NIST Compliance Consulting
The First-Class Ticket for Adopting NIST 800-171 Compliance
It may be challenging to understand comprehensive NIST standards, and many firms fail to comply with the latest cybersecurity guidelines set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). But don’t worry – experts from IVTAS offer easy-to-understand yet complete NIST cybersecurity consulting, helping you achieve compliance in the long run.
IVTAS is a NIST consultant with long-standing experience in the cybersecurity field. So far, we have helped clients from different industries understand and implement the latest cybersecurity practices to enforce their systems and reduce the most common corporate risks.
NIST Compliance Solutions
Although your company must become NIST-compliant, keep in mind that it’s not its ultimate goal. By obtaining the necessary NIST certification, your organization proves its effort to implement the latest cybersecurity practices to safeguard its sensitive information and reduce risks of data breaches.
Completing IT-related tasks is not a job for a full-time entrepreneur. Focus on your core business and let skilled cybersecurity consultants from IVTAS implement the most efficient cybersecurity practices and help you operate your business in a 100% safe environment.
Besides helping your organization to keep up to date with the newest changes in the NIST cybersecurity framework, IVTAS offers the following NIST compliance services:
- Review your business processes and requirements to find the most convenient NIST publication within your budget
- Initial assessment to check your current compliance level
- Raise awareness around NIST compliance
- A complete evaluation report and a suggested security plan
- A 100% unique roadmap for achieving NIST compliance, priorities, and milestones
- Enhance your cybersecurity infrastructure to meet NIST requirements
- Monitor cybersecurity controls looking for their strengths and weaknesses
- Protect your system from malicious software and breach
- Detecting, reporting, and fixing any NIST-relevant flaws in your security
- Align your third-party vendors to your NIST goals
HOW DOES NIST CONSULTING WORK?
We Help Achieve NIST Compliance in 3 Steps
When we said that we make NIST compliance easy, we really meant it. Our cybersecurity experts use a 3-phase NIST IT security consulting process to lead you through the essence of achieving compliance and understanding key aspects of the latest NIST cybersecurity standards.
Phase 1: Project Creation
Upon a thorough evaluation of your current compliance levels, we develop a detailed plan with all the roles and responsibilities within your team.
Our goal is to align the critical NIST standards to your specific needs. We’ll review your essential business processes and system architecture to check their current security levels. We’ll also consider your data’s accuracy and availability and validate a piece of information you share with third parties.
When the first phase is complete, our NIST 800-171 consultant will provide a map of what CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information) you store and transmit. This map helps us craft a custom-tailored NIST compliance project to match your organization’s requirements and budget.
Phase 2: Detecting Gaps in Your Security
IVTAS offers professional, and thorough NIST compliance consulting services to help you understand, implement, and prove your compliance status in the NIST 800-171 most critical NIST requirements grouped into 14 security domains:
- Access Control
- Awareness and Training
- Audit and Accountability
- Configuration Management
- Identification and Authentication
- Incident Response
- Maintenance
- Media Protection
- Personnel Security
- Physical Protection
- Risk Assessment
- Security Assessment
- System and Communications Protection
- System and Information Integrity
We’ll conduct a detailed gap assessment to check whether your data elements align with all 14 security domains. Gap assessment includes reviews of all your policies and procedures, scanning your system configurations, a series of interviews and process walkthroughs, and other validations that help us detect weaknesses within your security plan.
We can create a roadmap and a Systems Security Plan (SSP) to resolve the compliance issues and get you closer to NIST standards by determining the gaps for which you fail to comply with NIST standards.
Phase 3: Additional NIST Compliance Services
You can count on our additional NIST compliance services to ensure your organization meets all the NIST requirements and is ready to continue delivering its products or services to governmental agencies or the government itself.
These services include:
- Suggest what actions to prioritize to strengthen your compliance
- Create a plan to align your NIST compliance goals with other compliances you have in place
- Monitor your compliance gaps and provide real-time updates
BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH US
Why Choose NIST Security Compliance Experts from IVTAS?
IVTAS specializes in cybersecurity concerns and has many years of experience helping small and midsized businesses achieve different compliances and maintain them in the long run.
Besides our professional, dependable, and on-schedule NIST compliance services and custom-tailored solutions for each organization’s specific goals and challenges, our clients choose us for the following reasons:
- NIST compliance audit for FREE
- 24/7 network monitoring, regular reporting, and successful risk mitigation
- Thorough IT risk assessment
- Best cybersecurity practices
- Processes to check if your organization meets all the NIST requirements
- Competitive pricing
- On-site, chat, and phone IT support
WHO NEEDS TO BE NIST COMPLIANT?
Join IVTAS to Approach NIST Compliance with Ease
NIST framework is a set of standards that apply to federal agencies and organizations working closely with the government. It includes different pieces of advice regarding password security and complexity, as well as other vital cybersecurity aspects businesses should adopt to keep completing their business tasks with peace of mind.
