January 31 2023 |
Cybercrime incidents are growing worldwide with each passing year. The ever-growing frequency and scale of cyberattacks paint an alarming picture. To highlight a few important causes for this rising trend among many others: Organizations are not implementing sufficient cybersecurity measures, hackers are using more advanced tools and techniques, and more serious cyber threats are appearing every day – as seen with nation states becoming an ever increasing component to consider.
Enterprise cybersecurity is a crucial need in an era where digital technologies empower modern businesses at every level. Organizations all over the world are taking a number of precautions to protect their infrastructure and data due to increasing awareness and strict regulations. However, no cybersecurity program is entirely impenetrable. Because of this, developing an incident response plan is essential, and its advantages must be considered.
The NIST’s incident response framework aims to help organizations improve their security posture and incident response capabilities via proper planning, cybersecurity training, and resource allocation. In this article, we will discuss what Nist is, its incidence response framework, its benefits, and how it compares with Sans incident response framework while also providing answers to frequently asked questions.
What Is An Incident Response Plan?
An incident response plan is a set of tools and procedures that your security team can use to identify, eliminate, and recover from cybersecurity threats. It is intended to support your team’s quick and coordinated response to any kind of internal and external threat.
Plans for responding to incidents make sure that actions are as efficient as possible. These plans are required to reduce the harm caused by threats, such as data loss, resource abuse, and loss of customer trust.
Why You Need An Incident Response Plan
The definition of a breach, the roles and responsibilities of the security team, the tools for managing a breach, the steps that must be taken to address a security incident, how the incident will be investigated and communicated, and the notification obligations following a data breach are all laid out in incident response strategies and plans.
Below are the reasons you need an incident response plan.
Protect Your Data
Data security is crucial for both personal and professional reasons. Your team can help prevent data loss by adhering to an updated incident response plan. When a hacker uses ransomware (WannaCry, Petya, NotPetya, etc.) or when confidential information is released to the public, data in the wrong hands mean the consequences could be disastrous.
Numerous tasks and duties for the IR team are involved in protecting data assets throughout the incident response process. Secure backups, using logs and security alerts to spot malicious activity, proper identity, and access management to prevent insider threats, and careful patch management are all crucial steps.
Builds Trust
Customers, business partners, and other stakeholders all prefer it when a company has a strong incident response strategy in place. These kinds of proactive actions show that a company has made an effort to improve its incident response capacity.
At some point or another, several Fortune 500 companies have fallen victim to a cyberattack. An incident response plan significantly contributes to fostering trust among an organization’s stakeholders in the face of the world’s challenging cybersecurity environment and helped preserve evidence that allowed for root cause analysis and prosecution.
It Gives You An Organized Approach
It is nearly impossible to foresee security incidents. Despite appearing to be well-protected, any organization can be taken by surprise by unanticipated incidents. You can rely on having a precise, methodical plan of action to follow in urgent situations by proactively implementing an incident response plan.
An organization may be prepared for a cyberattack, but if your team is panicked and unprepared to handle it, your organization may not be able to fight back or defend itself. An incident response plan assists in minimizing the effects of an attack, fixing vulnerabilities, and systematically securing the entire organization.
Additionally, it guarantees that your business can effectively use its manpower, equipment, and resources to address the problem and lessen the effects it has on other operations. With an incident response plan, the overall cost and response time are both decreased.
What Is NIST?
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is a non-regulatory government agency that develops technology, metrics, and standards to drive innovation and economic competitiveness at U.S.-based organizations in the science and technology industry.NIST produces standards and guidelines as part of this effort to assist federal agencies in complying with the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Through affordable programs, NIST also helps those organizations protect their data and information systems.
In accordance with FISMA, NIST specifically creates Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Federal agencies must adhere to FIPS, which the Secretary of Commerce has approved; they are not allowed to make an exception. Additionally, NIST offers recommendations and guidance through its Special Publications (SP) 800-series. Unless they are national security programs and systems, agencies must follow NIST guidance per Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policies.
What Is NIST Incident Response Framework
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework assists companies of all sizes in comprehending, managing, and reducing their cybersecurity risk as well as safeguarding their networks and data. The Framework is an optional one. It provides a summary of best practices for your company to use in making decisions about where to spend time and money on cybersecurity protection.
