The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is one of the most widely used guides for managing cybersecurity risk. Originally developed for critical infrastructure, it has since expanded into general best practice across industries. What makes the NIST Framework so effective is its flexible structure — it doesn’t dictate exactly what every organization must do but instead provides a language and process to help them identify risks, protect assets, detect problems, respond to attacks, and recover from incidents. These five core functions Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover are simple to understand but deeply interconnected

In a world where cyber threats are constantly evolving and the boundaries between physical and digital are blurring (what Verbeek calls the “intelligification” of the material world), frameworks like NIST become even more important. They allow businesses, governments, and individuals to organize their cybersecurity efforts in a systematic way even when they can’t predict every future threat. The emphasis on continuous improvement and regular assessment fits well with the reality of diminishing centralized control and increasing technological complexity.