§170.9. CMMC Third-Party Assessment Organizations (C3PAOs). — Inbound Citations

(b) Unless otherwise noted, these terms and their definitions are for the purposes of this part.

Access Control (AC) means the process of granting or denying specific requests to obtain and use information and related information processing services; and/or entry to specific physical facilities (e.g., Federal buildings, military establishments, or border crossing entrances), as defined in FIPS PUB 201-3 Jan2002 (incorporated by reference, see § 170.2).

Accreditation means a status pursuant to which a CMMC Assessment and Certification Ecosystem member (person or organization), having met all criteria for the specific role they perform including required ISO/IEC accreditations, may act in that role as set forth in § 170.8 for the Accreditation Body and § 170.9 for C3PAOs. (CMMC-custom term)

Accreditation Body is defined in § 170.8 and means the one organization DoD contracts with to be responsible for authorizing and accrediting members of the CMMC Assessment and Certification Ecosystem, as required. The Accreditation Body must be approved by DoD. At any given point in time, there will be only one Accreditation Body for the DoD CMMC Program. (CMMC-custom term)

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) means an adversary that possesses sophisticated levels of expertise and significant resources that allow it to create opportunities to achieve its objectives by using multiple attack vectors (e.g., cyber, physical, and deception). These objectives typically include establishing and extending footholds within the information technology infrastructure of the targeted organizations for purposes of exfiltrating information, undermining or impeding critical aspects of a mission, program, or organization; or positioning itself to carry out these objectives in the future. The advanced persistent threat pursues its objectives repeatedly over an extended period-of-time, adapts to defenders' efforts to resist it, and is determined to maintain the level of interaction needed to execute its objectives, as is defined in NIST SP 800-39 Mar2011 (incorporated by reference, see § 170.2).

Affirming Official means the senior level representative from within each Organization Seeking Assessment (OSA) who is responsible for ensuring the OSA's compliance with the CMMC Program requirements and has the authority to affirm the OSA's continuing compliance with the specified security requirements for their respective organizations. (CMMC-custom term)

Assessment means the testing or evaluation of security controls to determine the extent to which the controls are implemented correctly, operating as intended, and producing the desired outcome with respect to meeting the security requirements for an information system or organization, as defined in §§ 170.15 through 170.18. (CMMC-custom term)

(A) Authorize C3PAOs who meet all requirements set forth in § 170.9 as well as administrative requirements as determined by the Accreditation Body to conduct Level 2 certification assessments and issue Certificates of CMMC Status to OSCs based on the assessment results.

(2) 2012(E), Conformity assessment—Requirement for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection, Second edition, March 1, 2012 (ISO/IEC 17020:2012(E)); IBR approved for §§ 170.8(a), (b)(1), (b)(3) and 170.9(b)(2) and (b)(13).

(d) The CMMC PMO is responsible for sponsoring necessary DCSA activities including FOCI risk assessment and Tier 3 security background investigations for the CMMC Ecosystem members as specified in §§ 170.8(b)(4) and (5), 170.9(b)(3) through (5), 170.11(b)(3) and (4), and 170.13(b)(3) and (4).

(d) The CMMC PMO is responsible for sponsoring necessary DCSA activities including FOCI risk assessment and Tier 3 security background investigations for the CMMC Ecosystem members as specified in §§ 170.8(b)(4) and (5), 170.9(b)(3) through (5), 170.11(b)(3) and (4), and 170.13(b)(3) and (4).

(d) The CMMC PMO is responsible for sponsoring necessary DCSA activities including FOCI risk assessment and Tier 3 security background investigations for the CMMC Ecosystem members as specified in §§ 170.8(b)(4) and (5), 170.9(b)(3) through (5), 170.11(b)(3) and (4), and 170.13(b)(3) and (4).

(1) 2017(E), Conformity assessment—Requirements for accreditation bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies, Second edition, November 2017 (ISO/IEC 17011:2017(E)); IBR approved for §§ 170.8(b)(3), 170.9(b)(13), and 170.10(b)(4).