Comment on DFARS Supplement: Network Penetration Reporting and Contracting for Cloud Services

From: Defense Acquisition Regulations System, Department of Defense (DoD) via Federal Register

48 CFR Parts 202, 204, 212, 239, and 252

[Docket No. DARS-2015-0039]
RIN 0750-AI61

Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement: Network 
Penetration Reporting and Contracting for Cloud Services (DFARS Case 
2013-D018)
ACTION: Interim rule.

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SUMMARY: DoD is issuing an interim rule amending the Defense Federal 
Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement a section of the 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 and a section 
of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, both of 
which require contractor reporting on network penetrations. 
Additionally, this rule implements DoD policy on the purchase of cloud 
computing services.

DATES: Effective August 26, 2015.
    Comment date: Comments on the interim rule should be submitted in 
writing to the address shown below on or before October 26, 2015 to be 
considered in the formation of a final rule.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    This interim rule requires contractors and subcontractors to report 
cyber incidents that result in an actual or potentially adverse effect 
on a covered contractor information system or covered defense 
information residing therein, or on a contractor's ability to provide 
operationally critical support. DoD is working to establish a single 
reporting mechanism for DoD contractor reporting of cyber incidents on 
unclassified information systems. This rule is intended to streamline 
the reporting process for DoD contractors and minimize duplicative 
reporting processes. Cyber incidents involving classified information 
on classified contractor systems will continue to be reported in 
accordance with the National Industrial Security Program Operating 
Manual (see DoD-M 5220.22 available at http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/522022m.pdf).

    The rule revises the DFARS to implement section 941 of the National 
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 (Pub. L. 
112-239) and section 1632 of the NDAA for FY 2015. Section 941 of the 
NDAA for FY 2013 requires cleared defense contractors to report 
penetrations of networks and information systems and allows DoD 
personnel access to equipment and information to assess the impact of 
reported penetrations. Section 1632 of the NDAA for FY 2015 requires 
that a contractor designated as operationally critical must report each 
time a cyber incident occurs on that contractor's network or 
information systems.

    In addition, this rule also implements DoD policies and procedures 
for use when contracting for cloud computing services. The DoD Chief 
Information Officer (CIO) issued a memo on December 15, 2014, entitled 
``Updated Guidance on the Acquisition and Use of Commercial Cloud 
Computing Services'' to clarify DoD guidance when acquiring commercial 
cloud services (See memo here: http://iase.disa.mil/cloud_security/Pages/docs.aspx). The DoD CIO also released a Cloud Computing Security 
Requirements Guide (SRG) Version 1, Release 1 on January 13, 2015, for 
cloud service providers to comply with when providing the DoD with 
cloud services (See SRG here: http://iase.disa.mil/cloud_security/Pages/index.aspx). This rule implements these new policies developed 
within the DoD CIO memo and the SRG in the DFARS to ensure uniform 
application when contracting for cloud services across the DoD. The 
combination of the two statutes as well as the cloud computing policy 
will serve to increase the cyber security requirements placed on DoD 
information in contractor systems and will help the DoD to mitigate the 
risks related to compromised information as well as gather information 
for future improvements in cyber security policy.

II. Discussion and Analysis

Read Complete Interim Rule

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