You handle CUI and your gaps are technical
Multi-factor everywhere, FIPS-validated encryption, centralized logging, and boundary protection take engineering, not just paperwork.
Free tools & resources
You might not need us.
Many problems don’t need a contractor. Start here: free tools, honest guidance, and the official sources we use ourselves. If the results show you can handle it in-house, that is a good outcome.
Start with a tool.
Everything runs in your browser. Your answers are never sent to us or stored, so you can be candid about the gaps.
TOOL / 01Cyber
CMMC & NIST 800-171 readiness check
Fifteen to forty-four plain-English questions. See where you stand by control family, which gaps matter, and whether you can close them yourself.
~10 minutes · Runs in your browser
TOOL / 02AI
AI cost–benefit calculator
Model the real costs of an AI rollout — licenses, integration, security review, oversight — against the time it actually saves. Get payback and break-even.
~3 minutes · Runs in your browser
FIELD NOTES / 01Research
When the benefit becomes the attack surface
What we are learning about the security risks of wiring AI agents into real systems, including agents that talk to other agents.
6 min read · Updated Oct 2026
Trusted references
Go to the source.
Free, official, and vendor-neutral. Each one has a short note on when it is worth your time.
- NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 (opens in a new tab)The 110 requirements behind DFARS 252.204-7012 and CMMC Level 2. Dense, but it is the source.↗
- DoD CIO — CMMC (opens in a new tab)Official program status, guides, and scoping documents. Check here before acting on anyone’s summary, including ours.↗
- Project Spectrum (opens in a new tab)DoD-funded, free cybersecurity training, tools, and readiness checks for small defense contractors.↗
- APEX Accelerators (opens in a new tab)Free, local government-contracting counseling: registrations, bids, and compliance basics.↗
- CISA Cyber Hygiene Services (opens in a new tab)Free external vulnerability scanning and web application scanning from CISA.↗
- NIST Small Business Cybersecurity Corner (opens in a new tab)Practical, plain-language guidance and templates sized for small teams.↗
- NIST AI Risk Management Framework (opens in a new tab)A vendor-neutral way to think through AI risk before and after deployment.↗
- OWASP GenAI Security Project (opens in a new tab)The Top 10 lists for LLM and agentic applications. Our field notes build on them.↗
Honest triage
When it is worth a call.
If none of these apply, the tools and references above may be all you need. If one does, a short conversation usually saves time and money.
A contract or award depends on a date
If a proposal, recompete, or prime’s flow-down puts a deadline on your score, outside help can compress the timeline.
AI is touching real systems or real data
Once an AI tool can read your files, send messages, or call other systems, design and security review pay for themselves.
You have tried, and it is still not moving
Sometimes the fastest path is a second set of eyes for a week, not a long engagement.
Still stuck?
Bring us the hard part.
We’ll tell you plainly whether it needs us.