1. Risk Management Identifying and Assessing Risk
EECS 711
Philip Mein
"Prakash" Pallavur Sankaranaraynan
Annette Tetmeyer

2. Outline Introduction Risk Management Risk Identification
Risk Assessment
Documenting the Results of Risk Assessment 2

3. In the News “Imprudent curiosity” and ample warning?
"Every single time they access a computer there's a reminder that comes up that says: The information you are about to access has Privacy Act restrictions on it and you are acknowledging that you have a need to know in order to do your job to access this file; and that if you are accessing it in an unauthorized manner, then there are potential penalties."

4. Introduction
Information security departments are created primarily to manage IT risk
Risk management program has two formal processes
Risk identification and assessment
Risk control

5. Knowing Ourselves Identify, Examine and Understand
information at rest, in motion, and in use (stored, transmitted, and processed)
Initiate an in-depth risk management program
Risk management is a process
It is the safeguards and controls that are devised and implemented (due diligence is required)

6. Knowing the Enemy Identify, examine, and understand
the threats
Managers must be prepared
to fully identify those threats that pose risks to the organization and the security of its information assets
Risk management is the process
of assessing the risks to an organization’s information and determining how those risks can be controlled or mitigated

7. Risk Management
The process concerned with identification, measurement, control and minimization of security risks in information systems to a level commensurate with the value of the assets protected (NIST)
Identify
the
Risk Areas
Re-evaluate
the Risks
Assess the
Risks
Risk Management
Cycle
Implement Risk
Management
Actions
Risk Assessment
Develop Risk
Management
Plan
Risk Control (Mitigation)‏

8. Accountability for Risk Management
All three communities of interest bear responsibility (IT, InfoSec, Management & Users)
Evaluating risk controls
Determining which control options are cost-effective
Acquiring or installing appropriate controls
Overseeing processes to ensure that controls remain effective
Identifying risks
Assessing risks
Summarizing findings

9. Risk Identification Process

10. Risk Identification Risk identification Managers
begins with the process of self-examination
Managers
identify the organization’s information assets,
classify them into useful groups, and
prioritize them by their overall importance

11. Creating an Inventory of Information Assets
Identify information assets
people, procedures, data and information, software, hardware, and networking elements
values will be assigned later in the process

12. Organizational Assets

13. Identifying Hardware, Software, and Network Assets
Many organizations use purchased asset inventory systems
Determine which attributes of each of these information assets should be tracked
Will depend on the needs of the organization and
its risk management efforts

14. Attributes for Assets Potential attributes: Name IP address
MAC address
Asset type
Manufacturer name
Manufacturer’s model or part number
Software version, update revision,
Physical location
Logical location
Controlling entity
Attributes for Hardware Assets
When deciding which attributes to track for each information asset, consider the following list of potential attributes:
Name:
IP address:
MAC address:
Asset type:
DeviceClass = S (server)‏
DeviceOS = W2K (Windows 2000)‏
DeviceCapacity = AS (Advanced Server)‏
Serial number
Manufacturer name:
Manufacturer’s model or part number:
Software version, update revision, or FCO number:
Physical location:
Logical location:
Controlling entity:

15. Commercial Products Altiris Novell Zenworks Microsoft SMS
CA Asset Management

16. Identifying People, Procedures, and Data Assets
Whose Responsibility ?
managers who possess the necessary knowledge, experience, and judgment
Recording
use reliable data-handling process

17. People, Procedures, and Data Assets Suggested Attributes
Position name/number/ID
Supervisor name/number/ID
Security clearance level
Special skills
Procedures
Description
Intended purpose
Software/hardware/ networking elements to which it is tied
Location where it is stored for reference
Location where it is stored for update purposes
Attributes for People, Procedures, and Data Assets
People
Position name/number/ID
Supervisor name/number/ID
Security clearance level
Special skills
Procedures
Description
Intended purpose
Software/hardware/networking elements to which it is tied
Location where it is stored for reference
Location where it is stored for update purposes
Data
Classification
Owner/creator/manager
Size of data structure
Data structure used
Online or offline
Location
Backup procedures

18. People, Procedures, and Data Assets Suggested Attributes
Classification
Owner/creator/manager
Size of data structure
Data structure used
Online or offline
Location
Backup procedures
Attributes for People, Procedures, and Data Assets
People
Position name/number/ID
Supervisor name/number/ID
Security clearance level
Special skills
Procedures
Description
Intended purpose
Software/hardware/networking elements to which it is tied
Location where it is stored for reference
Location where it is stored for update purposes
Data
Classification
Owner/creator/manager
Size of data structure
Data structure used
Online or offline
Location
Backup procedures

19. Classifying and Categorizing Assets
Determine whether its asset categories are meaningful
After initial inventory is assembled
Inventory should also reflect sensitivity and security priority assigned to each asset
A classification scheme categorizes these information assets based on their sensitivity and security needs
One exmple: confidential, internal, and public

