What exactly is a CMMC audit, and how should you prepare for one?

The CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) is replacing the previous cybersecurity self-assessment process referred to as DFARS (Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations System), which made businesses contracted to figure with the Department of Defense (DoD) liable for their compliance. CMMC certification is achieved through external auditing, and failing will end in your business being unable to figure with the DoD as a contractor, or maybe bid on contracts.

What is CMMC compliance?

The CMMC may be a new certification program for all DoD contractors who work with controlled unclassified information (CUI) and federal contract information (FCI). It comprises five different levels that gauge a business’s cybersecurity hygiene from Basic to Advanced. Unfortunately, the DoD found too many of their contractors to be DFARS noncompliant, leading to several data leaks and compromises in recent years. The new program will involve a compulsory third-party certification within the sort of the CMMC Audit.

CMMC audit consists of 5 levels of security clearance, the primary three of which are like the first DFARS requirements. If you’re a little business that handles FCI or a minimal amount of CUI, the new compliance requirements outlined in CMMC should largely match your previous DFARS obligations, which suggests you’re already well on your thanks to complying with the lower levels. If you’re an outsized business that often deals with CUI, you’ll get to upgrade your security. The DoD will assign you a CMMC level supported by the quantity of state information your organization handles. 

Making the foremost of Your Nist 800-171 Compliance Tools

If your company is looking to contract with the DoD, meaning you’re either already, or are looking to become, a part of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) sector. As a neighborhood of the key infrastructure that supports our military, and by extension, the security of all Americans, it’s imperative that you simply keep all sensitive information protected. To that effect, complying with NIST 800-171 compliance tool may be a significant initiative. During this guide, we’ll break down everything you recognize to form use of those tools, including:

  • the way to understand the framework itself
  • What additional NIST resources to utilize
  • Other compliance requirements to organize for
  • The advantage of comprehensive advisory services

Understand the 800-171 Requirements

The central core of NIST 800-171, in Revision 2 as in earlier versions, comprises a group of 110 Requirements. These are distributed across 14 Requirement Families or cyber security areas, and there are two sorts of Requirements therein: Basic and Derived. All Requirement Families contain a minimum of one Basic Requirement, and most also include several Derived Requirements. Basic Requirements detail the foremost fundamental controls during a given family, whereas Derived Requirements, where they apply, govern more complex and challenging measures.