> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://helpdesk.augmentt.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://helpdesk.augmentt.com/compliance/nist-csf-2.0.md). # NIST CSF 2.0 The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0 is a voluntary framework published by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology to help organizations of any size understand, manage, and reduce cybersecurity risk. It's widely used by MSPs and their clients because it isn't tied to one industry or one piece of technology — it gives you a common vocabulary for talking about security posture with clients, auditors, cyber-insurance underwriters, and leadership teams who aren't security specialists. {% hint style="info" %} CSF 2.0 (released in 2024) added a sixth function — **Govern** — to the original five, reflecting the shift toward treating cybersecurity as an ongoing risk-management function rather than a one-time technical checklist. {% endhint %} ## The six CSF 2.0 Functions NIST organizes the framework into six high-level Functions: | Function | What it covers | | ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Govern (GV)** | Establishing and monitoring your cybersecurity risk management strategy, roles, and policy | | **Identify (ID)** | Understanding your assets, data, and risks — what you have and where the exposure is | | **Protect (PR)** | Safeguards to limit or contain the impact of a security event (access control, identity management, data protection) | | **Detect (DE)** | Finding cybersecurity events as they happen | | **Respond (RS)** | Taking action once an incident is detected | | **Recover (RC)** | Restoring capabilities and services impacted by an incident | Each Function breaks down into Categories and Subcategories — granular, auditable statements like "identities and credentials for authorized users are managed" — which is the level auditors and assessments actually check against. ## Why it matters for MSPs Clients increasingly ask "are we NIST compliant?" — sometimes because a customer or partner requires it contractually, sometimes because a cyber-insurance renewal asks about it, and sometimes just because it's the framework a compliance-minded prospect has heard of. Being able to answer in the client's own framework language, rather than in Microsoft's or your own internal checklist language, is a meaningful differentiator in new-business conversations and QBRs alike. ## How Augmentt maps to NIST CSF 2.0 Augmentt doesn't implement NIST CSF 2.0 as a standalone product — it's a Microsoft 365 security and management platform, so its relevance to CSF 2.0 is concentrated in the Identify, Protect, and Detect Functions, with contributions to Respond through alerting. In practice, that mapping shows up in two places inside the product: * **Compliance Audit** lets you assess an M365 tenant against a NIST CSF 2.0-aligned assessment, with each posture check tied to the specific CSF control it satisfies — so a failing check maps straight to the control a customer or auditor will ask about, and you can pull evidence to back up the conversation. * **Posture Templates** ship a ready-made NIST CSF 2.0 template so that, for the controls Augmentt can configure, you can apply the recommended fixes in bulk against a tenant rather than one setting at a time. At a conceptual level, day-to-day Augmentt capabilities line up with CSF 2.0 Functions roughly like this: * **Identify** — Discover surfaces the SaaS applications in use across a client, including shadow IT, which feeds directly into an accurate asset inventory. * **Protect** — Security posture checks around MFA, legacy authentication, conditional access, guest access, and mailbox/forwarding-rule configuration address identity- and access-management controls. * **Detect** — Alerts monitor sign-in risk, role and group changes, and other M365 activity, giving you continuous monitoring evidence. * **Respond** — Alert notifications routed to email or your PSA give your team (or the client's) the trigger to act on a detected event. {% hint style="warning" %} This page describes the conceptual mapping between NIST CSF 2.0 and Augmentt's capabilities. For the exact list of posture checks in the out-of-box NIST CSF 2.0 assessment and template, and for how to run or customize an assessment against a tenant, see [Posture Templates](/modules/secure/security-posture/posture-templates.md) and [Compliance Audit](/modules/secure/security-posture/compliance-audit.md) rather than treating this page as the deployment reference. {% endhint %} {% hint style="warning" %} Exact control-to-check mappings can change between releases as Augmentt's posture library grows. This draft was written without direct access to the current codebase or the live Compliance Audit UI this cycle — verify specific control references against the in-product assessment before publishing to customers. {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://helpdesk.augmentt.com/compliance/nist-csf-2.0.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.