A Practical Overview of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework

Summary

A 2022 guide explains the NIST CSF’s five functions, implementation tiers and profiles, and ways organizations can use the framework to manage cyber risk and identify security gaps.

Key points

• The NIST CSF provides a common language and guidance for managing cybersecurity risk; the article says it can be used by organizations of any size or sector.
• Its five functions are Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover.
• The guide recommends inventorying devices and software, and using risk assessment and supply-chain risk management to identify gaps.
• For protection, it lists measures including timely patching, MFA, least privilege, network segmentation, email security and encryption.
• For detection, it highlights Windows security events such as cleared audit logs, failed logins, new accounts and group enumeration.
• Response planning should define team roles, use tabletop exercises and include incident reporting and post-incident reviews.
• Recovery planning should prioritize devices and data for restoration and include tested backups.