LII:Comprehensive Guide to Developing and Implementing a Cybersecurity Plan

Title: Comprehensive Guide to Developing and Implementing a Cybersecurity Plan

Edition: Second

Author for citation: Shawn E. Douglas

License for content: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Publication date: March 2023

Look across the internet and you will find a wealth of information about cybersecurity and the cybersecurity plan. However, much of that information is either disparate or, if comprehensive, difficult to access or expensive to acquire. In particular, a walk-through of the various steps involved with how an organization or individual develops, enforces, and maintains a cybersecurity plan is difficult to come by. This guide attempts to fill that gap, including not only a 10-step walk-through but also insight into regulations, standards, and cybersecurity standards frameworks, as well as how they all fit together with cybersecurity planning. Additionally, this document provides access to An Example Cybersecurity Plan, a companion document that provides a representative example of the 10-step walk-through put to use. This guide also includes a slightly simplified version of many of the security controls found in the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Special Publication 800-53, Rev. 5, with additional resources to provide context, and mappings to LIMSpec, an evolving set of specifications for laboratory informatics solutions and their development. The guide attempts to be helpful to most any organization attempting to navigate the challenges of cybersecurity planning, with a slight bias towards laboratories implementing and updating information systems.

The second edition updates citations and statistics, as well as grammar. The first edition was released months prior to the NIST 800-53 update from Rev. 4 to 5; this edition is updated throughout to address the changes in that framework to Rev. 5, including Appendix 1.

The table of contents for Comprehensive Guide to Developing and Implementing a Cybersecurity Plan is as follows:

1. What is a cybersecurity plan and why do you need it?

1.1 Cybersecurity planning and its value

2. What are the major regulations and standards dictating cybersecurity action?

2.1 Cybersecurity standards frameworks

3. Fitting a cybersecurity standards framework into a cybersecurity plan

3.1 How do cybersecurity controls and frameworks guide plan development?

4. NIST Special Publication 800-53, Revision 5 and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework

4.1 NIST Cybersecurity Framework

5. Develop and create the cybersecurity plan

5.1 Develop strategic cybersecurity goals and define success

5.2 Define scope and responsibilities

5.3 Identify cybersecurity requirements and objectives

5.4 Establish performance indicators and associated time frames

5.5 Identify key stakeholders

5.6 Determine resource needs

5.7 Develop a communications plan

5.8 Develop a response and continuity plan

5.9 Establish how the overall cybersecurity plan will be implemented

5.10 Review progress

6. Closing remarks

6.1 Recap and closing

Appendix 1. A simplified description of NIST Special Publication 800-53 controls, with ties to LIMSpec

Appendix 1.1 Access control

Appendix 1.2 Awareness and training

Appendix 1.3 Audit and accountability

Appendix 1.4 Assessment, authorization, and monitoring

Appendix 1.5 Configuration management

Appendix 1.6 Contingency planning

Appendix 1.7 Identification and authentication

Appendix 1.8 Incident response

Appendix 1.9 Maintenance

Appendix 1.10 Media protection

Appendix 1.11 Physical and environmental protection

Appendix 1.12 Planning

Appendix 1.13 Program management

Appendix 1.14 Personnel security

Appendix 1.15 Personally identifiable information processing and transparency

Appendix 1.16 Risk assessment

Appendix 1.17 System and services acquisition

Appendix 1.18 System and communications protection

Appendix 1.19 System and information integrity

Appendix 1.20 Supply chain risk management