Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Can you prove, on demand, which production systems were under continuous monitoring last quarter? Buyers, auditors, and insurers all ask a version of that question, and the answer decides contracts as often as audit findings. NIST compliance means aligning security controls and operations with standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, then holding evidence that the alignment stayed continuous. The frameworks are precise about outcomes and quiet about mechanics.

A lot has changed for the National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST Framework since 2013, when former President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13636 that directed the Executive Branch to: Since the creation of the NIST framework, we’ve seen an evolution in sophisticated cyberattacks on the rise with new challenges like AI.

Today, federal agencies rely extensively on Cloud-based SaaS applications for everything from payment processing and document management, to data security and employee workflow automation. These tools help departments to function very efficiently, but because they are being used for essential government functions, it’s vital that they are safe and secure. For example, personnel at The Pentagon or The Department of Homeland Security can’t just choose any software vendor in the marketplace.

You can take a wide range of actions to nurture a culture of cybersecurity in your organization. Some of them can be directed to your employees - and include initiatives like password management and phishing training - and others are related to strategy to adopt towards cybersecurity risk. That's where the NIST cybersecurity framework comes in (as well as other best practices such as CIS controls).

Last year, we announced our partnership with the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to work on the Implementing a Zero Trust Architecture project. After a year of collaboration with its industry partners, including Ivanti, NIST recently released its preliminary draft, NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide SP 1800-35 Vol B, for public comment.

Government agencies have been working diligently to comply with the 2021 Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. The Executive Order (EO) addresses cybersecurity issues by imposing a new series of federal-wide Zero Trust mandates. Agencies were required to submit their plan development and cloud migration path reporting by July and August of 2021, with more deadlines on the horizon.