Cybersecurity Frameworks Your Company Should Consider

You can’t read a newspaper or watch the news without seeing the impact that high-profile data breaches and cyberattacks are having on businesses across all industries. From the Target and Sony cyberattacks to the SolarWinds breach and WannaCry ransomware, data breaches have left security professionals and IT leaders scrambling for guidance to secure their networks and systems.

Fortunately, your organization doesn’t have to start from scratch when it comes to building, maintaining, and maturing your cybersecurity program, no matter where it stands today. In fact, there are a wide range of cybersecurity frameworks that your organization can leverage to accelerate the process to mature your security policies and controls, ensuring you’re covering all the necessary bases to keep your organization’s assets and customers safe.

Here is an overview of some key cybersecurity frameworks and how they can help your security team.

The ISO/IEC 27000 Series of Standards

Developed and maintained by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the ISO/IEC 2700 series of standards outlines techniques and expectations for securing IT and information systems.

The ISO/IEC 2700 series provides a framework for organizations to use when protecting information, including best practices, evaluative standards, and recommended security controls. These standards can be used to design new networks and systems, evaluate existing enterprise deployments, or identify ways to improve, regardless of the brand or type of hardware or software.

Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies

Developed by ISACA, an international information security association, Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) is an IT management framework developed by the ISACA to help “businesses develop, organize, and implement strategies around information management and governance.”

COBIT was designed to help business and IT leaders better balance technical security with business risks and control requirements. Like many other security frameworks, COBIT can be applied to any organization in any industry.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a research and non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce with a mission “to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.”

In addition to providing the standards organizations should follow in industries ranging from engineering to nuclear research, NIST has created two well-known cybersecurity publications.

NIST Special Publication 800-53

The NIST SP 800-53 provides a database of “security and privacy controls for all U.S. federal information systems except those related to national security.” Accordingly, all federal agencies must be in compliance with this standard.

This cybersecurity framework offers a multi-tiered approach to risk management and security controls—including low-, moderate-, and high-risk events—that are based on impact. The SP 800-53’s controls are further split into 18 “security control families” that help organizations to select the controls most applicable to their requirements and address their risk posture. Additionally, the SP 800-53 “introduces the concept of baselines as a starting point for the control selection process,” to help organizations create a repeatable approach to develop, evaluate, and grow an ever-evolving cybersecurity program.

National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF)

The NIST CSF focuses on building “cyber resiliency” within organizations, helping them move away from a reactive (or break-fix) approach and instead introduce a proactive and preparedness mindset for addressing cyberthreats. The NIST CSF helps organizations do this by introducing an approach to identify and categorize risks and identify controls and mitigation strategies to reduce their potential impact, if realized.

In addition, the CSF was designed and is maintained to be used in conjunction with other cybersecurity policy and management frameworks, so organizations have a more holistic perspective for their cybersecurity, regardless of industry or the scale of their operations.

The International Society of Automation (ISA) ANSI/ISA 62443

Unlike the other frameworks mentioned here, the ANSI/ISA 62443 is focused on securing the development and use of a certain type of technology: industrial automation and control systems.

The ANSI/ISA 62443 defines a “secure development lifecycle” for securing and maintaining these critical systems, which often handle power, industrial, and transportation controls that are the backbone of many other services.

Move up the Cybersecurity Maturity Curve with VectorUSA

A cybersecurity framework is a great way to help an organization identify, create, and maintain a security program to better protect their vital mission data, IT assets, and customer information. However, it takes a lot more to ensure that a security program grows and evolves with business operations and its attack surface, as well as the tactics employed by tomorrow’s cybercriminals.

That’s why the decision to partner with an experienced cybersecurity service provider like VectorUSA is so important. Our team not only identifies gaps in your current security program, but we define a clear roadmap to prepare your organization for the cyberthreats of tomorrow.

Ready to learn more about today’s threats and how best to prepare to fight back? Then check out VectorUSA’s eBook, Cybersecurity & Network Security: Best Practices to Protect Your Data