Data threats are ever-present in the corporate environment, and vulnerabilities are resilient. This makes a thorough approach to risk management essential in the rapidly changing field of information technology. It is critical to keep all data infrastructure and procedures up to date because cybercrime is on the rise, and hackers may frequently outwit even the most sophisticated and resilient cybersecurity solutions.
In light of this, using the NIST Risk Management Framework is one of the best methods to identify the precise risks that your company faces and learn how to minimize and manage them. The NIST RMF integrates security, privacy, and cyber supply chain risk management to provide a risk-based approach to cybersecurity deployments that start early in system lifecycles. The NIST RMF also emphasizes efficacy, efficiency, and limits resulting from relevant laws, directives, executive orders, policies, standards, and regulations while driving risk-based considerations into the control selection and specification.
In this blog, we will briefly overview the NIST Risk Management Framework, including its goals and components and the steps you can take to implement it in your organization.
But first, let’s define the NIST Risk Management Framework.
Data threats are ever-present in the corporate environment, and vulnerabilities are resilient. This makes a thorough approach to risk management essential in the rapidly changing field of information technology. It is critical to keep all data infrastructure and procedures up to date because cybercrime is on the rise, and hackers may frequently outwit even the most sophisticated and resilient cybersecurity solutions.
In light of this, using the NIST Risk Management Framework is one of the best methods to identify the precise risks that your company faces and learn how to minimize and manage them. The NIST RMF integrates security, privacy, and cyber supply chain risk management to provide a risk-based approach to cybersecurity deployments that start early in system lifecycles. The NIST RMF also emphasizes efficacy, efficiency, and limits resulting from relevant laws, directives, executive orders, policies, standards, and regulations while driving risk-based considerations into the control selection and specification.
In this blog, we will briefly overview the NIST Risk Management Framework, including its goals and components and the steps you can take to implement it in your organization.
What is the NIST Risk Management Framework?
The NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) is a pre-requisite to be applied by all federal agencies as a set of procedures for identifying, implementing, evaluating, managing, and keeping an eye on cybersecurity capabilities and services to detect, remove, and mitigate persistent threats in both new and old systems.
The NIST RMF superseded the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process, which was initially created by a Joint Task Force (JTF) comprising the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the Department of Defence (DOD), and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) for the same purposes.
Now, let’s understand the purpose of the NIST Risk Management Framework.
What are the Primary Goals of the NIST Risk Management Framework?
The main objectives of the NIST Risk Management Framework are to:
- Boost data security for your organization;
- Encourage reciprocity between key federal departments; and,
- Enhance the procedures for risk management at your firm.
In order to accomplish these goals, the NIST RMF requires organizations to:
- Use a risk management approach that ranks vulnerabilities resulting from non-compliant controls according to risk variables, such as likelihood, threat, and impact;
- Integrate cybersecurity into the lifecycle of system development and acquisition thoroughly and quickly;
- Put into practice a tiered approach to risk management, emphasizing the enterprise, mission, information system, and business process levels;
- Mandate ongoing observation and prompt remediation of information security-related flaws, vulnerabilities, and incidents; and,
- Encourage authorization reciprocity so organizations can accept permissions from other organizations to connect or reuse IT systems without re-teaching.
What are the Components Comprising the NIST Risk Management Framework?
The NIST RMF is comprised of five components, as underlined below:
- Identification: The NIST RMF starts with a risk assessment of the entire organization, including risks related to strategy, legal, and privacy. As risk environments change, this NIST RMF component must be carried out regularly.
- Evaluation: Once the risks are identified, this component comes into play to direct the creation of risk profiles for the found hazards.
- Mitigation: Risk mitigation with the NIST RMF entails assessing the identified hazards to ascertain their severity level. Certain risks are acceptable and don’t need to be taken. Some hazards need to be eliminated, while others should be reduced.
- Reporting: This component involves processes for exchanging risk information and conducting routine risk assessments to spot any modifications necessitating further action.
- Governance: The NIST RMF guarantees the implementation of risk management components and the enforcement of risk-related regulations through its risk governance component.
Steps in the NIST Risk Management Framework
There are seven steps in the NIST Risk Management Framework, as highlighted below:
- Prepare
The organization prepares to navigate the intricacies of security and privacy risks systematically. First, you must undertake a comprehensive assessment of organization-wide risks, laying the foundation for a nuanced understanding of potential vulnerabilities. Key risk management roles should be clearly defined to ensure accountability and efficient execution of risk mitigation strategies.
Determining risk tolerance becomes pivotal here, guiding decision-making processes toward a balanced and informed approach. Establishing an organization-wide strategy for continuous monitoring underscores the commitment to ongoing vigilance against evolving threats. Furthermore, a formalized risk management strategy is crafted, providing a structured framework to effectively address and respond to potential risks. Lastly, identifying common controls streamlines efforts, fostering a cohesive and standardized approach to risk management across the organizational landscape.
2. Categorize
In this step, risks to systems and the information they handle are methodically assessed through an impact analysis, focusing on the loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA). The resulting categorization classifies these risks into impact levels, namely low, moderate, or high. This pivotal process involves meticulously documenting system characteristics, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the digital landscape.
