NIST RMF vs Adaptive SME Security

NIST has just released SP 1314 Risk Management Framework (RMF) Small Enterprise Quick Start Guide as a lightweight form/introduction to the full RMF.

... and, despite having said the steps are not necessarily sequential ...

It's interesting to compare and contrast the NIST RMF against the Adaptive SME Security approach we released just last week: 

Crowdstrike - a para-incident review

We find ourselves in the midst of a classic social response to a significant incident - a heady blend of technobabble, confusion and hyperbole, with a sprinkling of genuinely helpful information, grief and support for those right in the thick of it, and warnings about the likelihood of further exploitation ... of ... the classic social response to a significant incident. 

That's a positive feedback loop, amplified by the echo chambers of social media, and traditional news reporters whose job is (in part) to stir the pot and sell papers.

"This is HUGE!" they tell us, breathlessly. "Bigger than a really big thing, and still growing!" According to the din just on LinkeDin over the weekend, the Crowdstrike incident is "a major global outage", a "mass global outage and major impact to services", "carnage", "cataclysmic", "global chaos", the "patchpocalypse", "digital catastrophe", "the biggest cyber incident in history", "one of the largest glitches in the Matrix", "massive disruptions", "a complete nightmare … the ramifications to this outage are going to be massive", "incredibly serious, detrimental and possibly life-threatening situation" ... OK OK we get the picture.

Adaptive SME security Crowdstrike special

As if on cue, along comes a golden opportunity to consider what the Adaptive SME security approach has to say regarding the Crowdstrike incident:

That's not 20/20 hindsight but foresight: I've picked out the most relevant rows from the security controls table published in the guide 24 hours before the incident. Although Crowdstrike primarily supplies much larger enterprises than SMEs, the incident could equally have afflicted other security software, or indeed operating systems such as Windows and assorted cloud apps commonly used by SMEs. Regardless of the details, it is a wake-up call, an opportunity to consider and respond to the information risks ... and to adapt, accordingly.

Adaptive SME security guide (FREE!)

I am delighted to announce the release of Adaptive SME Security:

The guide describes a pragmatic, five-phased approach for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises to manage their information risk and security arrangements:

New ISO27k domotics security standard

ISO/IEC 27403 "Cybersecurity – IoT security and privacy – Guidelines for IoT-domotics" was published at the very end of last month.

“Domotics” is a neologism for smart homes.

This new standard covers the cybersecurity and privacy aspects of device-device interactions (e.g. home hubs and entertainment subsystems) as well as human-device plus device-sensors/actuators that physically interact with the home (e.g. smart door locks and thermostats) and networking both within the home (e.g. WiFi, Bluetooth) and beyond (e.g. fibre or wireless broadband).

The standard is aimed squarely at guiding the designers, manufacturers and security or privacy assessors of IoT domotics. It provides examples of information risks that should (in theory at least) have been identified, evaluated and addressed by IoT suppliers baking-in suitable security controls to protect their valued customers' interests. In reality, how much security and privacy do you really expect from cheap and shoddy things in such a highly competitive and short-term-focused market?

Consumers who are as smart as their IoT things may be intrigued and concerned by the security and privacy implications of the streams of information now flowing freely around their homes and vehicles.

Two dozen information risks that ISO forgot

1. 
   Selecting the wrong controls - controls that are inappropriate, ineffective, too costly, impracticable, fragile, unnecessary, counterproductive or whatever, often as a result of blind faith in fads and fashions of the day and FOMO e.g. MFA, AI, cyber
   
   
2. Failing to select the right controls - controls that are ideal for the particular situation, both now and in perpetuity, for whatever reason - mostly ignorance and prejudice
   
   
3. Selecting and implementing controls at the wrong time or in the wrong way (where 'wrong' includes ineffective, inappropriate, sub-optimal e.g. bolting on controls rather than designing and building them in)
   
   
4. Inept and inaccurate identification, analysis and quantification of risk, including reliance on poor quality (incomplete, inaccurate, out of date, misleading, unreliable ...) information about actual risks, particularly subtle and emerging risks plus those involving deliberate concealment and misdirection e.g. fraud, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, rhetoric

Cyclical risk analysis

This risk analysis process/method blends risk, security, incident and problem management, creatively combining imaginary with actual data and concerns:

