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SCF CAP - SCF Third Party Assessment Organizations (3PAOs)

SCF 3PAOs are entities accredited by The Cyber AB to conduct SCF-related Third-Party Assessment, Attestation, and Certification (3PAAC) services for Organizations Seeking Assessment (OSA) under the SCF CAP. 3PAOs:

  • Provide objective, consistent, thorough, and reliable assessments of an OSA’s implementation of the SCF, ensuring conformance with specified cybersecurity and/or data protection requirements; and
  • Play a critical role in maintaining the integrity and credibility of SCF certifications through rigorous and impartial assessments.

SCF 3PAO

SCF CAP Ecosystem

The SCF Third Party Assessment Organization (3PAO) role exists within the SCF CAP Ecosystem:

 

SCF CAP ecosystem

Why Become A SCF Third-Party Assessment Organziation (3PAO)?

The Cyber AB is the Accreditation Body (AB) for both the DoD Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and the Secure Controls Framework Conformity Assessment Program (SCF CAP). This partnership establishes a world-class conformity assesment methodology with a global reach.

The SCF is a “metaframework” (e.g., framework of frameworks) that maps 1,100+ security and privacy controls across 100+ regulations and standards, letting clients meet multiple obligations through one unified control set. Clients juggling multiple laws, regulations and frameworks benefit from the Rosetta stone nature of the SCF’s metaframework:

  • For those in CMMC, from the perspective of a RPO or C3PAO, the SCF includes coverage for CMMC Levels 1-3, NIST SP 800-171, NIST SP 800-171A, NIST SP 800-171 R3, NIST SP 800-171A R3 and NIST SP 800-172.
  • For those supporting the healthcare industry, the SCF CAP provides an efficient means to demonstrate conformity with HIPAA’s Security Rule, NIST CSF 2.0, PCI DSS and other common cybersecurity requirements found in healthcare.
  • From a Financial Services (Finserv) perspective, the SCF has coverage for NIST CSF 2.0, NY DFS 23NYCRR500 and other common cybersecurity requirements found in the financial services industry.

CMMC/HIPAA/NIST CSF Are Slices of the Pie. The SCF Covers the Whole Pie

  • Offering SCF advisory means solving more than just being a “one trick pony” for CMMC, HIPAA or NIST CSF. The SCF enables you to become a one-stop compliance shop for your clients.
  • Most medium to large companies have multiple compliance obligations that they are often unaware of or simply choose to ignore. These often include GSA OASIS+, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX, ITAR, US state-level data privacy laws and EU regulations (e.g., GDPR, NIS2 and DORA).
  • From a CMMC perspective:
    • CMMC only addresses cybersecurity obligations related to DFARS 252.204-70XX and FAR 52.204-21, specific to protecting Federal Contract Information (FCI) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).
    • From the traditional CIA Triad model of security, CMMC focuses on Confidentiality and Integrity, but completely avoids the Availability component. The CIA Triad is a “three-legged stool” model where a cybersecurity program is unstable if all three concepts are not equally applied.

Reduce Client Fatigue & Cost Through Harmonization

  • Position your firm as the “efficiency partner,” not just the “assessment partner.”
  • Without the SCF, organizations often build separate, redundant compliance programs for each obligation, driving up costs and complexity.
  • SCF enables:
    • Control harmonization where one control meets multiple frameworks.
    • Documentation reuse where policies, standards and procedures can be mapped once and reused for many audits.
    • Audit readiness across multiple laws, regulations and frameworks simultaneously.

Expand Your Serviceable Market

  • Competition within CMMC, HIPAA or SOC 2 is becoming more aggressive and that decreases opportunities. These opportunities capped by the size of the marketplace, often limited to the United States.
  • By adding SCF services, you can target cross-regulated organizations in sectors like healthcare, finance, tech and manufacturing.
  • Adding SCF services differentiates your firm as:
    • A multi-framework compliance advisor;
    • A partner that “future-proofs” compliance efforts; and
    • A firm that helps clients meet business objectives, not just pass an audit / assessment.
  • For those focused on CMMC:
    • The CMMC ecosystem is becoming crowded and that increased competition means C3PAOs / RPOs will increasingly compete on price and speed.
    • You’re insulated from DoD budget delays or CMMC policy changes because your client base is more diverse.
    • You can serve commercial clients with no DoD contracts.

Higher-Value, Stickier Client Relationships

  • SCF CAP services are often transactional (gap assessment > remediation > assessment).
  • SCF adoption leads to ongoing compliance management services:
    • Annual control updates
    • Continuous monitoring
    • Periodic cross-mapping to new laws
    • Advisory on regulatory change impacts
  • This recurring advisory model increases revenue predictability and client retention.

Tangible Tools & Ecosystem Support Exist

  • The SCF has the ability to be quickly implemented with clients:
    • SCF Licensed Content Providers (LCP) have ready-to-use, editable policies, standards and procedures templates that are mapped 1-1 to the SCF.
    • SCF Registered Provider Organizations (RPO) and Licensed Training Providers (LTP) that can deliver SCF-aligned training.
    • The SCF Conformity Assessment Program (SCF CAP) enables certifications for NIST CSF 2.0, HIPAA Security Rule, CORE Fundamentals, NIST SP 800-161 R1 and more.
    • Current CMMC L2 certified organizations can take advantage of reciprocity for NIST SP 800-171 controls for other certifications (e.g., leverage an existing CMMC L2 certification to get certified against NIST CSF 2.0 or HIPAA).
  • These features make it easy for SCF C3PAOs and RPOs to quickly stand up a new SCF service offering without reinventing the wheel.

For Firms Focused on CMMC, the SCF Aligns With NIST SP 800-171 & CMMC’s Own Control Mapping

  • The SCF includes coverage for:
    • CMMC Levels 1-3;
    • NIST SP 800-171;
    • NIST SP 800-171A;
    • NIST SP 800-171 R3;
    • NIST SP 800-171A R3; and
    • NIST SP 800-172.
  • The SCF enables:
    • Simpler CMMC readiness assessments (SCF tools have CMMC mappings built in).
    • Faster onboarding of clients who already use SCF for other obligations.
  • You can pitch SCF as future-proofing, where if DoD updates CMMC requirements, the SCF control library already accounts for cross-framework updates.
  • The SCF releases quarterly updates, so any new requirements are quickly adapted to and published.

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