Ride the Lightning

Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

NIST Publishes New Version of its Cybersecurity Framework

April 19, 2018

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced on April 16th that it had released version 1.1 of its popular Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, more widely known as the Cybersecurity Framework.

"Cybersecurity is critical for national and economic security," said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. "The voluntary NIST Cybersecurity Framework should be every company's first line of defense. Adopting version 1.1 is a must do for all CEOs."

The framework was developed with a focus on industries vital to national and economic security, including energy, banking, communications and the defense industrial base. It has since proven flexible enough to be adopted voluntarily by large and small companies and organizations across all industry sectors, as well as by federal, state and local governments.

Version 1.1 includes updates on:

  • authentication and identity,
  • self-assessing cybersecurity risk,
  • managing cybersecurity within the supply chain; and
  • vulnerability disclosure.

The changes to the framework are based on feedback collected through public calls for comments, questions received by team members, and workshops held in 2016 and 2017. Two drafts of Version 1.1 were circulated for public comment to assist NIST in comprehensively addressing stakeholder inputs.

"This update refines, clarifies and enhances Version 1.0," said Matt Barrett, program manager for the Cybersecurity Framework. "It is still flexible to meet an individual organization's business or mission needs, and applies to a wide range of technology environments such as information technology, industrial control systems and the Internet of Things."

Later this year, NIST plans to release an updated companion document, the Roadmap for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, which describes key areas of development, alignment and collaboration.

NIST will host a free public Webcast explaining Version 1.1 in detail on April 27, 2018, at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Worth signing up for – I am regrettably on the road at the time, but hope to catch up with this shortly.

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