If you are a company working in the federal supply chain, i.e. if you are a contractor, a subcontractor, or perhaps a subcontractor working for a different subcontractor, then you have probably already heard of NIST compliance. That’s because, in those cases that I have mentioned, this compliance is a requirement and not an option. In short, you need to be compliant if you want to do business. This is what NIST stands for, in case you didn’t know.
Does this, however, mean that you should just ignore this article and leave this page if you don’t fall in any of those categories mentioned above? Well, one might think so, but no. The truth is that NIST compliance if designed for much more than that.
To put things simply, even those businesses that don’t work in the federal supply chain are nowadays striving towards becoming compliant with these requirements. In order to understand why they are doing that, you’ll need to understand what NIST compliance is in the first place. That will shed some light on the reasons behind their decisions.
Of course, you will also have to learn more about the necessary requirements and thus understand how to meet them, since this might be completely new to you as well. In short, there are a few questions that you need to have answered in order to understand the topic of NIST compliance thoroughly. Well, the good news is that I’ll provide you with the answers you need below.
Now, if you really want to clearly understand everything, you’ll need to get familiar with the term “cybersecurity”, and you’ll quickly see why: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cybersecurity.asp
What Is NIST Compliance?
Let us begin with answering the most basic question here, since we cannot dig any deeper into the topic if you don’t understand the basics. So, what exactly is NIST compliance? Well, first of all, you need to understand that NIST stands for National Institute Of Standards and Technology.
So, now you at least know that all of this has to do with technology, which is already a step forward. This National Institute that we have mentioned here has one specific task that we need to explain. Basically, it aims at promoting innovation, as well as industrial competitiveness and it does that by advancing standards and technology.
Among other things, it has developed a set of security standards for all those organizations that handle government data. As mentioned previously, though, companies outside the federal supply chain can benefit from those standards as well. In any case, those companies that want to be compliant with NIST need to meet certain standards that they have set.
Those standards have to do with the methods of protecting data. So, the mentioned Institute has set forwards some rules that provide guidance on data protection and that explain everyone’s role in data breaches. Thus, even though it might not be mandatory for everyone, the simple fact is that every single business can benefit from this type of guidance.
What Are The Benefits Of Complying?
Since I’ve mentioned benefits quite a few times, that must have got you wondering. What are the actual benefits of meeting those NIST compliance requirements that we are talking about? How can your business be improved with their help?
Those are certainly some great questions and you definitely need the answers before moving towards actually learning how to meet the requirements. Now, a lot of companies might think that the fact that this isn’t mandatory for them also means that they don’t need it. This, however, is not entirely correct.
Simply put, even though it isn’t mandatory, you can still largely benefit from meeting these requirements. First and foremost, you get to protect your organization perfectly against any cyber-attacks, malware, data breaches and similar threats that you might be facing on the market. This is, in itself, an enormous advantage.
Then, there is also the fact that, by complying with these standards, you actually get the opportunity to bid for government contracts. If, on the other hand, you decide to ignore the standards and the requirements, you could actually put your business in trouble. You could open it up to legal troubles and not to mention the fact that your company’s reputation can get quite tarnished. So, basically, if you want to be competitive on the market and work towards success while staying properly protected against cyber-threats, you should definitely think about meeting these requirements.
How To Meet The Requirements?
Since you definitely want to protect your business against cyber-threats (additional info), you will immediately start thinking about how to meet those NIST requirements that we have been talking about. Sure, you might be doing it for all those other benefits as well, but the truth is that protection is high on your list of reasons. So, let me give you an idea on how you should do this the right way.
The most important thing to comprehend here that this process of getting compliant with the standards is highly likely to involve the cooperation with a cybersecurity consultant. This is because you cannot be familiar with all the rules and regulations you need to follow if you haven’t been working in this actual field for a while and if you haven’t spent a lot of time trying to master the arts of cybersecurity. This is a good thing, though, since it means that you simply need to hire the perfect consultant and let them handle the rest of the hard work for you and with you.