The National Institutes of Standards in Technology (NIST)

What is NIST? The National Institutes of Standards in Technology (NIST) dates back to 1901. The United States Congress originally founded NIST as means to combat and issue with competition in the US during that time. Back in the day, the infrastructure in the USA was very poor and lacked the strength of countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom (UK). Today, NIST plays in role in setting the standard for numerous technological products and services from the smart electric power grid to computer chips to electronic health records, these are only three of the things that use the measurement and standards of NIST in their creation.Who uses NIST?NIST serves many fields and industries; predominately:

• Government: under the guidelines of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA), government agencies develop uniform rules and standards in order to avoid a unique set of government standards.

• Industry and Academia: Using NIST guidelines, companies are able to reduce product costs and efficiently enter a competitive international market

• The public: modern consumers expect the products they purchase to be safe, efficient, functional and durable. Using NIST standards, the United States, and their international trading partners have a set of standards a product must meet prior to import. Proof of meeting NIST standard can often be found on product packaging.

 The role of NIST in cyber security NIST’s innovative and technologically advanced testing labs support a wide range of computer science from mathematics to statistics, to systems engineering. NIST has a cyber security program which not only supports the commitment to advances in the field, it promotes advances in security in order to increase safety and offer efficiency and stability in our daily lives. NIST standards play a role in cybersecurity fields such as:

• Access Control
• Risk Management
• Cryptography
• Configuration and Vulnerability management

Cybersecurity is a critical and crucial field for the United States and the world as a whole and is expected to keep growing. Material researched and adapted from https://www.nist.gov/