NISTohjeet

NISTohjeet is the Finnish term for the guidelines and standards published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a United States federal agency within the Department of Commerce. The collection encompasses a broad set of documents that provide best practices for information security, risk management, cryptography, and related technologies.

Historically, the NIST SP 800-series has guided federal information system security since the 1990s, with ongoing updates. A landmark development is the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), released in 2014 to help organizations identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover from cybersecurity incidents. The CSF is designed to be adaptable across sectors and jurisdictions.

NIST guidelines are commonly used to secure federal information systems and critical infrastructure but have also been widely adopted by private organizations for risk management and compliance purposes. They are often referenced in procurement criteria, security assessments, and regulatory contexts, though most NIST publications are voluntary unless adopted into law or policy by a government body.

Notable NIST publications include the CSF; Special Publication 800-53, which defines a catalog of security and privacy controls; Special Publication 800-37, which outlines the Risk Management Framework; Special Publication 800-171, which governs protection of controlled unclassified information in nonfederal systems; and various specific guidelines such as 800-63 on digital identity.

Critically, NIST guidelines are periodically revised to reflect new threats, technologies, and legal requirements, and users should verify the latest versions. They are not themselves law, but they influence national and organizational cybersecurity practices worldwide.