Freely subscribe to our NEWSLETTER

Exostar, announce an agreement with Fujitsu Limited to better protect the controlled unclassified information (CUI) exchanged by companies throughout the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) global, multi-tiered supply chain. The agreement brings solutions to the Japanese market that allow Japanese companies that participate in the DoD supply chain to meet the security requirements for accessing and handling CUI found in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-171.

“Our relationship with Fujitsu is important to Exostar, our customers, and our partners across aerospace and defense,” said Stuart Itkin, Exostar’s Vice President of Marketing and Product Management. “It encapsulates our commitment to continually expand and add value to our trusted community of nearly 150,000 A&D organizations worldwide, enabling them to make better, more timely decisions, to mitigate risk, and to operate more efficiently.”

Last month, Fujitsu launched Fort# Forum, a Japanese language defense and national security solution that incorporates Exostar’s Managed Access Gateway (MAG) identity management platform and ForumPass Defense (FPD) multi-enterprise information sharing platform, which together enable organizations to comply with key controls under NIST SP 800-171. As the A&D industry continues to address security challenges on a global basis, Fort# Forum builds the foundation for common practices by providing the means for Japanese companies that are important members of the DoD supply chain to align with U.S. cybersecurity standards.

According to Fujitsu, “Japanese defense-related companies increasingly are demanding the provision of information systems that can comply with these new security requirements. Fort# Forum eases the substantial time, cost, and resource burden Japanese organizations face to implement CUI protection that meets NIST SP 800-171 standards – helping to ensure these organizations can continue to participate on US DoD contracts, mitigating risk, and strengthening security.”

The Exostar/Fujitsu relationship takes on added significance with the forthcoming Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification under development by the DoD. CMMC will create a unified cybersecurity standard to be consistently applied to all organizations across the Defense Industrial Base globally. Under CMMC, all 300,000+ companies globally doing business with the DoD must have their cybersecurity practices and processes audited and certified by an accredited third-party assessor. Suppliers in Japan and elsewhere that access and handle CUI will need to comply not only with NIST SP 800-171, but also with other information security requirements included in the CMMC standard. Powered by Exostar’s MAG and FPD, Fujitsu’s Fort# Forum gives Japanese organizations a strong head-start and competitive advantage with respect to receiving CMMC certification.

Exostar is conducting a CMMC webinar on October 24th featuring Katie Arrington, the Chief Information Security Officer for the Assistant Secretary for Defense Acquisition. With speakers from A&D industry prime contractors including BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin, the Exostar webinar offers companies throughout the DoD supply chain a comprehensive perspective about CMMC requirements, timing, and certification procedures and enforcement so they can prepare now and minimize business impact later.