Susan B. Cassidy

Ms. Cassidy represents clients in the defense, intelligence, and information technologies sectors. She works with clients to navigate the complex rules and regulations that govern federal procurement and her practice includes both counseling and litigation components. Ms. Cassidy conducts internal investigations for government contractors and represents her clients before the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), Inspectors General (IG), and the Department of Justice with regard to those investigations. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Cassidy served as in-house counsel at Northrop Grumman Corporation, one of the world’s largest defense contractors, supporting both defense and intelligence programs. Previously, Ms. Cassidy held an in-house position with Motorola Inc., leading a team of lawyers supporting sales of commercial communications products and services to US government defense and civilian agencies. Prior to going in-house, Ms. Cassidy was a litigation and government contracts partner in an international law firm headquartered in Washington, DC.

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Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity Holds Hearing to Discuss the Responsibilities of the Defense Industrial Base

On March 26, 2019, the Senate Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Cybersecurity held a hearing to receive testimony assessing how the Department of Defense’s (“DOD”) cybersecurity policies and regulations have affected the Defense Industrial Base (“DIB”). To gain a better understanding of the DIB’s cybersecurity concerns, the Subcommittee invited William LaPlante, Senior Vice President and General … Continue Reading

DFARS Cyber Rule – What Questions Should Contractors Ask Themselves in the New Year?

By Susan B. Cassidy on January 4, 2018 Posted in Cybersecurity

[The referenced article was originally published in Law360.] Since August 2015, defense contractors have been on notice that they were required to implement the security controls in National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) Special Publication (“SP”) 800-171 no later than December 31, 2017 on covered contractor information systems. Although the focus has been on meeting … Continue Reading

NIST Holds Webcast to Discuss Updates to Cybersecurity Framework

By Susan B. Cassidy and Moriah Daugherty on December 20, 2017 Posted in Cybersecurity

On December 20, 2017, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) held a live webcast to discuss the draft updates to the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (“the Cybersecurity Framework”) and the Roadmap for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (“the Roadmap”). Although the webcast is not currently available online, NIST plans to publish a … Continue Reading

NIST Releases Updated Draft of Cybersecurity Framework

By Susan B. Cassidy, Moriah Daugherty and Inside Privacy on December 7, 2017 Posted in Cybersecurity

On December 5, 2017, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) announced the publication of a second draft of a proposed update to the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (“Cybersecurity Framework”), Version 1.1, Draft 2. NIST has also published an updated draft Roadmap to the Cybersecurity Framework, which “details public and private sector … Continue Reading

NIST Releases New Draft Publication Designed to Assist Contractors In Assessing Compliance with NIST SP 800-171

By Susan B. Cassidy, Ashden Fein and Moriah Daugherty on December 4, 2017 Posted in Cybersecurity

Ahead of the upcoming December 31, 2017 deadline for federal defense contractors to implement the security controls of National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) Special Publication 800-171 (“SP 800-171”), NIST has released a new draft publication designed to assist organizations in assessing compliance under SP 800-171, Draft Special Publication 800-171A, Assessing Security Requirements for … Continue Reading