Data Integrity: Identifying and Protecting Assets Against Ransomware and Other Destructive Events

Download the Final Practice Guide

The NCCoE has released the final NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide SP 1800-25, Identifying and Protecting Assets Against Ransomware and Other Destructive Events. Use the button below to view this publication in its entirety or scroll down for links to a specific section.

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The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has released the final National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Special Publication (SP) 1800-25, Identifying and Protecting Assets Against Ransomware and Other Destructive Events.

SP 1800-25 comprises the following volumes:

SP 1800-25A: Executive Summary (PDF) (web page)
SP 1800-25B: Approach, Architecture, and Security Characteristics (PDF) (web page)
SP 1800-25C: How-To-Guides (PDF) (web page)

Or download the complete guide (PDF).

Cybersecurity White Paper

The NCCoE has released Securing Data Integrity Against Ransomware Attacks: Using the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guides, a white paper that provides an overview of the three Data Integrity projects and how they align with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. This paper offers a high-level explanation of the architecture and capabilities, and it explains how these projects can be brought together into one comprehensive data integrity solution.

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) at NIST proposed a project that could help organizations identify and protect their assets from data integrity attacks across multiple industries. This project includes the development of a reference design and uses commercially available technologies to develop an example solution that will help various organizations implement stronger security controls.

Ransomware, destructive malware, insider threats, and even honest mistakes present an ongoing threat to an organization’s infrastructure. Database records, system files, configurations, user files, applications, and customer data are all at risk should an attack occur.

Organizations that do not implement identification and protection solutions leave themselves at risk for many types of data integrity attacks. These risks could be reduced using capabilities such as:

secure storage
backup capabilities for databases, VMs, and file systems
log collection
asset inventory
file integrity checking mechanisms

This project focuses on methods to effectively identify assets that may become targets of data integrity attacks. It also explores methods to protect these assets against data integrity attacks through the use of audit logs, vulnerability management, maintenance, and other potential solutions.

For a brief overview of the project, please read our fact sheet.

Collaborating Vendors

Organizations participating in this project submitted their capabilities in response to an open call in the Federal Register for all sources of relevant security capabilities from academia and industry (vendors and integrators). The following respondents with relevant capabilities or product components (identified as “Technology Partners/Collaborators” herein) signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to collaborate with NIST in a consortium to build this example solution.

_{Certain commercial entities, equipment, products, or materials may be identified by name or company logo or other insignia in order to acknowledge their participation in this collaboration or to describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply special status or relationship with NIST or recommendation or endorsement by NIST or NCCoE; neither is it intended to imply that the entities, equipment, products, or materials are necessarily the best available for the purpose.}

Join Our Community of Interest

Interested in joining the Data Integrity: Identifying and Protecting Assets Against Ransomware and Other Destructive Events Community of Interest? Contact us!

A Community of Interest is a group of professionals and technical advisors convened to support the cybersecurity resiliency of the U.S. economy. Read More.