1. Imagine you've experienced a 'typical' incident affecting whatever [information] asset/s you are risk-assessing - such as a physical incident affecting the office. Consider various types of incident, of various scales and importance e.g. an office break-in, vandalism, professional hit, insider theft, fire, flood ... or whatever. For now, pick out whatever type/s of incident seems most likely and/or damaging for further consideration - not least, real incidents that have occurred (this analysis might follow an actual incident for maximum reality!). Start exploring the associated threats, vulnerabilities and impacts, using information about actual incidents (under similar circumstances) to inform your analysis - or wing-it using common sense. This step initiates the risk analysis, clarifying the asset/s and risks of most concern. Press ahead ...

Book review: Permanent Record by Ed Snowden

Title: Permanent Record

Author: Edward Snowden

ISBN: 978-1-250-23723-1

Price: US$18 from Amazon

GH rating: 90%

Summary

Until I read this book, I considered my personal integrity a fundamental strength, core to my very being. It pales in comparison to Ed's extreme courage and intense determination to expose the shocking truth about the NSA's mass surveillance programme and the way it was concealed from Congress.

45 ISO Management Systems Standards

The ISO website lists 45 management systems standards:

1. ISO 7101:2023

Healthcare organization management — Management systems for quality in healthcare organizations — Requirements

2. ISO 9001:2015

Quality management systems — Requirements

3. ISO 10012:2003

Measurement management systems — Requirements for measurement processes and measuring equipment

4. ISO 13485:2016

Medical devices — Quality management systems — Requirements for regulatory purposes

5. ISO 14001:2015

Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use

6. ISO 14298:2021

Graphic technology — Management of security printing processes

Book review: Thinking Fast and Slow

Title: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Author: Daniel Kahneman

ISBN: 978-0-374-53355-7

Price: $18 from Amazon

GH rating: 60%

Summary

Didn't match up to the high expectations, for me. Wading through numerous examples with tedious explanations of subtle choices presented to experimental subjects made it a slog.

Systematically improving professional services

My beady eye has been caught by another excellent thought-provoking Protiviti article by Jim DeLoach with Randy Armknecht concerning board-level blind spots.

I highly recommend reading and contemplating Are There Blind Spots in Your Boardroom?

Jim and Randy offered ten practical suggestions for boards to address the issue. Here they are with my thoughts and ideas on how to apply them in other contexts, besides the boardroom, such as within the information risk and security management team for example:

1. Assess whether current board culture, composition and agendas are fit for purpose in the current disruptive business environment.
   
   
   Assess the current team culture, composition, priorities, skills & competences, expertise, relationships, interests etc. with a view towards the future. How should the team evolve or adapt to changing circumstances, building on past successes and learning from failures?

Measuring and managing ethics

KPMG's Soft Controls model caught my beady eye this week:

KPMG are evidently using these 8 factors to analyse, measure and help clients manage their corporate cultures, claiming that "Our model gives organisations a valid tool for getting a clear picture of the current organisational situation, confront it, and break through the silence and passivity." Hmmm, 'silence and passivity', really KPMG? Well OK, whatever. It appears to be a viable approach.

An evolutionary revolution?

"Mitigation and adaptation are required together to reduce the risks and impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events. Mitigation refers to actions taken to limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the amount of future climate change. Adaptation refers to actions taken to limit the impacts of a changing climate. Mitigation and adaptation together provide co-benefits for other environmental and social goals."

That paragraph by Lizzie Fuller, Climate Science Communicator for the UK's Met Office, plucked from another excellent digest of lessons learned from various UK resilience exercises and initiatives, obviously concerns climate change ... but it occurs to me that 'mitigate and adapt' might be a novel approach to information risks and impacts as well.

Pragmatic ISMS implementation guide (FREE!)

Early this morning (very early!) I remotely attended an ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27/WG 1 editing meeting in London discussing the planned revision of ISO/IEC 27003:2017.

Overall, the meeting was very productive in that we got through a long list of expert comments on the preliminary draft standard, debated the objectives of the project and the standard and reached consensus on most points.

In summary:

• 27003 is to be revised to align with the current 2022 releases of ISO/IEC 27001, 27002 and 27005:
  
  
• These changes are mostly minor aside from the new section 6.3 on ISMS changes.

