Requirements of NIST Compliance

To ensure their customers’ and employees’ safety and security, many companies are turning to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for guidance on creating a more secure business environment. NIST provides standards, frameworks, and guidelines that companies can use to build a cybersecurity program. While meeting the requirements for NIST compliance may seem overwhelming, businesses of all sizes should take the necessary steps to protect themselves from cyber threats and reduce their risk of being compromised.

Requirements of NIST Compliance

At Domain Technology Group, we understand the importance of compliance with NIST standards. It’s not our first tour working with NIST frameworks, given that we’ve cooperated with the FFIEC to provide cybersecurity assessments determining whether target companies are NIST compliant or not.

We’ve made it our mission to help companies comply with these standards. We offer a comprehensive suite of products and services to help your company meet all requirements for NIST compliance. We also have a team of experts who are familiar with the NIST standards and can help you ensure that you meet all of the requirements. There’s no better partner for attaining NIST compliance than one with in-depth familiarity and history authenticating companies for NIST accreditation and compliance.

NIST 800-53 and 171

The NIST 800-53 is a special paper published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to minimize the number of vulnerabilities in the United States infrastructure and information systems.

As released by the DoD in 2017, many federal agencies were at risk of their sensitive information being stolen, breached, and compromised due to insufficient security standards. In response, the NIST-800-53 was drafted to shore up cybersecurity by providing a roadmap and guidance for creating privacy and security policies, protocols, and controls. Ultimately, under the standards implemented by the NIST-800-53 framework, all companies who abide by its guidelines can ensure all systems and services are appropriately secured against malicious actors.

NIST 800-171 is a simpler version of 800-53, focusing mainly on CUI and associated information security controls.

What Are the Requirements?

NIST 800-53 and 171 share a lot of common ground, and meeting the criteria for one will lead you to compliance for the other should your company choose to become fully NIST compliant. NIST 800-53 features more nuance and precision regarding the specific controls and policies needed to meet NIST compliance standards, making it the primary guidelines your company should follow. NIST 800-171, by comparison, is more accessible, having fewer requirements to meet.

While NIST 800-171 is more lenient, full compliance should use NIST 800-53 as your goalposts. To meet those requirements, there are three goals to follow:

  1. Create a NIST Compliance Risk Management Assessment
  2. Create NIST Compliant Access Controls
  3. Prepare to manage audit documentation

Meeting the requirements of NIST compliance proves your company can handle CUI appropriately and safely. The road toward NIST compliance isn’t simple. It helps to work alongside a company like Domain Technology Group with in-depth experience implementing, assessing, and verifying NIST compliance. If you’re interested in a partnership, visit our contact page so we can get started.