risk mangement

risk manager job description

January 30, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

Risk manager job description can be pretty broad because it can cover the tasks of a financial risk manager, safety risk manager or physical security risk management.

In terms of DIARMF / Risk Management Framework and Information surety we will focus on risk manager job description for Information Technology.

IT Risk Management Professionals identify, analyze and document the risks associated with an organizations operations. Their job is much more effective if they have a continuous monitoring program to help them keep an eye on vulnerabilities and threats in real-time.

risk manager job description

Responsibilities for IT Risk Management Professionals include:

Continuously monitor emerging threats associated discovered vulnerabilities.
Be apart of the configuration management process as it applies to changes to the security posture of the information system and/or network.
Encourage and/or participate in implementation of security controls.
Create or analyse reports of significant risks and make recommendations
Make policies, procedures and control assessments for identified risks
Provide information assurance awareness training

The risk management function of a company can fall under many different titles, some of which include:

Risk Analyst

Risk Manager

Risk Management Consultant

Risk Control Supervisor

Director of Corporate Risk Management

Chief Risk Officer

More on risk management job descriptions: http://www.acfe.com/career-path-risk-management-professional.aspx

risk register template

January 23, 2014 by Bruce Brown 1 Comment

As risk register is a tool in the form or spread sheet, application or database that you can use during risk assessments for risk identification. It allows the person conducting the risk assessment to log the threat, asset and impact and give some idea of the probability of the threat. It is used in DIARMF, DIACAP, project management and other risk management processes to help decision makers.

Its also known as a risk log.

Here is a risk register template I got from British Colombia gov site http://www.gov.bc.ca/fin/):

Risk Register Template

Here is another risk register template from the Israel Institute of Technology(webcourse.cs.technion.ac.il):

Risk Register Template

risk identification

January 20, 2014 by Bruce Brown 2 Comments

risk identification

Risk identification is done with a risk assessment. NIST SP 800-30, Guide for Conducting Risk Assessments breaks down the entire process of risk determination, risk identification.

As described in the earlier post DIACAP Process:

Risk = ((Vulnerability * Threat) / Countermeasure) * Asset Value at Risk IT Risk

Risk is the likelihood that a threat will compromise the weakness of an asset. So risk identification is based on knowing the threat, the vulnerability and the asset.

The better you understand these factors, the better your chances of risk determination and risk identification.

NIST SP 800-39, Managing Information Security Risk is a document that defines risk management as the process of not only identifying risk but also, assessing risk, and taking steps to mitigate risks for fit within one of the types or risk, risk acceptance.

Risk identification starts off with identification of the asset.

1) System characterization – Gather information into a System Security Plan (SSP). Identifying risk requires a deep understanding of the asset and its environment. Asset information for the SSP will cover the following:

Hardware
Software
System interfaces (e.g., internal and external connectivity)
Data and information
Persons who support and use the IT system
System mission (e.g., the processes performed by the IT system)
System and data critical (e.g., the system’s value or importance to an organization)
System and data sensitivity

2) Threat Identification – Without a defined threat, there is no way to quantify or identify a threat. Threat identification starts with looking at the threat sources and events. An example to look for threat sources historical data. When has the asset or similar assets from other related organizations in the same industry been attacked or suffered disaster. Remember a threat source is not just criminal-hackers and malware, it can be a natural disaster or unintentional destruction of data or a power outage.

3) Vulnerability Identification – Once the asset and threat are identified, you can more easily determine if your system has a weakness for that particular disaster or exploit. Again, you can look at historical evidence that suggest weakness. You can use scanners to find open ports that are exposed to the Internet.

4) Security Control Analysis – If your system already has security controls in place, you must take that into account because this may lower your risk.

5) Likelihood determination – The probability that your asset will be exploited is based on the threat source motivation, threat capability, your vulnerability and the security controls you have in place. Based on all these factors you can calculated the likelihood of an attack or disaster.

6) Impact Analysis – This where you gather all the data from asset identification, threat source, vulnerability identification, security controls, likelihood of attack and figure you what would happen if something really did happen. How important is your system and its data? What would happen to the mission or bottom line or profits if the system went down for a few hours? a few days? a few weeks? Some system are so important that they cannot be down for even a minute. Impact is very important to the level of risk. The more important the system is, the high the risk.

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.

Who does risk identification:

Ultimately it is the information system owner and authorizing official that must make a determination on what kind of risk they will accept, but they rely heavily on the expertise of an information security engineer, information system security manager, information system security officer and technical professionals to articulate what is happening on the ground.

The ISSO/ISSM/ISSE typically document the process mentioned above or the DIARMF process. Security professionals coordinate with IT professionals to “get into the weeds” of technical security controls and vulnerabilities.

types of risk

January 19, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

The Risk Management Framework steps are designed to minimize, and control the risks to the organization. The DIARMF process fully adopted many aspects of RMF.

NIST SP 800-39, Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems is one of the main documents of the RMF process. It describes types of risk in the chapter on Risk Mitigation:

Risk Assumption. To accept the potential risk and continue operating the IT system or to implement controls to lower the risk to an acceptable level
Risk Avoidance. To avoid the risk by eliminating the risk cause and/or consequence (e.g., forgo certain functions of the system or shut down the system when risks are identified)
Risk Limitation. To limit the risk by implementing controls that minimize the adverse impact of a threat’s exercising a vulnerability (e.g., use of supporting, preventive, detective controls)
Risk Planning. To manage risk by developing a risk mitigation plan that prioritizes, implements, and maintains controls
Research and Acknowledgment. To lower the risk of loss by acknowledging the vulnerability or flaw and researching controls to correct the vulnerability
Risk Transference. To transfer the risk by using other options to compensate for the loss, such as purchasing insurance.

what is risk

January 19, 2014 by Bruce Brown Leave a Comment

what is risk

The formal definition of “risk” is: Exposure of someone (or some object) to harm, damage or loss. In Information Assurance, information security and IT, risk has a pseudo equation to put value on the risk.

Risk = ((Vulnerability * Threat) / Countermeasure) * Asset Value at Risk IT Risk

Risk is the likelihood that a threat will exploit the vulnerability of an assets value.

what is risk diarmf (courtesy of Lee Gass – sculptor/educator)

So in IT, the question what is risk? is defined with a “threat”, a “vulnerability” and a “asset”. If any one of these factor is missing, you cannot define or quantify the risk at all.