1 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Information Security on a Budget: Where to Invest First M. E. Kabay, PhD, CISSP Assoc. Prof. Information Assurance Dept. Computer Information Systems Norwich University, Northfield, VT

2 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Topics Policy, Power & Position Training and Awareness Hiring, Management and Firing System Administration Security Evaluations

3 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Policy, Power & Position Policies must be living documents Assign responsibility for security CISO as equal of CEO, CFO... Status must not equal access Compliance depends on top-level support

4 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Training and Awareness Training and awareness are not single events Social engineering can be fought only by awareness and preparation Constant learning is essential Formal courses & conferences Web-based courses Free resources on Web Textbooks, magazines Videofilms and DVDs In-house courses from experts

5 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Hiring, Management and Firing Hiring Check background carefully Have candidates interviewed by future colleagues Management Sensitive to changes in behavior Enforce vacations Firing Shut down access Retrieve corporate property

6 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. System Administration Establish Effective Security Configurations Maintain Software Detect Security Breaches Respond Intelligently to Incidents

7 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Establish Effective Security Configurations Default configurations often inadequate Firewalls need to implement thought-out policy Network topology should reflect needs for data partition Adapt network security to changing needs Evaluate anti-DDoS tools

8 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Maintain Software Single most important problem: known vulnerabilities Consult or subscribe to alerts CERT/CC Bundesammt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Database (CVE) ICAT Metabase

9 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. BSI

10 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. ICAT / CVE

11 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Detect Security Breaches Quick response is valuable and economical Intrusion detection systems (IDS) Not cheap Learn / define normal patterns Identify anomalies Allow human response Total cost of acquisition, tuning and management can be high But cost of undetected & uncontrolled penetration can be higher

12 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Respond Intelligently to Incidents IDS useless without effective response plan Computer Emergency Response Team Also known as Incident Response Team Complex and expensive planning Involvement from throughout organization Most experienced personnel essential Link CERT/IRT to DRP and BCP DRP = disaster recovery plan BCP = business continuity plan May choose to use honeypots System to delay intruder, study behavior

13 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. Security Evaluations Developing security policies may be too hard Use existing guides May use external help to reduce time spent by expensive employees Checking security may be best done by outsiders Editing text is best done by someone else Checking program source code is best done by another programmer Need to find trustworthy experts Beware those who hire criminal hackers Should test only after development & training

14 Copyright © 2002 M. E. Kabay. All rights reserved. DISKUSSION