Part 2 o2: A few weeks ago, we looked at the current state of information security and implementations from the Ten Domain Model. Using this information, we can now look at where we need to be. Due to the rapidly changing threat landscape two key requirements for information security are becoming increasingly critical. These requirements are automation and continuous monitoring. 1) Why Automation? Only automated approaches can scale and respond rapidly to large-scale incidents. a. Preventative policy enforcement reduces risk: i. overall number of security vulnerabilities ii. the success of any particular attack technique. b. Automated remediation systems have a positive impact on a large number of hosts with a relatively small time investment from computing staff. 2) Why continuous monitoring? A primary goal of continuous monitoring is, as much as is practicable, to apply automated remediation to security vulnerabilities that are found. That takes the need for human intervention out of the picture. Human intervention and the errors and delays that result from it are credited for many of the lapses in IT security.

In 1991 we set out to align ourselves with the most prominent IT software and hardware manufacturers in the world. The solutions offered by our best-in-class vendor partners would allow us to confidently support our public sector clients to the best of our ability while helping them achieve their agency missions. That objective took us to 2001 when DLT aligned ourselves with VERITAS, the market leader in data storage, through VERITAS’S GSA Agent Program. The GSA Agent Program was designed to give any authorized VERITAS reseller a vehicle for Federal Government business when no contract vehicle existed.

It is already the second half of August and we are quickly approaching a busy conference time for DLT. Up-coming events will take DLT all over the country, but some of the best are local ones happening just down the road. The annual Innovation Nation Forum, hosted by MeriTalk, will take place Tuesday, August 23 at the Washington Convention Center. Aiming to “Shake IT Up,” Innovation Nation will focus on three Federal IT hot topics- cloud computing, cybersecurity and data center consolidation.

It is interesting that there is no equivalent term in Latin for risk outside of the word for danger. While security is the state of being free from danger or threat, risk, is a more complex topic and cannot be addressed without the concept of loss. It is the probability, not merely the possibility of something unpleasant or unwelcome happening that will result in a loss of some kind (life, liberty, property). The term did not even come into existence until the 17th century after the Medici had leveraged eastern mathematics in the calculation of probability in financial terms and still the word risk is derived from the word danger. Big mistake!

“Good security doesn’t stop with just an anti-virus client and a perimeter firewall.” Government Security News (GSN) recently published an article written by DLT Engineer, Aaron Payne, about bringing “Security back to the basics: Managing the threat” that addresses the concern that there are many layers necessary to keeping enterprise IT systems secure.

In previous blogs we talked about needing to educate the end users and knowing the details of what activity is occurring on your enterprise’s systems. In part 3, we’re going to talk about Compliance and Endpoint Management. Simply speaking, Compliance is setting a policy and how well you adhere to the policy. If a policy is set to only allow passwords longer than 8 characters in your enterprise, Compliance is the measurement of enforcement of that policy. Any deviations or exceptions from the policy are clearly documented and recorded. So why is Compliance important? A well-developed endpoint security policy ensures that common attacks and threats can be mitigated before they happen. By adhering to that policy, you are protected and secure from attacks without any other controls. There are many examples of compliance guidelines like NIST 800-53 and FDCC (Federal Desktop Core Configuration).

I am often asked to explain the Common Criteria certification process. If you dig below the surface a bit you will find that Common Criteria certification is very Un-Common. The name originated in the multilateral agreement that established the process in 2000: Arrangement on the Recognition of Common Criteria Certificates in the field of Information Technology Security. The certification is called ‘Common’ criteria because the ‘Arrangement’ was initially agreed to, in common, by the nations of Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. It just so happens that these countries often cooperate on global security issues, more so than, for example, with China or the Russian Federation. The value of the certification is the assurance to manufacturers that the product certificate will be accepted by signatories to the Arrangement. In many cases a project engineer or architect may look first to the list of certified products rather than marketing collaterals when designing a secure system. So, if vendors expect to sell into a secure environment, the applicability of Common Criteria certification should be a consideration early in the product roadmap.

If you have come across a requirement for product compliance with FIPS 140-2, Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules, you may have wondered about FIPS and its applicability to information technology products. FIPS is the acronym for Federal Information Processing Standards. FIPS was established in the 1960s to provide uniform guidelines or specifications for processes, data interchange, and functionality within the Federal government’s early information technology departments. Currently FIPS are maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In general, FIPS are developed and issued when there are no industry standards available for citation in requirements and/or procurement documents.

In previous blogs we talked about needing to educate the end users and knowing the details of what activity is occurring on your enterprise’s systems. In part 3, we’re going to talk about managing the threats that occur with a layered approach. Good security doesn’t stop at the endpoint with just an antivirus client (link to symc sep), it doesn’t stop with just a perimeter firewall. It starts with good knowledge of your environment, and grows out to each layer (Network, Endpoints, Client Hardware, Storage, etc) we’ll talk about each one in the next paragraphs.

In Part 1 we investigated effective end-user education by making them take part in exercises to ensure that they are aware of risks out in the wild that exploit the well meaning insider. In Part 2, we’ll educate the IT department by learning what’s happening on their network. The best way to do this is with an appliance like the Symantec Security Information Manager (SSIM). The way that SSIM works is by collecting logs from a multitude of devices, whether they be network devices like firewalls and routers, or application log files like IIS or Symantec Endpoint Protection to correlate events to determine if any malicious activities are occurring across multiple layers. This level of visibility into the enterprise is critical to maintain your level of situational awareness.