In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, cyber threats are growing more complex, targeting not only primary systems but also backup data. As organizations expand their digital footprints, the need for robust cybersecurity frameworks has become a strategic imperative. One framework that has gained prominence in helping organizations navigate this challenging environment is the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF). It offers a structured approach to cyber resilience, empowering organizations to identify, protect, detect, respond to and recover from cyber incidents.

Understanding the NIST 2.0 Cybersecurity Framework

The NIST CSF is more than just a set of technical guidelines; it provides a holistic strategy for managing and reducing cybersecurity risks. This framework is built around five core functions—Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover—each of which helps organizations strengthen their defenses against cyber threats. The latest iteration of the framework introduces an additional pillar, Govern, underscoring the importance of comprehensive risk management.

• Identify: Assessing and understanding cybersecurity risks across systems, assets and data
• Protect: Implementing strong safeguards to ensure the delivery of critical services while mitigating risks
• Detect: Developing mechanisms to promptly detect potential cybersecurity events
• Respond: Reacting swiftly to minimize the damage of a detected cybersecurity incident
• Recover: Having robust recovery plans to restore services and maintain operational resilience
• Govern: Ensuring cybersecurity policies, risk management strategies and performance metrics align with the organization's mission and stakeholder expectations

The rising importance of cyber resilience

Organizations are facing increasingly sophisticated and diverse cyber threats that go beyond conventional attack vectors. The modern threat landscape now encompasses advanced ransomware, AI-driven attacks and other tactics that target not only operational systems but also critical backup data. These complexities have made cyber resilience (the ability to withstand, recover from and adapt to adverse cyber events) essential for any organization’s survival. As highlighted in recent HCLTech Global Cyber Resilience Study 2024-25 , only 48% of security leaders feel confident in their organization's ability to prevent cyberattacks, and even fewer, 46%, are certain about their preparedness to effectively respond and recover after an attack.

This underscores a growing realization that prevention alone is no longer enough. Organizations must now prioritize resilience to minimize downtime, safeguard critical data and restore operations quickly in the event of a breach. Moreover, cyber resilience is not just about technology—it's about alignment between security strategies and broader business goals. Many security leaders now recognize the need to bridge this gap, with 67% indicating a lack of integration between cybersecurity and enterprise objectives as a significant barrier to improving their cyber defense posture.

As organizations look to build a comprehensive cyber resilience strategy, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) offers a structured, holistic approach. It emphasizes not only protecting systems but also ensuring swift recovery and sustained operations in the face of cyber threats. By embedding resilience into their cybersecurity efforts, businesses can reduce risks, enhance trust with stakeholders and maintain continuity, even amid increasing challenges.

The importance of this shift in focus cannot be overstated: resilience is now a critical metric of an organization's overall cybersecurity maturity, demanding both strategic foresight and the right technology partnerships.

Cohesity and HCLTech: Enhancing cyber resilience together

To address these challenges, Cohesity and HCLTech have formed a powerful partnership to offer enhanced cyber resilience solutions aligned with the NIST CSF. The joint solution, HCLTech VaultNXT – powered by Cohesity, combines Cohesity’s cutting-edge AI-powered data security and management capabilities with HCLTech’s deep cybersecurity expertise to deliver comprehensive, end-to-end protection against cyber threats.

Here’s how the NIST CSF functions come to life in the HCLTech and Cohesity joint solution:

• Identification: HCLTech helps assess an organization’s overall cybersecurity posture, while Cohesity’s tools identify and classify sensitive data within protected data. 
• Protection: The joint solution utilizes zero-trust principles and provides advanced protection mechanisms such as immutable snapshots and multi-factor authentication. 
• Detection and response: Organizations can quickly identify and mitigate threats with Cohesity’s AI-powered threat detection and HCLTech’s continuous monitoring. 
• Recovery: The solution offers instant mass restore capabilities to ensure fast and efficient recovery from incidents, minimizing downtime and disruptions.

For more detailed insights on how this partnership and the NIST CSF can enhance your organization’s cybersecurity, download our whitepaper, Up Your Cybersecurity Game with NIST CSF and the Cohesity-HCLTech Advantage. It explores how HCLTech and Cohesity are helping organizations stay resilient in the face of modern cyber threats.