NIST and NeuralMind: what applies, where it stands, what’s next
Date: 2026-10-11 Version: 1.0
1. There is no “NIST certification” for software
NIST publishes standards and frameworks. Other parties assess against them. The one NIST program that certifies a product is the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (FIPS 140-3), and it certifies cryptographic modules, not applications. Which NIST documents matter for NeuralMind depends on who is buying it and what they will run it on:
| If you are… | You will be asked about… |
|---|---|
| A US federal agency buying software | NIST SP 800-218 (SSDF), through CISA’s Secure Software Development Attestation Form, which the producer signs |
| A defense contractor handling CUI | NIST SP 800-171 (CMMC Level 2), assessed against your environment, with NeuralMind inside its scope |
| An agency installing NeuralMind inside an authorized system | NIST SP 800-53 controls in your authorization (ATO). FedRAMP doesn’t apply, because NeuralMind is local software with no hosted service |
| Anyone running FIPS-mode hosts | FIPS 140-3, for the host’s own cryptographic modules |
| Anyone governing AI use | The NIST AI RMF, which is voluntary and has no certification |
2. Where NeuralMind stands
| Framework | Status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| FIPS 140-3 | NeuralMind implements no cryptography to protect your data, so there is no module of ours to validate. It relies on the host’s validated modules (full-disk encryption, the OS FIPS mode). (v4.13.0+) Its own hash calls work with the OS FIPS mode on, and CI runs the test suite with the OpenSSL FIPS provider enforced | SECURITY-GUIDE: Requiring encrypted storage |
| SP 800-218 (SSDF) | (v4.14.0+) Container images are signed (cosign, keyless), and the image, wheel and sdist carry build-provenance attestations. CI scans with CodeQL, bandit and pip-audit on every change, and a VEX document publishes the dependency advisories that don’t apply. Every practice is mapped to its evidence | SSDF.md |
| SP 800-171 / CMMC Level 2 | Practice-by-practice mapping, with what NeuralMind provides and what stays yours. In place today: OS-bound identity and roles (security.identity: os), a refusal to run without full-disk encryption (security.require_encrypted_storage), and a hash-chained audit log |
Compliance Summary: CMMC 2.0 · CUI enclave walkthrough |
| SP 800-53 | No control mapping published yet. Section 3 says what’s planned | — |
| AI RMF | Evidence for each function (Govern, Map, Measure, Manage) | Compliance Summary: NIST AI RMF |
3. What’s next
The work is done in this order, one release at a time. Items move to section 2 when they ship.
SP 800-171 / CMMC hardening
- One hardened profile for CUI enclaves. It turns on the settings an
assessor expects together: OS-bound identity, encrypted storage, loopback-only
servers, and LLM seeding off.
neuralmind doctorverifies it as a unit, so you don’t have to set and check each one by hand. - An audit log you can’t silently shorten. The hash chain detects a changed or removed record in the middle of the log. It can’t detect removal of the newest records, or a rewrite that recomputes the chain. Keyed or externally anchored checkpoints would close both gaps (AU.L2-3.3.8).
- Live audit forwarding. Today the log is exported to a SIEM after the fact. The plan is to forward it live over syslog, and to alert when audit logging fails (AU.L2-3.3.4, 3.3.5).
- Encrypted transport, or none at all. The HTTP servers bind to
127.0.0.1by default but can be exposed with--host. The plan is TLS when they listen beyond loopback, or a refusal to do so in the hardened profile (SC.L2-3.13.8).
SP 800-53
- An OSCAL component definition. This is a machine-readable statement of how NeuralMind implements each relevant control, with a customer responsibility matrix, so an agency can drop it into its authorization package.
- A hardening guide with settings that can be checked automatically.
4. What stays yours
NeuralMind runs inside your environment, so most controls are met by that environment, not by the tool:
- the OS FIPS mode and FIPS-validated full-disk encryption on the host;
- OS accounts and their authentication;
- audit retention and forwarding to your SIEM;
- your coding agent’s model provider. NeuralMind hands code slices to the agent, and the agent sends them to its model. If that code is CUI, the provider must meet DFARS 252.204-7012 (FedRAMP Moderate or equivalent). NeuralMind reduces how much code goes out; it can’t make a provider eligible.
Each table in the Compliance Summary has a “Still yours” column with the details.