Cybersecurity Frameworks for Small Business Implementation

The OWASP® Foundation Threat and Safeguard Matrix (TaSM) is designed to provide a structured, action-oriented approach to cybersecurity planning. This work on the OWASP website by Ross Young explains how to use the OWASP TaSM and as it relates to GenAI risks: https://lnkd.in/g3ZRypWw These new risks require organizations to think beyond traditional cybersecurity threats and focus on new vulnerabilities specific to AI systems. * * * How to use the TaSM in general: 1) Identify Major Threats - Begin by listing your organization’s key risks. Include common threats like web application attacks, phishing, third-party data breaches, supply chain attacks, and DoS attacks and unique threats, such as insider risks or fraud. - Use frameworks like STRIDE-LM or NIST 800-30 to explore detailed scenarios. 2) Map Threats to NIST Cybersecurity Functions Align each threat with the NIST functions: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. 3) Define Safeguards Mitigate threats by implementing safeguards in 3 areas: - People: Training and awareness programs. - Processes: Policies and operational procedures. - Technology: Tools like firewalls, encryption, and antivirus. 4) Add Metrics to Track Progress - Attach measurable goals to safeguards. - Summarize metrics into a report for leadership. Include KPIs to show successes, challenges, and next steps. 5) Monitor and Adjust Regularly review metrics, identify gaps, and adjust strategies. Use trends to prioritize improvements and investments. 6) Communicate Results Present a concise summary of progress, gaps, and actionable next steps to leadership, ensuring alignment with organizational goals. * * * The TaSM can be expanded for Risk Committees by adding a column to list each department’s top 3-5 threats. This allows the committee to evaluate risks across the company and ensure they are mitigated in a collaborative way. E.g., Cyber can work with HR to train employees and with Legal to ensure compliance when addressing phishing attacks that harm the brand. * * * How the TaSM connects to GenAI risks: The TaSM can be used to address AI-related risks by systematically mapping specific GenAI threats - such as sensitive data leaks, malicious AI supply chains, hallucinated promises, data overexposure, AI misuse, unethical recommendations, and bias-fueled liability - to appropriate safeguards. Focus on the top 3-4 AI threats most critical to your business and use the TaSM to outline safeguards for these high-priority risks, e.g.: - Identify: Audit systems and data usage to understand vulnerabilities. - Protect: Enforce policies, restrict access, and train employees on safe AI usage. - Detect: Monitor for unauthorized data uploads or unusual AI behavior. - Respond: Define incident response plans for managing AI-related breaches or misuse. - Recover: Develop plans to retrain models, address bias, or mitigate legal fallout.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released for public comment (open until May 20), Special Publication: “Incident Response Recommendations and Considerations for Cybersecurity Risk Management: A CSF 2.0 Community Profile.” A #NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) Community Profile is a baseline of #CSF outcomes that is created and published to address shared interests and goals for reducing #cybersecurity risk among several organizations. The Community Profile is intended for use by most organizations regardless of sector, size, or other factors. This document seeks to assist organizations with incorporating cybersecurity #incidentresponse recommendations and considerations throughout their cybersecurity #risk. It also provides a common language that all organizations can use to communicate internally and externally regarding their #incident response plans and activities. The publication discusses how the incident response lifecycle has changed because incidents occur more frequently and cause far more damage. It uses the CSF 2.0 Core as the basis for highlighting and prioritizing cybersecurity outcomes that are important for incident response: • Govern: The organization’s cybersecurity #riskmanagement strategy, expectations, and policy are established, communicated, and monitored. • Identify: The organization’s current cybersecurity risks are understood. • Protect: Safeguards to manage the organization’s cybersecurity risks are used. • Detect: Possible cybersecurity attacks and compromises are found and analyzed. • Respond: Actions regarding a detected cybersecurity incident are taken. • Recover: Assets and operations affected by a cybersecurity incident are restored. Finally, the document provides a table covering Preparation (Govern, Identify, and Protect) and another one covering the Incident Response Lifecycle (Detect, Respond, and Recover). https://lnkd.in/enAzfmtB

These 4 NIST frameworks come up the most, and learning them early can help you understand how security and privacy decisions get made across a company. 1. NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) RMF teaches you how to walk through a full risk process step by step. This includes identifying risks, figuring out what safeguards are needed, and documenting decisions in a way that makes sense to other teams and to auditors. You’ll see it in action when working on anything tied to government systems or FedRAMP. Knowing RMF helps you understand why systems need approvals, how risks are formally tracked, and what secure design looks like in real life. 2. NIST Privacy Framework This one helps you understand what “privacy” really means at work. It teaches you how to think about personal information, how to protect it, and how to explain your decisions when something goes wrong. You’ll use it during vendor reviews, privacy policy work, or when mapping out what kind of personal data your company collects. It also teaches you how to ask better questions about data use. 3. NIST AI Risk Management Framework If a company is using AI, they need to show they’re thinking through the risks. This framework helps you break that down clearly. You learn to look at where data comes from, whether the output is fair or biased, and how decisions made by AI tools are being monitored or explained. It also introduces you to things like model drift, impact assessments, and human oversight (all real topics GRC teams are now being pulled into). 4. NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) CSF gives you the big picture of how a company protects itself. It teaches you to walk through five core questions: how do we identify risks, protect systems, detect threats, respond to issues, and recover from incidents? You’ll see this used across security programs, executive dashboards, and policy reviews. It’s one of the easiest frameworks to start with, because it helps you understand how all the moving pieces in security fit together.