risk managment

risk assessment methods

February 14, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

Risk assessment methods are covered in NIST SP 800-30, Risk Management and NIST SP 800-115, Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment.

NIST SP 800-30 covers a high level view framework of risk assessment methods. As you see in the Risk Assessment Methodology Flowchart.

More details on each step in the Risk Assessment method Flow chart.. Its an important aspect of Risk Management as a whole so its talked about over and over on this site.

NIST SP 800-115, Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment, is are the tasks for assessing security controls so it is an important part of risk assessment methods. You have to know the characteristics of the system (step one of the NIST 800-30, Risk Assessment methods) to do information security testing and assessment.

Information security testing in 800-115 uses 3 types of assessment methods to analyze the effectiveness on security controls (Step 4 of Risk Assessment Method flow chart) and possibly identify vulnerabilities (Step 3):

testing, examination, and interviewing

Testing = process of exercising one or more assessment objects under specific conditions to compare actual and expected behaviors.

Examination = process of checking, inspecting, reviewing, observing, studying, or analyzing one or more assessment objects to facilitate understanding, achieve clarification, or obtain evidence.

Interviewing = the process of conducting discussions with individuals or groups within an organization to facilitate understanding, achieve clarification, or identify the location of evidence.

–NIST SP 800-115

At Risk Management

February 13, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

@ risk management

US Department of Defense takes a run at IT risk management. In the history of the world there has never been a military power as far reaching and complete as the US armed services. Is it because they spend over half a trillion dollars on their military which is more than the next 10 nations combined? hmm.. perhaps.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/defense-spending-fact-of-the-day_n_1746685.html

Or maybe is having over 7ooo nukes? I am no military expert, so i cannot say for sure. But I DO know a little something/something about IT Risk Management. And I think the DoD is really making an honest attempt at risk management… which maybe why its taking them 3+ years to release “DIARMF” (2011 – 2014). I am proud of them and I am glad they are really trying to take security seriously. I think that as large, government organizations go they are kind of driving the market on how it can be done.

I would NOT say they are the most secure, and I would not say they are perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I would say they have made most improvements in the last 10 years than any large government organization.

As the one of the biggest military organizations on the block with the most toy, the most controversy, the most coverage in the media (cira 2000-2014) I would say they are doing pretty good.

NIST Security Framework

February 13, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

The closest thing to a “NIST Security Framework” is the NIST risk management framework 800-37, Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems (revision 1)

DIARMF is based on this NIST Security Framework. It has 6 steps: Categorize, Select, Implement, Assess, Authorize and Continuous Monitor.

: NIST Security Framework

NIST Security Framework – Step 1. Categorize

The first risk management framework step is categorization. Categorization is done by the system owner with FIPS 199 and NIST 800-60.

NIST Security Framework – Step 2. Select

Selection of security controls is done with FIPS 200 and NIST SP 800-53, More on DIARMF – Select

NIST Security Framework – Step 3. Implement

Using the System Security Plan developed during steps 1 and 2, the organization responsible for the categorized system can begin implementation of the selected security controls.

NIST Security Framework – Step 4. Assess

After the security controls are implemented, step 4 is used to assess those controls. This is done using NIST SP 800-53A, Guide for Assessing the Security Controls in Federal Information Systems and Organizations.

NIST Security Framework – Step 5. Authorize

In step 5, an Authorizing Official makes a formal, written acceptance of the risks.

NIST Security Framework – Step 6. Continuous Monitoring

Maintaining the security posture of the network / system mean doing continuous monitoring.

More on DIARMF – Continuous Monitoring

risk mitigation

February 5, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

Risk mitigation can only be done by first identifying the risk. And risk identification can only be done by characterization of the assets, discovery of vulnerabilities of those assets and determination of threats and/or possible harm to that system.

So risk mitigation is based on the results of risk assessments.

Risk assessment is a 9 step process.

1) System characterization – a system is an organization asset. So the first step is to discover all the features of that system and understand why it is important.

2) Threat Identification – risk is determined by the likelihood of a threat affecting the weakness of an asset. To limit the risk (risk mitigation), a security practitioner must determine the possible threat, find the weakness and then come up with a way to protect that system.

3) Vulnerability Identification – The security practitioner (information system security officer, information system security analyst, system security engineer etc) must find the weakness of a system.

