CMMC
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification - Archer IRM
Archer helps achieve the required level of certification
There have been so many talks about the CMMC over the years that I’m sure you have wondered at a point, what is the CMMC about? What does it entail? This article will give you an overview of all the basic things you need to know about the CMMC.
What is the CMMC?
The CMMC stands for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model. Maturity models can be defined as the collection of best practices; they show the degree of adherence to which organizations progress and rise in rank. This progress shows how organizations scale from lower levels of adoption to higher levels of certification and aptitude.
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification is a unified standard initiated by the United States Department of Defence (DoD) for implementing cybersecurity across the defense industrial base, which has lots of companies on its supply chain. The CMMC was initiated for the DoD to measure their defense contractors’ readiness, qualifications, and sophistication in cybersecurity. The CMMC is what the DoD uses to respond and take action if there has been a security breach or significant compromise of sensitive data in one of their contractors’ information systems. The CMMC was released on the 31st of January, 2020, and it was created with inputs and knowledge from research centers, development centers, etc.
Contractors used to be fully responsible for implementing, monitoring, studying, and certifying the safety and security of their IT systems. They also used to be liable for any sensitive DoD information transmitted or stored by those systems. But with the introduction of the CMMC, though contractors are still in charge of implementing the primary cybersecurity requirements, the CMMC takes over by requiring third-party assessments of contractors’ compliance with some specific compulsory procedures, practices, and capabilities to evolving new cyber threats.
The CMMC Framework
The CMMC has five levels that are structured and built upon each other’s technical requirements. To go to a new level, you must have completed the lower-level requirements and institutionalized more processes to implement specific cyber security-based practices.
Each level contains maturity processes and practices. By completing the last group, the CMMC framework issues a certification program to verify the implementation of procedures and practices.
The levels in the CMMC are:
Level One: This level deals with protecting Federal Contract Information (FCI). FCI is information that is not intended for public release. They don’t include general information or sensitive transactional information.
At this level, organizations must perform cyber hygiene acts like using antivirus, making sure staff have private passwords that are changed at intervals, etc.
Level Two: Some cyber hygiene practices taken by organizations should be documented to protect their Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). This level consists of security requirements specified in NIST SP 800-171 r2 and practices from other references and standards.
Level Three: This level deals with protecting CUI. Organizations must have good, institutionalized management plans to inculcate good cyber hygiene practices to preserve their CUI.
Level Four: At this level, the CMMC starts to focus on the proactive actions organizations can take to identify, protect and respond to threats.
The activities practiced at this level boost the organization’s ability to adapt to changing tactics, procedures, and techniques used by Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs).
Level Five: This level deals with protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) from Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs).
Organizations must have standard processes and enhanced practices set in place to identify and respond to threats accordingly.
Benefits of the CMMC to Organizations
The CMMC has lots of benefits to offer organizations, but the major ones are:
It helps organizations recover from unsavory cyber incidents without heavy financial blowback.
It boosts resilience in the organization; it enhances business resilience, operational resiliency, and the cybersecurity resilience of the DoD.
It helps organizations identify, prevent, and prepare for cyber threats.
It embraces collaborative, effective risk management techniques that help contractors in mitigating cyber threats.
Having the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification increases your competitive advantage.
Having the CMMC is a significant booster for your organization. The issue about the CMMC is getting your organization qualified enough to receive the certification.
If you want your organization to have the CMMC but don’t know how to go about it, contact Archer today. We have highly trained professionals ready to guide you on the journey to get your certification while giving you knowledge of all the essential information you should know.
FAQs
What is the whole meaning of the CMMC?
The CMMC stands for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model.
What is the CMMC?
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification is a unified standard initiated by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for implementing cybersecurity across the defense industrial base, which has lots of companies on its supply chain. The CMMC was initiated for the DoD to measure their defense contractors’ readiness, qualifications, and sophistication in the area of cybersecurity.