Bradley Helps Government Contractors During Cybersecurity Awareness Month

In observance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month this Oct., the Illinois Procurement Technical Assistance Center at Bradley University is offering a three-part webinar series to help government contractors with cybersecurity. The series will introduce the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) cybersecurity evolution from NIST 800-171 to the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and explore the DoD’s rationale for implementing this new model.

The most important element will be to educate DoD suppliers on how to navigate the new requirements. If you are one of the 221,000+ suppliers to the DoD – whether big or small, prime or subcontractor – or if you handle federal contract information or controlled unclassified information, you will need to become certified to bid on contracts; this became a requirement earlier this year.

The webinar series will conclude with a complete path forward to become certified and explore why the process will likely take most organizations six months or more to complete.

The following webinars are offered at no cost. Please click the links provided below for additional information and to register.

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification
Wednesday | Oct. 6
2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. | Online
Damon Hacker, president, CEO and one of the founders of Vestige Digital Investigations, will bring his more than 30 years of experience in technology to discuss the following topics:

• Requirements of a DoD supplier (under NIST 800-171, CMMC and the interim rule)
• Immediate steps needed to ensure the ability to bid on DoD contracts
• The CMMC framework and what compliance entails
• The difference between NIST 800-171 and CMMC
• Various maturity levels

Generating/Reporting Supplier Performance Risk System Scores
Thursday | Oct. 14
2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. | Online
Adam Austin, lead cybersecurity engineer for Totem Tech, has a decade of experience securing classified and HIPAA-environment U.S. government IT systems. He plans to discuss the following topics during his presentation:

• Production requirements for the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement clause
• Reporting and accessing Supplier Performance Risk System scores
• The DoD 800-171 assessment methodology, scoring system and self-assessments
• Generating a quick-and-dirty score (provided by Totem)
• High fidelity scores

Becoming Compliant as a Gov. Contractor
Thursday | October 21
2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. | Online
Compliance with industry standards for cyber-preparedness is no longer an option, but a requirement. Brian Berger, president of Cytellix Corporation, will bring his more than 28 years of experience in device security, IT, data analytics and corporate leadership to discuss the following topics:

• Steps required to meet CMMC compliance requirements
• Pitfalls to avoid when working towards compliance
• On-going investments to maintain compliance
• Vetting 3rd party providers