NIST vs. SANS Incident Response
Frameworks for managing cyber incidents have been developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the SANS Institute. The two frameworks do, however, significantly diverge in a few key areas.
The NIST incident response plan is built upon the NIST 800-61 Computer Security Incident Handling Guide. The NIST framework focuses on the process for responding to a cyber incident and provides guidance on how to recognize, handle, and mitigate its effects. The NIST framework has a broader focus and provides detailed guidance for handling a cyber incident.
The SANS Institute’s Incident Response and Forensics Training program is the foundation of the SANS Incident Response Framework. The technical aspects of responding to a cyber incident, such as how to locate the incident’s origin, keep it contained, and eliminate the threat, are the focus of the SANS framework. The SANS framework offers instructions on how to locate the incident’s origin, control it, and eliminate the threat, with a stronger emphasis on the technical aspects of incident response.
The NIST framework offers more broader advice on how to respond to a cyber incident based on handling and mitigating its effects. However, the SANS framework offers more specific advice based on location, control, and elimination. Organizations should comprehend and apply both frameworks when responding to a cyber incident.
Benefits Of NIST Incident Response Framework
Helps your organization achieve a global standard of cybersecurity
The knowledge of many information security experts from around the world has been incorporated into the NIST Framework. It is widely regarded as industry best practice and has the most thorough set of controls of any framework, enabling your organization to address most cybersecurity blind spots it might have overlooked.
Enables faster business growth
When it comes to relationships with customers, suppliers, and vendors, whether your organization has adopted the NIST Framework or not can be a deal breaker right away. Implementing a standard like NIST helps your organization grow faster through effective relationships with supply chains. Cybersecurity is quickly becoming a key selling point.
Built for all of your stakeholders
The NIST Framework is created in a way that allows all stakeholders—technical as well as non technical — to comprehend the advantages of the standard. It is simple for your technical staff to understand the advantages of enhancing the company’s security, and it is also simple for the executives because the framework adopts a risk management approach that is well-aligned with your organization’s goals.
Adopting the NIST Framework facilitates decision-making across your organization, improves communication, and makes budgeting for security efforts easier to justify.
Flexible and easily adaptable regardless of the size and type of your business
The NIST Framework is very flexible because it is intended to be a risk-based, outcome-driven approach to cybersecurity. Due to its voluntary nature, which makes it simple to customize to your business’s particular needs in terms of cybersecurity, the NIST framework is easily adopted by critical infrastructure companies in the energy and finance sectors as well as small and medium-sized businesses.
Businesses can get the direction they require from the Core Functions, Implementation Tiers, and Profiles to develop a cybersecurity posture that meets international standards.
Steps Of The NIST Framework For Incident Response
The four overarching and connected stages of the NIST incident response cycle are: (1) preparing for a cybersecurity incident; (2) detecting and analyzing a security incident; (3) containing, eradicating, and recovering; and (4) post-incident analysis.
1. Preparation
When you haven’t already encountered the threat and are unsure of its exact nature, preparing for an incident can be daunting. This is one of the main difficulties in risk assessment. In order to be ready to analyze, isolate, and respond to an incident, NIST advises putting a number of tools into place in advance of a cybersecurity incident.
These include securing communication equipment and facilities for anyone who will be managing incidents in the event that they arise. Examples include having contact information for stakeholders and reporting entities readily available, purchasing smartphones for your Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), and having space for your “war room” where the team can convene and handle the crisis.
Although the document does not cover exactly how to secure systems, it offers general guidance on conducting risk analyses and securing your systems to best prevent an incident from occurring, but the details will be industry-specific. The guidelines also advise making sure you have the most recent hardware and software available for incident analysis.
2. Detection And Analysis
The type of threat you are facing must be determined before moving on to the detection and analysis stage. The potential threat types are listed by NIST, and the precursors and indicators of an incident are separated into two groups.
Precursors and indicators both point to potential future incidents, as well as potential current incidents and past incidents, respectively. Sadly, the majority of warning signs of an attack only become apparent once it has already started, but a company with a strong incident response capability may be able to spot warning signs and stop an attack before it even starts.
You’ll probably be dealing with indicators; these will help you identify the source of the attack, how to stop it, and how long you have to keep gathering evidence.
Following the identification and detection of the incident, this next phase entails everything from prioritizing post-incident actions to analyzing security flaws, measuring the impact, accurately documenting the incident, and finally notifying affected parties. In this phase of the cycle, a cybersecurity incident must also be properly reported to the relevant authorities, law enforcement, and other parties affected.
