Cybersecurity Standardized Operating Procedures
Governments, Industry sectors, and organizations worldwide are increasingly recognizing and accepting the Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) as a recommended cybersecurity baseline to help improve their systems’ cybersecurity risk management and resilience. This write-up evaluates the CSF for public and commercial sector customers who can use it to align with the CSF to improve their cybersecurity posture. It also provides a third-party validated attestation confirming alignment with the CSF risk management practices, allowing appropriately protecting data across the infrastructure.
What Problem Does the Cybersecurity Standardized Operating Procedures Solve?
Lack of In-House Security Experience – Writing security documentation is a skill many good cybersecurity professionals are not proficient at, and they avoid the task at all costs. Tasking your security personnel to write comprehensive documentation means you are actively removing them from protecting and defending your network, which can be costly to your organization. The CSOP is a fast and efficient way to obtain comprehensive security procedures for your organization!
Compliance Requirements – Nearly every organization, regardless of industry, must have formally-documented security procedures. Requirements range from PCI DSS to NIST. The CSOP is designed with compliance and focuses on leading security frameworks to address reasonably expected security requirements.
Audit Failures – Security documentation does not age gracefully. Outdated documentation leads to gaps that expose organizations to audit failures and system compromises. The CSOP’s procedures map is leading security frameworks to show you precisely what is required to stay secure and compliant.
Vendor Requirements – It is common for clients and partners to request evidence of a security program, including policies, standards, and procedures.
Companies choose the Cybersecurity Standardized Operating Procedures because they:
- Need for comprehensive cybersecurity procedures to address their compliance needs.
- They need to be able to edit the document to their specific technology, staffing, and other considerations.
- Need documentation directly linked to ISO 27001, ISO 27002, GDPR, NIST, PCI DSS, and other frameworks.
- We need an affordable and timely solution to address not having procedures.
Security Benefits of Adopting the CSF
The CSF offers a simple-yet-effective construct consisting of three elements – Core, Tiers, and Profiles. The Core represents a set of cybersecurity practices, outcomes, and technical, operational, and managerial security controls that support the five risk management functions–
- Identify
- Protect
- Detect
- Respond
- Recover
The Tiers characterize an organization’s aptitude and maturity for managing the CSF functions and controls. The Profiles are intended to convey the organization’s “as is” and “to be” cybersecurity postures. Together, these Services Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) elements enable organizations to prioritize and address cybersecurity risks consistent with their business and mission needs.
It is important to note that implementing the Core, Tiers, and Profiles is the responsibility of the organization adopting the CSF (for example, government agencies, industries, financial institutions, commercial start- ups, existing organizations, and so on). This write-up focuses on solutions and capabilities supporting the Core to achieve the CSF’s security outcomes (Subcategories).
The Core references security controls from widely adopted, internationally recognized standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, NIST 800-53, PCI DSS, Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT), Council on Cybersecurity (CCS) Top 20 Critical Security Controls (CSC), and ANSI/ISA-62443 Standards-Security for Industrial Automation and Control Systems.
While this list represents some of the most widely reputed standards, the CSF encourages organizations to use any controls catalog to meet their organizational needs best. The CSF was also designed to be size-, sector- and country-agnostic; therefore, public, and private sector organizations should have assurance in the applicability of the CSF regardless of the entity or nation-state location.