20. Classifying and Categorizing Assets (Continued)
Categories
designates level of protection needed for a particular information asset
Classification categories must be comprehensive and mutually exclusive
Personnel may require alternative classification
identifies the clearance needed to use the asset type
Need-to-know, right-to-update

21. Assessing Values for Information Assets
Assign a relative value
to ensure that the most valuable information assets are given the highest priority, for example:
Which is the most critical to the success of the organization?
Which generates the most revenue?
Which generates the highest profitability?
Which is the most expensive to replace?
Which is the most expensive to protect?
Whose loss or compromise would be the most embarrassing or cause the greatest liability?
Final step in the Risk Identification process is to list the assets in order of importance
Can use a weighted factor analysis worksheet
Assessing Values for Information Assets
As each information asset is identified, categorized, and classified, a relative value must also be assigned to it.
Relative values are comparative judgments made to ensure that the most valuable information assets are given the highest priority when managing risk.
Which information asset is the most critical to the success of the organization?
Which information asset generates the most revenue?
Which information asset generates the highest profitability?
Which information asset is the most expensive to replace?
Which information asset is the most expensive to protect?
Which information asset’s loss or compromise would be the most embarrassing or cause the greatest liability?

22. Weighted Factor Analysis Worksheet Risk Management for IT Systems (NIST SP 800-30)

23. Data Classification Model
Data owners must classify information assets for which they are responsible and review the classifications periodically
Example:
Public
For official use only
Sensitive
Classified

24. Data Classification Model
US Military uses a five-level classification scheme as defined in Executive Order 12958:
Unclassified Data
Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) Data
Confidential Data
Secret Data
Top Secret Data

25. Security Clearances Personnel Security Clearance Structure:
Complement to data classification scheme
Each user of information asset is assigned an authorization level that indicates level of information classification he or she can access
Most organizations have developed a set of roles and corresponding security clearances
Individuals are assigned into groups that correlate with classifications of the information assets they need for their work

26. Management of Classified Information Assets
Managing an information asset includes
the storage, distribution, portability, and destruction of that information asset
Information asset that has a classification designation other than unclassified or public:
Must be clearly marked as such
Must be available only to authorized individuals

27. Management of Classified Information Assets
Clean Desk policy
To maintain confidentiality of classified documents, managers can implement a clean desk policy
Destruction of sensitive material
When copies of classified information are no longer valuable or too many copies exist, care should be taken to destroy them properly to discourage dumpster diving

28. Threat Identification
Assess potential weaknesses in information assets
Requires experience and good judgment
Cannot assume that each and every threat will lead to an attack
Need to prioritize and identify threats and threat agents
Threat Identification: assessing the potential weaknesses in each information asset.
Risk identification: ultimate goal is to asses the circumstances and setting of each information asset to reveal any vulnerabilities.
Assuming that every threat will attack every asset is too complex. Instead manage threat identification and vulnerability identification processes separately, then coordinate at the end.

29. Threat Identification
Revisit threats to information security

30. Threat Assessment
Which threats present a danger to this organization’s information assets in its current environment?
Eliminate any threats that do not impact your organization.
Provide specific examples for the threats those that do impact

31. Threat Identification
Which threats represent the gravest danger to the organization’s information assets?
Consider probability of threat, amount of damage, or frequency that an attack can occur
Based on existing level of preparedness and used for improving information security strategy

32. Threat Identification
Top three threats identified by top computing executives:
Deliberate software attacks
Technical software failures or errors
Acts of human error or failure
Do you agree?
Threats to Information Security: Survey of Industry

33. Threat Identification
Top four types of attack or misuse:
Virus
Laptop/mobile theft
Insider abuse of Net access
Unauthorized access to information
Any thoughts?
CSI/FBI Survey Results for Types of Attack or Misuse ( )
2007 updates availables

34. Frequency of Attacks Ask the following questions:
How much would it cost to recover from a successful attack?
Can rank potential costs (1-5) or assign raw values
Want rough assessments, not full blown analysis
Which threats would require the greatest expenditure to prevent?

35. Frequency of Attacks Detected attacks have been decreasing*
Some organizations also do not know if they have been attacked or not
*CSI Survey 2007 ( )

36. Vulnerability Assessment
Create asset-threat pairs.
Use the table of threats to analyze and list possible vulnerabilities for each specific asset.
Process can be somewhat subjective and based on experience/knowledge.
Use teams with diverse backgrounds (specialists, management, technically proficient users) to conduct assessment.

