Why are Cyber Security Frameworks Important?
Cyber security frameworks are important because they enable organisations to identify and assess their existing cyber security threats and vulnerabilities while also providing a set of best practices to address and mitigate threats in the future.
Five of the biggest benefits of cyber security standards and frameworks include:
- Standardisation – They provide a standardised approach for managing and mitigating cyber security risks to ensure consistency throughout an organisation.
- Risk Management – Frameworks help identify, assess, and prioritise risks, enabling organisations to allocate resources effectively to protect critical assets.
- Compliance – For organisations that need to adhere to industry and legal regulations, cyber security standards and frameworks help to ensure compliance.
- Resilience – Implementing a structured framework empowers organisations to be better prepared to respond and recover from cyber security incidents, minimising both impact and downtime.
- Continuous Improvement – Cyber security frameworks encourage ongoing monitoring, assessment, and improvement of cyber security practices, helping organisations adapt to meet evolving threats and technologies.
Key Components of a Cyber Security Framework
Although every cyber security framework is different, there are certain key components that are applicable across the board. These components include:
- Identify
To effectively manage and respond to cyber security risks, organisations must fully understand their assets, data, capabilities, and systems, as well as any weak spots within these environments.
- Protect
Organisations must develop and deploy the necessary safeguards to mitigate the effects of potential cyber security breaches and events.
- Detect
Organisations need to develop the necessary procedures to identify cyber security incidents as early as possible.
- Respond
Organisations need to be able to create effective response plans to contain the impacts of cyber security incidents.
- Recover
Organisations need to develop and deploy effective procedures to restore any capabilities or environments damaged by a cyber security event.
What are the Types of Cyber Security Frameworks?
While different cyber security frameworks tend to have similar wider goals, they can be broken down into three types, depending on the needed function for the organisation using them. These three types are:
Control Frameworks
- Generate a baseline strategy for an organisation's cyber security department
- Offer a basic group of cyber security controls
- Assess the current state of an organisation's infrastructure and technology
- Help organisations prioritise the implementation of security controls
Program Frameworks
- Assess the present state of an organisation's existing security program
- Create a comprehensive cyber security program
- Measure the developed program's security and competitive analysis
- Enables constant communication between cyber security teams and key stakeholders
Risk Frameworks
- Define the required processes for risk assessment and management
- Develop a security program for risk management
- Identify and assess an organisation's existing security risks
- Help organisations to prioritise security measures
Common Cyber Security Standards and Frameworks
When it comes to determining which cyber security framework is best for your organisation, there are several considerations you must take into account. These include the industry you're in; certain industries have compliance standards that must be met which industry-specific frameworks are tailored towards. Moreover, certain frameworks are developed by government organisations and are required for contractors that partner with other government organisations.
To help determine which framework is the most appropriate for your organisation, we've looked at some of the most popular global frameworks. These include:
NIST Cyber Security Framework
Originally developed by the United States government to protect America's critical infrastructure from cyberattacks, the NIST Cyber Security Framework is a set of security standards that can be used by companies to find, identify, and respond to cyberattacks. The framework includes guidelines to help organisations prevent and recover from cyberattacks using five key best practices:
- Identify
- Protect
- Detect
- Respond
- Recover
The Center for Internet Security (CIS) Critical Security Controls
The CIS Critical Security Control framework was developed to help protect companies that have little to no cyber security practices in place. It includes 20 controls that are regularly updated by security professionals. It progresses from basic to foundational and organisational. The CIS framework uses benchmarks based on other standards, including NIST and HIPPA, that map security standards and provide alternative configurations for organisations that aren't subject to mandatory security protocols.
The International Standards Organization (ISO) Frameworks
ISO has two frameworks that pertain to cyber security – ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002. These are internationally recognised cyber security standards that provide frameworks for both internal and third-party use. These frameworks are the most extensive, with 114 different controls, broken down into 14 categories, and they are based on the presumption that an organisation already has an Information Security Management System. As such, these frameworks are recommended for organisations that have the necessary resources to dedicate to them.
For more information on selecting the correct cyber security framework for your organisation, contact us today.