4) Security Control Analysis – The security control protecting the vulnerability is the actual risk mitigation. Analysis is determining what is needed, when and how much it will cost.

5) Likelihood determination – The importance of risk mitigation is directly proportionate to the likelihood of the threat impacting the organization and its assets vulnerabiltiy.

6) Impact Analysis – The bottom line of risk is the impact that will occur if harm should come to an asset. If the asset ceases to function, what happens to the organization? That question should drive how and why risk is mitigated.

7) Risk Determination / Risk Identification – Based on all the data gathered you can make a pretty good risk determination. You should have defined the systems components and what data is important, made a pretty good conclusion on threat sources and likelihood of the vulnerability exploits and know exactly what kind of impact there will be if the system goes down.

8) Control Recommendation – This is where the actual RISK MITIGATION comes in. All data is gathered from the risk assessment and risk has been identified and evaluated. Risk is mitigated by applying to correct security controls.

9) Results Documentation – The mitigation of risk must be documented for future reference. Sometimes it can only be mitigated later and documented in a Plan of Action and Milestone.

Who does Mitigates the Risk:

First of all, risk cannot always be mitigated. In this cases it is documented in something called a Plan of Action and Milestone (POA&M). And sometimes risk is simple accepted because there is just nothing that can be done. The mitigation of risk is the responsibility of the system owner. The system owner will sometime have a right hand adviser on matters of security, a Chief Security Officer who is not afraid to say NO and will always give the system owner (CIO) the facts no matter how gruesome. The CSO (or equivalent) delegates risk mitigation (implementation of security controls) to security practitioners (DoD 8140 compliant professionals) who hopefully know what they are doing.

risk management analyst

January 26, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

Risk Management Analyst is a title that in many cases deals explicitly with market shares and stock analysis.

In relation to Information Security and DIARMF, a Risk Management Analyst is an IT security professionals that mitigates the vulnerabilities of on organizations assets, identifies threats and risk of an organization. Financial organizations are fond of using the term “risk” to describe system security engineering and system security analysts jobs.

Variations of the risk management analyst are:

IT Risk Management Analyst
Enterprise Risk Management Analyst
IT Vendor Risk Management Analyst

The IT Risk Management position is very similar or exactly the same as IT Risk Analyst.

IT Risk Management Analyst Job Description

The IT Risk Management Analyst is responsible for maintaining organizations IT risk management program. That means the IT Risk Management Analyst must identifying, evaluating and reporting on information technology security risks.

The IT Analyst will work system administrators, project managers and other teams and to implement practices that meet organizational policies, standards and expectations for information risk management.

IT Risk Management Analyst is responsible for advising the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), the IT Leadership, and other key stakeholders.

risk analyst

January 23, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

The job title and term “risk analyst” is used by financial institution usually in terms is investments, managing portfolios, stocks, bonds and stuff like that.

In terms of security, “risk analyst” is not usually used unless it is “information security risk analyst” or “system security risk analyst”. Banks and other institutions like to through “information security risk analyst” around for job titles. I think its because financial organization REALLY understand risk down to formulas and equations.

An Information Security Risk Analyst might be expect to do some or all of the following:

Following Certification: CISA or CISM or CISSP
Support Senior Analyst day-to-day operations
Ensure that requirements of the Information Security Policy done
Protect the confidential information of vendors, customers and third party organizations
Conduct risk assessments (using risk register or risk matrix)
Audit the security controls of systems
risk advisories and continuous (ongoing) monitoring.
Identifying trends in contractual reviews, risk assessments and due diligence; propose process modifications or policy changes as appropriate.
An understanding of the requirements of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and state privacy laws regarding the protection of customer information
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
An undergraduate degree

As you can see, these tasks are very similar to what we do in DIARMF, DIACAP, Risk Management Framework and Certification and Accreditation. The Financial/Bank sector just uses different terms and are subject to different federal laws.

You may also see:

IT Risk Management Analyst

Compliance Analyst/IT Risk Management Analyst

Information Security & Risk Analyst

Information Security Senior Analyst

All these positions do roughly the same thing, some variation of Risk Management Framework which in a single sentence is: Continuously monitor, mitigate and manage risk by finding and minimizing vulnerabilities in the organizations information systems.