37. Threat Vulnerability Asset Worksheet (TVA)
TVA => Prioritized list of assets and their vulnerabilities + Threats prioritized by weights
X-axis => Prioritized set of assets with most valuable asset listed on the extreme left
Y-axis => Prioritized set of threats with most important or dangerous threat listed at the top
A grid that provides a convenient method of examining the exposure of assets
Provides a simplistic vulnerability assesment
Created in “triples” 37
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38. 38
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39. Risk Assessment Process
Many believe the most difficult aspect of risk assessment is uncovering the large number of systems and their configuration vulnerabilities that put a system at risk
In reality the challenge is deciding organization wide the value of information and intellectual property
Without this knowledge and the systems that ensure this information flows it is impossible to make a decision on how much can reasonably spent in protecting this information 39
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40. Risk Assessment Process (contd)
In assessing risk one must know what needs to be protected and how much the information is worth
Challenges:
What system needs protection?
Which vulnerabilities pose the greates threat? 40
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41. Risk Assessment
Process of assessing relative risk for each vulnerability
Assigns a risk rating or score to each vulnerability
No meaning in absolute terms but helps gauge relative risk associated with each vulnerable information asset
Model to evaluate risk for each info asset 41
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42. Risk Assessment (contd)
Risk Rating = Likelihood of occurrence of a vulnerability x Value of information asset - % of risk mitigated by current controls + Uncertainty of current knowledge of the vulnerability 42
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43. Risk Assessment (contd)
Likelihood of vulnerability
Probability that a specific vulnerability will be exploited
NIST recommends values between 0.1(low) and 1.0(high)
Cannot be 0, because vulnerabilities with a likelihood of 0 should have been removed from the asset vulnerability list
External references for many asset/vulnerability combinations already exist and should be used whenever possible 43
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44. Risk Assessment (contd)
Potential loss
Done by weighted scores based on the value of information asset
NIST assigns weights in broad categories 100(high value) 1(low value) 50(medium value)
Other scales use 1 to 10 or assigned values of 1(low), 3(medium) and 5(high) 44
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45. Risk Assessment (contd)
Percentage of risk mitigated by current controls
If vulnerability is fully managed by an existing control, it can set aside
If vulnerability is partially controlled, estimate what % of vulnerability has been controlled 45
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46. Risk Assessment (contd)
Uncertainty
It is not possible to know everything about an vulnerability
How likely is an attack against a vulnerability
How great of an impact would a successful attack have on an organization
It is an estimate made by the manager using good judgment and experience 46
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47. Risk Assessment (contd)
Identify possible controls
For each threat and its associated vulnerabilities that have residual risk create a list of control ideas
List begins with identifying existing controls, this is to identifying areas of residual risk that may or may not need to be reduced
Residual risk is risk that remains even after existing control has been applied 47
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48. Controls Three categories of controls exist: Policies
Programs (like education, training and awareness)
Technical controls (security technologies) 48
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49. Access Controls
Addresses the admission of users into a trusted area of an organization
Each category of access control regulates access to a particular type or collection of information
Types of access controls:
Mandatory Access Control (MAC)
Non-discretionary Control
Discretionary Control (DAC) 49
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50. Access Controls MAC Required and Structured
Coordinated with data classification scheme
When implemented users and data owners have limited control over their access to information access
Rates information and each user to a specific level of information
Rating is called sensitivity level and a variation of this is called Lattice Based Access Control
In lattice based access controls users are assigned a matrix of authorizations for particular areas of access
Structure contains subjects and objects and boundaries associated with each subject/object pair is clearly demarked
Column attributes associated with objects are called ACL’s
Row attributes associated with subjects are called Capability Tables 50
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51. Access Controls Non Discretionary Controls
Determined by central authority
Can be based on roles a user plays in an organization called roles based access control
Can be based on set of tasks tied to a certain assignment or responsibility called task based access control
It makes it easier to maintain control and restrictions if individuals performing the task or role changes frequently 51
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52. Access Controls Discretionary Access Control (DAC)
Implemented at the discretion or option of the users
Ability to share resources in a peer to peer configuration
Allows users to control and possibly provide access to information or resources at their disposal 52
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53. Documenting Results of Risk Assessment
Ranked vulnerability risk worksheet
Asset: List of each vulnerable asset
Asset Impact: Shows results for the asset from the weighted factor analysis (1-100)
Vulnerability: List each uncontrolled vulnerability for that asset
Vulnerability Likelihood: Likelihood of the realization of the vulnerability by threat agent as indicated in the vulnerability analysis step ( )
Risk Rating Factor: Calculated by multiplying the asset impact and a vulnerability’s likelihood 53
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54. Documenting Results of Risk Assessment
Risk identification and assessment deliverables
Information asset classification worksheet (information assets and impact on or value to organization)
Weighted criteria analysis worksheet (assigns a ranked value or impact weight to each asset)
TVA worksheet
Ranked vulnerability risk worksheet (assigns a risk rating ranked value to each uncontrolled asset vulnerability pair) 54
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55. Conclusion
Risk management examines and documents an organizations information assets to classify, prioritize and assess risk that needs to be controlled
The presence of uncontrolled vulnerabilities in high ranking assets are the 1st priority of new controls as part of risk management
Spring 2008 55
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56. Questions