Companies face increasing pressures to detect and respond to emerging cybersecurity threats, turning towards mature cybersecurity programs. The Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) is a tool that companies use to assess their state of cybersecurity maturity and advance their companies through the five stages of the maturity model.
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) provides a standard for DoD contractors and the government to evaluate cyber security programs, practices, and technologies and provide recommendations to improve their cyber security operations. This article explains what CMMC is, why it’s important, and the benefits of having your cybersecurity practices certified and accredited through CMM.
What is Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Compliance?
CMMC compliance is a process that aims to ensure that your business has implemented best practices in cybersecurity, as well as satisfying regulatory requirements. This ensures adequate security measures for a cyber breach or attack.
CMMC helps organizations improve their cyber security by giving them a method for measuring their current state against best practices and industry standards. This allows companies to identify weaknesses in their existing systems and processes, which can be addressed through training or other corrective measures.
Why Should You Care About Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Compliance?
With cybercrime costing organizations billions of dollars every year, it’s important that companies take steps toward improving their cyber security before becoming victims of a cyberattack themselves.
A lack of in-house resources and IT professionals may prevent many DoD contractors and suppliers from meeting the CMMC standards of cybersecurity. Third-party CMMC consultants can help DoD contractors achieve NIST criteria if they lack the competence to do so themselves.
CMMC Certification Levels
When it comes to cyber security, there’s a lot of information out there. What you need to know about compliance and maturity models is that they help you become more secure.
The Center for Internet Security (CIS) has developed a Cybersecurity Maturity Model Compliance (CMMC) program, which includes three levels of certification:
CMMC Level 1: This is the basic level of certification. It includes up to 20 requirements focused on helping an organization build a foundation for security.
CMMC Level 2: This level includes an additional 20 requirements that improve existing practices and create a more mature enterprise-wide security program.
CMMC Level 3: The final level of certification includes the same number of requirements as CMMC Level 2, but with greater detail and depth than before.
Who Needs CMMC Certification?
Organizations of all sizes are increasingly facing challenges in managing information security risks. The need for CMMC compliance is growing as organizations look to improve their ability to manage cyber risk.
Self-certification for the CMMC is not permitted. A third-party certification procedure is required for government contractors and individuals who engage with government institutions. This third party will assess their present security procedures and processes to determine their maturity and degree of preparation.
CMMC provides a framework that allows organizations to assess their current state and progress toward achieving desired outcomes while measuring how effectively they protect themselves from cyber threats. Organizations can use this information to develop plans and policies that align with their strategic goals and overall organizational strategy, enabling them to increase efficiency, reduce costs and mitigate risks.
Bottom Line
In the ever-changing world of technology, it can be difficult to keep up with what’s new and what’s changing. It can also be quite frustrating when changes are made to the platforms, programs, or other aspects of an IT system that you use daily. That’s why it is essential that organizations and users alike establish a structured approach to planning for IT change management or risk being left in the dust. The CMMC compliance is just one way of identifying where an organization could use some improvement in this area.
For companies to maintain their competitive edge over their competitors, they must continuously improve their digital infrastructures to expand their offerings and innovate more efficiently. This requires them to invest more time and money into ensuring that their IT systems are secure enough to handle these changes without putting their customers’ data at risk.