Protected
Your business, protected. Continuously.
When a threat arrives, your environment detects it, contains it, and your team knows exactly what to do. Your people recognize a phishing attempt before they click. Your attack surface has been tested using the same techniques real adversaries use. And if something goes sideways, there's a response plan that's already been exercised, not written and filed away in a drawer.
Cybersecurity is not a product you purchase and install. It is an ongoing operational discipline, one that requires continuous monitoring, regular testing, a trained workforce, and clear accountability for what happens when an incident occurs. The organizations that handle security incidents well aren't the ones who had the best technology. They're the ones who had a plan, had practiced it, and had the right people and tools in place before the incident started.
From 24/7 managed detection and response to penetration testing, security awareness training, and incident response planning, every service here is a risk management exercise. Risk is the R in GRC, and it's quantified, documented, and actively managed here.
What This Delivers
Threats are detected and contained before they become incidents. Continuous monitoring means you're not finding out from a client that something went wrong.
Services
FAQs
Q1: What does CMMC Registered Provider Organization status actually mean for us? A: RPO status means Appalachia is formally recognized by the Department of Defense as a qualified provider of CMMC consulting and readiness services. It's not self-designated. It requires meeting specific DoD criteria and maintaining that status. For defense contractors pursuing CMMC compliance, working with an RPO means your preparation work is guided by a firm the DoD has evaluated and recognized. It also means we understand the full CMMC ecosystem, from the assessment process and what C3PAO assessors look for to how to build documentation that holds up under scrutiny. |
Q2: What is the difference between CMMC readiness and a CMMC assessment? A: Readiness work is everything that happens before the formal assessment including gap analysis, remediation, SSP documentation, POA&M development, and practice assessments. The formal CMMC assessment is conducted by a certified C3PAO (Third Party Assessment Organization), not by Appalachia. Our role is to get you ready for that assessment so when the C3PAO arrives, your documentation is complete, your controls are implemented, and there are no surprises. Think of it as the preparation and coaching. |
Q3: How long does it realistically take to get compliance-ready? A: It depends on where you're starting. An organization with a mature IT environment, existing documentation, and a history of security investment can move relatively quickly. An organization starting from scratch with significant control gaps, missing policies, and no documentation baseline will take longer. The honest answer is that a readiness assessment is the only way to give you an accurate timeline. It maps your current state against the framework requirements and tells you what needs to close and in what order. We can tell you where you are before we estimate how long it will take. |
Q4: We already passed an audit two years ago. Do we need ongoing compliance work? A: Yes — and this is one of the most common gaps organizations have. A compliance program isn't a one-time event. Frameworks like HIPAA, CMMC, and PCI DSS require ongoing maintenance including policy reviews, risk assessments, control monitoring, workforce training, and documentation updates as your environment changes. Organizations that treat an audit as a finish line rather than a checkpoint find themselves scrambling to rebuild their posture when the next assessment comes around. Compliance-Ready means staying ready between audits, not just achieving compliance once. |
Q5: What's the difference between HIPAA compliance support and a HIPAA risk assessment? A: A HIPAA risk assessment is a specific, required deliverable under the HIPAA Security Rule — a documented analysis of the risks to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information in your organization. It is not optional for covered entities or business associates. HIPAA compliance support is broader — it includes the risk assessment but also covers policy development, workforce training, Business Associate Agreement management, breach notification procedures, and the ongoing program maintenance that keeps you compliant as your organization and the regulatory landscape evolve. Understanding which one you need — or whether you need both — is usually where the conversation starts. |