What is GRC?
A Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) is a structured approach that organizations adopt to identify, assess, and manage risks while ensuring adherence to relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards. It integrates risk management and compliance efforts, creating a cohesive strategy to safeguard the organization's assets, reputation, and overall well-being.
NIST Cyber Security Frameworks
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has a set of guidelines that help organizations mitigate cyber risks and develop plans based on industry standards and best practices. To navigate the complex business environment and ensure sustainable growth, a GRC Framework built leveraging NIST guidelines is essential.
Developing an IT Governance Program, aligned to the NIST Cyber Security Framework (CSF) offers a taxonomy of high-level cybersecurity outcomes that can be used by any organization regardless of its size, sector, or maturity to better understand, assess, prioritize, and communicate its cybersecurity efforts.
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview is a comprehensive solution that helps organizations manage the data lifecycle management. It provides a unified platform for governing, protecting, and managing data across your entire data estate. By bringing together the former Azure Purview and Microsoft 365 Compliance portfolio, it offers a more integrated approach to data security and governance.
Visibility
Purview enables organizations to gain visibility into data across the organization, safeguard and manage sensitive data across its lifecycle, and govern data, thus enabling a proactive risk management tailored to the client’s business needs.
Unified Solutions
Purview provides unified solutions that help manage data regardless of whether it is on-premise, or in the cloud. Overall, Microsoft Purview empowers organizations to identify where sensitive data is stored, and manage access to that data securely and at scale.
Understanding key components of NIST CSF
Govern
The NIST Govern function establishes a framework for governing cybersecurity practices, encompassing organizational context, risk management strategy, roles, policies, training, oversight, and more.
Identity
Under NIST Identify, the focus is on understanding assets, risks, and data processing activities through asset management, inventory, risk assessment, and ecosystem management.
Control
NIST Control emphasizes managing data processing effectively, including policies, procedures, and disassociated processing, ensuring alignment with privacy requirements.
Protect
NIST Protect focuses on safeguarding data and systems through measures like data protection policies, identity management, and proactive technology.
Detect
NIST Detect prioritizes continuous monitoring and analysis to promptly identify and respond to cybersecurity incidents.
Respond
NIST Respond emphasizes incident management, analysis, communication, and mitigation to address cybersecurity incidents effectively.
Recover
NIST Recover involves executing incident recovery plans and communication to restore operations after cybersecurity incidents.
Communicate
The NIST Communicate function ensures effective communication of privacy-related information within the organization.
Maturity Levels
NIST Maturity Levels categorize cybersecurity risk management practices into four levels, indicating the maturity and effectiveness of these practices.
Reporting
Reporting includes mapping NIST functions to controls and their operational level, along with summarizing assessment findings and outlining plans for advancement.