The Nature of DFARS Compliance

There is a lot of activity online aimed at acquiring data on different people and entities for malicious use by hackers. There are those who are financially motivated, others are seeking to hurt people, and others have different kinds of motivations. Apart from the corporate world which seems like the most affected, there is the government too as a target for their efforts. The government has amassed a lot of info and data, most of which need not fall into the wrong hands. 

There are several rules and regulations put in place to ensure the safety of said data. A good example of it is the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, of the DFARS. It is expected that any business or corporation that handles any work for the Department of Defense shall be DFARS-compliant. There are several specific companies that fall under this category, and plenty others which in one way or another are affected by this compliance. Such compliance is meant to offer better handling of controlled unauthorized information (CUI). This is information while not strictly regulated, could still have an impact on the security of the nation, depending on who has access to it. You shall find out more about what status you and your company enjoy on this site. 

The DFARS-compliance dictates certain procedures and requirements of those companies. They shall for one have to establish proper access control. This shall see you limit the access to info certain individuals have to only allow them what they need to do their jobs. Apart from that, you need to also offer security train to your employees to understand the cyber-threat situation. There is also a need for proper audit and accountability, to ensure there are limited chances of any malicious activity where CUI is concerned, as well as to mitigate and investigate any suspicious incidences.  Learn more about DFARS compliance on this website. 

There is also a need for incidence response parameters in place. This shall ensure that in case of any cyber-attacks on an IT infrastructure, there is immediate mitigation and the restoration of normal security and functionality as soon as possible. There is also the aspect of maintenance, where all IT systems are expected to be kept in proper working order. The IT department needs to ensure it has all the resources to keep the system in that order. There should also be the close monitoring of how portable media devices are used in the network, such as USB flash devices. They too need protection and control of what is transferred to them.  

There will be more areas the DFARS-compliance in the company focuses on, such as the integrity of the personnel. This is where before you hire any person, they need to pass an extensive background check. This is especially critical for those who will have access to an IT system that contains the CUI. For more info about DFARS compliance, click on this link: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/improving-the-government_b_470998.