What are the four Implementation Tiers of the NIST CSF?

Question

Accepted Answer

Tier 1 Partial, Tier 2 Risk Informed, Tier 3 Repeatable, Tier 4 Adaptive.

* The four Tiers as a ladder — each step up means more formalization and more learning. *
The Tiers describe how rigorously an organization manages cybersecurity risk:

Tier
Name
Flavor

1
Partial
Ad-hoc, reactive; risk handled case by case

2
Risk Informed
Management approves practices, but not org-wide policy

3
Repeatable
Formal policy, regularly updated, organization-wide

4
Adaptive
Continuous improvement; lessons learned and predictive indicators feed back into practice

Tip: Mnemonic ladder P-R-R-A: "Practices Rarely Repeat… until they Adapt." Each step up = more formalization and more learning.

Tier	Name	Flavor
1	Partial	Ad-hoc, reactive; risk handled case by case
2	Risk Informed	Management approves practices, but not org-wide policy
3	Repeatable	Formal policy, regularly updated, organization-wide
4	Adaptive	Continuous improvement; lessons learned and predictive indicators feed back into practice