Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification
Seattle, Tacoma and other Washington Department of Defense (DoD) contractors and subcontractors will soon be required to comply with the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 standard. The new standard is designed to help counteract the significant increase in the compromises of sensitive defense information which is shared across the defense industrial base.
In the past, DoD contractors have been responsible for maintaining certain cybersecurity practices, but under the emerging CMMC requirements contractors must undergo third-party compliance assessments and implement additional security protections. Once implemented contractors and subcontractors will need to be compliant to be awarded contract work.
5 CMMC Maturity Levels (ML)
Phased in over a five-year period, CMMC includes 5 maturity levels based on a Washington DoD contractor’s access to Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).
CMMC ML 1, known as basic cyber hygiene, requires the use of techniques such as antivirus and passwords to control access to FCI. The requirements become more complex reaching a Level 5, Optimizing, which requires standardized processes to address Advanced Persistent Threats (APT).
Washington Top DoD Spending Locations
Seattle CMMC Services
Many Seattle DoD contractors will need assistance performing initial assessments to uncover issues, establish corrective actions, and to chart a path towards CMMC readiness.
The CMMC is complex. ML 3 contains 381 discrete cybersecurity requirements spread among 130 practices, and 310 policy/procedure requirements spread among 51process maturity requirements. The requirements are complex, and our team has almost 20 years of experience providing cybersecurity compliance services across many complex frameworks such as NIST SP 800-171, NIST SP 800-53, HIPAA, and others. As a CMMC Registered Provider Organization (RPO), our team can help DoD prime and subcontractors with the following:
- Readiness Assessments and Gap Analyses Against the CMMC Framework
- Assistance with Remediating Gaps Identified during Readiness Assessment
- Assistance with NIST SP 800-171 Self-Assessment that is recorded in Supplier Performance Risk System
- Creating System Security Plans (SSP)
- Creating Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&M)
Washington’s Department of Defense (DOD) contractors are instrumental in supporting national security and technological innovation. The state is home to a robust and diverse community of defense contractors, specializing in aerospace, technology, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing.