Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, CMMC, is currently the most important information security framework for thousands of businesses across the country. Businesses that wish to work with the Department of Defense, or a DoD subcontractor, are quite likely to need to earn their CMMC certification in order to win those contracts. For those businesses that haven't been paying attention, this can come as a significant surprise.

Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) who either currently work with the federal government, are in the process of earning FedRAMP certification, or are considering seeking it, all have a serious choice to make. FedRAMP is changing. If you haven't been watching the world of government compliance, or if you've been putting off making a decision until a deadline gets closer, it's here. As a CSP, what do you need to know, what decision do you need to make, and how will it affect your path with government contracts?

CMMC is increasingly important for the overall security of the government, and by extension, the people. Threats are continually evolving, so security standards have to rise to meet them. Programs like CMMC exist to enforce standards capable of resisting most common threats and protecting sensitive information. It's no surprise, then, that more and more businesses are finding CMMC to be mandatory for the government contracts they want to win.

One of the biggest changes to the FedRAMP program in the history of the program itself is in progress, and it's going to change a lot of things for a lot of people. When the dust settles, it should be a net benefit across the board, but in the meantime, it's going to cause a lot of confusion. Here at Ignyte, we've been doing a lot to get ready, both as a service provider and as a 3PAO. We've been keeping tabs on what you need to know, and we'll do our best to help you navigate the changes as they occur.

Around the world, nearly 100,000 businesses have navigated the challenges of ISO 27001 and earned their certifications. If you want your business to be the next on the list, you need to understand the 11 clauses that make up the security framework, including what they are, why they exist, and what they require you to do. Let's start where you might reasonably expect to begin: with a definition of what the clauses are.

The CMMC ecosystem is poised to be very strict in a very short amount of time, which means a lot of organizations are quickly finding that they need to do a lot of work in short order. A significant area of concern is where MSPs fall into the spectrum of security. Managed Service Providers are a key part of how modern digital businesses operate, but they’re also distinct and separate from the businesses themselves.

The culmination of all of your efforts to implement CMMC rules as per your DoD contracts is the audit. Hiring a C3PAO and having your systems and security reviewed, so you can earn your certification and start working in the defense ecosystem, is the capstone to the long and arduous process. Unfortunately, many companies encounter a serious problem when it comes time to hire their C3PAO: the timeline.

One of the biggest decisions you need to make when you’re planning a CMMC implementation is which strategy you’re going to use. Your options are enterprise-wide security or an enclave strategy. Now, we’ve talked about these two options before. Rather than a general guide, though, today we want to look at the factor most likely to drive your decision: costs.

CMMC is one of the most modern cybersecurity frameworks out there, and while it’s limited to just the Department of Defense contractor chain, it’s still very important to know about it if you’re part of that ecosystem. After all, over 300,000 organizations are part of the defense ecosystem and DIB. The point of CMMC is simple: securing controlled unclassified information and federal contract information from top to bottom in the defense supply chain. The details are not so simple.

PCI DSS compliance is not something you can be flippant about. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a high bar, and it’s one that is effectively mandatory for any business that wants to accept credit card payments, no matter how little engagement with the systems you have. Any security standard is only as good as its enforcement. PCI strictly enforces its standards because it’s a core foundation of the trust people have in credit cards.