requiring users to verify their identity using more than one authentication factor, helping reduce the risk that stolen passwords or compromised credentials can be used to gain unauthorized access to systems containing Criminal Justice Information.

ANC Group helps law enforcement agencies, municipalities, local governments, and other organizations build and maintain secure IT environments designed around applicable CJIS Security Policy requirements. Our team can assist with cybersecurity assessments, identity and access management, multi-factor authentication, network security, endpoint protection, monitoring, data protection, backup and recovery, documentation, employee security practices, and ongoing Managed IT Services. By combining cybersecurity, compliance expertise, and proactive IT support, ANC Group helps organizations identify security gaps and strengthen the systems responsible for protecting sensitive Criminal Justice Information.

CJIS requirements can apply to local governments and municipalities when their departments, employees, systems, or technology providers access or support Criminal Justice Information. Municipal police departments, public safety organizations, courts, and other authorized government functions may depend on systems containing CJI. As a result, municipalities need to consider not only their law enforcement technology but also the networks, user accounts, devices, vendors, and IT infrastructure connected to those environments. CJIS compliance is therefore an important cybersecurity consideration for many state and local government organizations.

CJIS compliance should be treated as an ongoing security responsibility rather than a one-time project. The CJIS Security Policy contains different monitoring, review, validation, and assessment requirements depending on the security control involved, so there is not one universal assessment interval for every organization. Organizations should regularly evaluate their security controls and reassess their CJIS environment whenever significant changes occur to systems, personnel, vendors, networks, or access to CJI. Regular internal reviews can also help identify security gaps before they become compliance or cybersecurity problems.