The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) warns that transit agencies face mounting cybersecurity risks that threaten the delivery of safe and reliable services. In response, the agency has released a white paper outlining the preliminary content of a Transit Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) Community Profile, which takes a mission-driven approach to identifying practical cybersecurity outcomes tailored to the sector’s unique challenges.
The paper provides an update on progress to date, highlights community-driven priorities shaping the Profile, and describes key features of the draft. NIST aims to use this input to engage public and private stakeholders ahead of publishing the full Transit CSF 2.0 Community Profile later this year.
Titled ‘Developing a Transit Cybersecurity Framework Community Profile,’ the NIST CSWP 51 initial public draft notes that the agency is developing a Transit Community Profile to provide a voluntary, risk-based approach for managing cybersecurity activities, reducing risks, and strengthening the cybersecurity posture of the transit sector. The Profile is expected to deliver several benefits, including a shared taxonomy to support communication about cybersecurity risk management for transit owners and operators; consolidation of requirements, recommendations, and guidelines from multiple stakeholders under one framework; common target outcomes to aid strategic planning and cybersecurity assessments; and scalable, achievable recommendations tailored for transit agencies of all sizes.
The transit community, for the Community Profile, includes public and private owners and operators of public transportation services. They operate a diverse mix of equipment and services, including bus and rail systems such as light rail, subway, and commuter rail, along with affiliated entities like county governments responsible for overseeing transit operations. However, the definition does not include national passenger rail or freight rail services.
The Community Profile will recommend prioritizing cybersecurity outcomes aligned with the transit community’s strategic business and mission objectives, while identifying actionable security practices to support those goals. It is intended to complement, not replace, existing cybersecurity programs, guidelines, or policies already in place for transit operators.
The Transit CSF Community Profile will be built around the six functions of the CSF 2.0: govern, identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover. Each function consists of categories that are groups of related cybersecurity outcomes, which collectively define each CSF function. Each category is further broken down into subcategories that specify more detailed technical and management activities.
The foundation of the Transit Community Profile is the CSF 2.0 Profile mapping, typically presented as a table or set of tables. The mapping is organized around the CSF 2.0 Core to identify and prioritize cybersecurity outcomes most relevant to the transit sector. It is supplemented with recommendations, considerations, and guidelines that agencies and operators can adapt for their own environments. In the mapping table, each CSF 2.0 subcategory appears as its own row and is labeled to show its importance to one or more of the four strategic focus areas.
Subcategories designated as ‘Elevated’ are considered the most critical for supporting a focus area, while ‘Supporting’ subcategories remain important for the sector’s overall cybersecurity posture but are less critical relative to the elevated ones.
The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) team, working with transit sector and cybersecurity experts, analyzed the outputs from CSF Profile working sessions and category prioritization activities to inform these designations. The classifications of elevated and supporting are specific to the Profile and may vary across transit agencies. Each operator should consider its own goals and priorities when applying these guidelines.
Transit agencies and operators can adapt and use the Community Profile to establish or improve their cybersecurity risk governance processes, practices, and activities while aligning with other risk management priorities. When applying the Community Profile, agencies should consider the unique needs of their operating environment, such as local laws, policies, standards, risks, challenges, threats, and other influencing factors, and adapt it accordingly.
To apply the Community Profile, transit agencies and operators can use it as a baseline to develop their own CSF organizational target profile. They can conduct a gap analysis to determine their cybersecurity posture relative to the Community Profile and address gaps by prioritizing outcomes based on impact, importance, and how those gaps affect their mission.
Agencies may also map their applicable policies, standards, and other implementation resources, which can be used in addition to or instead of the references provided for each subcategory. The Profile can be integrated into existing or emerging enterprise-wide risk governance programs, with key cybersecurity outcomes tied to budget and resource allocations. Finally, the Community Profile can serve as a tool to support cybersecurity risk management and facilitate strategic communications, both internally and externally.
NIST is inviting feedback on the concepts outlined in the white paper through Sept. 19, 2025. Comments may be submitted to [email protected] and will be considered in developing the draft Transit Community Profile. While the draft will provide additional details, NIST is encouraging input at this stage on both the overall approach and the specific topics identified in the paper.
