Cybersecurity Compliance Framework

Regulatory compliance focuses on meeting regulatory requirements, improving processes, enhancing security, and realizing other business objectives, such as selling cloud solutions to government agencies.

Cybersecurity and infosec professionals must be familiar with regulations, standards, and frameworks. Regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS, and global standards such as GDPR make IT security more challenging. This is where cybersecurity standards and frameworks can help. Audits should comply with the cybersecurity compliance framework as well.

In order to achieve compliance within a regulatory framework, an ongoing process is required. Considering that the environment continues to change and that a control’s operating efficiency may begin to deteriorate, consistent monitoring and reporting are mandatory, and guidance is provided on what consistent monitoring entails.

Regulatory compliance focuses on meeting regulatory requirements, improving processes, enhancing security, and realizing other business objectives, such as selling cloud solutions to government agencies.

In addition to offering standards, these frameworks enable internal auditors and other internal shareholders to assess the controls in place within their own organizations; external auditors to appraise and certify the controls in place within a company, and prospective customers or investors to assess the risk level associated with financial investments.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO 27001

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a unit of the U.S. Commerce Department, sets network security standards. NIST is responsible for maintaining and promoting measurement standards. The organization also provides assistance and encouragement to industry and science to develop and use these standards.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) is one of the most widely used standards. Based on existing standards, guidelines, and practices, the NIST framework offers voluntary guidance for organizations to better manage and reduce cybersecurity risk. In every corner of the company, it provides a common language for discussing cybersecurity risks.

ISO 27000 recommends best practices for managing information risks by implementing security controls as part of a comprehensive Information Security Management System (ISMS). As part of the ISO 27000 series of standards, companies are able to manage cyber attack risks and internal data security threats more effectively. Growing organizations become more complex, exposing more vulnerabilities that aren’t immediately obvious in technological solutions.

Due to their non-industry specificity, the ISO 27000 series standards can be applied to any business, regardless of size or industry. It resembles standard management systems such as those for quality assurance and environmental protection. ISO/IEC purposefully expanded the scope of the ISO 27000 series to include information security, privacy, and IT. These factors all contribute to both of these being two important control frameworks used in cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity Standards

Cybersecurity standards provide organizations with best practices for protecting themselves against cyber threats and help them to improve their cybersecurity. Some examples of cybersecurity compliance standards include:

• Information security management system (ISMS) (ISO 27000 Series): This is a set of policies and procedures that are implemented to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data contained in a company’s data centers.
• National Information Security Technology (NIST): A pioneer in cyber security standards, NIST is a government agency that has paved the way. Cryptography-related standards are mostly developed by NIST, which is widely followed across the globe.
• ISO 27400 – IoT solutions are described in this standard. In order to ensure the security and privacy of IoT solutions, it provides a list of risks, principles, and controls.
• OWASP Foundation: This non-profit organization publishes the top 10 security issues for web applications, mobile applications, and web services. In order to categorize IT security standards, most security auditing organizations follow these Top 10 security issues.
• SOC 2 Compliance: The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) developed SOC 2 as a voluntary compliance standard for service organizations.
• ISO 27037: It identifies, collects, acquires, and preserves digital evidence.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework

According to the NIST cybersecurity framework, there is a methodology for assessing and managing cybersecurity outcomes. Civil liberties and privacy are protected in a cybersecurity environment by following these guidelines. The document has been translated into many languages and used by many governments and businesses around the world.

The NIST risk management framework is part of its comprehensive suite of cybersecurity and privacy guidelines. Cybersecurity and privacy are integrated into the system development lifecycle through a flexible and tailorable seven-step process. In order to meet the requirements of the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), the NIST risk management framework is linked to a suite of NIST standards and guidelines. A framework for selecting, implementing, assessing, and monitoring controls is included. The program is now used widely by private sector organizations, as well as state and local agencies.

In order to provide a service or product with accurate measurement standards, NIST cybersecurity framework certification is essential. Federal information systems should meet minimum security requirements, and standards and guidelines should be developed to ensure information security. A federal agency is required to develop and apply an information security program in accordance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Product requirements are determined by NIST, and if a product does not meet these requirements, it cannot be used.

There are separate requirements for information technology security publications under the Special Publication 800 (SP 800) certification. Software vendors can comply with government security standards by using SP 800. Tests are conducted on NIST-certified products to ensure their accuracy. In collaboration with the government, academic institutions, and their industry sector, the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) has developed computer security standards based on research, guidelines, and outreach efforts.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework Examples

• Framework Payroll Profile: A phishing attack is the most common way cybercriminals access payroll data today. It is often when employees report their wages unpaid that a company becomes aware of a security breach. After personal information is stolen, an investigation reveals those paychecks have been diverted by hackers.

• Cybersecurity Framework Smart Grid Profile: This Smart Grid Profile attempts to apply risk management strategies to the smart grid by using the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (Cybersecurity Framework). Owners and operators of power systems can use the Profile to prioritize cybersecurity activities for the smart grid according to their effectiveness in achieving common high-level business goals. An overview of cybersecurity considerations for power systems with high concentrations of distributed energy resources (DERs) is included in the Profile for owners and operators of power systems.

• Ransomware Risk Management: A Cybersecurity Framework Profile: When an organization is attacked by ransomware, its data is encrypted and access to it is demanded in exchange for money. Aside from stealing information from organizations, attackers can also demand payments to prevent sharing of the information with authorities, competitors, or the public. The Ransomware Profile in the Cybersecurity Framework Version 1.1 envisions identifying, protecting against, detecting, responding to, and recovering from ransomware events. Managing ransomware risk is possible with this profile. The assessment of a company’s capability to defend against and respond to ransomware attacks is a key part of that process.

Cybersecurity Frameworks Comparison Instructions

Security Frameworks Comparison – Pros

There are a variety of characteristics of the NIST cybersecurity framework and ISO 27001 that make it exceptionally helpful to your cybersecurity efforts.

NIST cybersecurity framework‍

• Cybersecurity that is superior and unbiased

• Protect and manage cybersecurity risks on a long-term basis
• Supply chain ripple effects and vendor lists
• Bringing stakeholders from the technical and business sides together
• The framework is flexible and adaptable
• Designed to meet future regulatory and compliance requirements
• The COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies) cybersecurity framework incorporates a business’s best practices in IT security, governance, and management.

ISO 27001 cybersecurity framework

• Data security procedures that are stringent and robust.
• The certification process is rigorous and secure to the highest degree
• Closely monitor and scrutinize IT data

Security Frameworks Comparison – Cons

There are some characteristics of the NIST cybersecurity framework and ISO 270001 that are not considered strengths.

NIST cybersecurity framework‍

• This framework does not provide much information about how companies can automate some of the implementation steps.
• Cyber risk cannot be measured in this framework in a tangible way, nor can improvements be shown to be ROI-driven.

ISO 27001 cybersecurity framework

• When it comes to implementation and maintenance, some people may feel that it wastes time and resources.

Cybersecurity Standards List Instructions

IT infrastructure and IT products used in organizations need to be more secure. That’s the main reason that cybersecurity standards are developed. When considering your own cybersecurity needs, please refer to the cybersecurity standards listed above. The NIST cybersecurity framework and the ISO 27001 can cover a variety of cybersecurity needs.

Some of the fundamentals of cybersecurity include:

• Single Sign-on
• Multi-factor authentication
• Enforcing encryption both at rest and in transit
• Regular patching cadence
• Vulnerability discovery and remediation
• Security Awareness Training

It can range from a cybersecurity framework for your financial organization to automotive cybersecurity standards. It is a good idea to start with a security standards list.

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