(1 votes, average: 3 out of 10)
Loading ...BlackHat USA 2008 - Day 2 Review
Today was the second and final day of the BlackHat USA Briefings. A lot of great content was presented today. Much like yesterday we’ve included some highlevel comments on the various presentations that Tadd and I attended. We will be attending Defcon over the weekend and tying that into one final posting next week. What follows is our summary.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...BlackHat USA 2008 - Day 1 Review
Welcome to our first Security Insider posting from the BlackHat conference here in Las Vegas. My colleague Tadd Axon and I will be doing our best over the next few days to post some highlights of the conference. For those of you not familiar with the event, BlackHat takes a deep look at emerging threats and security research. If you want a good close look into the future, this is the place to be.
For the purpose of these posts in the next few days, we’ll post some high-level summaries of the talks we attend. This isn’t anything close to a full list of everything that’s going on here, just what we’ve personally attended. For a more complete wrap up of both the BlackHat and Defcon events, be sure to attend this month’s TASK event. At the TASK event, all the various TASK members here in Vegas this week will be sharing highlights in more detail. As always TASK is free, check it out. You will also be able to catch some of these speakers when they come to SecTor this year.
So today represents the first day of the conference, and therefore the day that it’s easiest to wake up early for. Tonight many vendors will host many parties making tomorrow a much more difficult day to focus. Here is what we attended.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Dan Swanson’s Security Resources: #9
There is an endless source of good resources to support your professional development. The intent of this column is to provide a diverse knowledge base to study from each week – (six items at a time). The two significant challenges many of us face is deciding what to study and where to find the time to do so.
This week’s top choice is Neal’s timeless article regarding learning from project to project; I recommend taking his suggestions to heart as it will quickly improve your results. The other five resources this week touch a variety of subjects, from DR project management to auditing.
Enjoy.
Good luck and have another great week.
Are You Learning From Project to Project?
If you’re among the 99 percent of us who fail this simple test—but shouldn’t—you could be in a position of weakness, to the detriment of your current and upcoming projects.
http://www.nealwhittengroup.com/articles/pmn3-99.asp
ChicagoFIRST is a non-profit association dedicated to addressing homeland security and emergency management issues affecting financial institutions and requiring a coordinated response and is a great place to learn what is needed today, increased private/public joint efforts.
https://www.chicagofirst.org/
The DRJ journal leads the industry by providing extensive thought leadership on BCP, DR, and Crisis Management.
Auditing BCP and DR efforts - THE resource repository.
Various leading resources to support the auditing of BCP and DR programs.
http://www.auditnet.org/drp.htm
Critical Foundations: Protecting America’s Infrastructures
Final Report from the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (PCCIP)
http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps15260/PCCIP_Report.pdf
Early Warning Signs of IT Project Failure: The Dominant Dozen.
The postmortem examination of failed IT projects reveals that long before the failure there were significant symptoms or “early warning signs.” This article describes the top 12 people-related and project-related IT project risks, based on “early warning sign” data collected from a panel of 19 experts and a survey of 55 IT project managers.
http://www.ism-journal.com/ITToday/projectfailure.pdf
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Hacking for Good
Is there such a thing as a good hacker? Isn’t “ethical hacking” an oxymoron? Let me challenge your beliefs and the prevailing media message. Hackers are not evil; in fact, they generally want things to be safer and better for all. At this point, you’re probably ready to either label me as a lunatic, or give me a lesson about “hacker” vs. “cracker”. Let’s skip the historic definitions. The facts are simple. Public perception is that a hacker is evil, but within the hacker community, it’s a badge worn with honour. Hackers don’t ask what something does; they ask, “How does it do it”? Seeing hackers in a negative light just for seeking that information is unfair. They may have the knowledge to be harmful, but the current reputation associated with a “hacker” is about the same as labeling all martial artists violent and evil. Sure they have combat training, but most martial artists aren’t criminals making stealthy kills for fun or profit.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Dan Swanson’s Security Resources: #6
Just who is responsible for information security? Are we learning from incidents that have occurred at other organizations? Do we leverage the research that is available from various institutions? Do we take regulations seriously?
This week’s resources discuss all these questions and more.
Enjoy.
Good luck and have another great week.