Simultaneously, the security categorization of the system and the information it processes, stores, and transmits is meticulously completed. To uphold the rigor of this categorization, decisions undergo a thorough review and subsequent approval by the authorizing official, establishing a critical checkpoint in the risk management framework. This systematic approach lays the groundwork for informed decision-making and targeted risk mitigation strategies in subsequent stages of the risk management lifecycle.
3. Select
Once the security risks are grouped, you can move on to identifying and implementing required security controls that are central to fortifying the resilience of systems. This involves meticulously allocating controls to specific system components, a strategic measure to address each element’s unique characteristics and vulnerabilities. Controls are further designated as system-specific, hybrid, or common, emphasizing the need for a nuanced and adaptable security approach.
In addition, a comprehensive system-level continuous monitoring strategy is developed to detect and respond to emerging threats proactively. Security and privacy plans are meticulously crafted to ensure alignment and coherence to reflect the selected controls, their designation, and allocation within the system architecture. The process also involves selecting and tailoring control baselines, underscoring the importance of a customized and effective security framework tailored to the organization’s needs.
4. Implement
In this step, the controls selected in the previous stage are implemented. It would help if you further documented all the processes outlining how the controls are deployed and updated the security and privacy plans to reflect how the new controls are implemented.
5. Assess
Following implementation, the NIST RMF thoroughly examines the correct implementation of controls and their alignment with security and privacy requirements. This process involves several key components, including assigning an assessor and assessment team to oversee the evaluation. Detailed plans for the security and privacy assessment are then meticulously developed, subsequently reviewed, and approved to ensure comprehensive coverage.
The control assessments, conducted by the approved plans, serve as a critical phase in determining the effectiveness of implemented measures. The findings are documented in security and privacy assessment reports, which become instrumental in identifying deficiencies. Remediation actions are then implemented to address these shortcomings, with subsequent updates made to security and privacy plans to reflect changes in control implementation based on assessments and remediation efforts. Furthermore, a plan of action and milestones is established to guide ongoing improvements and ensure a continuous and adaptive approach to cybersecurity.
6. Authorize
In this step, the culmination of meticulous risk management efforts leads to executive approval of the implemented risk mitigation mechanisms.
This pivotal phase involves the creation of comprehensive authorization packages, encompassing essential components such as an executive summary, system security and privacy plan, assessment report(s), and a plan of action and milestones. The risk determination, a key outcome of the assessment, is communicated, accompanied by well-defined risk responses.
The ultimate authorization decision for the system and its controls is then rendered, signifying a critical juncture where executive stakeholders approve or deny the established risk mitigation measures. This step solidifies the commitment to a secure and resilient digital environment, as administrative approval acknowledges the organization’s preparedness to safeguard its systems and information against potential threats and vulnerabilities.
7. Monitoring
The NIST RMF Monitor step is the last stage in this framework, and it underscores the imperative of a continuous monitoring strategy to ascertain the ongoing effectiveness of security controls.
This phase encompasses multifaceted activities, beginning with continuously monitoring the system and its environment to identify and address emerging threats promptly. Ongoing assessments are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented controls, ensuring their sustained relevance and reliability. The analysis and response to the outputs generated by continuous monitoring activities form a critical component, enabling proactive measures against potential risks. Regular reports detailing the security and privacy posture are generated for management, providing valuable insights into the organization’s risk landscape. Moreover, the monitoring step also involves the ongoing authorization process, emphasizing cybersecurity’s dynamic and adaptive nature, where continual vigilance is paramount in safeguarding systems and information against evolving threats.
Security, Risk Management and Compliance with Akitra!
Establishing trust is a crucial competitive differentiator when courting new SaaS businesses in today’s era of data breaches and compromised privacy. Customers and partners want assurances that their organizations are doing everything possible to prevent disclosing sensitive data and putting them at risk, and compliance certification fills that need.
Akitra offers an industry-leading, AI-powered Compliance Automation platform for SaaS companies. Using automated evidence collection and continuous monitoring, together with a full suite of customizable policies and controls as a compliance foundation, our compliance automation platform and services help our customers become compliance-ready for security standards like SOC 1, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, NIST CSF, NIST 800–53, NIST 800–171, FedRAMP, CCPA, CMMC, SOX ITGC, and more such as CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark, Australian ISM and Essential Eight etc. In addition, companies can use Akitra’s Risk Management product for overall risk management using quantitative methodologies such as Factorial Analysis of Information Risks (FAIR) and qualitative methods, including NIST-based for your company, Vulnerability Assessment and Pen Testing services, Trust Center, and AI-based Automated Questionnaire Response product to streamline and expedite security questionnaire response processes, delivering huge cost savings. Our compliance and security experts will provide customized guidance to navigate the end-to-end compliance process confidently. Akitra Academy provides easy-to-learn short video courses on security, compliance, and related topics of immense significance for today’s fast-growing companies.
The benefits of our solution include enormous savings in time, human resources, and cost savings, including discounted audit fees with our audit firm partners. Customers achieve compliance certification fast and cost-effectively, stay continuously compliant as they grow, and can become certified under additional frameworks using a single compliance automation platform.
Build customer trust. Choose Akitra TODAY!
To book your FREE DEMO, contact us right here.
