Passed Exam Today CCSFP

PCI-DSSis not considered aRisk Management Framework (RMF). Instead, it is aprescriptive security standarddeveloped by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council to protect cardholder data. PCI-DSS specifies detailed control requirements such as encryption, access control, and monitoring, but it does not provide a holistic risk management structure for identifying, analyzing, and responding to risks. RMFs, such asNIST RMFor HITRUST’s risk-based approach, focus on identifying risks, applying controls proportionally, and managing risk over time. HITRUST includes PCI-DSS as a regulatory factor that can generate applicable requirements in assessments, but PCI-DSS itself is not classified as an RMF.

Validated assessments undergo QA by HITRUST after submission by the assessor. The outcome can be either:

AValidated Report– issued if the assessment is complete but certification thresholds (e.g., domain scores ≥71 for r2) are not met. This report still provides assurance to relying parties by confirming independent validation, even without certification.

AValidated Report with Certification– issued when all certification criteria are met, including minimum domain scores and interim assessment requirements for multi-year validity.

This distinction allows HITRUST to provide value even to organizations that fall short of certification, by documenting their current control maturity and gaps. Organizations can use the validated report as a roadmap to remediate deficiencies and pursue certification in the future.

TheNIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) Reportin HITRUST is a derivative output that is automatically generated within the MyCSF platform. When an entity completes a HITRUST assessment (e1, i1, or r2), MyCSF uses the mapping of HITRUST control requirements to the NIST CSF categories and subcategories to produce the report. Because these mappings are embedded into the framework, assessors do not need to perform additional testing, create mappings manually, or provide separate evidence. The effort invested in validating HITRUST requirement statements is sufficient, and MyCSF generates the NIST CSF alignment report as an output. This provides organizations with the ability to demonstrate NIST CSF alignment to stakeholders without duplicating work. Therefore, additional work is not required from assessors—making the correct answerNo.

In an r2 assessment, CAP requirements are determined at the Control Reference level. If the aggregate score falls below the certification threshold of 71, and the Implementation maturity level is not at 100%, a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) must be documented. This ensures that organizations commit to remediating critical control deficiencies before certification can be finalized. CAPs must include clear details such as responsible parties, remediation steps, and timelines. Without CAPs, HITRUST will not accept the assessment for certification. Even if Policy or Procedure scores are strong, missing implementation creates unacceptable risk. Therefore, HITRUST mandates CAPs in these cases to close certification-critical gaps.