‘Start Of A New Day’: DoD’s New Cybersecurity Regs Take Effect Today

For more than a year the Defense Department has been preparing industry for the day it would begin to hold contractors to a higher cybersecurity standard, while posing the threat of being locked out of future DoD contracts if they don’t meet it—a process known as Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). Today is the day CMMC takes effect. Contractors that don’t eventually comply will have to find a new line of work.

“Today is the start of the new day,” said Katie Arrington, special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for acquisition for cyber, speaking at the virtual AFCEA TechNet conference. “This is a big cultural shift, and I think everyone well knows that this is the start of making cybersecurity foundational to (DoD procurement). “We need to make sure that we are imparting the best practices and helping the industry with the critical thinking around cybersecurity.”