Your path to
For successful cooperation with U.S. companies in development projects involving highly sensitive information NIST compliance is often mandatory. As a NIST expert, valantic supports large enterprises and SMEs on their path to successful NIST compliance – efficiently and with the highest possible security.
Protection of highly sensitive data and critical infrastructures
Companies involved in critical infrastructures or companies that exchange highly sensitive information in development projects are often exposed to frequent cyber threats. A cyber-attack on these organizations can lead to severe consequences. Therefore, the U.S. government obligates organizations that require high-security IT infrastructure, or companies from highly regulated industries with the highest IT cybersecurity requirements, to comply with cybersecurity standards. These cybersecurity standards are developed and provided by the U.S. agency National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
U.S. defense companies increasingly cooperate with European companies in international development programs and since they intensify the sourcing of their semi-finished products from the European market, the NIST standard also becomes a prerequisite for European companies and their suppliers. Thus, NIST compliance is mandatory for European companies to successfully participate in international development projects with the U.S. industry in vulnerable areas. Are you looking for support to achieve NIST compliance? We are here to help.
The U.S. agency NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) develops standards, guidelines, and best practices for companies and (government) organizations. For cybersecurity, the NIST SP 800 series includes over 200 guidelines. This series is one of the most important NIST standards. These cybersecurity standards can be particularly used to better manage the risks of cybersecurity and information security, to address vulnerabilities, to strengthen defensive measures, and to design and to implement robust cybersecurity programs.
Among the most frequently used NIST guidelines are NIST SP 800-53 for government organizations (e.g. security controls for federal information systems) and NIST SP 800-171 for commercial enterprises that supply the U.S. government either directly or indirectly. Additionally, NIST SP 800-37 can be used as a guideline for risk management and NIST SP 800-61 for incident response.
The NIST SP 800-171 guideline defines the security requirements to protect unclassified information (known as "Controlled Unclassified Information" (CUI)) in non-governmental information systems, e.g. in commercial enterprises. Its goal is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of CUI data. The guideline addresses access control, risk assessment, and system protection, as well as numerous other areas, in total 14 control families.
In Europe, the standard is also rapidly gaining relevance: Large development cooperations with U.S. partner companies must be particularly cyber-resilient and protected from unauthorized access, especially when exchanging highly sensitive information.
Companies that wish to supply the U.S. defense industry or its European partners, or that process CUI data on behalf of the US government, must comply with the requirements of NIST SP 800-171. This regulation also applies to subcontractors and suppliers and is regulated by the DFARS law (Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations Supplement) of the U.S. government.
NIST compliance is not required for the production phase but also for the bidding phase, i.e., NIST SP 800-171 compliance must be achieved before the start of the collaboration.
The NIST guidelines are characterized by a comprehensive set of requirements. For example, NIST SP 800-171 encompasses a total of 110 control points across 14 control families. Companies must demonstrate for all 110 control points, how each control point is met and what the overall NIST concept of the company looks like.
For companies that have not previously dealt in detail with NIST SP 800-171, this may result in significant effort required to analyze the requirements, to develop a master plan, and to specify and to document the necessary measures. Since NIST compliance must already be achieved when requesting tender documents, there is often a tight timeframe to be NIST compliant.
valantic is the NIST expert and supports large enterprises and SMEs in achieving NIST compliance in the field of cybersecurity. Among other things, we are accompanying a large international production program in achieving the NIST requirements and proving their compliance to several large U.S. corporations.
Hence, we offer a compliance concept that has already been validated in the market. Our compliance concept allows an efficient implementation of the requirements of NIST SP 800-171 at your company in a timely manner and consists of standardized components that ensure essential control points are met, combined with company-specific individual measures.
We provide comprehensive support throughout the entire process to ensure your NIST compliance – from rapid qualification for proposal submission (‘proposal-readiness’) to extensive production-readiness.
Why is valantic the best partner for NIST compliance?
valantic is your end-to-end partner for the development of high-security IT architectures – from design to implementation and to the start of operations. Three reasons why we are probably your best partner for your NIST compliance journey:
Efficiency & Time:
By combining proven standard components with individual tailored measures, you achieve NIST compliance with the highest efficiency in a short time. This applies both to the submission of proposals (‘proposal-readiness’) and to the subsequent production and delivery (‘production-readiness’).
Security & Reliability:
Through close cooperation with large European companies, U.S. corporations, and Canadian companies, we are familiar with their detailed NIST requirements as well as key decision-makers (e.g., Chief Security Officer, project managers of large international programs). Although we cannot offer a 100% guarantee of success for achieving NIST compliance, our approach, understanding, and network provide you the highest possible level of security and reliability for your NIST compliance.
Know-how & Expert Team:
Due to our previous successful NIST projects, we have extensive expertise of all elements of NIST compliance in international development projects that require high levels of cyber resilience. Among other things, we design IT security strategies, governance principles, and secure IT architectures for our clients. System and hardware components hardening according to the highest security requirements to close potential security gaps for cyber attacks is part of our offer. In addition, we have a NIST compliance expert team with specialists for all upcoming tasks.
Contact us to discuss your goals and challenges. We will support you with an experienced consulting team of cybersecurity experts on your path to NIST compliance.
For more information about our consulting services in IT security, please visit valantic.com.
Dr.-Ing. Anja Wilde
partner
mm1 – a valantic company
Rainer Lindenau
partner
mm1 – a valantic company