Last week F1 Solutions was honored as the winner of the 2014 Huntsville/Madison Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Winner in the technology category. We are so honored to have received this recognition and thanked all of our wonderful staff, most who were on-hand to share in this magical night.
While recently going through our E&O Insurance and Cyber Insurance renewals we were quite surprised at the depth of the new requirements most carriers and underwriters are putting onto small businesses in Huntsville, Alabama and across the country as terms and conditions of their policy.
Hello all,
I wanted to update you all on the current state of CMMC. My sources have been validated and come from not only those on the AB board but Provisional assessors as well. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification’s (CMMC’s) rollout continues but is plagued by bottlenecks and untested assumptions.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to persist, cyberattacks and data breaches are continuing to grow. The pandemic has changed normal work culture and behavior in a variety of ways, and now that we are in our second year of the pandemic, it will continue to do so.
In the United States, national defense is a huge industrial sector, and it is a point of pride for small businesses in Madison and Huntsville to be doing business with the Department of Defense (DoD). Virtually any company can aspire to become a DoD vendor or service provider, as the national defense program deals with a wide variety of businesses in different sectors.
Many industries have regulations that govern how sensitive information is stored, processed, and transmitted. On the top of that list is government contractors working with the Department of Defense. DFARS (Defense Federal Acquisitions Regulation Supplement) and the CMMC (Cyber Security Maturity Model). They have the awesome burden of protecting data that contributes directly to our nation’s security.
Partnering with a managed IT services provider (MSP) is a great way to acquire specialist-level IT support while conserving money and other resources. There are several locally owned, community-based MSPs in Huntsville and Madison, but you’ll also find that there are many out-of-state providers that tout big benefits because of their scope of operations.
Many of you understand what it takes to achieve CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) level 3 compliance, but did you know that you could inherit some compliance based on the processes and practices that your managed service provider (msp) already gives you.
Many of you might be asking yourself, “How expensive is getting CMMC level 3 certified going to be”? This blog is dedicated to helping you understand the many different factors that go into pricing. But first, please remember that the DoD (Department of Defense) has now added cyber security as a 4th pillar to the requirements for contracting organizations.
Current timeline:
Here are our best guesses at the CMMC timeline today.
Very soon: CMMC Scoping Guide will be released by DoD. This should give definitive guidance on what systems need to be assessed, and which network security requirements apply to the systems.
Colonial Pipeline was hacked by the Eastern European cybercriminal gang DarkSide on May 7, 2021. The hackers encrypted Colonial Pipeline's data and demanded ransom in exchange for decryption This compelled Colonial Pipeline’s CEO to pay out over $4.4 million in Bitcoin a few days after the hack, despite the conventional belief that one should not give in to ransomware operators in hopes of retrieving data.
