How to get started with NIST

Runecast Academy Series 2 – Part 5. How to get started with NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a non-regulatory agency under the US Department of Commerce. Its main role is to develop standards that apply to various industries around the world that operate in critical infrastructure such as government industries. One of the standards it has published is the NIST 800-53 standard, which offers security and privacy controls for federal information systems and organizations. 

As information technology develops and progresses, the need to safeguard and strengthen IT infrastructures becomes even more essential. This update to NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-53 responds to the need to protect complex systems and infrastructures, by employing a proactive and systemic approach. 

Compliance with the NIST standards is mandatory for US federal agencies or any contractors in the supply chain. Other organizations that process, store or transmit sensitive information are recommended to be compliant with NIST in order to strengthen the resilience and availability of their infrastructure.  Non-compliance or failing to maintain NIST compliance may lead to contract termination, hurt the company’s reputation, or even put the company in legal troubles. 

Challenges to NIST Compliance

Time-Consuming

We know the job of security and IT teams is not only to implement security standards and prepare for audits, they also have endless daily tasks that need to be settled. Adding to this pain, considering the amount of time it requires to implement each control, and keeping them updated over time, is simply mind-blowing. 

Lack of IT Resources

The process of implementing the controls of a certain security standard is not only time-consuming, but it also requires more people to be involved in scanning and remediating and then preparing regular reports for the security audits.  

Never-ending updates

In order to prevent security attacks, or breaches, NIST makes frequent updates of controls. These controls are designed for specific versions of devices, operating systems and software, therefore, unique vulnerabilities may need to be considered with each iteration. Keeping up with the implementation of each security control adds to the above-mentioned challenges. 

Different IT Environments 

As most companies today work in hybrid or multi-cloud environments, it has become even more difficult to check them manually, as each environment is patched by a different control, and some of them even require more than one. 

Runecast

Real-time Security Analysis and Reports 

Being compliant with all the necessary security standards is not an easy task for most organizations due to the time and resources it requires. But time and resources are the most valuable assets organizations own. Considering how difficult it is to stay on top of all the security standards and at the same time handle all the daily tasks, we designed a solution that makes your journey easy: Runecast. Now with Runecast you will say goodbye to long hours of scanning and implementing security standard rules.

Runecast is a platform designed to bring an easy solution to your organization. It scans your configurations in real time and provides you with fit-gap analysis and remediation scripts. Also, you can easily filter and sort issues and compare historical configurations at your convenience. In addition, it offers a wide range of tech solutions regarding security hardening guidelines, vendor best practices, vulnerability management, configuration drift management etc. Furthermore, Runecast automates your vulnerability management and security standards compliance audits for AWS, Azure, Kubernetes and VMware, as well as for Windows and Linux OS.

Runecast proactively assists with Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM), and Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC). In addition, it provides continuous audits against other common security standards such as: HIPAA, PCI DSS, DISA STIG, BSI IT-Grundschutz, ISO 27001, GDPR, Cyber Essentials (UK), Essential 8 (Australia), and the CISA KEVs catalog. 

Summary

Compliance with NIST is mandatory to US federal agencies, and other organizations that are in the supply chain. Itis recommended even for others that want to have extra protection in their environment. Maintaining a secure environment is becoming more and more challenging and so is the compliance journey. Considering all your effort, Runecast offers an automated solution to save time and other resources by quickly scanning your environment and remediating. Also, Runecast comes with a lot of up-to-date solutions such as security hardening guidelines, vendor best practices, vulnerability management, configuration drift management, etc, that will ease the journey to your progress. Lastly, it provides audits against more than 10 security standards for AWS, Azure, Kubernetes and VMware, as well as for Windows and Linux OS.