Peter Varga

The US DoD announced the CMMC 2.0 roll out is on track for the start of 2025 - are you ready? Last week at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit, DoD Deputy Chief Information Officer for Cybersecurity and Senior Information Security Officer David McKeown congratulated the ‘tremendous perseverance’ of the architects enabling and enforcing the revised three-tiered incoming compliance program. If you're a contractor or subcontractor within the US DIB supply chain, affirmative compliance is required by Oct. 1st 2026. However, McKeown's announcement that the DoD is on track to officially start rolling out and including CMMC 2.0 in contract paperwork in the first quarter of 2025 calendar year, is an important reminder to prioritise action. Cocoon Data's KBOSS for Workspace is launching just in time to streamline your path to CMMC 2.0. Paired with Google's Assured Control Plus and when appropriately configured, the KBOSS Add-on secures assured workloads to meet CMMC 2.0 and ITAR requirements, setting a new standard for classified collaboration. It's time to get on track, be future-ready with KBOSS. #DoD #CMMC #Cybersecurity #KBOSS #DIB

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The DoD has unveiled the Fulcrum Advanced Strategic Plan, a comprehensive roadmap designed to drive growth, innovation, and operational excellence. What are your thoughts about the new DOD Strategy? We found a highlight about changes in Software Supply Chain Security Section - 1.3.6 Building Supply Chain Security Ensuring the supply chain is secured provides flexibility to accelerate the acquisition of national security systems while reducing the risk of injecting unnecessary system vulnerabilities. The document also highlights the Key Lines of Effort: 1️⃣ Provide Joint Warfighting IT Capabilities: Enhance strategic dominance with advanced, secure, and interoperable IT systems. This includes leveraging AI and machine learning to outpace adversaries and ensure superior operational capabilities. 2️⃣ Modernize Information Networks and Compute: Transition to a data-centric Zero Trust security model, optimizing the DoDIN foundation for performance and resilience. This effort aims to integrate scalable, secure IT infrastructure that adapts to modern threats. 3️⃣ Optimize IT Governance: Streamline IT governance processes to enhance efficiency and mission alignment. This involves overhauling governance tools, improving data quality, consolidating legacy systems, and accelerating IT acquisition with DevSecOps practices. 4️⃣ Cultivate a Premier Digital Workforce: Build and maintain a highly skilled digital workforce ready to deploy emerging technologies. Focus areas include continuous learning, competitive compensation, and fostering collaborative partnerships with industry and academia. #cybersecurity #dod #compliance #fulcrum

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On today's Cyber Focus, we have a great conversation with General Dynamics Information Technology's Matt Hayden that we did at #RSAC. Matt talks about: - Critical infrastructure threats and vulnerabilities - Living-off-the-land techniques used by attackers - Deterrence strategies and creating playbooks for different threat actors - Role of innovation and emerging technologies like AI, quantum, 5G/6G - Convergence of physical and cyber security - Zero-trust security model - Importance of resilience in critical infrastructure "You come after a critical infrastructure within our domestic space, it points back to you. We're going to have a conversation you're not going to like." - Hayden on deterring attacks on critical infrastructure.

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Could the DoD's C4SB Actually Reduce CMMC Costs for SMBs? C4SB is a cloud-based capability that will allow small businesses to collaborate and conduct work on government contracts in a secure commercial environment. The DASA DES Cyber Focal Division is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support the requirement for Cybersecurity for Small Business (C4SB). Link to the sources sought is in the comments The purpose of C4SB is to reduce cost to small businesses for protection of government data, minimize the compliance burden to participate in government contracts and improve secure collaboration and communication amongst vendors and government personnel in the execution of these contracts. P.S. Do you think that the C4SB cloud solution is a viable approach to help reduce cybersecurity related costs for small defense contractors?

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Data erasure standards like DoD 5220.22-M/ECE and NIST SP 800-88, Rev. 1 may not change every year, but small updates can make a big difference to ITAD operations. Catch up on the changing landscape for erasure standards. https://bit.ly/3zpaFyF #ITAD #dataerasure

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For DoD contractors aiming to reach CMMC 2.0 compliance before the final deadline, here are seven CMMC challenges they are likely to face. ⬇️ https://hubs.ly/Q02lcgN10 #CMMC #compliance #DoD #cybersecurity

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On December 26, 2023, the Department of Defense ("DoD") issued the long-awaited proposed rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification ("CMMC") program. There are 3 different levels of compliance and contractors will be required to either conduct a self-assessment or undergo a third-party assessment (the latter referred to as a certification assessment) to demonstrate compliance with their applicable CMMC Level

