The Defense Department plans to release new guidance within the next two months to help program managers integrate cybersecurity approaches into DoD’s acquisition cycle, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

Scott Maucione writes the guide will outline systems security engineering strategies as part of DoD’s efforts to address vulnerabilities in defense systems and protect assets against cyber attacks.

“Ultimately this would eventually make its way into the development contract, but right now the specific guidance that we plan to publish is for program managers,” Robert Gold, director of engineering enterprise at DoD, told the radio station in an interview.

The report said Frank Kendall – undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics – issued a policy last year that directs defense program managers to assess cybersecurity risks and help program users to write  testable security measures.