3. Containment, Eradication, And Recovery
The main components of the active incident response are containment, eradication, and recovery. To prevent it from spreading, the threat must be isolated at this stage of the incident response process. However, the NIST documentation is clear that the containment strategy must be appropriate for the type of attack and the potential damage that could result from a continued attack. NIST advises that the incident response team has a specific containment plan for each type of attack they anticipate based on risk assessments and analyses because simply cutting off the attacking host from the data source could have unintended consequences.
In this phase, the attacking host must be identified and researched, and evidence must be gathered that can be used in legal proceedings. NIST advises that in some situations, the response team may decide to use a “sandbox” to contain the threat in order to encourage the attack to continue so that the team can gather more data, but if used incorrectly, a delayed full containment may result in greater damages.
Once the threat is contained, your cybersecurity team can work on eliminating it, including by deleting compromised accounts and removing malware. The organization can then resume normal operations after the team has completed a phased recovery, which may involve applying cybersecurity patches, enhancing firewalls, reinstalling anti-malware, restoring systems from fresh backups, and changing passwords throughout the entire organization.
4. Post-Incident Activity
The team should hold a “lessons learned” meeting to process the incident, discuss methods for preserving the data and evidence gathered throughout the meeting, and review preparation for anticipated future cybersecurity threats, according to NIST, which claims that this step is both the most frequently skipped and the most crucial. Making a follow-up report on every aspect of the incident is another task included in this phase.
As managing and preventing cybersecurity threats frequently goes beyond a single organization and requires cooperation and mutual involvement across the entire incident response cycle, this report can be used both internally and shared with external organizations.
NIST Incident Response Framework Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Framework, and what is it designed to accomplish?
The Framework is built on currently used standards, policies, and procedures to help organizations manage and lower cybersecurity risk. Additionally, it was created to promote communication between internal and external organizational stakeholders regarding risk and cybersecurity management.
Does the Framework apply only to critical infrastructure companies?
No. Although it was designed specifically for companies that are part of the U.S. critical infrastructure, many other organizations in the private and public sectors (including federal agencies) are using the Framework. NIST encourages any organization or sector to review and consider the Framework as a helpful tool in managing cybersecurity risks.
Does the Framework benefit organizations that view their cybersecurity programs as already mature?
Organizations with established, comprehensive cybersecurity programs and those who are just starting to consider implementing cybersecurity management programs can use the Framework. Any organization can use the Framework in the same general way, though how they use it will vary depending on their priorities and current state.
What is the Framework Core, and how is it used?
The Framework Core is a collection of cybersecurity tasks, ideal results, and relevant resources that are utilized by all critical infrastructure sectors. The phrase “physical devices and systems within the organization are inventoried” is an example of Framework outcome language.
The Core presents industry norms, regulations, and best practices in a way that enables cross-organizational communication of cybersecurity initiatives and results from the executive to the implementation/operations levels.
Does it provide a recommended checklist of what all organizations should do?
No, the Framework provides a series of outcomes to address cybersecurity risks; it does not specify the actions to take to meet the outcomes. Because standards, technologies, risks, and business requirements vary by organization, the Framework should be customized by different sectors and individual organizations to best suit their risks, situations, and needs.
Organizations have unique risks – different threats, different vulnerabilities, different risk tolerances – and how they implement the practices in the Framework to achieve positive outcomes will vary.
What is NIST? Why is NIST involved?
NIST is a federal organization under the Department of Commerce of the United States. The goal of NIST is to advance measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that increase economic security and enhance our quality of life in order to support American innovation and industrial competitiveness.
NIST has been conducting cybersecurity research and creating cybersecurity guidelines for businesses, governments, and higher education since 1972.
NIST Incident Response Takeaways
For IT management teams and CIOs looking to safeguard their company from expensive, reputation-damaging cybersecurity events and figure out how to prevent cybersecurity breaches, NIST’s incident response strategies and their vision for the incident response cycle are some of the best solutions available.
NIST concedes that while we may not be able to completely prevent incidents, we can definitely lessen their negative effects on our businesses and personal lives. Incidents are simply a fact of life in the IT world. Because of this, compliance with this framework isn’t sufficient. It is important that you have threat detection and response systems in place.
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