Dan Swanson
Dswanson_2005@yahoo.com
1. Ask the Auditor: Who is Responsible for Information Security?
The Auditor Responds: In short, the board of directors, management (of both staff and business lines), and internal audit functions all have significant roles in auditing information security. The big question for many companies is how these stakeholders should work together to ensure that everything that should be done to protect sensitive data is being done—and that the company’s key assets are protected appropriately.
http://www.itcinstitute.com/display.aspx?id=1823
2. SCORE
As we started the research for the HIPAA and 17799 projects we came across a number of references to DITSCAP and NITSCAP. The purpose of the system security plan (SSP) is to provide an overview of the security requirements of the system and describe the controls in place or planned, responsibilities and expected behavior of all individuals who access the system. It is a core component of DITSCAP. The system security plan should be viewed as documentation of the structured process of planning adequate, cost-effective security protection for a system. It should reflect input from various managers with responsibilities concerning the system, including information owners, the system operator, and the system security manager. Additional information may be included in the basic plan and the structure and format organized according to agency needs, so long as the major sections described in this document are adequately covered and readily identifiable. Michael Kirby has developed a tool to help generate an SSP. It is available here on an as is basis, SCORE takes no responsibility for your use of the tool”. Try the tool at http://www.sans.org/score/ssp.php
3. Information Security Governance: Guidance for Boards of Directors and Executive Management 2nd Edition (ISACA)
To achieve effectiveness and sustainability in today’s complex, interconnected world, information security must be addressed at the highest levels of the organization, not regarded as a technical specialty relegated to the IT department.
http://www.isaca.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=24572
4. Digital Records Management — What Auditors Should Know
As companies continue to decrease their dependence on paper records, internal auditors need to stay ahead of the game by understanding the necessary ingredients to an effective digital records management program.
http://www.theiia.org/itaudit/index.cfm?iid=496&catid=21&aid=2388
5. Hammer Time: Enforcing Internal Security - by Linda L. Briggs.
Having internal rules and regulations in place regarding compliance is important, as is clearly communicating them to employees. But when infractions occur, as they inevitably will, how should you deal with them?
http://www.itcinstitute.com/display.aspx?id=2403
6. Security breach lists are an interesting read and can be useful for:
* Identifying trends in emerging security threats.
* Providing examples of why a control is necessary.
* Citing real world compromises in presentations, etc.
http://www.efortresses.com/refdocs/2006-Breaches-Matrix.pdf
http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm
http://www.cybercrime.gov/cccases.html
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Dan Swanson’s Security Resources: #5
This week I wanted to highlight two significant security initiatives, the CERT resiliency engineering research project and the CERT Governing for Enterprise Security (GES) initiative. I also wanted to point out some landmark security guidance (the CIAO/IIA series) with the initial “call to action” paper being released at the White House on April 17, 2000. As always, I have also included a couple of miscellaneous resources too.
Enjoy.
Good luck and have another great week.
Dan Swanson
Dswanson_2005@yahoo.com
1. CERT®’s Resiliency Engineering Research
The cornerstone of their research is the development of the CERT® Resiliency Engineering Framework. The framework is the foundation for a process improvement approach to security and business continuity. It establishes an organization’s resiliency engineering process: a collection of essential capabilities that an organization performs to ensure that its important assets—people, information, technology, and facilities—stay productive in supporting business processes and services. The framework serves as a foundation from which an organization can measure its current competency, set improvement targets, and establish plans and actions to close any identified gaps. As a result, the organization repositions and repurposes its security and business continuity activities and takes on a process improvement mindset that helps to keep these activities productive in the long run.
2. Governing for Enterprise Security Implementation Guide
This guidance is designed to help business leaders implement an effective program to govern information technology (IT) and information security.
• Article 1: Characteristics of Effective Security Governance (pdf)
• Article 2: Defining an Effective Enterprise Security Program (ESP) (pdf)
• Article 3: Enterprise Security Governance Activities (pdf)
3. The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) is currently viewed as one of the world’s leading centers for research and education in areas of information security that are crucial to the protection of critical computing and communication infrastructure. http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/
4. Guide 6: Managing and Auditing IT Vulnerabilities
The IIA has released its sixth guide in its Global Technology Audit Guide (GTAG®) series, Managing and Auditing IT Vulnerabilities. The 24-page guide was developed to help CAEs and internal auditors ask the right questions of IT security staff when assessing the effectiveness of their vulnerability management processes. The guide recommends specific management practices to help an organization achieve and sustain higher levels of effectiveness and efficiency and illustrates the differences between high- and low-performing vulnerability management efforts.
