You should keep up with the CMMC requirements if you are a small or growing business. These requirements improve cybersecurity in your business and protect your company’s sensitive information. While you may have cybersecurity measures, adhering to CMMC gives you an added layer of protection.
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As you know, data security risk is currently high in the United States. Cyber attackers always prey on unsuspecting businesses, hence the need for more protection. CMMC was created to help enforce effective cybersecurity measures to protect data shared between the Department of Defence (DOD) and its contractors.
If you are in business contracts with DOD or wish to do so in the future, you should comply with the CMMC requirements. The compliance is highly beneficial, as it makes your growing business agile and secure against data threats.
Keep reading to learn more about CMMC and the key requirements to achieving it.
Understanding CMMC
Before discussing the CMCC requirements, let’s briefly examine CMMC and what it means to small and growing businesses.
CMMC aims to increase cybersecurity measures for firms dealing with governments’ sensitive information. For instance, if you are contracting or subcontracting to an agency in the DoD, you must carefully handle the information. You should protect it well from unauthorized access.
CMMC helps improve data security, and that’s why it’s a major requirement to secure DoD contracts.
7 Main CMMC Requirements

Here are the main requirements you should meet to achieve your CMMC compliance.
1. Risk Assessment
Every organization is at the risk of cyberattack. The risks vary significantly among organizations, and a risk assessment can help unveil your risks. The most common cybersecurity risks include password theft, insider threats, phishing attacks, and malware.
After the evaluation, you should develop great security measures to protect your business assets.
To carry out a successful assessment, start by identifying the scope—what’s covered in your cybersecurity measures. If your business is small, your scope could be the entire organization. However, you can create multiple scopes in different areas, such as web applications and payment processing.
Once you identify the scope, find the right team and ensure everyone is familiar with the scope of the risk assessment. Identify and document the possible threats to establish an effective solution to each risk.
2. Access Control

Access controls involve regulating who can access certain information in a computing environment. As you prepare for the CMCC assessment, you should prove that your business can protect sensitive information by limiting the number of people accessing it.
Proper control reduces potential cyber-attacks through people who can access your computers or know your passwords. So, identify trusted people in your business that you can trust and set the right access control policies. These policies can include obtaining pre-approvals for anyone accessing data and using authentications to prove identity.
3. Security Awareness Training
Upholding cybersecurity is important to everyone on your team. As such, it’s vital to create awareness among your employees so everyone can be on the same page.
Creating CMMC awareness starts with basic cybersecurity training. Let everyone in the organization know the strategies cyber attackers use and how they can prevent them. For instance, you can teach them about phishing attacks and the other threats the attackers use. Teach them about using strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and other cybersecurity measures.
Be sure to document everything covered in the training sessions—it’s a requirement for certification. The goal is to demonstrate proactive measures to enhance cybersecurity and create awareness for your team to minimize human mistakes that could lead to a security breach.
4. Incident Response Plan

Creating an incident plan is another vital CMCC requirement for businesses. This plan involves the steps used to prepare for a breach, contain and recover. The plan outlines what a company should do in case of a cyber-attack by assigning employees roles and establishing protocols to follow until the incident is resolved and documented.
While you might not be attacked yet, it can happen anytime, hence the need for such a solid plan. If you don’t have a good plan, responding to the incident can be pretty confusing, which translates to greater damage. Plan procedures you will apply in case of a cyber-attack and document them.
5. System and Communications Protection
How well do you protect data in your business?
Cyber-attacks can happen at any time. As such, you should have a solid data protection and encryption policy.
Standard data protection techniques you can apply include using access controls to limit people who can access certain data. Other methods include data backups and recovery, network security, and data encryption.
6. Configuration Management
You should regularly monitor your systems to minimize threats. As you monitor, you may notice unauthorized configurations in your systems or applications, which could act as entry points for cyber attackers.
If you notice any flaws, adjust the initial settings and make the right system changes immediately. Common changes you can make to the systems include using patches and updating the software.
7. Information Asset Inventory
Information asset inventory lists your crucial company data, systems, and people who can assess it.
Proper inventory makes it easier for you to identify the type of data you have in your business and who owns and manages it. It also offers insights on how it is classified and managed in your firm. Carry out a gap analysis to identify the missing controls in your inventory and manage them well.
Conclusion
Today’s digital landscape exposes our businesses to data theft and other cybercrimes.
As such, it’s vital to be proactive in cybersecurity measures, including compliance with CMCC. CMCC protects sensitive data and is highly beneficial when handling, storing or processing government data.
Having it is not mandatory, but it’s important to the growth and security of your business.