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The Defense Department (DoD) has launched the Fulcrum: DoD Information Technology (IT) Advancement Strategy to modernize its IT networks and infrastructure, prioritizing user-centric capabilities for global warfighters. Unveiled by Principal Deputy CIO Leslie Beavers at the TechNet Cyber conference, the strategy focuses on improving interoperability, security, and efficiency through agile, scalable infrastructure and Zero Trust cybersecurity. It aims to enhance decision-making and competitive advantage in multi-domain operations, optimize IT governance, and cultivate a premier digital workforce. This initiative, endorsed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, seeks to align national security and digital transformation strategies into actionable steps, inviting community-wide collaboration to achieve an integrated, secure digital platform. #fulcrum #dod #defensedepartment #itmodernization #cybersecurity #digitaltransformation #militarytech #zeroTrust #digitalworkforce #interoperability #TechNetCyber Source- https://lnkd.in/eaK6taw4

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📢 Attention #GovCon community! 🚨 Big changes to cybersecurity are here with the new NIST SP 800-171 revision 3, and they're going to impact us for years to come. Our friend Eric Crusius at Holland & Knight LLP has dug into the key updates you need to know and provides insights as only he can. Don't miss out on these crucial insights! 🔗 Read more now: https://cstu.io/828580 #CyberSecurity #Compliance #NIST #CMMC

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Attending AFCEA International’s TechNetCyber event in Baltimore? Join us for an insightful session with Tim LeMaster, Lookout Vice President of Global Systems Engineering, where he will: ✅ Discuss best practices for enhancing AI models to better identify and correlate cyberattacks. ✅ Highlight how mobile threat intelligence can strengthen the DoD's data pipeline and improve understanding of the latest criminal tactics threatening national security. ✅ Dive into Lookout's extensive mobile dataset to uncover insights into emerging tactics used by cybercriminals. https://bit.ly/4eqgjjY

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📣 🎉 Our latest emerging Federal Contractor Spotlight features Green Threads, LLC. Green Threads is helping agencies modernize and mature their IT cyber security capabilities notably through Identity, Credential and Access Management (ICAM) and accelerating secure cloud adoption for Zero Trust Architectures (ZTA). Nimish Shah founded Green Threads in 2014 to help lead the modernization efforts within these IT domains.  Green Threads, LLC provides strategic and technical roadmaps and has a track record of successful execution of digital transformation and modernization at scale, notably for Veterans Affairs (VA) and United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO). This includes successfully migrating USPTO’s on-prem identity suite to an Identity as a Service platform. For VA, this includes a migration of the bedrock Identity and Access Management system from on-prem to a modern cloud platform, the introduction of a SaaS-based eSignature service, and improvements to veterans’ user experience for signing-in and interacting with VA’s services.  Nimish envisions Green Threads, LLC becoming a go-to source of trusted advisors for IT architecture, engineering and solutioning expertise within the federal community based on innovative and successful delivery of services.  Green Threads, LLC is recently 8(a) certified and holds a GSA MAS contract with SINs in ICAM, Cloud and Professional Services. With two recent prime contract wins, we are steadily growing and gaining additional traction based on our past performance, good partner relationships and client satisfaction. We look forward to new connections and building strong teams - do reach out and connect. For more information, email info@greenthreadsllc.com or visit their website at https://lnkd.in/etN76DSB #govcon #customerexperience #emergingtechnologies #digitaltransformation #8a

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Explore this GovCon Wire interview featuring insights from our CEO, Scott Aken, discussing the crucial importance of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (#CMMC) and the dynamic nature of electronic warfare (#EW) in protecting the Department of Defense (#DoD). Check out the interview for a deep dive into the importance of optimal cyber protections in today's defense environment. https://hubs.ly/Q02zV95V0 #CyberSecurity #EWDefense

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🔐💼 Explore Scott Aken's insights on the current state of cybersecurity and innovative solutions to combat evolving threats. Learn how Axellio Inc.'s technology is revolutionizing data protection. Don't miss this Executive Spotlight interview! Read more here: https://lnkd.in/e8XSjY8z #Cybersecurity #Innovation #Axellio

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🤔 Well said Help Net Security “The tool excels in distributing software across various secure development settings, including edge and embedded systems, secure clouds, data centers, and local setups.” “Zarf simplifies deployments into a single compressed file containing everything your app needs. It can be installed without an internet connection. Its declarative approach ensures consistent application deployment every time. The tool can also incorporate legacy code into modern DevSecOps environments, facilitating deployment.” https://lnkd.in/eRwgmKwG

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