About QuNav

QuNav is a team of engineers and researchers advancing positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technology for GPS-challenged and GPS-denied environments. Their sensor-fusion and software receiver solutions are built to provide accurate, reliable navigation in complex and high-risk conditions. Serving both government and commercial sectors, QuNav plays a critical role in supporting mission success where conventional GPS fails. The company partners with major government primes, with Northrop Grumman as its primary defense collaborator. Their government customers span nearly every branch of the U.S. Department of Defense, including the Air Force, Navy, Army, DARPA, and the Missile Defense Agency. On the commercial side, QuNav supports organizations of all sizes across a range of industries.

Dr. Andrey Soloviev, QuNav’s CEO, leads the company’s research, business development, and commercial expansion. With a hands-on role across operations and strategy, he’s also responsible for overseeing cybersecurity compliance—an increasingly critical requirement for maintaining government contracts.

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Story Highlights

• Restarting Compliance After Early Challenges: Initial efforts stalled with a manual, document-heavy vendor and a failed data migration, prompting QuNav to reset its compliance journey.
• Choosing a Software Approach to Cybersecurity: By 2023, compliance became essential, and QuNav turned to Atomus for a software-first solution that was automated, transparent, and easy to manage.
• Achieving Compliance With Confidence: With Atomus, QuNav streamlined compliance, completed a smooth email migration, and built a stronger foundation to meet DoD requirements.

Restarting Compliance After Early Challenges

QuNav’s cybersecurity compliance journey began when Northrop Grumman—one of its most important defense partners—issued a request for a NIST 800-171 self-assessment as part of a subcontracted SBIR project. To respond, QuNav engaged an outside vendor to help build a compliance roadmap. Unfortunately, the process was time-consuming and heavily manual. Instead of the vendor simplifying the process for them, it became overcomplicated with the outcome falling short of QuNav’s expectations.

They gave us a bunch of documents, but in the end, it was just a bundle of papers sitting in my drawer. We basically started from zero."

Dr. Andrey Soloviev

CEO of QuNav

The tipping point came during a failed data migration. QuNav lost critical emails, and the incident shattered the company’s confidence in the vendor’s ability to take care of their data. Combined with both unclear and ever evolving government guidance, this experience caused QuNav to put its compliance efforts on hold for the time being.

By 2023, the landscape regarding compliance had changed. Prime contractors were no longer treating cybersecurity as optional. These compliance scores were being formally requested and reviewed. The pressure to act was growing, and Dr. Soloviev recognized the risks of submitting a low score: it could jeopardize key prime relationships and simultaneously limit access to future opportunities. It was time to find a new cybersecurity solution that worked for QuNav.

It was still acceptable, but it just looks like you’re not really doing anything… so there was too much risk of not doing it."

Dr. Andrey Soloviev

CEO of QuNav

Choosing A Software First Approach to Cybersecurity

As a CEO balancing research, business development, and government contracting, Dr. Soloviev needed a system that worked with his busy schedule—not against it. QuNav sought a compliance partner that was modern, software-first, and clear in its value delivery. Atomus’s platform stood out. Its software-first approach offered full automation, a user-friendly interface, and clearly defined touch points through quarterly reviews. Support was fast and responsive, giving QuNav peace of mind throughout the engagement. This combination of product clarity, process integrity, and real support made Atomus the right fit. It offered exactly what QuNav had been missing in its earlier experience—a reliable, long-term compliance partner.

“At the end, it’s just based on how you feel about it… I think your product is clean, transparent. That’s what caught my attention… you basically deliver what you promise.”

Dr. Andrey Soloviev

CEO of QuNav

Achieving Compliance With Confidence

Atomus deployed its solution quickly and without disruption, enabling QuNav to continue business as usual while moving forward with compliance. The platform’s intuitive interface and automated scoring system made it easy for the team to stay on track. Manual tasks were eliminated, administrative complexity was reduced, and compliance became a manageable, structured process. A key differentiator was Atomus’s experience with secure government email migrations—an area that had once created major setbacks for QuNav. This time, the transition was smooth and stress-free, saving time and restoring confidence.

The partnership worked because Atomus’s approach mirrored QuNav’s own values: streamlined execution, clear deliverables, and a customer-first mindset. Today, QuNav is on stronger footing. With a formal System Security Plan in place and compliance progress underway, the team is better aligned with DoD expectations and ready to support future defense contracts with confidence.