NIST CYBERSECURITY ASSESSMENT SERVICES
The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is the most widely adopted security standard in the United States, used by organizations across every industry to measure and improve their security posture. Petronella Technology Group (Petronella Technology Group) conducts comprehensive NIST assessments that identify gaps, quantify risk, and deliver a prioritized roadmap your team can act on immediately. With the average cost of a data breach reaching $4.88M in 2024 (IBM), understanding where your defenses stand is no longer optional.
What Is a NIST Assessment?
A NIST assessment is a structured evaluation of your organization's cybersecurity controls, policies, and practices measured against one or more NIST frameworks. Unlike a general IT audit, a NIST assessment produces quantified maturity scores, a formal gap analysis, and a prioritized remediation roadmap tied directly to the controls published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The assessment scope covers people, processes, and technology. Assessors review written policies, interview staff responsible for security operations, test technical configurations, and compare the evidence against each applicable control requirement. The result is an objective, repeatable measurement of where your organization stands today and exactly what must change to close remaining gaps.
For defense contractors, the assessment also produces your SPRS score -- the Supplier Performance Risk System score that the Department of Defense uses to evaluate contractor cybersecurity readiness. A low SPRS score can disqualify your company from contract awards before the technical evaluation even begins.
Petronella has conducted NIST assessments for defense contractors, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and critical infrastructure operators for over 24 years. Every assessment follows a documented, repeatable methodology that produces audit-ready deliverables.
NIST Frameworks We Assess Against
Different industries and contract requirements call for different NIST publications. Petronella assesses against all four major frameworks and maps findings across them when multiple apply.
NIST CSF 2.0
The Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 is a voluntary, risk-based framework organized around six core functions: Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. It applies to organizations of every size and sector. CSF assessments produce maturity tier ratings (Partial, Risk Informed, Repeatable, Adaptive) that show leadership where investments will have the greatest impact.
NIST 800-171
110 security requirements for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in non-federal systems. NIST 800-171 is the foundation of CMMC Level 2 and is required by DFARS clause 252.204-7012 for every defense contractor and subcontractor that handles CUI. Our assessment produces a gap report, SPRS score, and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M).
NIST 800-53
The most comprehensive catalog of security and privacy controls published by NIST, containing over 1,000 controls across 20 families. Required by FISMA for federal agencies and FedRAMP for cloud service providers. Petronella helps organizations select the appropriate baseline (Low, Moderate, or High) and assess implementation status for each applicable control.
NIST 800-50
Focused specifically on building and maintaining effective security awareness and training programs. We assess whether your organization has role-based training, measures training effectiveness, updates content based on emerging threats, and maintains completion records required by auditors.
NIST CSF Core Functions
We assess your organization across all six NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 functions, providing maturity scores and actionable recommendations for each.
Identify
We catalog your hardware, software, data flows, and third-party dependencies. Our asset discovery process maps your business environment, governance structure, risk tolerance, and supply chain relationships so nothing is overlooked during the assessment.
Protect
We evaluate your access controls, security awareness training, data encryption practices, information protection processes, and system maintenance procedures against NIST benchmarks to find gaps before attackers do.
Detect
Continuous monitoring, anomaly detection, and event correlation capabilities are tested to determine how quickly your team would spot a breach. We evaluate SIEM configurations, log retention policies, and alerting thresholds.
Respond
We review your incident response plan, communication protocols, forensic analysis capabilities, and mitigation procedures. Organizations without a tested response plan take an average of 277 days to contain a breach.
Recover
Recovery planning, backup verification, and business continuity procedures are assessed to ensure your organization can restore operations quickly after an incident with minimal data loss.
Govern
Added in NIST CSF 2.0, the Govern function evaluates your organizational context, risk management strategy, roles and responsibilities, cybersecurity policies, and executive oversight to ensure security is embedded at the leadership level.
Our NIST Assessment Process
Petronella follows a structured, repeatable eight-step methodology refined over 24+ years of security consulting. Each step builds on the previous one to ensure nothing is missed.
Scoping
Document Review
Technical Testing
Staff Interviews
Gap Analysis
Risk Scoring
Remediation Roadmap
Validation
Every assessment begins with scoping to define which systems, networks, data flows, and personnel fall within the assessment boundary. We then conduct a thorough document review of your existing policies, procedures, system security plans, and prior audit findings. Technical testing includes configuration reviews, vulnerability scanning and penetration testing, and access control verification. Staff interviews validate that documented procedures match actual practice. The gap analysis maps every finding to the specific NIST control it violates, and risk scoring assigns a severity rating based on likelihood and impact. We then deliver a remediation roadmap with estimated effort, cost, and priority for each item. Finally, validation confirms that implemented fixes satisfy the original control requirement.
What You Receive
Every Petronella NIST assessment produces a complete set of audit-ready documentation your team can act on immediately.
