Secure Towns

What is “Secure Towns” ?

Secure Towns represents our ability to take advantage of our forty years of experience across our Small Business Development Center networks locally to facilitate training, sharing of effective practices and resources, and foster collaboration within the community and with national public and private resources ready to help.

Why was “Secure Towns” created?

To help small businesses address overall risk and opportunity management by taking advantage of the systemic relationship of cyber and data protection.

Increase awareness of confidential and sensitive (critical) information, make the responsibility to protect it, and provide clear direction to take action.

To facilitate the use of local, regional, and national resources to help.

What is North Star CMM and how does Secure Towns use it to facilitate continuity and direction?

A publicly available standard, fit for purpose, that can be adopted at a natural pace.

Provides clarity and continuity of direction to protect critical information.

North Star CMM represents information and direction found in the Department of Defense Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMMC) to protect critical information. North Star CMM provides the answer to “what” business owners need to do to protect it. It does not prescribe a particular “how” to do it, so there is flexibility for each business type to take advantage of it.

Small businesses need clear direction to help them utilize their own capability and capacity at the natural pace for their business or business season. By using this common direction, internal and third parties can communicate value more clearly, share resources, and share practical methods to reduce costs and friction in communications.

The Secure Towns initiative provides training for businesses to protect this information using North Star CMM to help accomplish this at no cost to the business owner.

Secure Towns provides all this in a community-based approach designed to help America’s cities and towns stay informationally secure in the new economy.

NOTE: Americas SBDC and our SBDC networks are not a certifying or accreditation body, nor do we represent one. North Star CMM utilizes the CMMC for broad guidance.

For CMMC accreditation information please contact www.CMMCAB.org