CORA Readiness: What Recent Results Are Telling Us

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This article covers DCSA CORA statistics in 2025 vs 2026. Based on SecureStrux’s experience supporting Mock CORAs, three recurring challenges can impact inspection outcomes: incomplete documentation and evidence, inaccurate or inconsistent reporting, and gaps in logging and auditing requirements. With CORAs increasing across the DIB, organizations should begin preparing well before an inspection is scheduled to identify gaps, validate their environment, and strengthen their readiness.

Cyber Operational Readiness Assessments, or CORAs, continue to reveal recurring challenges across customer environments. Our experience shows that readiness is not determined by technology alone. Documentation, reporting accuracy, audit execution, and preparation time can all influence the outcome.

SecureStrux supports customers across the United States and has experience working with different regional inspection teams from DCSA. Our familiarity with the official inspectors as well as inspection criteria/requirements allows us to pinpoint the issues that may arise from assessments.

As CORAs are ramping up in frequency across the DIB, we wanted to share some observations from the dozens of assessments our team has participated in.

DCSA CORA Statistics in 2025 vs 2026

DCSA provided statistics during a brief in late September 2026. Below are the categories of scores provided by DCSA:

This tracks with what SecureStrux has seen from 2025 to 2026 during Mock CORA engagements with our customers. Among the clearly documented scored events, 2025 results were more concentrated in the high risk category during SecureStrux Mock CORA engagements. While our team assessed many moderate or low-risk organizations, SecureStrux CORA SMEs assessed 5+ very high risk organizations and assisted in reducing those scores to moderate or low for official inspections.

In 2026, the documented results from our team show more clients trending in the moderate and low risk outcome categories during our engagements.

Although the sample is limited, the movement towards low and very low risk is a positive trend. However, for those scores that remain in moderate, high, or very high risk, we encounter three trending issues during those readiness engagements.

Don’t Miss These 3 Areas for Your CORA Readiness Preparation

1. First, organizations often lack the artifacts required to demonstrate compliance with Operational Directives and Procedures (ODPs) and Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs). Simply having documentation is not enough. Evidence must be current, complete, and strong enough to satisfy detailed inspector scrutiny.

2. Second, roll-up reporting remains a significant obstacle. Common trouble spots include maintaining CMRS accounts, applying the correct COAMS tags, and ensuring that ACAS, command-and-control solutions, and endpoint security tools are reporting. Reported totals must also align with the Network Address Declaration, minus approved exceptions.

3. Third, logging and auditing requirements can create unexpected findings. The “Big Five” weekly audit requirements, also known as Critical Override KIORs, must all be correct and configured – if one KIOR fails, then all fail for weekly auditing and logging requirements. Example: Missing “log-input” on a single Cisco deny Access Control List entry could trigger the weekly audit requirement for a weekly review of all network logs/audit trails.

Start Your CORA Preparations Early

The biggest lesson is to begin early. Waiting until a CORA is scheduled, even six months out, can make it difficult to assemble the necessary expertise, validate reporting, gather evidence, and remediate gaps. Proactive preparation gives organizations the runway to turn moderate or high scores into a stronger, more defensible outcome.

For more information about SecureStrux expertise with CORAs, schedule a meeting with our team.

Key Questions This Article Answers

• What is a CORA, and why is preparation important?
• What CORA risk trends has DCSA reported in 2025 and 2026?
• What are the most common CORA readiness challenges organizations face?
• What documentation and evidence should organizations have ready for a CORA?