For decades, the golden rule for web security was simple: don’t download and execute files on your computer. Ignore attachments from unknown sources, refrain from opening PDFs or Word documents with macros, and avoid getting software from any source other than the creator. Firefox is taking the next step by creating new sandboxing technology that could have a big impact on securing user workstations. 

But times change, and now even websites can infect your computer with malware or separate you from your personal account information. This threat has become a problem that browsers like Firefox are now implementing security measures to protect users against these threats. 

Needless to say, malicious software is always a threat to businesses large and small. Because of this fact, secure browsers utilizing technologies like sandbox security may become a critical part of low-level compliance for the foreseeable future.

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There are several compliance standards for federal and defense cybersecurity. CMMC, FedRAMP, the Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and the Risk Management Framework (RMF) all serve critical functions in protecting government IT systems and associated vendor products and services.

Behind all of these frameworks are crucial security publications, each one serving a particular purpose in defining the practices, controls and procedures that organizations can use to meet their compliance demands. We’ve previously covered such documents as NIST 800-53 and NIST 800-171, showing how these documents play a role in national cyber defense.

In this article, we’ll discuss two more guidelines: Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 199 and FIPS 200.

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The DoD recently released its framework for the next model in CMMC compliance and audits–CMMC 2.0. This revision is expected to streamline the compliance process and trim some of the extraneous requirements from the framework, helping contractors in the DoD supply chain better meet their requirements without introducing unnecessary challenges or redundancies. 

One of the more important aspects of CMMC certification is the inclusion of third-party audits. With the introduction of CMMC 2.0, these requirements have changed to make certification easier for contractors without sacrificing security. 

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