NIST Publishes Guidance for Cybersecurity Framework Implementation

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued the NISTIR 8170 guidance, which details eight ways to help federal agencies leverage the NIST cybersecurity framework to deal with common cyber problems. The guidance advises federal agencies to integrate enterprise and cybersecurity management, manage cybersecurity requirements, and integrate and align cybersecurity and acquisition processes. In addition, NISTIR 8170 expands on the need to maintain a comprehensive understanding of cybersecurity risk, report cybersecurity risks and evaluate organizational cybersecurity, MeriTalk reported. NIST officials said the guidance will promote more effective risk management and encourage dialogue within and among federal agencies. A February 2020 Government Accountability Office report attributed the struggle in implementing the NIST cybersecurity framework to the lack of precise measurements of improvement and the framework’s voluntary nature.