5. Auditing security using the PCI standard and related guidance - (Because personal information must be protected)
We need to protect personal information much more than ever before and extensive help from the PCI Security Standards Council and numerous other organizations does exist.
http://www.auditnet.org/articles/DSIA200704.htm
6. The CIAO/IIA series of board level security guidance reports
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has published a series of three board-level guidance reports focusing on information security that focuses on assigning responsibilities to the board, management, and internal audit, and providing guidance to board directors.
• Information Security Management and Assurance: A Call to Action for Corporate Governance
• Information Security Governance: What Directors Need to Know
• Building, Managing, and Auditing Information Security
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(2 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...Dan Swanson’s Security Resources: #4
My fourth column provides another diverse collection of leading resources.
This week’s question: “How prepared is your organization?” If you have any concerns on the robustness of your disaster recovery, business continuity, and/or your emergency management capabilities, I’d strongly recommend you check out the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness.
Studying for your CISSP? The CCCure.Org web site is the place to go!
Feeling you need to ramp up your security training efforts? Check out ISC2’s comprehensive educational resource guide.
Finally, have you been questioning who is responsible for information security lately? Study the views of an internal auditor.
Enjoy.
Good luck and have another great week.
Dan Swanson
Dswanson_2005@yahoo.com
1. The (ISC)² 2007 Resource Guide for Today’s Information Security Professional - Global Edition provides the latest resources in educational references, year-long events listings and leading industry sponsors all in one handy downloadable reference guide.
2. The Systems Security Engineering Capability Maturity Model (SSE-CMM) was developed to advance security engineering as a defined, mature, and measurable discipline. It describes the characteristics essential to the success of an organization’s security engineering process, and is applicable to all security engineering organizations including government, commercial, and academic.
3. CCCure.Org The CISSP, SSCP, CISM, CISA, ISSPCS, and SANS GIAC GCFW Open Study Guides Web site is dedicated to helping people in achieving their goal of becoming a CISSP, SSCP, CISM, CISA, ISSPCS, or GCFW. Over the years it has become a vast container of resources that can assist you in mastering the domains of the specific Common Body of Knowledge related to each of the above certifications.
4. Ask the Auditor: Who is Responsible for Information Security?
The Auditor Responds: In short, the board of directors, management (of both staff and business lines) and internal audit functions all have significant roles in auditing information security. The big question for many companies is how these stakeholders should work together to ensure that everything that should be done to protect sensitive data is being done — and that the company’s key assets are protected appropriately.
5. The Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness (CCEP) is a not-for-profit organization based in Canada & devoted to the promotion of emergency risk management to individuals, communities and organizations, in both government and the private sector, with the aim of reducing the risk, impact and cost of natural, human-induced and technological disasters. CCEP’s objectives are to raise awareness of the increasing risks of disasters, promote the need for sound disaster management practices and disseminate information on the availability of professional expertise and resources, including technology.
6. What Should Your Business Continuity Efforts Focus On?
A Reader Asks: Should your business continuity program (BCP) consider the impacts of emerging threats and changing business practices, and what are the key issues involved today?
The Auditor Responds (Short answer): Your BCP and disaster recovery programs should be designed to respond to a wide variety of potential incidents, covering both man-made disasters, such as power-grid or environmental control failures, and natural disasters, such as hurricanes and mass staff outages due to epidemics.
The long answer: http://www.itcinstitute.com/display.aspx?ID=2090
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Dan Swanson’s Security Resources: #3
There are several ongoing, long-term security efforts worth examining. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published hundreds of guidance documents relating to all aspects of information security over the years. Just as importantly, they consistenly maintain the currency of their guidance. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) has developed dozens of consensus-based security benchmark checklists that can be used for securing various technologies commonly in place, in most organizations. CIS tools have been a world wide standard in “hardening” various technologies. And the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Build-Security-In (BSI) initiative is truly amazing, its an endless source of advice and guidance and needs to be visited frequently as new items are added regularly.
