It’s estimated that cybercrime will cost the world 10.5 trillion annually by 2025. In this digital age, cybersecurity has become an incredibly important factor for almost every business around the globe.
Most modern businesses operate online to some degree, and this often involves handling sensitive data. Cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to exploit systems and networks, so keeping data safe must be a priority. The NIST CSF categories can help businesses determine their cybersecurity needs and how to put the right measures in place.
So what are these categories, and how can you implement them? Keep reading to find out.
What Is NIST CSF?
The importance of cybersecurity in today’s world cannot be understated. As such, the National Institute of Standards (NIST) has established its Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) to help organizations stay safe and secure.
It’s a robust framework that serves as a guide to help build strong cybersecurity risk management programs. It offers a structured and usable approach that covers all the main bases in cyberattack prevention.
The idea behind the NIST CSF is that it’s not set in stone. This allows organizations to tailor it to their specific needs. This flexibility makes it suitable for all organizations regardless of their current cybersecurity systems.
NIST CSF Categories
Five main categories make up the NIST CSF. It’s important for businesses to implement all of these to ensure sufficient protection from cybersecurity threats.
Identify
The first function focuses on understanding and managing potential cybersecurity risks. These could be anything that may attack systems, data, assets, and capabilities. This is vital, as all the other tiers rely on understanding cybersecurity threats.
This tier can be split down into six main categories:
- Asset management (ID.AM)
- Business environment (ID.BE)
- Governance (ID.GV)
- Risk assessment (ID.RA)
- Risk management strategy (ID.RM)
- Supply chain risk management (ID.SC)
Protect
This is all about developing and implementing suitable defenses based on the specific needs of your organization. These will help keep data secure and ensure ongoing business operations. There are six stages to this, which are:
- Identity management, authentication, and access control (PR.AC)
- Awareness and training (PR.AT)
- Data security (PR.DS)
- Information protection processes and procedures (PR.IP)
- Maintenance (PR.MA)
- Protective technology(PR.PT)
Detect
The Detect function focuses on activities that will help identify cybersecurity events by locating anomalies, investigating events, and enacting monitoring and detection. There are three categories to this function, which are:
- Anomalies and events (DE.AE)
- Security continuous monitoring (DE.CM)
- Detection processes(DE.DP)
Respond
Respond covers the activities that will allow you to take action whenever a cybersecurity incident occurs. The five parts of this category are:
- Response planning (RS.RP)
- Communications (RS.CO)
- Analysis (RS.AN)
- Mitigation (RS.MI)
- Improvements (RS.IM)
Recover
This is the final category and it covers the execution of a response plan when cybersecurity incidents occur. It’s the culmination of the other categories and it ensures the best results so that an organization can recover and continue to operate. The main focus is on developing organizational resistance and knowledge through effective response.
The three elements of this category are:
- Recovery planning (RC.RP)
- Improvements (RC.IM)
- Communications (RC.CO)
Implementation Tiers
All organizations are different, and many will struggle to understand how to implement the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. To help with this, they’ve established a four-tiered implementation system. It can help organizations gauge their needs and advancement in cybersecurity measures.
Tier 1 - Partial
This is the initial stage in which an organization has a degree of awareness of the NIST CSF. There may already be certain controls in place.
Cybersecurity actions at this tier are typically reactive rather than pre-planned. Overall cybersecurity awareness is limited and an organization likely doesn’t have the right structured processes or necessary resources for effective business security.
Tier 2 - Risk Informed
At the next stage, an organization can exhibit a more comprehensive understanding of the cybersecurity threats it may face. It can also share this information informally. Despite this, there’s still no consistent, well-defined, and proactive plan for managing these risks throughout the organization.
Tier 3 - Repeatable
As things advance further, senior leadership becomes more aware of cybersecurity risks. Their understanding has enabled them to establish a comprehensive and repeatable organization-wide cybersecurity risk management plan.
This provides a good degree of protection. The cybersecurity team has also established a clear action plan that involves monitoring and responding to cybersecurity threats as they arise.
Tier 4 - Adaptive
This is the final tier, and at this point, an organization has peaked in terms of cybersecurity resistance. Through a solid understanding of risks and predictive indicators, they’re able to effectively and proactively prevent cyberattacks.
The cybersecurity team has a thorough grasp of potential threats and will continue to offer improvements. These allow them to fine-tune the organizations’s cybersecurity technologies so that they can quickly adapt to threats as they evolve.
Benefits of NIST CSF
This framework was established with good reason. It’s one of the most effective ways for organizations to protect themselves from a vast range of cybersecurity threats such as malware, ransomware, phishing attacks, and more. The average cost of a data breach reached $4.4 million in 2023, so this is definitely something you want to avoid.
Having superior protection will give you a competitive advantage within your industry. Beyond improved protection, it’s an excellent selling point that will help build brand trust and loyalty.
While it will cost to implement this framework, it’s still a cost-saving strategy. The potential losses in the event of a cyberattack are huge. Ensuring your organization is well protected will help keep the risk of such losses to a minimum.
The NIST framework also encourages a culture of improvement. By regularly reviewing cybersecurity measures, you can make updates that will ensure you have the best protection against the latest threats.
Keeping Your Organization Safe and Secure
The NIST CSF categories described above are very effective and can help your organization remain secure. Implementing them effectively, however, can be very complicated.
Working with a professional managed security services provider such as Cybriant is often the best approach for many organizations. We’ve provided effective cybersecurity management and various other services for over 1,400 clients over the last seven years. Take a look at our services page today to find out more about how we can help your organization.
