Cybersecurity continues to become necessary as technology is integrated into all aspects of our modern day society. It is becoming especially critical to the business and financial world. NIST, otherwise known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, provided a document that offers up a framework that is meant to help current businesses avoid future cyber threats.

NIST first gives the basic explanations of what a framework is. It is mainly explained as a series of measures and or controls aimed at providing protection to a company’s infrastructure from cyber threats. The framework was developed due to the increasing amount of technology being integrated into the work place. This meant that businesses began storing their data onto computers making it easier for employees to access. On the opposite end of the spectrum, this opened the door for people outside of the company to remotely access their data by means of hacking. This point is what allows for the framework to be useful as it helps a company stop these threats and also consider possible actions to avoid future risks.

NIST also outlines a series of five actions that help to make up the core of the framework. These five actions are Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. The first action, Identify, is defined by having an understanding of how to be able to manage cyber threats in all aspects of the company. Protect is meant to cause the company to implement safety measures so that their data remains private. This action prevents hackers from gaining access to private information within the company. Detect enables the business to more easily identify potential cyber threats. The fourth action, Respond, makes sure that if there is a cyber threat detected than the company will be able to handle it in an appropriate manner. The final activity is Recover which is meant to build up better defenses so that a cybersecurity incident won’t happen again. All five of these help a company to better itself in the progressing realm of cyberspace. NIST’s framework is becoming a critical component for businesses as we became further and further immersed into the world of technology.

References

01b – NIST_Improving Cybersecurity.pdf. (2018, April 16). Retrieved January 27, 2019, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wPp9kofp-gdlu3NAisszeM8d8ko1djF1/view