The Wait Is Over: Final DFARS Safeguarding Rule Published Today

Almost three years after its first iteration was published, DoD has finalized the DFARS Safeguarding Rule and corresponding DFARS clauses regarding the protection of “covered defense information” provided to or generated by defense contractors. Effective today, the Final Rule by and large reflects the same requirements of its interim versions and FAQs but with a few notable exceptions, including the definition of “covered defense information” now encompasses all forms of “controlled unclassified information” and thus aligns with the National Archive’s recent final rule, external cloud services housing covered defense information must comply with certain FedRAMP security requirements, and subcontractors must notify their primes when requesting variances from the security controls of NIST Special Publication 800-171.