So far, we’ve helped different organizations and agencies understand the essence of NIST compliance and adopt all the necessary practices to maintain compliance. For example:
- Government staffing agencies
- Universities and educational institutions
- Research institutes
- Third-party consulting companies
- Service providers
- Procurement service providers
- Companies selling stuff to the government
- Companies selling products to government suppliers
All the above-mentioned companies and institutions must comply with NIST standards because they access, store, process, and transmit sensitive information about their clients, staff, and students.
Any company looking forward to collaborating with the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Transportation, NASA, or other federal agencies, should prove its NIST compliance.
In addition to NIST compliance, organizations working closely with the government should establish the most advanced cybersecurity protocols and procedures to safeguard their systems from the most sophisticated cyber threats leading to a data breach or data loss.
SPEAK WITH NIST CONSULTANT
(858) 769-5393
UNDERSTAND NIST COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS
NIST Security Standards in a Nutshell
The NIST risk management framework consists of 5 rules – identify, protect, detect, detect, respond, and recover. Each rule suggests the best practices and safety standards organizations should use to manage and mitigate cybersecurity risks that could affect the safety of sensitive data they’re handling.
IDENTIFY
The first rule is Identify. It refers to the development of the organizational understanding to evaluate cybersecurity risks affecting systems, data, and valuable assets. It includes the following:
- Asset Management (ID.AM)
- Business Environment (ID.BE)
- Governance (ID.GV)
- Risk Assessment (ID.RA)
- Risk Management Strategy (ID.RM)
PROTECT
To Protect means to implement and develop proper safeguards so that your organization can provide vital infrastructure services. It encompasses the following:
- Access Control (PR.AC)
- Awareness and Training (PR.AT)
- Data Security (PR.DS)
- Information Protection Processes and Procedures (PR.IP)
- Maintenance (PR.MA)
- Protective Technology (PR.PT)
DETECT
The Detect rule involves the implementation and development of adequate activities in order to identify a certain cybersecurity event. It includes the following parts:
- Anomalies and Events (DE.AE)
- Security Continuous Monitoring (DE.CM)
- Detection Processes (DE.DP)
RESPOND
The rule Respond requires the implementation and development of efficient activities in order to react to a detected cybersecurity event. The categories it boasts are:
- Response Planning (RS.RP)
- Communications (RS.CO)
- Analysis (RS.AN)
- Mitigation (RS.MI)
- Improvements (RS.IM)
RECOVER
The rule Recover refers to the implementation and development of viable activities to restore services and data affected by a cybersecurity event. It includes the following categories:
- Recovery Planning (RC.RP)
- Improvements (RC.IM)
- Communications (RC.CO)
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LEARN MORE ABOUT NIST FRAMEWORK BASICS
FAQ
What is NIST?
NIST refers to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is a non-regulatory federal agency within the US Department of Commerce. Its goal is to promote US innovation and industrial development through advanced technology. It was founded in 1901, and its mission has remained the same since then – to improve economic security and quality of life by developing unique tech solutions.
What is NIST Compliance?
NIST compliance is a set of standards provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It suggests the best cybersecurity practices federal agencies should implement to protect sensitive data from cyberattacks and breaches that could affect national security.
How to Get NIST Compliance?
Companies can become NIST-compliant once they complete the Certification and Accreditation processes to demonstrate their information systems are 100% secure. The Certification process requires examining and evaluating security practices established within the information system, while Accreditation means formally accepting the risks the system is facing.
Organizations that fail to comply with NIST regulations often face charges or become immediately excluded from the project. It directly applies to governmental contractors, subcontractors, and third-party vendors.
Is NIST Compliance Mandatory?
Federal agencies, contractors, and subcontractors working closely with the government are required to comply with the NIST requirements and guidelines. Generally, most companies are recommended to do so, as well, but most of them aren’t actually required to comply with the NIST framework.
NIST 800-53 vs. NIST 800-171
The key difference between NIST 800-53 and NIST 800-171 is that 800-53 refers directly to federal organizations while NIST 800-171 applies to non-federal networks.
What are the NIST Password Standards?
One part of the NIST guidelines are dedicated to password protection. It states that passwords should contain at least 32 bits of data and be hashed with a one-way key derivation function. Additionally, NIST suggests the following password practices:
- 8 – 64 characters
- Special characters
- Stay away from sequential or repetitive characters or numbers like 123456
- Avoid frequently used passwords (birthdays or dictionary words)
- Do not provide password hints
What are the Most Important Phases of NIST Incident Response?
Incident response is a vital part of the company’s security plan. The NIST incident response ensures that organizations know how to deal with security breaches, cyberattacks, and server malfunctions. It is conducted through 4 phases:
- Preparation phase: The first phase refers to everything the organization does to prepare for incident response appropriately–implementing the right tools, training and educating the team, and working to avoid cybersecurity events.
- Detection and analysis: The second phase is the most difficult as it requires incident detection and assessment.
- Containment, eradication, and recovery: The third phase’s goal is to keep the incident impact small and mitigate the risk of additional service disruptions.
- Post-event activity: Th fourth phase is about learning and improving the system’s security after the incident has happened. By focusing on this phase, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of further incidents, but this step is often underestimated.