Overview Of CyberSecurity Framework With Implementation

The term Cybersecurity has been in limelight for over few years because of the continuous cyber attacks that have been happening. Well let us know what is Cyber Security in general and understand what is the main use of its implementation.

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Cybersecurity is nothing but a standard process, a bunch of technologies used to implement the standard processes defined to secure or to safeguard organization’s data and their network of systems. The use of Cybersecurity is to make sure that there is not unauthorized access to the confidential data. Also, the process also dictates that Cybersecurity is not only about cyber safety it is also physical security as well.

The following areas are definitely looked into:

Application security process
Information security
Network security
Operational security
Data/ Disaster Recovery
End-user education

Related Page: Cybersecurity Vs Information Security - Key Differences

Why is Cybersecurity important?

Cybersecurity is an important aspect because the current business trends are all operating on the data that the organizations have harvested for years. The economic growth of the company is completely depended upon how well their operational structure is managed and how well it is safeguarded against cyber attacks.

The main issue with Cyber Security is that it is not just one of a process where you define the process and stop. In Fact, it is an evolutionary process which needs to be changed from time to time.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework

NIST stands for National Institute of Standards and Technology. It is a standard process or a framework that is set for all private sectors organizations that have to fulfill and safeguard their data by preventing, detecting and responding to cyber attacks in the most efficient way. By following the standard process, the organizations will be able to protect their data and network of systems by external cyber attacks.

The entire cybersecurity framework actually is executed in three different levels and they are as follows:

Level	Execution steps
1. Executive Level	This is the top level where a lot of focus is on Organizational risks and importance is given to understand the same. Also, the actions that happen at this level is: Risk decisions and priorities are to be defined.
2. Business Process Level	This is middle layer of the management where the main focus is on Critical infrastructure and risk management. The action steps that need to happen at this level is to select the desired profiles, allocates budget to rectify the necessary.
3. Implementation or Operations Level	This is the actual layer where all the key steps are implemented and also make sure that the infrastructure layer is secure and bulletproof. The main focus is to make sure the infrastructure is secured and the appropriate implementations should happen.

Implementation Tiers in NIST CyberSecurity Framework:

Tier 1: Partial Implementation:

Within this implementation tier, the process that is followed is informal and users have limited awareness about cybersecurity and have minimal cybersecurity coordination.

Tier 2: Risk-Informed:

Within this implementation tier, the process is explained to the management and gets an approval for process implementation. But the process is not implemented and deployed at the organizational level, it is just followed in certain areas where it needs the most.

Tier 3: Repeatable:

Within this implementation tier, the process is explained to the high-level management and the process is implemented at the organizational level. The evaluation of the process happens regularly where the implementation process is reviewed and updates are provided. It needs formal regular followups.

Tier 4: Adaptive:

Within this implementation tier, the process is actively evaluated and cybersecurity implementation is actually considered as a part of the organizational culture. The risk management process gives out all the necessary details where all the users are educated about the security policies that everyone should follow as a standard practice.

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Benefits of Implementing NIST Cybersecurity Framework

The following are the benefits of implementing NIST Cybersecurity Framework within your organization:

* The framework acts as a standard process that every organization has to follow on. By abiding by these standard processes, the organizations can actually understand, structure and manage the risks associated with Cyber attacks. If these are not mitigated at early stages then the organizations have to experience huge financial loss and trust factor among the customers will be disturbed and permanently the organization’s financial and economic growth in the market will be at risk.

* With the help of the framework, the organizations can actually foresee the risks involved by identifying at an earlier stage.

* The standard process or policies include in user education as well. The policy dictates that the users have to abide by few standards while using their electronic equipment and have to make sure they don’t use any external hard drive without prior permission.

* WIth the process in place, we can actually establish the appropriate level of security based  on the organization's requirements.

* Helps the organizations to allocate a certain amount of cybersecurity budget during the budget planning and allocation at a higher level. This helps the organization to implement few standard procedures by hiring the right talent.

How to Implement NIST Cybersecurity Framework:

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is a perfect roadmap for the private sector or mid-level organizations where they don't have a formal security process in place. That being said, to implement this in the day to day life, the organizations have to understand the following core concepts of a Cybersecurity framework.

The framework actually consists of 3 main components, they are:

Core

Implementation tiers

Profile

Identify: During this stage, the organizations will understand and manage the cybersecurity risks that can happen to the systems, data and the assets.

Protect: Based on the risks identified at the top, appropriate processes should be developed and implemented. This process step will make sure that the infrastructure services are appropriately deployed as per the plan.

Detect: With the help of right infrastructure services, this step continuously looks for a suspicious activity and determines whether there is an actual threat to the systems.

Respond: Once an alert is alarmed, appropriate measures are taken into consideration to mitigating the risk associated with the systems.

Recover: This stage is a self-maintenance or self-evaluation stage for the infrastructure services. Any services or capabilities are affected by the cyberattacks will be monitored and finally repaired during this phase. So the entire process is back into action to safeguard the system's network.

Cybersecurity Framework in India

The government of India has released a set of instructions under a policy “ National Cyber Security Policy” in the year 2013. The process talks about safeguarding your assets and data in the best possible way. But as said cybersecurity process is not one-time setup process it is an evolutionary process where the frequent revisions and amendments should be made at regular intervals.

Most of our financial business and forecasting has completely gone online and the digital wave has hit the country never before. So it makes sense to build your business online but at the same time focus and allocate budgets to protect the same against cyber attacks.

Cybersecurity Framework for Banks:

The number of cyber attacks has gone up from the past few years and the data from Reserve Bank of  India has actually put all the banks into a action mode. The number of cyber attacks has grown significantly in last two years and thus made a strict rule to have cybersecurity frameworks implementation in the Banking sector. This allows the customers to make sure that they are protected against the cyber attacks and also the provides them a level of security for their investments made so far.

All the banks are geared up for an extra level of security and few banks have already started implementing a safe and secure way of handling the debit cards. Earlier, we used to get chip free debit cards but now all the banks are going to chip-based debit or credit cards which ads an extra layer of security and it fights against debit card cloning fraud.

If the customer’s queries or requests are not dealt in one month span, they can go file a complaint against Banking Ombudsman scheme. This is more sort of a regulatory body which oversees and makes sure the customers are always taken care of when they have not received legitimate answers for their queries and compensations.

Conclusion:

As the businesses are growing day by day and moving towards the digital wave it is mandatory to have a regulatory service or a set standard to make sure how to safeguard the assets and data in the virtual world. The governments and financial sectors have identified a need for having a regulatory body which strictly monitors the cybersecurity space but it is mandatory that the organizations have to do their bit to contribute to the entire effort.

For this to implement in the perfect way and make sure the organization’s assets and data are safeguarded all the time from cyber attacks then it is mandatory to have special forces or talents to achieve this. It is mandatory to allocate a certain amount of budget to make this happen and also continuously monitor and enhance the system. This is the only way to make sure the business is completely protected against the cyber attacks.