The NIST CSF provides guidelines to improve critical infrastructure cybersecurity. It is structured around five key functions: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover.
Identify: Establish a baseline of organizational assets.
Protect: Implement safeguards to ensure service delivery.
Detect: Identify cybersecurity events promptly.
Respond: Take action on detected incidents.
Recover: Restore any services affected by cybersecurity incidents.
The CIS Controls are a prioritized set of cybersecurity best practices to defend against common threats. They offer a practical approach to cyber defense, organized into three implementation groups for organizations of varying sizes and resources.
Basic Controls: Fundamental practices like inventory and control of hardware and software.
Foundational Controls: More advanced measures, including vulnerability management and malware defenses.
Organizational Controls: Security policies, procedures, and workforce awareness.
ISO/IEC 27001 is an international standard for information security management systems (ISMS). It provides a systematic approach to managing sensitive company information so that it remains secure.
Leadership: Establish roles, responsibilities, and security policies.
Planning: Assess risks and objectives for security management.
Operation: Implement and control security policies.
Performance Evaluation: Regularly review and audit ISMS.
Improvement: Take action to improve the ISMS continuously.
The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a comprehensive matrix of tactics and techniques used by threat actors across the attack lifecycle. It provides organizations with insights into adversary behavior and helps enhance defenses.
Tactics: High-level objectives of an attack, such as Initial Access, Execution, and Persistence.
Techniques: Specific methods used by attackers to achieve each tactic.
Sub-techniques: More detailed ways to execute a technique.
Groups: Known threat actors and their associated tactics and techniques.
SOC 2 is an auditing framework for service organizations to demonstrate controls and processes relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of customer data.
Security: Protect information and systems against unauthorized access.
Availability: Ensure systems are available for operation and use.
Processing Integrity: Confirm that systems achieve their intended purposes.
Confidentiality: Protect sensitive information.
Privacy: Address collection, use, retention, and disposal of personal information.
The Zero Trust model emphasizes a "never trust, always verify" approach to security. It requires all users, inside or outside the organization, to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated before accessing systems.
Verify Explicitly: Authenticate and authorize based on all available data points, including user identity, location, device, and service.
Use Least Privilege Access: Minimize access and grant only the permissions needed to complete tasks.
Assume Breach: Design networks assuming an attacker is present and minimize the potential damage of any breach.
Identity, Devices, Network, Applications, Data, and Infrastructure are central to implementing Zero Trust with Microsoft solutions such as Azure Active Directory, Intune, Azure Firewall, and Microsoft Sentinel.
The Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure provides guidance for implementing cloud adoption strategies, covering technical and business objectives.
Strategy: Define business outcomes and motivations for cloud adoption.
Plan: Assess readiness and create a migration strategy.
Ready: Set up the environment for cloud operations with Azure Blueprints.
Adopt: Implement workloads in Azure, whether through migration or innovation.
Govern and Manage: Ensure ongoing governance, risk management, and operational excellence.
CAF aligns with tools like Azure Policy, Azure Blueprints, and Azure Cost Management for governance, along with DevOps methodologies for iterative development.
Learn MoreThe Azure Well-Architected Framework provides best practices to ensure cloud applications are designed for high quality, security, and efficiency. It encompasses five core pillars.
Cost Optimization: Manage and optimize spending to maximize return on investment.
Operational Excellence: Streamline deployment and maintenance processes for reliability.
Performance Efficiency: Scale resources efficiently to meet demands.
Reliability: Ensure workloads can recover from failures.
Security: Protect applications and data with multi-layered security.
Azure Advisor, Azure Policy, and Azure Security Center are crucial for evaluating workloads against WAF principles and ensuring best practices.
Learn MoreThe Azure Security Benchmark (ASB) offers prescriptive guidance and recommendations to secure Azure services. ASB aligns with industry standards and is updated regularly.
Identity Management: Protect identity and access management.
Data Protection: Ensure encryption, confidentiality, and integrity of data.
Application Security: Protect application services and code.
Networking: Secure network resources and enforce isolation.
Asset Management: Keep an inventory of resources to manage access and updates.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure Policy, and Azure Sentinel are key tools for assessing compliance with ASB and enforcing security measures.
PCI DSS is a security standard for protecting cardholder data during processing, transmission, and storage. It is required for any organization that handles credit card payments.
Build and Maintain a Secure Network: Install firewalls and secure configurations.
Protect Cardholder Data: Use encryption and mask data where possible.
Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program: Regularly update systems and scan for vulnerabilities.
Implement Strong Access Control Measures: Limit access to data based on business need.
Monitor and Test Networks: Continuously track access to network resources.
Maintain an Information Security Policy: Develop and enforce security policies for personnel.
The GDPR is a regulation that protects the privacy and data rights of individuals within the EU. It applies to organizations worldwide that process personal data of EU residents, setting high standards for data protection and security.
Lawfulness, Fairness, and Transparency: Data must be processed legally, fairly, and transparently.
Purpose Limitation: Data must be collected for specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes.
Data Minimization: Only necessary data should be collected.
Accuracy: Ensure data is accurate and up-to-date.
Storage Limitation: Keep data only as long as necessary.
Integrity and Confidentiality: Protect data against unauthorized or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction, or damage.
GDPR grants data subjects specific rights, including the right to access, rectify, erase, and restrict processing of their personal data. Organizations must enable these rights and respond to data subject requests promptly.
HIPAA is a U.S. regulation that safeguards the privacy and security of Protected Health Information (PHI). It applies to healthcare providers, insurers, and their business associates who handle PHI.
Privacy Rule: Sets standards for the protection of PHI and patients' rights over their health information.
Security Rule: Requires administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic PHI (ePHI).
Breach Notification Rule: Mandates notification to affected individuals, HHS, and sometimes the media in case of a PHI breach.
Omnibus Rule: Strengthens privacy and security protections, extends requirements to business associates.
HIPAA requires encryption, access control, audit trails, and regular risk assessments to protect ePHI from unauthorized access and data breaches.
The NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR 500) mandates strict cybersecurity requirements for financial institutions operating under the jurisdiction of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). It aims to protect customer data and financial systems from cyber threats.
Cybersecurity Program: Establish and maintain a comprehensive cybersecurity program.
Cybersecurity Policy: Develop policies covering areas such as data governance, access controls, and network security.
Risk Assessment: Conduct periodic risk assessments to identify and address cybersecurity risks.
Third-Party Security: Ensure security standards for third-party service providers.
Incident Response Plan: Implement a plan to respond to and recover from cybersecurity events.
Regulated entities must report any cybersecurity event that has a significant impact on their operations. Additionally, annual certification of compliance with NYDFS requirements is required.