ISO 27001 vs NIST Standards: Differences & Requirements

By complying with these regulations, businesses reap benefits like increased customer trust and broader reach.

While ISO 27001 and NIST are internationally recognized cybersecurity standards, ISO 27001 helps establish, improve, and maintain information security management systems (ISMS). 

In contrast, NIST is a flexible, high-level cybersecurity framework that helps you manage and improve cybersecurity measures. This article compares ISO 27001 and NIST, highlighting their similarities and differences to help organizations make better data security decisions. 

What is ISO 27001?

ISO 27001, or the International Organization for Standardization, is a global standard that sets criteria for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continuously improving Information Security Management Systems (ISMS). 

The standard aims to provide a systematic approach to managing sensitive data and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information within a company. It is built on three core principles of confidentiality, integrity, and availability, as detailed below.

3 Principles of ISO 27001

1. Confidentiality: This ISO 27001 principle concerns maintaining secrecy and privacy of company or customer information. This means restricting access and using encryption. 
2. Integrity: ISO mandates that data accuracy be maintained. The data should not be tampered with intentionally or unintentionally and should remain the same unless changes are authorized. This means storing backups in a single place. 
3. Availability: This principle refers to data accessibility when organizations require it. It is essential to ensure the quick accessibility of systems and data.

Stages of ISO 27001 Certification

1. Evaluation of Documentation

In phase one, an independent auditor will analyze your company’s current policies and procedures. The objective is to evaluate how well they adhere to the specifications given in the ISO 27001 standard and ascertain whether a robust Information Security Management System (ISMS) is in place.

2. Audit for Certification

After reviewing the material, a thorough on-site evaluation is carried out. This involves a detailed analysis of your company’s security controls. After completing both audit phases, you can receive the ISO 27001 accreditation.

Once you achieve certification, you must undergo regular surveillance audits to keep your ISO 27001 accreditation updated and valid. These audits usually occur once a year for the first two years of certification. 

A recertification audit is necessary for the third year post-certification to guarantee continued adherence to the norms ISO sets.

What is NIST? 

NIST, or the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is a U.S. government agency under the Department of Commerce that develops and promotes measurement, technology, and cybersecurity standards and creates its own guidelines and best practices.

This is published as special publications, frameworks, and book sections. The most notable NIST publications include NIST Cybersecurity Framework and NIST SP 800 – 53.

Five NIST Functions Explained

1. Identification: The first step in the NIST CSF structure is listing all the assets that must be managed and any contractual obligations. This helps recognize and grant relevant personnel access to assets and data.  
2. Protection: Here, NIST outlines measures for asset protection, which work by preventing security breaches or limiting their consequences. Some protection measures are access control, internal security, and encryption protocols. 
3. Detection: Detecting unusual activities and vulnerabilities is vital to maintaining cybersecurity. NIST CSF recommends this through logging, monitoring, and vulnerability scanning activities. 
4. Response: All organizations need a foolproof incident response plan. This helps the organization contain the event and reduce the consequences, costs, and downtime. 
5. Recovery: Recovery plans aid in restoring affected assets and services while implementing security improvements. 

Four Tiers of Implementing NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) offers a four-tiered cybersecurity paradigm that corresponds to progressively higher degrees of complexity and maturity:

Tier 1: Partial

Businesses in this category should have official incident response or cybersecurity procedures. They usually function reactively, which means they only respond to dangers as they materialize.

Tier 2: Risk-Informed

This category of organizations is aware of cybersecurity dangers and hazards but has no procedures to handle them. They might need a more systematic approach but have a few informal protocols.

Tier 3: Repeatable

At this level, organizations have set up rules and processes to identify and handle specific kinds of threats. However, they might need more technology and equipment to carry out these procedures efficiently.

Tier 4: Adaptive

Companies in this category have systems and resources to handle risks proactively and comprehensive cybersecurity programs. They can minimize the effects of cyberattacks by quickly identifying, stopping, and recovering from them.

NIST CSF vs. ISO 27001 – Similarities Explained

ISO 27001 and NIST similarities:

1. NIST CSF and ISO 27001 are concerned with keeping information safe and secure from cyber threats.
2. Both standards stress the importance of assessing and managing risks to protect data and systems.
3. NIST is commonly used in the U.S., but both standards can be applied worldwide, making them flexible choices for organizations anywhere.
4. The NIST cybersecurity framework and ISO 27001 require documentation, though ISO 27001 is more detailed, and NIST allows for flexibility in documentation.
5. They provide structured frameworks to help organizations continually improve their cybersecurity efforts.

