New at Firebrand — NIST® Cybersecurity Training courses

New at Firebrand, two NIST® Cybersecurity training courses delivered in our time-tested accelerated method:

• NIST® Cybersecurity Framework Foundation
• NIST® Cybersecurity Framework 800-53 Practitioner

We are proud to be an Authorized DVMS Training Partner. Both courses lead to official NIST® Cybersecurity certification and can be taken at our distraction-free training centre in Bedfordshire, UK.

Could they be right for you, or your team?

Let's take a closer look.

What is the NIST® framework?

The NIST® Cybersecurity Framework was developed by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology, a Government institution part of the US Department of Commerce, and initially published in 2014.

What is the purpose of NIST®?

NIST® was created to provide Cybersecurity guidance for operators of critical infrastructure.

It's based on the existing ISO 27001 and ISA/IEC 62443 series standards and focuses on the management and reduction of Cybersecurity risk within companies. Although it was created for the US, the framework has been adopted in over 27 countries, especially in the financial and telecommunications sectors, and is part of Japanese and Australian Government programmes.

NIST® vs NIS 2—What's the difference?

These Cybersecurity frameworks are closely aligned and the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) supports both.

• The NIST® Framework is American, while the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Directive (NIS 2) is European.
• NIST® focuses on 5 core Cybersecurity functions (Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover), while NIS 2 has 6. They are similar.
• NIST® can apply to any size business, while NIS 2 applies to medium-sized and larger companies.
• Finally, NIST® is more flexible than NIS 2, with no enforcement guidelines currently in place, while the latter demands strict compliance and enforcement. 

Who should be NIST-certified?

If you do business with the US government, failure to comply with NIST® can result in the loss of your contract.

You have to comply with NIST® if you're working for a(n):

• US Federal agency
• Government contractor and/or subcontractor
• Organisation that processes or stores sensitive US Government data
• Organisation that provides Cloud services to the US Federal Government

If you're based in the UK, should you be NIST-certified?

The NIST® Cybersecurity Framework is a flexible model that can help you improve your Cybersecurity posture regardless of where in the world you operate. According to industry intelligence, it may be easier to understand the EU NIS 2 Directive if you first achieve the NIST® fundamentals.

In addition, becoming NIST-certified aligns you with international Cybersecurity best practice whilst helping you become more attractive to international contracts, whether Government or industry. NIST® applies to any business reliant on technology, demonstrating your commitment to Cybersecurity and Data Protection and helping you build trust with your business partners. If you're involved with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), becoming NIST-certified is even more advantageous.

Which course is right for you?

At Firebrand, we offer two official NIST Cybersecurity training options as Authorized Training Partner of the DVMS Institute:

• NIST® Cybersecurity Framework Foundation
• NIST® Cybersecurity Framework 800-53 Practitioner

1. NIST® Foundation

The NIST® Cybersecurity Framework Foundation course takes only 2 days to complete and ends with the official exam. There are no prerequisites to attend this course; any IT, Cybersecurity, and business professionals who want to understand the foundations of NIST-CSF or who will be involved in engineering and operationalising their employer's NIST-CSF programme would greatly benefit from this course.

This comprehensive course is comprised of 7 modules:

1. Today’s Digital Economy
2. Understanding Cyber Risks
3. NIST® Cybersecurity Framework Fundamentals
4. Core Functions, Categories & Subcategories
5. Implementation Tiers
6. Developing Framework Profiles
7. Cybersecurity Improvement

Read more about the course and contact us to book. 

2. NIST® 800-53 Practitioner

The NIST® Cybersecurity Framework 800-53 Practitioner builds on the foundational knowledge acquired in the first course. This practitioner-level course focuses on how businesses can mitigate Cybersecurity challenges by operationalizing a NIST-CSF programme across their enterprise and supply chain according to the NIST 800-53 standard. In order to attend this course, delegates need to have taken the Foundation course and passed the exam.

This course is ideal for professionals in IT, Engineering, Operations, and Business Risk, exposing them to key areas of the 800-53 standard, from Systems Thinking, Cybersecurity, and DVMS, to Digital Business Risk Management and thinking beyond this framework.

Read the full course description and get in touch. 

Achieve your NIST certification with Firebrand

For the past 13 years in a row, we’ve been named one of the Top 20 IT Training Companies in the World.

We specialise in accelerated training that helps you become competent, confident, and certified at twice the speed.

Could one of our courses be right for you?

See all our Cyber Security courses.

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