How SASE Supports NIST CSF 2.0 Compliance

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s widely used Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) provides organizations with a common language that allows staff at all levels—and at all points in a supply chain—to develop a shared understanding of their cybersecurity capability. 

In February, NIST trumpetted CSF 2.0, finalizing the framework’s first major update since its creation in 2014. The most significant updates being a new “Govern” function that precedes and also informs all the other functions, and the introduction of Community Profiles, providing shared baseline outcomes for specific sectors or threats that organizations can use to develop their own security profiles. These changes reflect the framework’s evolution and the ongoing need to adapt in the cybersecurity world. Here at Netskope, we’re right on top of these updates, ensuring our contributions are in sync with the latest standards.

So, let’s talk about getting NIST CSF certified. Spoiler alert: It’s no quick fix. It’s a journey that spans several months to a year. As you gear up, you want your security vendor to work with you from the beginning to help you understand your “Current Profile” and support you in designing and achieving the best “Target Profile” for your organization. That’s where Netskope stands out. We know exactly what our unified SASE platform, Netskope One, brings to the table. We’re transparent about where we excel, where we partner with other platforms, and where you might need a bit extra to fully comply. Because let’s face it, NIST compliance isn’t one-size-fits-all, and no single product ticks all the boxes.

How Netskope Helps with NIST CSF 2.0

We have done a deep dive into the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, and we now have a useful resource to offer–the Netskope NIST CSF 2.0 compliance guide. Think of it like a roadmap, breaking down each of the framework’s functions and subcategories (Govern, Identify, Detect, Respond, Protect, and Recover) and explicitly listing out where Netskope assists in compliance. Some we nail completely, others we contribute to significantly, and there are even some where our SASE platform provides insights to help you out, even if we’re not core to the action. We’re all about transparency and honesty here–not spin, bluster and over-promises. This is how we build trusted partnerships.

Let’s get into a little more of the detail to give you a taste of what the compliance guide will tell you.

Govern

The Govern function is a critical first step in your cybersecurity strategy, establishing a solid foundation for managing risks by ensuring clear policies and roles are set up and communicated across the organization and supply chain.

While Netskope does not directly help in establishing Risk management objectives, Netskope One CASB and Public Cloud Security solutions are game-changers in enhancing risk management by auditing web and cloud applications, providing risk scores for over 85,000 cloud apps, and ensuring compliance through supply chain insights. With reverse proxy capabilities and zero trust network access (ZTNA Next), Netskope protects cloud applications and manages internal and supplier access to organizational assets. Policies can then be configured or automated based on cybersecurity risk levels, allowing, blocking, or coaching users to ensure these policies