NIST SP 800-218A (SSDF Community Profile for generative AI)

What it is

NIST SP 800-218A, Secure Software Development Practices for Generative AI and Dual-Use Foundation Models: An SSDF Community Profile, was published July 2024 (final 26 July 2024). The PDF is the official text.

NIST’s abstract says the document augments the secure software development practices and tasks defined in Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) version 1.1 by adding practices, tasks, recommendations, considerations, notes, and informative references that are specific to AI model development throughout the software development life cycle. Those additions are documented in the form of an SSDF Community Profile.

It was tasked to NIST as a companion resource to the SSDF to incorporate secure development practices for generative AI and for dual-use foundation models. The Profile is intended to be useful to the producers of AI models, the producers of AI systems that use those models, and the acquirers of those AI systems. It should be used in conjunction with NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-218.

The SSDF groups it sits on

The parent SSDF 1.1 (SP 800-218) organizes practices into four groups: Prepare the Organization (PO), Protect the Software (PS), Produce Well-Secured Software (PW), and Respond to Vulnerabilities (RV). 800-218A adds model-development recommendations onto those groups. It does not replace the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (NIST AI RMF explainer).

How it sits next to defense work

CMMC and NIST SP 800-171 are about protecting CUI on contractor systems. 800-218A is about how generative and dual-use models are built. A defense program that trains or integrates a foundation model may need both: 171/CMMC for the CUI environment, and SSDF / 800-218A for how the model software is developed. The DoD RAI Strategy does not make 800-218A a DFARS clause.

What it is not

800-218A is a Community Profile, not a certification scheme and not a CMMC level. Completing SSDF tasks is not an AI RMF assessment and not a CDAO toolkit score. The document names the (now-revoked) Executive Order that tasked the companion resource; the Profile itself remains the July 2024 final publication on the CSRC page we cite.