CMMC clears key regulatory hurdle

The White House approved an interim rule to mandate defense contractors prove they adhere to existing cybersecurity standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

cybersecurity (Rawpixel/Shutterstock.com)
 

The White House approved an interim rule requiring defense contractors to prove they adhere to existing cybersecurity standards, clearing an important hurdle for the Defense Department's planned universal cybersecurity standard.

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget approved an interim rule to will require defense contractors comply with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication (NIST SP) 800-171.

The text of the interim rule is pending publication but the publicly available abstract indicates that contractors would have to submit self-assessments regarding their implementation of "the system security requirements identified in the [NIST SP 800-171] on their information systems that process controlled unclassified information."

The interim rule is expected to come out by the end of this year with a delayed effective date, a DOD spokesperson told FCW in a statement.

"The rule has finished interagency review, and we are still expecting the rule to come out by the end of the calendar year," a DOD spokesperson said. "The [Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement] rule will be published as an interim rule with a delayed effective date. DOD will consider all public comments received on the interim rule in the development of the final rule."

That appears to mean that vendors will have to begin compliance immediately with the interim rule and their comments on that process will be taken into account when it comes to the formulation of the final rule.

"Defense contractors have not fully or consistently implemented the NIST SP 800-171 security requirements on their covered information systems," the summary text states in an "emergency justification" section that explains why the interim rule should take effect immediately in advance of a comment period. "Authorizing collection of this information on the effective date will motivate defense contractors and subcontractors who have not yet implemented existing NIST SP 800-171 security requirements, to take actions to implement the system security requirements on covered information systems that process controlled unclassified information."

But officials leading the CMMC project urged vendors to wait for the publication of the interim rule.

Katie Arrington, the chief information security officer for DOD acquisition, aimed to quell "rumors" about the content of the interim rule in a Sept. 24 LinkedIn post, writing that "any statements about the 'interim rule' content are premature."

"DOD will replace the current self-attestation method with DOD Audits and move to the CMMC (as the DOD has been clearly stating for over a year) and has always been based on the NIST 171," Arrington wrote.

Eric Noonan, the former global CISO for BAE Systems who is now CEO of CyberSheath, told FCW the new regulation was "calling industry's bluff" on cybersecurity.

"The Department of Defense has almost universally accepted self-attestation with contractors saying 'trust us, we met all of the requirements,' and the risk of being audited has been statistically very low," Noonan said. "The net result of all this has been a severely non-compliant supply chain with material weaknesses in some of the most basic aspects of cybersecurity."

Noonan added: "To prove that contractors have met their contractual legal obligations around cybersecurity, the Department of Defense is requiring the collection of assessment data from contractors related to the existing and fully enforceable clause," pertaining to the NIST 800-171.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.