NIST CSF supporting concepts

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of NIST CSF Supporting Concepts

    The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) Supporting Concepts provide a structured approach to managing cybersecurity risks. These concepts facilitate the use of ServiceNow® GRC products in conjunction with various Use Case Accelerators, enabling organizations to assess and improve their cybersecurity posture effectively.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Target: Serves as the foundation for NIST CSF use cases, linking to specific attributes and profiles within the ServiceNow GRC applications.
    • Critical Infrastructure: Essential systems and assets that significantly impact cybersecurity and national interests.
    • Implementation Tiers: Help organizations view and prioritize their cybersecurity risk management processes.
    • Cybersecurity Activity: Involves policies and requirements from the GRC Policy and Compliance Management application, assessing attributes like gaps and non-compliance.
    • Functions: Organize cybersecurity activities into categories such as Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover, and Govern.
    • Categories and Subcategories: Subdivisions of functions that help specify technical and management outcomes for effective cybersecurity practices.
    • Implementation State: Document the current state of cybersecurity activities, whether implemented or planned.
    • Gaps, Non-Compliant Controls, Risks, Issues, and Failed Indicators: Identify shortcomings and challenges in the cybersecurity framework.
    • Action Plans: Outline steps to address identified issues within the cybersecurity activity.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing these concepts, organizations can enhance their cybersecurity compliance, identify and address gaps in controls, and manage risks effectively. This structured approach enables informed decision-making and fosters continuous improvement in cybersecurity practices, ultimately strengthening the overall security posture of the organization.

    Familiarize yourself with these concepts, developed from the NIST CSF guidance.

    Concept Description
    Target The target is the foundation of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) Use Case Accelerator and all related concepts.

    The target is a shared table between the ServiceNow® GRC products and several Use Case Accelerators. They are similar to the concept of entities in the core GRC applications. They are optionally linked to profiles, but are used for any attributes that are specific to the Use Case Accelerators.
    Critical infrastructure (or critical in NIST CSF application usage) Vital physical or virtual systems and assets that have a serious impact on cybersecurity, national economic security, and national public health or safety.
    Implementation tiers Helps an organization view cybersecurity risks and the processes they use to manage those risks.

    Tiers are prioritized for achieving cybereecurity objectives. With the NIST CSF applications, organizations can evaluate targets from the implementation tier view, which uses the Tier attribute on Target table.
    Cybersecurity activity Cybersecurity policies and requirements are found in the ServiceNow® GRC Policy and Compliance Management application. The application provides guidelines for understanding cybersecurity outcomes that need to be achieved to strengthen cybersecurity practices and enhance security compliance.

    These activities in the NIST CSF application as are a combination of a Target, Function, and Category. NIST CSF activities evaluate cybersecurity requirements for Targets, which provides detailed insights into gaps, non-compliant controls, risks, issues, failed indicators, and action plans and when they are addressed. Also, they help organizations strengthen their security compliance position.
    Functions Functions organize basic cybersecurity activities at their highest level. These Functions are Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover, and Govern. They help an organization by organizing information, enabling risk management decisions, addressing threats, and learning from previous activities to improve its management of cybersecurity risk.

    In NIST CSF, functions select relevant cybersecurity outcomes for activities and organize them.
    Category Categories are the subdivisions of functions that are broken into groups of cybersecurity outcomes. Examples of categories include: Asset Management, Identity Management and Access Control, and Detection Processes.

    Subcategories are used to divide a category into specific outcomes of technical and management activities. They provide a set of results that can help support achievement of the outcomes in each category. Examples of subcategories include: External information systems are cataloged, Data-at-rest is protected, and Notifications from detection systems are investigated.

    The Framework Core identifies underlying categories and subcategories for each function as cybersecurity policies and their details as policy statements. The NIST CSF categories define the cybersecurity activities for targets and uses the associated subcategories to evaluate cybersecurity requirements to provide additional insight.
    Implementation state State of the cybersecurity activity, whether implemented or planned for the future. It is possible to document the implementation state of a cybersecurity activity.
    Gaps Control objectives of the cybersecurity policy that do not have any controls in-place for the target's profile identified in the cybersecurity activity.
    Non-compliant controls Cybersecurity controls that are considered non-compliant because of implementation issues and have been found for the target's entity, which is identified in the cybersecurity activity.
    Risks Risks associated with the controls implemented for the target's entity, which is identified in the cybersecurity activity.
    Issues Issues with controls and risks for the target's entity, which are identified in the cybersecurity activity.
    Failed indicators Failed indicators of controls and risks implemented for the target's entity, which is identified in the cybersecurity activity.
    Action plans Action plans for issues for the target's entity, which are identified in the cybersecurity activity.