What is the NIST Cybersecurity Framework?

With growing interconnectedness and the amount of information and digital assets organizations store and process, one of today's biggest challenges is protecting that information. Consequently, cyber attacks have become more widespread and sophisticated, impacting the critical infrastructures of many organizations and gaining access to their most valuable assets. Besides investing in technology, organizations should turn to relevant policies and industry standard frameworks to better inform their practices. It's a critical step toward keeping data and systems secure and managing cybersecurity risk effectively. A cybersecurity framework is a set of standards, guidelines, common language and best practices that organizations use to better manage cybersecurity risks and improve their cybersecurity programs. These highly beneficial tools also help organizations communicate more soundly, both internally and with third parties in areas that include sharing information about attacks. One such framework is the Nist Cybersecurity Framework, widely considered the gold standard for addressing and managing security risk in a cost-effective way, based on the business needs of an organization. While we mentioned it briefly in our incident response article, today we'll delve deeper into the Nist Cybersecurity Framework and get familiar with its components and guidelines. Nist Cybersecurity Framework 101 Created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist), a government agency that works in many areas of technology, this framework for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity filled the gap created by a lack of unified standards for cybersecurity and risk management across organizations. This particular set of standards, guidelines and practices is considered a staple for any organization working to build or improve its cybersecurity program, as well as its ability to detect, respond, prevent and recover from cyber attacks. Nist describes the Framework as a risk-based approach to cybersecurity risk management and as such, it contains three components: Core, Implementation Tiers and Profiles. Each component fortifies the connection between activities that drive the operational and financial results of a business and cybersecurity activities in that business. The Framework Core is a combination of cybersecurity activities that presents industry standards, guidelines, practical references and key industry cybersecurity outcomes for managing cybersecurity risk. It's made of five Functions that present a general view of the lifecycle of an organization's risk management process. Each of these Functions consists of Categories and further Subcategories, which are matched with examples, Informative References that contain existing standards and guidelines for each Subcategory. Implementation Tiers (or just Tiers) provide organizations with a way to evaluate their current cybersecurity posture, how they view risk, and what processes they have in place to manage cybersecurity risk. They reflect approaches to managing risk that range from informal and reactive to more risk-informed and resilient. Framework Profile components represent the 'outcome' part of the framework, based on the business needs that an organization has chosen from the framework's categories and subcategories. They can be used to detect weak points and opportunities, as a means to improve their security posture by comparing their current profile with a target one. Framework Core As mentioned, the Nist Framework Core provides a compilation of activities that help organizations achieve specific outcomes, all with practical examples that will guide them to those outcomes. It contains references to industry standards, guidelines, and practices that allow for the communication of cybersecurity activities and outcomes across the organization. Designed to improve existing cybersecurity practices in an organization, the Core's four elements, Functions, Categories, Su...