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The Department of Defense (DoD) recently published a memorandum clarifying what it means for a cloud service provider (CSP) to be Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Moderate baseline “equivalent” and meet incident reporting requirements under Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Clause 252.204-7012, Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting (DFARS 7012). The memorandum states, in order to be considered FedRAMP equivalent going forward, CSPs must (1) be FedRAMP Moderate/High-Authorized, or (2) secure a third-party assessment confirming their compliance with all FedRAMP Moderate baseline security controls.Continue Reading No Longer Cloudy: DoD Issues New Guidance on FedRAMP Moderate Equivalency Cloud Security Requirements

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CMMC

This special edition covers DoD’s proposed rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program, and is hosted by Peter Eyre, Michael Gruden, and Nkechi Kanu. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or

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On December 26, 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD) released the highly anticipated proposed rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program (CMMC), a cybersecurity regulatory program that will likely impact most of the government contractor community. Every contractor who handles sensitive data such as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) or Federal Contract Information (FCI) during DoD contract performance will be covered by this regulation. While the CMMC program builds upon the security requirements included in Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) clause 252.204-7012, CMMC will bring greater scrutiny to contractors’ cybersecurity compliance and potentially greater consequences for failure to comply in the era of the Department of Justice’s Civil Cyber Fraud Initiative and False Claims Act litigation. If finalized as proposed, the rule will significantly impact the CMMC regime, notably by requiring senior company officials to complete an affirmation for every CMMC level self-assessed or certified, thus increasing legal compliance risks.Continue Reading DoD’s New Year Resolution: A Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Program (CMMC) Proposed Rule

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Almost a decade after the Department of Defense developed rules requiring mandatory reporting of cyber incidents, on October 3, 2023, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council released new proposed rules—one addressing cyber incident reporting and another addressing cybersecurity requirements for contractors maintaining a Federal Information System (FIS).  When enacted, these rules could implement new security measures and incident reporting requirements via FAR clauses for contractors across the entire federal government.  The “Cyber Threat and Incident Reporting and Information Sharing” proposed rule focuses on increasing the sharing of information about cyber threats between government and private industry, while the “Standardizing Cybersecurity Requirements for Unclassified Federal Information Systems” proposed rule focuses on implementing policies, procedures, and requirements for contractors maintaining an FIS.  These rules implement Biden Administration initiatives pursuant to Executive Order (“EO”) 14028, “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity” issued in May 2021. Continue Reading FAR Council’s Cyber Harvest: New Incident Reporting and Federal Information System Requirements Await Government Contractors

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This week’s episode covers two notable False Claims Act settlements and the White House National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan, and is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts

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On June 18, 2023, the Biden-Harris administration announced the launch of a new “U.S. Cyber Trust Mark” program (hereinafter the “Program”). First proposed by Federal Communication Commission (“FCC”) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the Program aims to increase transparency and competition across the smart devices sector and to assist consumers in making informed decisions about the security of the devices they purchase. Continue Reading Biden Admin Eyes IoT Cyber Practices

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This week’s episode covers a DHS final rule implementing measures to safeguard Controlled Unclassified Information and facilitate improved incident reporting to DHS, a letter from Silicon Valley defense technology and venture capital firms calling on DoD to better embrace and scale commercial innovation for military use, a bid protest decision in which the Court found

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On June 21, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule amending the Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation (HSAR) by updating an existing clause (HSAR 3052.204-71) and adding two new contract clauses (HSAR 3052.204-72 and 3052.204-73) to address safeguarding of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).  The final rule is effective July 21, 2023.

The new clauses aim to improve privacy and security measures around CUI by introducing: (1) general CUI handling requirements; (2) authority to operate (ATO) requirements for federal information systems; (3) incident reporting requirements and activities; and (4) sanitization of government related files and information. These new clauses move DHS away from the use of DHS-defined sensitive information and toward the government-wide CUI model. Continue Reading Homeland Cybersecurity: DHS Overhauls Its CUI Program, Releases New Contract Clauses

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On June 9, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released M-23-16, Update to Memorandum M-22-18, which alters key deadlines and clarifies how agencies and software developers can comply with M-22-18.  The original memorandum, published in September 2022, required all federal agencies and their software developers to comply with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF), NIST SP 800-218, and the NIST Software Supply Chain Security Guidance (collectively, NIST Guidance) whenever third-party software is used on government information systems or otherwise affects government information. Continue Reading Softening the Blow: OMB Extends Software Supply Chain Security Deadline and Clarifies Scope

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A new Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) alert advises that, starting in late May, a well-known ransomware group called Clop compromised a widely used managed file transfer (MFT) platform called MOVEit Transfer, reportedly impacting hundreds of companies globally. 

MFT platforms are used to securely transfer files between parties, and Clop reportedly compromised MOVEit Transfer using a previously unknown (zero-day) vulnerability that allowed attackers to steal files from MOVEit’s underlying database. This vulnerability is now tracked as CVE-2023-34362.

Clop has previously targeted MFT platforms such as Accellion and has shown that it is prepared to follow through on threatened next steps.  In this case, Clop is threatening to identify victim companies on the Clop site as soon as June 14 and then, if a ransom is not paid, publish victims’ stolen data.  In prior attacks, Clop has also reportedly contacted victim companies directly with ransom demands, sometimes weeks or more after the attack.  We do not recommend that victims contact threat actors like Clop directly but instead work with experts to do so safely, if necessary. Continue Reading MOVEit Vulnerability: What to Know and What to Do