Cybersecurity compliance has become a critical requirement for organizations participating in the U.S. defense ecosystem, yet achieving Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 remains a significant challenge for small and mid-sized contractors. Organizations must interpret complex frameworks such as NIST SP 800-171, manage over 110 security controls, and align fragmented evidence across multiple systems, documents, and workflows. This often results in inconsistent outcomes, high consulting costs, and readiness timelines that span months to years, creating significant barriers to entry and limiting participation in the defense supply chain. Additionally, the lack of internal expertise and reliance on manual processes further increases inefficiencies and delays in achieving compliance.
This research addresses these challenges by introducing AskCMMC.ai, an AI-driven compliance automation system designed to streamline and standardize CMMC 2.0 interpretation and implementation. The system leverages large language models integrated with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector embeddings, and authoritative cybersecurity frameworks to deliver context-aware, citation-grounded responses. By ingesting regulatory documents alongside organizational data, AskCMMC.ai enables automated control mapping, gap analysis, evidence alignment, and policy generation while enforcing strict hallucination prevention and human-in-the-loop validation mechanisms.
The research adopts a system design and evaluation approach, testing performance across representative real-world compliance scenarios. Results demonstrate over 95% accuracy, near-zero hallucination, and an 81% reduction in analyst effort, significantly accelerating compliance workflows while improving consistency, traceability, and decision-making. These findings suggest that AI-driven systems can transform cybersecurity compliance from a manual, resource-intensive process into a scalable, efficient, and accessible solution, enabling organizations to achieve faster readiness, reduce costs, and strengthen security across the defense supply chain.