This post breaks down essential concepts from key NIST documents, offering a practical guide to help you understand the frameworks and principles that underpin information security best practices.
Direct PDF downloads for all 10 NIST SP Series Publications mentioned in this article are available below.
*Refer to NIST Special Publications direct link for latest SP series publication revisions* https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/sp800
Learn about risk management, security controls, incident response, and more, all tailored to boost your CISSP preparation.
Demystifying NIST Publications: A CISSP's Guide to Key Concepts
For CISSP candidates, understanding NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) publications is not just beneficial; it's essential. These documents outline the frameworks and standards that guide information security practices in the U.S. federal government and are widely adopted in the private sector as well.
Let’s dive into some key concepts from critical NIST publications you should know for the CISSP exam.
1. SP 800-53: Revision 5 - Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations
This publication is a cornerstone of information security. It provides a catalog of security and privacy controls that organizations can use to protect their information and information systems.
- Security Controls: SP 800-53 offers a comprehensive list of security controls categorized into families, such as access control (AC), audit and accountability (AU), and system and information integrity (SI). These controls are designed to protect organizational operations, assets, individuals, and the nation.
- Risk Management: It emphasizes a risk-based approach, advising that controls should be selected and implemented based on an organization's risk assessment. The publication also links these controls to a risk management process at the organizational, mission/business process, and information system levels.
- Baselines & Tailoring: SP 800-53 provides security control baselines for low, moderate, and high-impact systems. However, organizations should tailor these baselines to fit their specific needs. This tailoring involves considering various factors, such as the type of mission/operation and statutory requirements.
- Assurance: The latest revision includes a focus on assurance, which involves generating evidence of how well security controls work.
- Overlays: SP 800-53 promotes the concept of overlays to create specialized security control sets.
- Continuous Monitoring: The publication advocates for continuous monitoring of security controls to ensure ongoing effectiveness.
CISSP Relevance: Mastering the controls, understanding the risk-based approach, and the concept of tailoring are vital for the CISSP exam. The exam may test your ability to select appropriate controls for different scenarios, understand how to apply them in risk management, and how to assess their effectiveness.
2. SP 800-30: Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems
This guide provides the foundation for implementing an effective risk management program. It outlines risk management concepts and emphasizes the importance of integrating security into an organization's overall business operations.
- Risk Assessment: SP 800-30 provides a framework for identifying, analyzing, and evaluating risks associated with IT systems.
- Related References: It emphasizes that this document is based on general concepts presented in NIST SP 800-27, and the principles and practices from NIST SP 800-14.
CISSP Relevance: This publication is critical for understanding risk management principles, a key domain in the CISSP Common Body of Knowledge (CBK). Expect questions on risk assessment methodologies and how to apply them in various situations.
3. SP 800-115: Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment
This guide focuses on the technical aspects of security assessments. It details different testing and examination methods and techniques, and the impact that testing can have on systems and networks.
- Assessment Policy: NIST recommends that an organization should establish an information security assessment policy.
- Technical Examinations: It describes various technical examination techniques, including documentation review, log review, network sniffing, and file integrity checking.
- Vulnerability Analysis: The guide also presents techniques for identifying targets and analyzing them for potential vulnerabilities, such as network discovery and vulnerability scanning.
- Penetration Testing: This document includes guidance on penetration testing and the required knowledge for such testing.
CISSP Relevance: This document is key for the Security Assessment and Testing domain. Knowing different types of testing and assessment techniques is vital for the exam.
The guide emphasizes that security testing and examination should be done to confirm that systems are properly secured.
4. SP 800-137: Information Security Continuous Monitoring
This publication emphasizes the importance of continuous monitoring for maintaining an organization’s security posture. It outlines the practices necessary to develop an Information Security Continuous Monitoring (ISCM) program.
- Ongoing Awareness: ISCM is about maintaining ongoing awareness of security, vulnerabilities, and threats to support risk management decisions.
- Program Strategy: The guide details how to establish an ISCM program with policies, procedures, and responsibilities at different organizational tiers.
- Automation: It encourages the use of automation when possible, and manual methodologies when automation is not practical.
- Roles and Responsibilities: Roles and responsibilities associated with ISCM include head of agency and risk executive.
- Security Status Reporting: The results of monitoring must be reported to the appropriate staff.
CISSP Relevance: This publication supports the Security Operations domain of the CISSP. Understanding continuous monitoring concepts and practices will be crucial for the exam.
This includes how to define a strategy, establish a program, and report on findings.
5. SP 800-34: Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems
This publication provides guidelines for developing and implementing effective contingency plans. It addresses how to recover IT systems in the event of a disruption.
- Contingency Planning Policy: A contingency plan should be based on a clearly defined policy that addresses the organization's objectives and responsibilities.
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA): The BIA is a key step to identify critical system components, supported missions/business processes, and interdependencies.
- Testing & Training: This document emphasizes the importance of testing the plan with realistic scenarios and training personnel on their roles.
- Crisis Communications: Organizations should document procedures for internal and external communications during a disruption.
CISSP Relevance: The Contingency Planning domain is tested on the CISSP exam.
You need to know the steps in the contingency planning process, the importance of BIA, and how to conduct testing and training.
6. SP 800-86: Guide to Integrating Forensic Techniques into Incident Response
This guide highlights how to integrate forensic techniques into the incident response process.
- Incident Response: This document provides guidance to incident response teams, forensic analysts, and other technical staff for forensic purposes.
- Preserving Evidence: This publication stresses the importance of properly gathering, handling, and preserving evidence.
- Documentation: This document indicates that it is important to document all actions taken in response to an incident.
CISSP Relevance: This publication ties directly into the Security Operations domain, specifically the incident response aspect, which is covered in the exam.
7. SP 800-88: Guidelines for Media Sanitization
This publication provides guidelines for sanitizing media to prevent unauthorized access to data.
- Media Sanitization: It specifies how to sanitize digital media using approved equipment, techniques, and procedures.
- Sanitization Decisions: Sanitization and disposal decisions should be based on the security categorization of information contained on the media.
CISSP Relevance: This document is relevant to the Asset Security domain, particularly data handling and disposal.
Knowing the different sanitization techniques and when to apply them is crucial.
8. SP 800-14: Generally Accepted Principles and Practices for Securing IT Systems
This document establishes foundational principles for securing information technology systems.
- Practices: It provides a set of common practices that organizations should use as a starting point in order to develop additional practices based on their own needs.
- NIST Handbook: The practices in this document serve as a companion to NIST SP 800-12.
CISSP Relevance: This publication gives the foundational principles that serve as the basis for the information security industry and provides excellent context for a number of other documents referenced in the CISSP exam.
9. SP 800-145: The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing
This publication provides a definition of cloud computing that provides a framework for use by Federal agencies.
- Authority: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed this document in furtherance of its statutory responsibilities under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002.
CISSP Relevance: Cloud security is an important part of the security field and is included in the CISSP exam.
10. SP 800-12: An Introduction to Computer Security
This handbook explains important concepts, cost considerations, and interrelationships of security controls.
- Computer Security Program: This document provides guidance on establishing a central computer security program.
CISSP Relevance: The NIST Handbook is mentioned in a number of other NIST publications that are covered in the CISSP exam.
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