Defense & Government

CMMC failure means contract loss. There is no alternative path.

CMMC 2.0 is now a contract requirement — not a recommendation. Defense contractors and subcontractors that cannot demonstrate compliance posture to a C3PAO assessor cannot bid on DoD contracts. The assessment evaluates documented evidence of 110 practices across 14 domains. Pistos builds and maintains that evidence record continuously.

Defense Primes Subcontractors IT Service Providers Research Institutions Aerospace & Defense Federal Civilian Contractors
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CMMC 2.0 became mandatory for DoD contracts in December 2024. Level 2 requires a third-party assessment by a Certified Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO) — not a self-attestation. The C3PAO evaluates evidence of 110 practices across 14 domains derived from NIST SP 800-171. A contractor without a current, documented compliance posture cannot pass a Level 2 assessment. The consequence is not a finding — it is contract ineligibility.

Regulatory landscape

The defense compliance framework.

Defense contractors operate under the most rigorous cybersecurity requirements in any commercial sector. The framework is not optional — it is baked into contract language.

CMMC 2.0

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification — DoD

Level 1 (17 practices) applies to FCI — Federal Contract Information. Level 2 (110 practices) applies to CUI — Controlled Unclassified Information — and requires third-party assessment. Pistos is built around the Level 2 practice set derived from NIST SP 800-171 Rev 2 and Rev 3.

NIST SP 800-171 Rev 3

Protecting CUI in Nonfederal Systems

The technical foundation for CMMC Level 2. 110 security requirements across 14 families — access control, audit and accountability, configuration management, identification and authentication, incident response, maintenance, media protection, personnel security, physical protection, risk assessment, security assessment, system and communications protection, system and information integrity, and awareness and training.

DFARS 252.204-7012

Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement

Requires contractors to implement NIST SP 800-171 security requirements, report cyber incidents to DoD within 72 hours, provide access to systems for damage assessment, and maintain a current System Security Plan and Plan of Action and Milestones.

NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5

Security and Privacy Controls — Federal Systems

Applies to federal agencies and contractors working on federal information systems. More comprehensive than 800-171 — over 1,000 controls across 20 families. FedRAMP authorization requires 800-53 compliance for cloud service providers serving federal agencies.

CMMC practice domains

All 14 CMMC practice domains. All tracked in Sentinel.

Sentinel maps all 110 CMMC Level 2 practices to CIS Controls v8.1 safeguards. Skopein reads the technical configuration state. Manthesis satisfies the training domain. Every practice has a control record, an evidence status, and a remediation path.

AC — Access Control

22 practices. User access, remote access, mobile device management, CUI access limitations.

AT — Awareness & Training

3 practices. Security awareness, role-based training, insider threat awareness.

AU — Audit & Accountability

9 practices. Audit log creation, review, retention, and protection.

CA — Security Assessment

4 practices. System assessment, plan of action, continuous monitoring, internal system connections.

CM — Configuration Mgmt

9 practices. Baseline configurations, system change control, least functionality, unauthorized software.

IA — Identification & Auth

11 practices. User identification, MFA, password management, replay-resistant authentication.

IR — Incident Response

3 practices. Incident response capability, reporting, and testing.

MA — Maintenance

6 practices. System maintenance controls, maintenance tools, remote maintenance.

MP — Media Protection

9 practices. Media access, marking, storage, transport, sanitization, and disposal.

PS — Personnel Security

2 practices. Personnel screening and termination procedures.

PE — Physical Protection

6 practices. Physical access authorization, monitoring, and visitor control.

RA — Risk Assessment

3 practices. Risk assessment, vulnerability scanning, and risk response.

SC — System & Comms Protection

16 practices. Boundary protection, encryption in transit, network segmentation, CUI in public cloud.

SI — System & Info Integrity

7 practices. Malware protection, security alerts, software and firmware integrity, security architecture.

Your CMMC assessment starts with your evidence record.

Request a briefing and we will walk you through Sentinel against the CMMC Level 2 practice set for your organization.

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