Knit your own security metrics

This morning on the ISO27k forum, Vurendar told us: 

"I saw your pragmatic book but I was confused on the way criteria and no’s were assigned. If you could guide will really help.  I’m doing a RBI Based compliance assessment where regulator has asked for such metrics. Help would be really appreciated."  

Here's my reply. 

For guidance on choosing which metrics to take a look at and maybe score, I recommend Lance Hayden's book "IT Security Metrics" which describes the Goal-Question-Metric approach. 

A nightmare on DR street

A provocative piece on LinkeDin by Brian Matsinger caught my beady eye and sparked my fertile imagination today. I'm presently busy amplifying the disaster recovery advice in NIS 2 for a client. When I say 'amplifying', I mean generating an entire awareness and training piece on the back of a single mention of 'disaster recovery' in all of NIS 2. Just the one. Blink and you'll miss it.

Oh boy.

Anyway, Brian points out that recovering from disasters caused by 'cyber attacks' requires a different DR approach than is usual for physical disasters such as storms, fires and floods. Traditional basic DR plans are pretty straightforward: essentially, the plans tell us to grab recent backups and pristine systems, restore the backups onto said systems, do a cursory check then release services to users. Job's a good 'un, off to the pub lads.

ISMS implementation project guidance checklist

This checklist is appended to a SecAware guideline on implementing an ISMS, elaborating clause-by-clause on ISO/IEC 27001 - essentially, our version of ISO/IEC 27003.  It offers pragmatic guidance for information security managers and CISOs - nothing too obscure or complex.

---oooOOOooo---

Project definition, justification, scoping and planning

⬚  Study the standards, in depth: complete lead implementer training if possible.

⬚  Study the business, in depth, to understand its objectives, strategies, culture, governance arrangements, existing information risk and security management etc.

⬚  If the organisation has a defined, structured approach for this phase, use it!

⬚  Build a business case that identifies and promotes the business benefits of the ISMS.

⬚  Look beyond ‘security’ and ‘compliance’ e.g. helping management to manage business risks, supporting/enabling other business initiatives and strategies.

Mil-spec management lessons

 

"A calamity can often strike without warning. Whether it be generated by humans or a natural disaster, leaders need to be ready to direct their teams in the aftermath. In order to be ready for crisis, leadership skills, like any others, must be practised over and over beforehand. So the way you lead in the quiet times helps to build the skills you need when you have to dig deep."

That paragraph plucked from this month's impressive NZ Airforce newsletter about the military response to the devastating flooding caused by cyclone Gabrielle here in Hawkes Bay caught my beady eye this morning. 

The idea of practicing incident management as well as incident handling or operations on relatively small incidents makes perfect sense.

27001 & climate change (FREE!)

Like other ISO management systems standards, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 has just been amended to incorporate two small wording changes:

• “The organization shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue” (clause 4.1);
  
  
• “NOTE: Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change.” (clause 4.2).

So, it is fair to ask what has climate change got to do with information risk and security? Is it even relevant? Having been been mulling that over for quite some while now, I've come up with a dozen points of relevance:

For more on those twelve, read "Secure the Planet" - a FREE white paper.

The clock in that image is a reminder that time is pressing, so here are half-a-dozen things information risk and security professionals can do to help.

ISMS internal audit priorities

A thread on the ISO27k Forum sparked my imagination over coffee this morning.

Hope had previously asked for assistance with an ISO/IEC 27001:2022 audit plan. 

Bhushan offered a lengthy and generally sound response explaining how to use a spreadsheet with tabs to plan and record the audit work performed on 100% of the main body clauses and 50% of the 93 Annex A controls, day-by-day. That's OK ... except it wasn't entirely clear that he was interpreting and elaborating on the standard's actual requirements.

ISO/IEC 27001 does not explicitly require, for example, that (as Bhushan stated) "ALL the management system clauses from 4 to 10 AND their sub-clauses need to be listed and audited" in an ISMS internal audit, although evidently he interprets it in that way. In clause 9.2.1, the standard states a requirement for internal audits to provide information on whether the ISMS conforms to the organization’s own requirements for the ISMS plus the requirements of the standard, and is effectively implemented and maintained. There is no "ALL" in the standard's main body clauses. Spreadsheets are not mentioned at all, not even once.