ISO 27001 vs NIST: Differences Explained

NIST CSF is a high-level framework for managing and improving cybersecurity, while ISO 27001 provides a systematic approach to maintaining information security management systems.

	NIST	ISO 27001
Target	U.S. federal agencies and companies.	Companies of various sectors & sizes.
Audits	NIST is a voluntary standard with guidelines.	ISO is a certification standard.
Function	A comprehensive set of guidelines.	Compliance is concerned with ISMS.
Mandate	Mandatory for U.S. federal agencies and organizations working with them.	Non-mandatory & done to meet customer requirements.
Concerns	A high-level cybersecurity framework to manage and improve cybersecurity measures.	Provides a systematic approach to maintaining data security management systems.
Publications	Multiple separate publications	Single publication
Expense	Free of cost and can be implemented at the company’s pace.	Priced along with additional charges for external audits.

How To Choose Between ISO 27001 vs NIST For Your Organization? 

1. Maturity

Suppose your organization has been established for a longer period, it becomes advisable to showcase your commitment to data security standards with ISO 27001 compliance and build customer confidence.

However, if you run a start-up or a small business and want to develop or enhance cybersecurity economically for your organization, NIST CSF could be a better option. NIST CSF can help with self-assessments, providing additional insights into the security controls required for your organization.  

2. Geographical Presence

If your organization has a global presence, ISO 27001 international data security recognition is more beneficial in increasing customers and revenue globally and is more widely recognized. 

If your company is based in the U.S. and deals with U.S. government agencies, implementing and following NIST CSF security controls, such as NIST 800-53 and NIST 800-171, is more relevant. 

3. Prescriptiveness

ISO 27001 offers your organization a more flexible approach to implementing its framework while providing a complete security control structure without the specificity of NIST. 

NIST offers a more granular, detail-oriented approach through its special publications, which are highly prescriptive. 

4. Compliance Requirements

Assess whether compliance with a specific standard is mandatory for your organization. NIST standards are usually obligatory for U.S. federal agencies and organizations dealing with controlled, unclassified information. 

ISO 27001 compliance is based on need, and your company can obtain it to enhance data security and meet customer expectations.

5. Documentation Preferences

Consider your company’s documentation preferences thoroughly. ISO 27001 has extensive documentation requirements, which can be resource-intensive. 

NIST is more flexible, allowing you to adapt documentation based on your requirements while providing a documentation strategy. 

6. Cost Comparison Between ISO 27001 vs NIST CSF

The cost of meeting ISO 27001 compliance requirements and attaining the certification ranges around $50,000 – $200,000, depending on the company size and current security controls. This can be hard to bear if your organization is a start-up or a small company. ISO certifications have a validity period of 3 years. 

NIST, on the other hand, is free. Implementing NIST CSF and its security controls can be done at a self-designed pace, making it ideal for start-ups. 

Astra Security for ISO 27001 & NIST Compliance

Key Features:

• Platform: SaaS
• Pentest Capabilities: Continuous automated scans with 10,000+ tests and manual pentests 
• Accuracy: Zero false positives (with vetted scans)
• Compliance Scanning: OWASP, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, ISO27001, and SOC2
• Publicly Verifiable Pentest Certification: Yes
• Workflow Integration: Slack, JIRA, GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, and more
• Price: Starting at $1999/yr

Astra Security provides manual and automated penetration testing for assets following NIST methodologies and ISO 27001 standards. For compliance-specific penetration testing, vulnerabilities are exploited manually by our experienced pentesters or through automated pentesting. 

Brute forcing, fuzzing, and injections are some tests on the vulnerability to try further access. The Astra Vulnerability Scanner is constantly updated to detect the latest vulnerabilities for NIST and ISO 27001, and it can currently run 10,000+ tests.

We use NIST and OWASP methodologies to provide detailed scans that detect significant vulnerabilities as well as new and relatively unknown vulnerabilities. Other compliance-specific scans we provide include PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC2, and GDPR. 

We have a compliance-specific dashboard where specific compliance requirements can be opted for a scan. Once the scan is complete, the dashboard’s results reveal areas of non-compliance.

Final Thoughts

ISO 27001 and NIST aim to enhance data security. However, they have distinct differences. ISO 27001 is a globally recognized standard for data security management that develops, puts into practice, looks after, and continuously enhances an information security management system (ISMS). 

On the other hand, NIST offers a comprehensive framework of standards for managing and enhancing cybersecurity across various organizational operations created by the US government.

Organizations must consider their specific requirements when choosing between ISO 27001 and NIST to ensure they implement the most suitable framework for their data security needs.

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