What Is The CMMC, And How Can You Prepare?

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The Department of Defense (DoD) will release version 1.0 of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification later this month (CMMC). The CMMC will be required third-party certification for all DoD contractors and subcontractors, with the goal of helping the government secure sensitive, unclassified data from cyber attacks. What is the history of the CMMC and what will it entail? Continue reading to learn about previous cyber threat mitigation guidelines, how they influenced the creation of the CMMC, and what to expect once the CMMC is operational.

Cyber Mitigation in the United Kingdom as a source of inspiration for the CMMC.

The United Kingdom Cyber Essentials were a major influence on the CMMC certification and an early example of successful mitigation strategies. Since 2014, all existing or bidding contractors or subcontractors for any component of the UK central government have been required to have the Cyber Essentials certification.

The CMMC’s Fundamentals

The CMMC will be presented in January, but it is not scheduled to be implemented until June, allowing firms plenty of time to prepare and upgrade their security programs. It will also allow time for third-party accrediting parties to get certified, which will confront an influx of enterprises requiring examination. So, what components of this framework will these parties be evaluating?

Levels

The CMMC will feature escalating levels of certification, similar to the Cyber Essentials approach. The CMMC features five levels instead of two, with level one needing only basic cyber hygiene. Level five requires effective cyber hygiene, meeting NIST criteria, having a large and proactive cybersecurity policy in place, and demonstrating optimization ability to fight against advanced persistent attacks. They must fulfill these standards in all of the domains listed below.

Maturity
These stages also include the important idea of maturation. While there are no maturity requirements at level one, at level two, the business is expected to develop and adhere to a cybersecurity policy. Maturity requirements increase as levels develop, including the establishment of processes, goals, and objectives.

Domains

Both the Cyber Essentials and the Essential Eight are substantially more general than the CMMC. It contains 17 domains, most of which are based on the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These domains address the complete spectrum of cybersecurity requirements—not just malware protection, but also data backup and recovery, as well as mitigating the impact of a breach.

As of the most recent draught, the domains are:

Asset Management and Access Control
Accountability and Audit
Configuration Management Identification and Authentication Awareness and Training
Maintenance of Incident Response
Personnel in charge of media protection Security
Recovery from Physical Protection
Management of Risk
Assessment of Security
Situational Awareness is a term used to describe the ability to
Communications and Security for the System
The integrity of the system and information

To know more about NIST 800-171 compliance, visit linqsgroup.com.

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