NIST Cybersecurity Framework Consulting Services

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework gives a common structure for managing cybersecurity risk. CSF 2.0 organizes cybersecurity outcomes into six Functions: Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. NIST designed these Functions to work together as an ongoing approach to cybersecurity risk management.

The Framework Core outlines key cybersecurity outcomes that companies can use to review their current practices and set future goals. NIST doesn’t require any particular technology or product. Instead, the framework lets businesses pick practices that match their risks, goals, threats, and resources.

This makes NIST CSF useful for small businesses just getting started and for larger companies that want to improve their current programs.

A NIST CSF Assessment compares your current cybersecurity practices to the outcomes in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. This helps your company find strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and scope for improvement.

The assessment can evaluate cybersecurity governance, asset management, identity and access management, vulnerability management, incident response, security monitoring, recovery planning, third-party risk, and other areas relevant to your business.

Tanner Security uses the assessment to help leadership understand the current state of the cybersecurity program and determine which improvements should receive priority.

The result is far more than a score. You get a clear view of where your business stands and what steps can make your security stronger.

Govern: Govern establishes the foundation for cybersecurity risk management. This Function addresses leadership responsibility, cybersecurity strategy, policies, roles, oversight, risk appetite, supply chain considerations, and the processes a business uses to manage cybersecurity risk.

Tanner Security helps leaders put governance practices in place that connect cybersecurity decisions to business priorities. Good governance helps executives understand risks more clearly and take responsibility for improving security.

Identify: Identify focuses on understanding the business environment, assets, risks, and dependencies that could affect cybersecurity outcomes.

Our consultants help businesses find their key systems, sensitive data, technology needs, third-party connections, and cybersecurity risks. This helps decide where to focus security efforts first.

Protect: Protect focuses on implementing safeguards that reduce the likelihood and impact of cybersecurity incidents.

Depending on your risk profile, this may include access control, identity management, security awareness, data protection, secure configuration, vulnerability management, and other protective measures. We help businesses select safeguards that fit their environment, rather than suggesting every possible security control.

Detect: Detect focuses on identifying cybersecurity events and possible threats as quickly as possible.

Our assessments look at monitoring, logging, detection, alerts, and security operations to check if your business can spot suspicious activity before it becomes a bigger issue.

Respond: Respond focuses on taking appropriate action after a cybersecurity event occurs.

Tanner Security reviews incident response plans, communication steps, containment plans, investigation processes, and decision making roles to help businesses get ready for an effective response.

Recover: Recover focuses on restoring systems, operations, and business services after a cybersecurity incident.

Recovery planning connects cybersecurity with business continuity and disaster recovery. We help businesses make sure their recovery processes can restore key operations in a reasonable amount of time.

A key feature of CSF 2.0 is the option to create Current and Target Profiles.

A Current Profile describes the cybersecurity outcomes your business currently achieves. A Target Profile describes the outcomes your business wants to achieve based on its objectives, risk tolerance, threat environment, and stakeholder desires. Comparing the two profiles helps identify and prioritize gaps.

Tanner Security can help you create and use Current and Target Profiles to build a practical plan for improving cybersecurity.

Rather than asking if your business has every possible security control, the process focuses on a more helpful question:

Are you achieving the cybersecurity outcomes your business actually needs?

CSF 2.0 also provides Tiers that characterize the rigor of a company’s cybersecurity risk governance and management practices.

The Tiers range from Tier 1 (Partial) through Tier 4 (Adaptive). NIST explains that companies can use Tiers to provide details on how rigorously they manage cybersecurity risk and to help inform their Current and Target Profiles. NIST additionally emphasizes that Tiers should guide risk management rather than replace a company’s broader cybersecurity methodology.

Tanner Security can help leaders review how mature their current cybersecurity practices are and decide what level of detail fits the company’s risks and goals.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is not a certification and does not automatically make a business compliant with any regulation or standard. Instead, businesses can use CSF 2.0 to organize cybersecurity risk management and connect security practices to other requirements.

For example, a company may use NIST CSF alongside ISO 27001, CMMC, NIST SP 800-171, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, or theCIS Controls.

Tanner Security can help businesses avoid extra work by connecting NIST CSF outcomes with other cybersecurity and compliance needs.

Businesses sometimes confuse the NIST Cybersecurity Framework with NIST SP 800-171. They serve different purposes.

NIST CSF 2.0 provides a flexible framework for managing cybersecurity risk across businesses of different sizes and industries.

NIST SP 800-171 provides security requirements for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in nonfederal systems and organizations. Businesses working with the Department of Defense or other federal agencies may need to address those requirements based on contractual obligations.

Tanner Security provides consulting for both sets of frameworks, but we treat them as separate services with different objectives.

Tanner Security has deep experience in cybersecurity assessments, IT audits, risk management, penetration testing, compliance, cloud security, and governance.

Our consultants do more than just compare your program to the framework. We look at how your controls work in real situations, how risks affect your business, and where investments can have the most impact.

We know cybersecurity programs need to fit real budgets, staffing limits, technology setups, and business priorities.

Our goal is to help your company build a cybersecurity program that actually works, not just create a document that gets ignored.

Cybersecurity threats continue to evolve as businesses rely more heavily on digital systems, cloud platforms, and remote access technologies.

Frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Frameworkand NIST SP 800-171 provide a structured approach to managing cybersecurity risk and protecting sensitive data.

Tanner Security helps businesses evaluate their cybersecurity posture, strengthen security controls, and align their security programs with widely recognized cybersecurity standards.

If your company requires NIST Cybersecurity Framework consulting, NIST 800-171 compliance assessments, or cybersecurity risk evaluations, Tanner Security can help you identify security gaps and improve your overall cybersecurity posture.

NIST CSF consulting often works best when combined with other cybersecurity and risk management services. Tanner Security can support your broader program with IT Risk Assessments, IT Audits, Enterprise Risk Management, Governance Risk and Compliance consulting, Network Vulnerability Assessments, Penetration Testing, Cloud Risk Assessments, Microsoft 365 Security Reviews, IT Policy Development, andNIST SP 800-171 consulting.

These services help businesses move from identifying cybersecurity risks to checking their controls and making real improvements.