In October 2024, the DoD announced the final cybersecurity rule for federal contractors to adhere to when operating with the US Federal Government. Once enforcement starts in 2025, this new mandate will affect thousands of consulting businesses who interact with US Federal data to conduct business.
Businesses can take steps to prepare their operations to function under the new cybersecurity rule in a number of ways. Understanding one’s security gaps and the overall strength of individual enterprise security controls is a good first step to start the journey towards CMMC L.2 certification, and compliance with the mandate. Also known as Exposure management, a thorough view into the vulnerabilities and their associations within all components of the business is a crucial security control for businesses seeking compliance with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2 as it helps to solve the first stage of cybersecurity posture analysis by identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks associated with the handling of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). Here’s why it’s an essential step:
1. Meeting Specific CMMC Requirements
CMMC Level 2 requires adherence to 110 practices aligned with the NIST 800-171 framework. Exposure management ensures businesses can:
- Identify vulnerabilities that could lead to unauthorized access or exposure of CUI.
- Map risks to specific practices and controls outlined in NIST 800-171 to ensure all requirements are met and security controls are covered.
2. Risk Mitigation
Exposure management provides a systematic in depth approach to assess the entire ecosystem and supply chain:
- Identify threat vectors, such as weak endpoints, third-party risks, or unpatched systems within and associated with your enterprise.
- Prioritize and risk rank remediation efforts based on the potential impact and likelihood of threats exploiting vulnerabilities enriching the organizational risk assessment.
3. Protecting CUI
CMMC Level 2 places a strong emphasis on protecting CUI. Exposure management helps to:
- Ensure that access to sensitive information is limited to authorized users and that you can prove it with underlying data.
- Monitor systems for unusual activity that could indicate an attempted breach allowing for pre-emptive measures.
- Reduce the attack surface through proactive controls like patching and segmentation to the areas identified as high risk concerns.
4. Continuous Monitoring and Incident Response
Effective exposure management involves continuous monitoring, which is critical for:
- Detecting and responding to potential cybersecurity incidents in real time.
- Maintaining an audit trail, a key requirement for CMMC certification.
- Demonstrating compliance through evidence of consistent monitoring practices, a theme that has become mandatory in many cybersecurity regulations.
5. Cost Efficiency
By identifying and addressing vulnerabilities early, exposure management helps:
- Avoid costly breaches or fines for non-compliance and the inability to report effectively on cybersecurity incidents in the required response time.
- Minimize disruption to operations caused by security incidents or compliance failures that require extensive diligence and response requirements.
6. Alignment with Broader Cybersecurity Goals
Like many other cybersecurity mandates and requirements, CMMC is not a one-time certification but requires continuous compliance. Exposure management aligns with broader cybersecurity best practices, ensuring:
- Long-term resilience against evolving cyber-threats and attacks.
- Maintenance of trust with the Department of Defense (DoD) and other stakeholders ensuring contractual compliance and reputational protection.
Exposure management is an integral part of the compliance journey for CMMC Level 2. Sevco Security’s security asset inventory combined with its exposure management solution provides full enterprise visibility of vulnerabilities and all their associations enabling businesses to systematically manage cybersecurity risks, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of CUI while demonstrating a proactive and continuous approach to cybersecurity and compliance, which is a critical expectation of the DoD and many other department mandates.