Fortify your defenses with NIST-aligned data security

Imagine it’s three a.m., and your IT systems suddenly go dark. Defenses have been breached; hackers are spreading chaos while compromising your data. You're on call and scrambling while wondering if there’s a better approach than sheer panic as you work frantically to bring things back online. Spoiler alert: there is.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is like your all-star defense team with a tested and proven approach to thwarting the most sophisticated threats—ready to govern, protect, detect, respond, and recover before things go off the rails. Before you reach for the emergency coffee, let’s explore how to put a smart strategy in place.

Whether you're new to NIST or have been implementing these practices for years, understanding how the cyber-resilience solutions you use align with these pillars can help you strategically defend your data. But how can your business leverage the NIST CSF effectively, and where does NetApp^® fit in?

Govern: Establishing strong governance and risk management
The very first step for the NIST CSF is Govern, highlighting the importance of maintaining a comprehensive risk management strategy with clearly defined policies, procedures, and risk tolerance levels. As this step highlights, a comprehensive data governance strategy and infrastructure can help you fend off attacks before they begin. The strategy is one level of effective governance, and the right security solutions can help.

NetApp helps you effectively implement data governance with solutions such as the BlueXP™ management console and NetApp ONTAP^®. BlueXP offers your IT team greater visibility as a unified control plane for monitoring and managing both on-premises and cloud environments. ONTAP, the underlying data management software, gives you the tools to make it easy to set up and monitor policies and strategies to stay on track with built-in auditing and logging features.

The right tools can also help you take stock of your current environment to identify gaps and customize your governance strategy. A large healthcare organization used the NetApp Data Protection and Security Assessment (DPSA) service to find gaps in their data management protocols. With that information, they implemented stronger policies to improve their security posture and compliance efforts.

Identify: Know what data to safeguard
You can’t govern effectively when you don’t know what you’re trying to protect. The second step in the NIST CSF, Identify, focuses on knowing what data you have, where it resides, and who can access it. A plan will grow out of the Identify phase that helps you implement effective data governance and security policies.

NetApp BlueXP classification tools give you greater insights into your data landscape. BlueXP automatically scans, analyzes, and categorizes data across your storage environments. Automated classification offers a clear picture of the types of data stored, their locations, and any associated risks—and gives you the foundation for developing data policies.

Protect: Safeguarding your most important asset from threats
Data is your organization’s most valuable asset. The NIST CSF Protect pillar focuses on safeguarding data through strategies including encryption, access controls, and data backups. NetApp delivers robust data protection through BlueXP ransomware protection and SnapLock^® technology. For example, during a recent ransomware attack on a midsize manufacturing company, BlueXP detected suspicious behavior early and automatically applied data protection policies while SnapLock makes these backup copies immutable and indelible.

Even when the attack encrypted some systems, the organization could restore their critical data quickly and effectively. SnapLock and Snapshot™ technologies offer an added layer of protection by creating immutable backup copies of your data, creating a reliable last layer of protection that gives you peace of mind that compromised data can be restored.

Detect: Identifying threats in real time
No matter how thoroughly you prepare, real-time threat detection has become the standard for stopping sophisticated threats in their tracks. The NIST CSF recommends that you focus on detecting cybersecurity events as soon as they happen, before they take systems offline or expose sensitive data. Real-time detection can keep attacks from escalating into full-scale breaches.

The right tools can make real-time detection possible without requiring your team to manually monitor systems 24/7. Autonomous Ransomware Protection from NetApp, for example, offers a comprehensive approach to detection. Our AI-powered solution watches for potential threats and triggers alerts so your team can jump into action and stop attacks fast. NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights uses machine learning to track user behavior patterns and detect anomalies in real time, letting your team know that credentials may be compromised, or a hack may be afoot.

Respond: Taking action when threats are detected
No matter how strong your defenses are, a breach can happen. When the worst-case scenario strikes, the NIST CSF Respond strategy helps you put the right processes and tools into action to mitigate a cybersecurity incident’s impact.

NetApp uses Cloud Insights Storage Workload Security to enable a rapid response to detected threats. Cloud Insights uses advanced machine learning to quickly differentiate false positives from legitimate threats. It does this by analyzing patterns in data access, such as frequency, timing, and user behavior. Greater accuracy helps protect your team from alert fatigue and helps create an environment where trusted alerts trigger immediate responses. Automation can also speed up your ability to take action by using tools such as the FPolicy API in ONTAP to swiftly block compromised accounts or block files with known ransomware extensions. These actions buy you critical time to respond in the face of an attack.

Recover: Get back on your feet fast
When an issue has occurred, your ability to Recover relies on getting systems back online and data restored. Ultimately, the goal is to minimize disruption, reduce downtime, and get your operations back to normal as quickly as possible. Having the right technology stack in place can help.

BlueXP backup and recovery is a vital tool for ensuring a swift recovery after a cyberattack. For example, a financial services company recently used BlueXP to recover their critical customer data after a ransomware incident, minimizing downtime and maintaining customer trust. It provides a unified recovery console that enables you to view all your backup copies and initiate recoveries with minimal delay. SnapRestore^® software, part of the ONTAP suite, enables you to restore large amounts of data in seconds, while SnapLock prevents premature deletion of your backup copies.

Embracing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework with NetApp's suite of solutions transforms the daunting task of data protection into a structured, manageable approach. By covering every facet of the framework—from governance to recovery—you equip your organization with the tools for a more secure, resilient future.

Cybersecurity transcends firewalls and passwords; it's about a holistic strategy that anticipates and neutralizes threats. With NetApp's support at every stage of the NIST framework, you're not just preparing for the next attack—you're actively shaping a more secure enterprise.

Ready to turn the tide against cyber threats and ensure your IT team can rest easy? Discover how NetApp's cyber-resilience solutions can fortify your data defenses today.

Disclaimer: No ransomware detection or prevention system can completely guarantee safety from a ransomware attack. Although it’s possible that an attack might go undetected, NetApp technology acts as an important additional layer of defense.