A little history of the Cybersecurity Framework.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently released the much-anticipated version 2.0 of the Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), first published in 2014. The CSF was originally developed in response to Executive Order 13636, which tasked NIST with developing a voluntary framework for reducing cybersecurity risks to critical infrastructure.
Over the past eight years, the original CSF has been widely adopted by both public and private sector organizations to help manage cybersecurity risks. According to NIST, the Framework has been downloaded over 3 million times and translated into over 30 languages. However, even with such wide distribution, surveys showed that many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) still struggled with implementation due to limited resources, limited expertise, and the overall complexity of the framework.
What’s changed?
CSF 2.0 aims to address these challenges with a renewed focus on simplicity and usability. A central enhancement is the “Quick Start Guides”. The Quick Start Guides are a major enhancement in CSF 2.0 aimed at addressing one of the top barriers to SMB adoption – complexity. The Guides remedy this with short, approachable documents tailored for specific sectors and non-technical audiences. Topics are targeted to SMB’s concerns, covering areas like incident response planning, cyber hygiene basics and cloud security considerations. By distilling CSF concepts into clear, actionable language, the Guides make implementation feel less daunting, and emphasize the Framework as an incremental, ongoing process rather than pass/fail standard.
Wait! There’s more!
Another simplifying element is the introduction of profiling capabilities. The CSF Profiles provide a standardized mechanism for organizations to evaluate their cybersecurity posture through a structured self-assessment process. There are two main types of profiles; a Current Profile, which establishes the organization’s baseline posture, and a Target Profile, which outlines aspirational goals aligned with risk appetite. Profiles are created by mapping existing security programs, policies and controls to the relevant CSF Categories and Subcategories. NIST provides templates to simplify this mapping and ensure consistency.
Beyond assessing maturity gaps, Profiles also assists in tracking progress over time and benchmarking objectives against the CSF Tiers model. They empower continuous improvement by enabling prioritization of actions and communication of needs to stakeholders. Additionally, Community Profiles establishes sector-defined baselines that individual organizations can leverage for their target profiles to foster consistency. These new profiling capabilities equip organizations of all sizes to rigorously manage cybersecurity as a strategic evolving process.
Through improvements to usability, flexibility, and simplicity, the updated CSF now better enables organizations of all types and industries to carry out comprehensive risk management. By utilizing customizable features like Quick Start Guides and Profiles, companies can establish security strategies tuned to their unique needs and environments. At the same time, the core Framework provides a shared foundation to facilitate ongoing cooperation across sectoral boundaries. Here at BlueCoat, we’re big fans of CSF 2.0 – Allow one of our experts to leverage this updated framework to protect your business from risks inside or out.