As always, I have also included a few topic-specific resources.
Enjoy.
Good luck and have another great week.
Dan Swanson
Dswanson_2005@yahoo.com
1. Build Security In (BSI)
As part of the Software Assurance program, Build Security In (BSI) is a project of the Strategic Initiatives Branch of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) was engaged by the NCSD to provide support in the Process and Technology focus areas of this initiative. The SEI team and other contributors develop and collect software assurance and software security information that helps software developers, architects, and security practitioners to create secure systems.
2. The Computer Security Division (CSD) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), including the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) library.
The mission of NIST’s Computer Security Division is to improve information systems security by:
• Raising awareness of IT risks, vulnerabilities and protection requirements, particularly for new and emerging technologies;
• Researching, studying, and advising agencies of IT vulnerabilities and devising techniques for the cost-effective security and privacy of sensitive Federal systems;
• Developing standards, metrics, tests and validation programs:
o to promote, measure, and validate security in systems and services
o to educate consumers and
o to establish minimum security requirements for Federal systems
• Developing guidance to increase secure IT planning, implementation, management and operation.
3. The SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute
SANS is one of the most trusted and by far the largest source for information security training and certification in the world. It also develops, maintains, and makes available at no cost, the largest collection of research documents about various aspects of information security, and it operates the Internet’s early warning system, Internet Storm Center.
4. CERT’s Resiliency Engineering Research
The cornerstone of their research is the development of the CERT® Resiliency Engineering Framework. The framework is the foundation for a process improvement approach to security and business continuity. It establishes an organization’s resiliency engineering process: a collection of essential capabilities that an organization performs to ensure that its important assets—people, information, technology, and facilities—stay productive in supporting business processes and services. The framework serves as a foundation from which an organization can measure its current competency, set improvement targets, and establish plans and actions to close any identified gaps. As a result, the organization repositions and repurposes its security and business continuity activities and takes on a process improvement mindset that helps to keep these activities productive in the long run.
5. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) is a non-profit enterprise whose mission is to help Organizations reduce the risk of business and e-commerce disruptions resulting from inadequate technical security controls. CIS members develop and encourage the widespread use of security configuration benchmarks through a global consensus process involving participants from the public and private sectors. The practical CIS Benchmarks support available high level standards that deal with the “Why, Who, When, and Where” aspects of IT security by detailing “How” to secure an ever widening array of workstations, servers, network devices, and software applications in terms of technology specific controls. CIS Scoring Tools analyze and report system compliance with the technical control settings in the Benchmarks. The CIS Benchmarks and Scoring Tools are available for download free of charge.
6. Microsoft releases guidelines for customer privacy
A 49-page document previously kept internally by Microsoft was released at an international privacy professionals’ conference in Toronto. The company hopes its Privacy Guidelines for Developing Software Products and Services will spur further industry discussions.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Dan Swanson’s Security Resources: #2
I introduced my security resource education initiative last week (click here if you missed it). Each week, I’ll present six leading resources which will be useful to all information security professionals as well as many IT professionals.
As everyone knows there is no end to the professional development efforts for any professional and this column is dedicated to providing resources that will be useful for all IT security professionals and IT professionals to study and learn.
They are provided to support the improvement of your organization’s security practices and security posture, and always remember, there is no better way to learn than by doing.
The resources provided this week include guidance regarding:
• the insider threat issue,
• leading methods for developing secure Web code,
• what security is truly facing (a war), and
• a Web site dedicated to the ISO27000 security standard series.
Enjoy.
Dan Swanson
Dswanson_2005@yahoo.com
1. CERT® Insider Threat Research
The CERT insider threat research focuses on both technical and behavioral aspects of actual compromises. They produce models, reports, training, and tools to raise awareness of the risks of insider threat and to help identify the factors influencing an insider’s decision to act, the indicators and precursors of malicious acts, and the countermeasures that will improve the survivability and resiliency of the organization.
2. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP)
OWASP is dedicated to enabling organizations to develop, purchase, and maintain applications that can be trusted. Their open source projects and local chapters produce free, unbiased, open-source documentation, tools, and standards. The OWASP community also facilitates papers, conferences, local chapters, presentations, and mailing lists. If you’re new to application security, try their “getting started guide”.