Assessment Documentation
- Gap Analysis Report -- detailed findings for every assessed control with evidence references and severity ratings
- Risk Register -- cataloged risks ranked by likelihood and business impact, with recommended mitigations
- SPRS Score Calculation -- your Supplier Performance Risk System score (for 800-171 assessments), required for DoD contract eligibility
- Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) -- each open gap with assigned owners, target dates, and resource requirements
Strategic Outputs
- System Security Plan Outline -- foundation document for NIST 800-171 and CMMC compliance
- Maturity Scorecard -- visual maturity ratings across every NIST function and control family
- Prioritized Remediation Roadmap -- phased plan with cost estimates, effort levels, and quick-win identification
- Executive Summary -- board-ready overview suitable for leadership, investors, and insurance underwriters
Who Needs a NIST Assessment?
Defense contractors handling Controlled Unclassified Information are required by DFARS 252.204-7012 to implement NIST 800-171 and will need a passing assessment for CMMC Level 2 certification. Federal agencies must comply with NIST 800-53 under FISMA. Healthcare organizations use NIST CSF alongside HIPAA to demonstrate reasonable safeguards. Critical infrastructure operators in energy, utilities, and transportation increasingly adopt NIST CSF 2.0 as their primary framework. Even organizations without a regulatory mandate benefit from a NIST assessment because it provides the most widely recognized baseline for measuring cybersecurity maturity in the United States.
NIST Assessment vs CMMC Assessment
NIST 800-171 and CMMC Level 2 cover the same 110 security requirements, but the assessment process and consequences differ in important ways.
Self-Attested
Your organization evaluates its own controls and submits an SPRS score. No third-party certification body is involved, but the DoD can audit your score at any time.
Ongoing Obligation
DFARS requires continuous compliance. Your SPRS score and POA&M must be kept current. Petronella conducts annual reassessments to ensure controls remain effective.
Foundation for CMMC
A thorough NIST 800-171 assessment is the best preparation for CMMC Level 2. Organizations that skip this step routinely fail their C3PAO assessment.
Third-Party Certified
A CMMC Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO) conducts the formal evaluation. Certification is required before contract award on applicable DoD solicitations.
Triennial Renewal
CMMC Level 2 certification is valid for three years, with annual affirmation requirements in between. Gaps discovered after certification can trigger conditional status.
Same 110 Controls
The controls assessed are identical to NIST 800-171. The difference is who performs the assessment and the legal consequence of the result.
Petronella prepares organizations for both. We recommend starting with a NIST 800-171 gap assessment, closing identified gaps, and then engaging a C3PAO for formal CMMC certification once your controls are mature.
Why Choose Petronella Technology Group
Expertise You Can Trust
- Founder Craig Petronella holds CMMC-RP, CCNA, CWNE, and DFE #604180 credentials
- Entire assessment team is CMMC Registered Practitioner certified
- 24+ years of cybersecurity experience across defense, healthcare, financial, and manufacturing sectors
- BBB A+ rated since 2003, serving Raleigh-Durham and clients nationwide
Actionable Results
- Maturity scoring across all NIST CSF functions and categories
- Prioritized remediation roadmap with cost and effort estimates
- Executive summary for leadership and board-level reporting
- End-to-end support from assessment through remediation via virtual CISO and managed services
NIST Assessment Questions
How long does a NIST assessment take?
A typical NIST CSF or 800-171 assessment takes 2-4 weeks depending on organizational size and complexity. This includes document review, technical testing, staff interviews, and gap analysis. Petronella delivers the final report with prioritized remediation recommendations within one week of completing fieldwork.
What is the difference between a NIST assessment and a CMMC assessment?
A NIST 800-171 assessment evaluates the same 110 controls required for CMMC Level 2, but it is conducted internally or by a consultant like Petronella rather than by a certified C3PAO. Most organizations use a NIST assessment to identify and close gaps before engaging a C3PAO for formal CMMC certification. Think of the NIST assessment as preparation and the CMMC assessment as the final exam.
What do we receive at the end of the assessment?
You receive a comprehensive gap analysis report, a risk register ranked by severity, your SPRS score (for 800-171 assessments), a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M), a maturity scorecard, a prioritized remediation roadmap with cost estimates, and an executive summary suitable for board-level reporting. All documentation is audit-ready.
Can you help us fix the issues you find?
Yes. Petronella provides end-to-end support from assessment through remediation and ongoing compliance management. Many clients engage us for the assessment and then retain Petronella through managed IT services or virtual CISO engagements to implement and maintain the recommended controls.
How much does a NIST assessment cost?
Cost depends on the size of your environment, the number of locations, and which NIST framework applies. A NIST 800-171 assessment for a small defense contractor typically starts in the low five figures. Petronella provides a fixed-fee quote after an initial scoping call so there are no surprises. Call (919) 348-4912 or contact us for a free consultation.
Do we need a NIST assessment if we already passed a SOC 2 audit?
SOC 2 and NIST address overlapping but different control sets. SOC 2 focuses on trust services criteria (security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, privacy), while NIST frameworks provide more granular technical requirements. Defense contractors need NIST 800-171 regardless of SOC 2 status. For other organizations, a NIST assessment often reveals gaps that SOC 2 does not cover, particularly around incident response, configuration management, and access control specifics.
Explore More
Assess Your Cybersecurity Posture
Understand where you stand against NIST standards and get a clear, prioritized improvement roadmap from a team with 24+ years of experience.