Some organizations may have already started their compliance journey while others are still trying to figure out what CMMC even means. The cybersecurity maturity model certification is (CMMC) was developed by the DoD to legislate NIST 800-171 compliance for contractors. The CMMC ensures that all CUI being shared from the federal government to the private sector is secure and protected from cyber criminals. With the 110 controls needed to be compliant with CMMC it can be difficult to know what your organization needs to tackle first. This is where planning your compliance is necessary.
The First Step to Planning Your Compliance Journey is Knowing Where Your Gaps Are
A quality security assessment can give you an outline of what controls you have already implemented and what you need to work on to improve your security. Many organizations may wonder how much it will cost to become compliant. This simply depends on the size of your network and what measures you've already taken in order to become secure. This is why cybersecurity should be done proactively. Don't wait until you're forced to implement these controls, take your security seriously from the start and it may help you down the line.
Once you've established where your gaps are it is time to develop a POAM. A plan of action and milestones is a document that outlines where your gaps are and how you plan of patching them. A POAM should include your security gaps, what must be done to fix them, how long it is expected to take, and who's in charge of implementation. Because NIST 800-171 will require you to submit a SPRS score a POAM is expected documentation for your organization. Once you've established your plan of action it's time to start implementation.
Depending on how your organization is structured your implementation of NIST 800-171 controls may be simple or difficult. A quality MSP can often co-manage your IT staff to help in the implementation of controls needed to become complaint. Luckily, CorpInfoTech is adept at working alongside your organizations IT staff to ensure that everything is done correctly. We can either fully manage your IT or partner with your existing staff to make sure that everything is set up correctly.
Once you've done the work of securing your network to NIST 800-171 standards your ready to start maintaining your newly secured system. Cybersecurity isn't a one and done deal. Due to the ever evolving nature of cyber threats and actors it is important that your security practices are equally as dynamic and adapt with the times.
CorpInfoTech can help monitor and secure your IT infrastructure so that you can focus on the important day to day operations of your business.