cybersecurity | The Contracting Education Academy

March 28, 2020 By cs

Coronavirus will not delay Pentagon’s contractor cybersecurity program, official says

The Defense Department officially entered into an agreement with the nonprofit corporation that will serve as the accreditation body for its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, the chief information security officer for the department’s acquisition office confirmed.

“Yesterday the CMMC accreditation body made a public post that we have executed the [memorandum of understanding],” said Katie Arrington, who is spearheading the program and participated in a webcast on the issue Thursday.

A resolute Arrington sought to quash any idea that the government’s efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic would delay the Defense Department’s plan to validate contractors’ cybersecurity claims using independent third-party auditors.

“We, all of us that are mission-essential, have been working on COVID-19, but,” she said, “although we are working diligently to ensure we are doing our best in the Department of Defense to save lives, work does continue and we are not slowing our roll at all.”

Arrington and other webinar participants noted the extensive impact the CMMC is expected to make across the federal government, its contractors and international partners.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/03/coronavirus-will-not-delay-pentagons-contractor-cybersecurity-program-official-says/164152/

March 20, 2020 By cs

Industry on pins and needles as DoD and accreditation body work to finalize CMMC agreement

The Defense Department is one small step away from officially getting the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) off the starting blocks.

Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, is ready to sign off on the memorandum of understanding with the CMMC accreditation body that would jumpstart the training of third-party assessment organizations.

Katie Arrington, the chief information security officer for acquisition at DoD, said the MOU is through the clearance process and is just awaiting Lord’s signature.

Arrington, speaking at the Washington Technology CMMC event in McLean, Virginia on March 13, said once the MOU is signed, the six-month push to begin putting CMMC standards in procurements officially will begin.

“The accreditation board, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University and DoD are going through simulations of training, working through the kinks,” she said. “The first session of classes will actually be a lot of the proof in the pudding, and DoD will be there to help through this. This is new so we want to make sure we get it right.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2020/03/industry-on-pins-and-needles-as-dod-accreditation-body-to-finalize-cmmc-agreement/

February 4, 2020 By cs

Pentagon announces final version of cyber standards for contractors

During an event where Defense Department officials looked to dispel myths about a plan to certify the cybersecurity of its contractors through third-party audits, the department’s head of acquisitions spoke to why the rollout of the program isn’t expected to be done till 2026.

“We are doing this with what I would call irreversible momentum,” Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord said, answering questions from reporters.

Some stakeholders have said the plan to subject companies in the defense industrial base to reviews by independent auditors—instead of allowing them to self-attest to security practices—is moving at break-neck speed. But Defense officials were pressed at the event to explain why it would take such a long time to fully implement the program.

“We’re being realistic in terms of making sure we have pathfinder projects and then we implement it and learn, get the feedback, and go on,” Lord said.

While the department plans to note CMMC requirements in requests for information starting late spring, specific security levels—ranging 1 through 5, described in a final version 1.0 of the model—won’t be included in requests for proposals till the fall, when it is expected the related rule will be finalized in Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Spring is also when auditors will start attending classes and CMMC training will be available on the Defense Acquisition University website, officials said.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/01/pentagon-announces-final-version-cyber-standards-contractors/162807/

January 30, 2020 By cs

Final DoD cybersecurity certification model due Friday

The Defense Department official leading the development of an ambitious plan to independently certify military contractors’ cybersecurity practices will review a final version of the plan Friday (Jan. 31, 2020) and shared key details for its implementation.

Stipulations of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) will be written into the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) as an update to rule 252.204.7012, which currently requires contractors handling information of certain sensitivity to implement security practices spelled out in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-171 and to report cyber incidents within 72 hours.

The major change in the updated rule—which is expected to be open for comment in the spring—will be that contractors will no longer be permitted to self-attest their adherence to the NIST-described practices, as they are now.

The new program will also introduce five levels of tiered requirements for defense contractors. Contractors dealing with information that is not as sensitive would have to meet the “basic cyber hygiene” of level 1, versus the “good cyber hygiene” that implies compliance with the NIST 800-171 controls, or the “advanced” practices that would be required at level 5.

That risk-based approach has gotten the coming CMMC some praise, but the contracting community is on high alert with concerns ranging from the cost of certification to the details of how the audits will function through a nonprofit accreditation body.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/01/final-dod-cybersecurity-certification-model-due-friday/162713/

January 29, 2020 By cs

DoD aims to issue proposed rule for certifying contractors’ cybersecurity in the fall

A sweeping plan to conduct independent third-party cybersecurity audits of prospective Defense Department contractors’ management of sensitive information will be subject to a formal rulemaking process, but the department and the nonprofit organization being established to train and approve certifiers are still moving at a quick clip.

“Because we’re doing rulemaking, this isn’t going to roll out as hard and fast as we thought,” said a government official delivering a briefing on Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program at a recent meeting of the Software Supply Chain Assurance forum.

Quarterly meetings of the forum — co-led by Defense, the General Services Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Homeland Security Department—are attended by public and private sector representatives and conducted under the Chatham House Rule to encourage a free exchange of ideas.

The official said Defense expects the CMMC requirements to be issued as a proposed rule this fall, but regardless of the related public comment process, officials still plan to include the rules in requests for proposals starting in the third quarter.

“In June, we’re going to give you an [request for information] that says these procurements are targeted to have CMMC requirements,” the official also noted.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/01/dod-aims-issue-proposed-rule-certifying-contractors-cybersecurity-fall/162463/

The Defense Department officially entered into an agreement with the nonprofit corporation that will serve as the accreditation body for its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, the chief information security officer for the department’s acquisition office confirmed.

The Defense Department is one small step away from officially getting the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) off the starting blocks.

During an event where Defense Department officials looked to dispel myths about a plan to certify the cybersecurity of its contractors through third-party audits, the department’s head of acquisitions spoke to why the rollout of the program isn’t expected to be done till 2026.

The Defense Department official leading the development of an ambitious plan to independently certify military contractors’ cybersecurity practices will review a final version of the plan Friday (Jan. 31, 2020) and shared key details for its implementation.

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