Plain-language guidance on the cybersecurity requirements that attach to federal contracts — FAR 52.204-21, DFARS 252.204-7012, CMMC, CUI, NIST SP 800-171, FedRAMP, incident reporting, and the clauses that turn cybersecurity into procurement risk.
Before any FAR or DFARS clause applies, federal and state law already requires your business to secure data and report breaches — the FTC Act, all-50-state breach laws, and rules like GLBA and HIPAA. The contractor requirements build on top of that legal baseline. Make sure you meet it first.
HHS/OCR's HIPAA Security Rule overhaul just slipped from May 2026 to July 2027. It's not a CMMC or DFARS rule, but it's another data point in the same federal cyber-regulation pattern contractors are already tracking.
Read more →DoD's 2026 Unified Agenda lists RIN 0790-AM01, a new rulemaking that would set the deadline for transitioning CMMC from NIST SP 800-171 Revision 2 to Revision 3 — as an interim final rule targeted for July 2026.
Read more →With CMMC Phase 2 four months out, contractors are booking C3PAO assessments — but most haven't correctly drawn the boundary the assessor will actually test.
Read more →The Government Accountability Office found DoD's CMMC rollout plan strong on six of seven strategic elements but incomplete on one: it has not documented how it will handle key external risks — chief among them the possibility that the private sector won't have enough certified C3PAO assessors to meet demand. With CMMC Phase 2 starting November 10, 2026, that unmanaged assessor-capacity gap is a direct scheduling risk for defense contractors. (GAO-26-107955; DoD concurred with GAO's recommendation.)
Read more →GovConCyber is a free legal reference — not a law firm. We cover the federal cybersecurity rules that apply to government contractors: what they require, who they apply to, and what you need to do. Start here if you're new to the site.
Answer a few questions about your contract type and data to get a plain-language summary of your obligations.
Get started →Start with the fundamentals: what the key frameworks are, why they exist, and how they affect your contracts.
Read the basics →Plain-language definitions for CUI, CMMC, DFARS, FedRAMP, and many other key terms.
Browse the glossary →Original, source-anchored analysis on the harder questions — where requirements, contracts, data-handling, and enforcement intersect.
The obligations that reach contractors outside the CMMC conversation — the FAR baseline, civilian-agency clauses, cloud, incident reporting, and enforcement.
How to identify, mark, handle, and flow down the categories of information federal contracts protect — CUI and beyond.
FAR, DFARS, frameworks, and agency-specific rules
State-level cyber laws affecting government contractors
Sector-specific obligations: defense, healthcare, finance, and more
Requirement triage, roadmaps, educational self-checks, and reference aids for planning compliance work.
Original analysis — beyond CMMC, protected information, maps and trackers
Actions, penalties, and False Claims Act case law
Cybersecurity 101 and a plain-language glossary
GovConCyber is a free reference first. When you need that analysis applied — explained to a room, or mapped to your actual contracts — these are the ways to go further.
Plain-language sessions on CMMC, CUI, and the requirements beyond CMMC — for conferences, bar associations, APEX Accelerator programs, and internal briefings.
Explore speaking topics →The Compliance Roadmap Assessment™ — a structured readiness review that maps which requirements apply to your contracts and what to prioritize. Not a CMMC assessment or legal advice.
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