DFARS Compliance in Three Parts

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As a contractor with the Department of Defense&comma; effective <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;cybersecurity-how-strong-should-it-be&sol;">cybersecurity is one of your most critical responsibilities<&sol;a>&period; In order to protect the interests of the country&comma; the DoD has outlined very clear standards for its contractors to follow&period; Making sure that you remain compliant will help your business remain competitive when vying for contracts and ensure that your employees and interests remain secure&period; While you&&num;8217&semi;re expected to put forth great products and services&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;complyup&period;com&sol;understanding-dfars-compliance&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">DFARS compliance<&sol;a> is also a crucial part of your operations&period; Now that the DoD has amended its expectations around CMMC&comma; now is a good time to refresh yourself on all that you need to do in order to remain secure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">DFARS<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">DFARS stands for Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement&period; Think of DFARS as the big picture when it comes to cybersecurity&period; It is the official language from the Defense Department that outlines your duty to protect Controlled Unclassified Information&period; Your professional relationship with the DoD can make your firm a target for adversaries of the United States&period; Understanding this&comma; the US Government sought to provide a means for the DIB to protect itself and the country&&num;8217&semi;s interests by extension&period; The center point of the DFARS is a document called NIST 800-171&comma; and it is every contractor&&num;8217&semi;s guide to approved cybersecurity operations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">NIST 800-171<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When it comes to DFARS compliance&comma; NIST 800-171 is the most important thing to understand&period; Formally known as National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-171&comma; this document lists the practices&comma; procedures&comma; and requirements approved by the DoD in relation to cybersecurity&period; Within its pages are 110 security standards organized into 14 categories&period; If your internal cybersecurity networks reflect this document&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ve completed the most crucial part of adhering to your obligations under DFARS&period; Additionally&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll be prepared to meet your additional responsibilities under the upcoming CMMC framework&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">CMMC<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If the DFARS establishes your duty to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;protect-business-data-loss&sol;">protect sensitive information<&sol;a> and NIST 800-171 tells you how to protect it&comma; then CMMC is the means to prove that you are meeting these expectations&period; CMMC aims to manage risk in the cybersecurity space by holding all DIB contractors accountable for thier internal cybersecurity networks&period; Originally&comma; it was conceived as a system that subjected contractors to third-party audits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In many ways&comma; this is still the case&period; However&comma; the inception of CMMC 2&period;0 has allowed for some important changes&period; If you are a contractor that does not handle sensitive information like CUI or HVA&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll only need to self-certify&period; Depending on their unique circumstances&comma; firms that do handle CUI and HVA will either self-certify or be audited by a third-party or government organization&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Your compliance with the DFARS is crucial&comma; but it does not need to be frustrating&period; While thinking of fulfilling your cybersecurity obligations in individual categories is helpful&comma; it is never a bad idea to work with a compliance management service for support and reassurance&period; When it comes to the long term health and safety of your operations&comma; compliance management is never a bad investment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;