Consumer technology is evolving, and even entry-level workers are technologically literate with cloud-based and collaborative technology. That’s both a boon for small businesses who want to cut costs and a limitation for those who have more demanding compliance and security demand. Shadow IT isn’t something you should be caught in the dark about. 

Here, we’ll discuss what shadow IT is and how it is going to inhibit your compliance and security efforts, which can be a huge drain for small businesses. 

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With the more recent threats and attacks we’ve seen in both the Colonial Pipeline and SolarWinds hacks, the question of infrastructure security is firmly in the collective consciousness. With President Biden’s Executive Order focusing executive resources to beef up cybersecurity, the efforts of the government are turning towards addressing some of the gaps that have been around for the past few years. 

This reality calls for private contractors and any business with infrastructure-critical services in areas like energy, defense, financial services or other areas to take the right steps to address these issues. Fortunately, the NIST Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity provides a thorough risk assessment framework to help. 

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CMMC, RMF, FedRAMP, NIST 800-171, NIST 800-53, DFARS… there are a lot of terms, documents and requirements are thrown around when it comes to federal and defense contracting. Many of these items overlap to help contractors guarantee compliance and security, but without a clear understanding of their relationships, it’s easy to lose sight of the forest due to the trees. 

Here, we’ll cover some of the complications related to the upcoming CMMC migration for DoD contractors. This includes a comparison of CMMC against NIST 800-171 and DFARS, and what that means for contractors now and in the future. 

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