Virtually all IT professionals know that cybersecurity is important. The question, though, is which practices and procedures they should follow to help protect against threats.
NIST compliance is one way to gain clarity surrounding that question. By complying with NIST’s cybersecurity recommendations, managed service providers (MSPs) and other professionals can enhance IT security.
In addition, NIST compliance may in some cases be necessary for working with certain types of organizations, since most U.S. federal government agencies require their vendors to be NIST-compliant.
This article explains what NIST compliance means, who must or should comply with NIST and which key security controls and practices organizations must implement for NIST compliance purposes.
What Is NIST Compliance?
NIST compliance is the practice of following the cybersecurity recommendations established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST.
NIST is an organization within the U.S. government that develops standards related to science and technology. These include a set of cybersecurity standards, known as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF). NIST 2.0, the most recent major version of the framework, appeared in 2024.
Who Should Comply with NIST?
NIST compliance is relevant for two distinct groups:
- U.S. government contractors and vendors: Organizations that do business with U.S. federal agencies must comply with NIST in most cases. This is because the U.S. government requires its contractors and vendors to demonstrate NIST compliance as a means of helping to mitigate cyber risks that may impact government resources. Note that this requirement applies not just to direct government contractors but also to subcontractors – so a business that contracts with another business, which is itself a federal contractor, must be NIST-compliant if it carries out activities that impact the federal agency.
- Other organizations: NIST compliance is not a strict requirement for businesses that don’t contract (directly or indirectly) with U.S. government agencies. Nonetheless, many organizations voluntarily choose to comply with the NIST CSF as a way of enhancing their cyber hygiene. This is especially true of U.S.-based companies, since NIST tends to be viewed as the de facto cybersecurity standard for all U.S. organizations to meet. (In other parts of the world, ISO 27001, a separate cybersecurity standard, is a more commonly used framework.) However, the NIST requirements aren’t linked to the U.S. in any specific way, and any organization, in any location, may choose to become NIST-compliant if it wishes.
Thus, although NIST CSF compliance is technically only required for businesses that operate in the U.S. federal government sector, voluntarily complying with NIST can be a best practice from a cybersecurity and compliance readiness perspective. Proactively becoming NIST-compliant also makes it easier for businesses to pursue opportunities as federal government contractors or subcontractors should they arise in the future.
The Importance of NIST Compliance
Now that we’ve covered the basics of NIST compliance, let’s look a little more closely at why NIST is important for two specific groups – MSPs and businesses at large
Why NIST Matters for MSPs
For MSPs, operating in ways that align with the NIST CSF can help to set a high standard for cybersecurity that clients will appreciate. The ability to say – and demonstrate – that a business is NIST-compliant shows a strong commitment to cybersecurity, and it can help MSPs stand out in a competitive market.
In addition, NIST compliance is a requirement for any MSPs seeking to work in the government sector, since their prospective clients will typically require NIST compliance. MSPs will fail vendor risk assessments if they seek to offer managed services to a U.S. federal government agency or contractor without being NIST-compliant.
Why NIST Matters for Businesses and IT Teams
For businesses in general, choosing to comply with NIST is a good step toward overall compliance readiness. No matter which industry a company operates in, NIST compliance helps establish a strong security posture that will also prime the organization for compliance with other cybersecurity or data privacy frameworks, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
NIST CSF compliance can also help to minimize downtime risks and ensure business continuity. That is because, in addition to defining controls and procedures that help to prevent and identify cyber risks, NIST includes provisions related to backing up systems and preparing for efficient recovery.
Security Controls for NIST Compliance
The current version of the NIST framework includes over 1,000 security controls, meaning specific procedures or protections that businesses should employ. Not every organization needs to implement every control; the controls are only applicable if they relate to a type of resource or risk that the organization needs to manage.
Thus, rather than trying to identify individual NIST controls to implement, it often makes more sense to focus on NIST “control families.” The control families are groups of controls, each of which relates to a different category of risk or area of operation.
There are currently 20 NIST control families:
- Access Control (AC): Controls who can access systems and information and under what conditions.
- Awareness and Training (AT): Ensures personnel are aware of security risks and trained to carry out security responsibilities.
- Audit and Accountability (AU): Tracks system activities and holds users accountable for their actions.
- Configuration Management (CM): Manages system settings and changes to maintain security and integrity.
- Contingency Planning (CP): Prepares for emergency response, backup operations and system recovery.
- Identification and Authentication (IA): Verifies the identity of users, devices, or processes before granting access.
- Incident Response (IR): Detects, responds to and recovers from cybersecurity incidents.
- Maintenance (MA): Ensures that system maintenance is performed securely and by authorized personnel.
- Media Protection (MP): Protects digital and physical media containing sensitive information.
- Physical and Environmental Protection (PE): Safeguards physical access to systems and protects against environmental threats.
- Personnel Security (PS): Ensures individuals are screened and managed appropriately for access to systems.
- Planning (PL): Establishes policies and plans for implementing and managing security controls.
- Program Management (PM): Provides organization-wide oversight and governance of the security program.
- Risk Assessment (RA): Identifies and evaluates risks to organizational operations and systems.
- Security Assessment and Authorization (CA): Ensures systems are assessed for security risks and authorized for use.
- System and Communications Protection (SC): Protects data in transit and at rest and safeguards system boundaries.
- System and Information Integrity (SI): Identifies, reports, and corrects flaws and unauthorized changes to systems.
- System and Services Acquisition (SA): Ensures security is considered throughout the system development and procurement lifecycle.
The official reference for details on NIST control families and individual controls is NIST Special Publication 800-53, which defines the NIST requirements in detail.
Core Functions within the NIST Cybersecurity Framework
In addition to defining security controls, NIST breaks cybersecurity operations into five key “functions”: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover. Think of the functions as a high-level framework to guide cybersecurity strategy, while the controls are specific steps that can mitigate various risks and threats.
Here’s a closer look at each of the NIST functions.
Identify
The Identify function focuses on assessing and evaluating IT assets and associated risks. It includes practices like assessing the access controls that determine who can do what with IT systems. Risk prioritization, and the identification of assets that would pose the greatest danger to the organization if they were compromised by attackers, is also part of the Identify function.
Protect
The goal of the Protect function is to implement adequate protections for managing the various types of risks that could affect an organization’s network, cloud environment and other IT resources. It includes the implementation of effective access controls, as well as practices like employee training.
Detect
The detect function centers on identifying active risks and threats. Although ideally no cybersecurity events will occur, in practice it is impossible to mitigate all potential risks – so detecting them before they escalate is another key step in the NIST approach to cybersecurity.
Respond
Detecting cybersecurity threats is only valuable if the organization can also react effectively – which is where the Respond function comes in. It covers the practices of developing and carrying out response plans that allow organizations to contain attacks once they are underway, and to remediate threats until a breach is fully contained.
Recover
The final NIST function, Recover, focuses on restoring systems affected by a cyber attack. It includes practices like backing up data and having recovery plans in place so that breached endpoints, databases and other assets can be restored with minimal data loss.
Conclusion: NIST compliance as a cornerstone of cyber hygiene
Although the portion of MSPs and businesses that are strictly required to comply with NIST is small, many organizations can benefit from NIST compliance even if they face no specific mandate to follow the NIST CSF. To that end, it’s a best practice to understand the NIST security controls and functions, then implement procedures that conform with them.
Doing so may help your organization win government business – and even if it doesn’t, it will leave you more secure and compliant, which is never a bad thing.
Simple. Reliable.