3. The Information Warfare Site (IWS)
IWS is an online resource that aims to stimulate debate about a range of subjects from information security to information operations and e-commerce. It is the aim of the site to develop a special emphasis on offensive and defensive information operations. IWS first went online in December 1999. Since its launch it has undergone a complete redesign and many key texts have been added. In adherence to its founding principles IWS has developed several mailing lists to enable a more interactive debate.
4. The Defense-in-Depth Foundational Curriculum handbook discusses information assurance issues and how to address these at both organizational and technical levels. The handbook is written for students ranging from system administrators to CIOs who have some technical understanding of information systems.
5. Gary Hinson’s Web site has a variety of excellent resources. He maintains a comprehensive page of links for ISO 27000 resources and IT governance.
6. GAO Executive Guide: Information Security Management: Learning From Leading Organizations.
A high priority of the CIO Council is to ensure the implementation of security practices within the Federal government that gain public confidence and protect government services, privacy, and sensitive and national security information. This Executive Guide, “Information Security Management, Learning From Leading Organizations,” clearly illustrates how leading organizations are successfully addressing the challenges of fulfilling that goal. These organizations establish a central management focal point, promote awareness, link policies to business risks, and develop practical risk assessment procedures that link security to business needs. This latter point–the need to link security to business requirements–is particularly important, and is illustrated in a statement of a security manager quoted in the guide: “Because every control has some cost associated with it, every control needs a business reason to be put in place.”
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Dan Swanson’s Security Resources: #1
Recently someone forwarded me a comprehensive survey of Canadian IT professionals that indicated there was a lack of information security guidance available for IT and security professionals to follow. I strongly disagree with the point of view that more guidance is needed to operate a secure environment and implement secure systems and solutions, although certainly more papers on various challenging subjects would always be beneficial.
Each week over the coming months, I plan to highlight leading security resources and initiatives that will support your efforts to improve security practices within your organization. Each column, I will highlight a half dozen leading security focused resources covering various aspects of information security management.
Finally, people learn in different ways. Some like to read, some like to hear, some like to see, some like to discuss, etc. Whichever method works for you is fine. My approach is to highlight leading resources to people and let them determine what is the best way to digest the knowledge and, more importantly, apply it in the their professional efforts. I have found considering how to apply the general guidance to the specific organizational situation is one of the best ways to obtain a deep understanding of the key concepts, methods, and recommendations being presented by the various resources. In other words — implementing change is always the best teacher.
Share this posting with your colleagues. Good luck and have a great week.
1. The ISF Standard of Good Practice for Information Security
The ISF standard is designed to help any organization, irrespective of market sector, size or structure, keep the business risks associated with its information systems within acceptable limits. It is a major tool in improving the quality and efficiency of security controls applied by an organization.
2. CERT® Coordination Center (CERT/CC)
The CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC), arguably the most widely known group within the CERT Program, addresses risks at the software and system level. Although it was established as an incident response team, the CERT/CC has evolved beyond that, focusing instead on identifying and addressing existing and potential threats, notifying system administrators and other technical personnel of these threats, and coordinating with vendors and incident response teams world wide to address the threats.
3. Information Security Handbook: A Guide for Managers
NIST has published a new information security handbook which should be “required reading” for pretty well most everyone involved with IT and/or IT Security although some people can certainly skim many of the sections in this 176 page document.
4. Secure Coding: Principles & Practices
Welcome to the on-line home of Secure Coding: Principles and Practices (O’Reilly, 2003). They provide information about the book and its authors; updated versions of links and tables that appear in the book; and also original supplemental material like op/ed pieces and vulnerability analyses. It’s all offered in the spirit of helping us build strong and light “virtual bridges” in the years to come.
5. The Information Systems Security Association (ISSA)
ISSA is a not-for-profit, international organization of information security professionals and practitioners. It provides educational forums, publications and peer interaction opportunities that enhance the knowledge, skill and professional growth of its members. With active participation from individuals and chapters all over the world, the ISSA is the largest international, not-for-profit association specifically for security professionals.
6. Process Agnostic Navigational View
The process agnostic approach incorporates security into each basic phase of software development. The best practices and methods described are applicable to any and all development approaches as long as they result in the creation of software artifacts.
https://buildsecurityin.us-cert.gov/daisy/bsi/438.html
