Tuesday 20 December 2022
Cyber-collateral
Friday 16 December 2022
'The Internet issue'
Earlier this year I wrote a retrospective on Y2K and said that I'd be back to talk about what is surely the biggest cluster of information risks facing the world over two decades on, namely those associated with the Internet.
Well OK, so it has taken me a couple of months to get around to it but anyway here goes.
Threats
- Malicious individuals
- Malicious groups
- Accidents and natural events
Vulnerabilities
- Shared resource
- Insecure base
- Naivete
Impacts
- Extreme dependence
- Cascading effects
- Catastrophic outages
Preventive controls
Detective controls
Corrective controls
Technical controls
Procedural controls
Administrative controls
Thursday 15 December 2022
Audit/review questions
- Are there any legal, regulatory or contractual compliance implications of X?
- Are there any other things about X that I/management should know about?
- Can I do some audit tests on X, please?
- Compared to Y and Z, how risky/valuable/reliable is X?
- Does anything strike you as strange or worrying about X?
- Explain the controls relating to X …
- Has X ever hurt anyone? What happened?
- Have you or anyone else raised concerns about X?
- How big is X - how wide, how heavy, how numerous, how often?
- How come previous efforts did not fix X?
- How costly was X?
Wednesday 14 December 2022
ISO27k ISMS metrics
Tuesday 13 December 2022
Yet another interpretation of 'cyber'
I have railed repeatedly at the vague and often inappropriate or misleading use of 'cyber', in particular cyber-risk and cybersecurity (inconsistently hyphenated, as shown).
Usually, cyber simply means IT - all the usual humdrum risks and controls relating to IT systems and networks. This is everyday stuff, nothing special. Plain IT covers it.
Sometimes cyber alludes to far more extreme and sinster threats associated with highly competent and resourceful adversaries sponsored by governments, organised criminals or terrorists attacking critical national or global infrastructures - the sorts of things that might be experienced during war. Those using the term in this way tend to speak in riddles, trying hard to avoid admitting or disclosing vulnerabilities while denying knowledge of any involvement in such activities.
Friday 9 December 2022
Awareness risks & opportunities
Security awareness program can be planned and prioritised on the basis of risks
Leave room (flexibility) to respond to opportunities that arise off-plan
Thursday 8 December 2022
Tempering professional paranoia
It goes with the territory: professionals working in information risk and related areas are, of course, highly aware of risks within our specialism. It's what we do.
Furthermore, many of us would admit to being naturally risk-averse: people outside the profession seem to take chances that we would prefer to avoid or shy away from, whether through plain ignorance or failure to appreciate the risks.
Risk-aversion is a personal characteristic or bias that varies from mild caution and pessimism up to extreme, debilitating paranoia. It doesn't necessarily mean that we are timid, scared or weak, rather that we tend to place more emphasis on the possibility of problems or incidents compared to non-risk-averse people.
Wednesday 7 December 2022
Riding the waves
At the very moment when the negotiations are completed and management finally agrees your infosec budget, their interest, motivation and support for it is high ... so, before the dust settles, why not seize the moment: a window of opportunity has opened. Before long, the wave of enthusiasm will subside and management's focus will turn to other matters.
Tuesday 6 December 2022
Budgeting and preparing for ISO27k
Are you responsible for your organisation's information risk and security or cybersecurity budget? Are you busily putting the finishing touches to your FY 2023 budget request?
Budgeting is a stressful management task, figuring out the figures and anticipating tough battles ahead leading (usually) to a disappointing outcome and yet more problems resulting from inadequate investment. With clear signs of another global recession looming (as if COVID, climate change and the war in Ukraine weren't challenging enough already), tightened belt-buckles are the order of the day*.
Monday 5 December 2022
System is ...
connected systems, plus the operating environment,
all of which are required to deliver services ...
also NIST SP800-161r1 & SP800-53r5]
[source: SecAware glossary]
ports and peripherals of an IT device
especially the supply chain and cloud" [thanks Steven Os]
technologies, people, processes, relationships etc.
forming a discrete functional unit
[suggested by Eric Johnson]
Sunday 4 December 2022
COVID information risk analysis - retrospective
Two and a half years ago in March 2020 as we were fast approaching our first lockdown, I published the following Probability Impact Graph depicting my analysis of the information risks relating to COVID:
Friday 2 December 2022
On a mission
take the first step on your mission!
Thursday 1 December 2022
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 pros and cons
I can think of eight key advantages and opportunities in adopting the new third edition of ISO/IEC 27001 as opposed to the second edition nearly a decade old:
Tuesday 29 November 2022
Information risks a-gurgling
There are clearly substantial information risks associated with the redaction of sensitive elements from disclosed reports and other formats, risks that the controls don't necessarily fully mitigate.
Yes, controls are fallible and constrained, leaving residual risks. This is hardly Earth-shattering news to any competent professional or enlightened infidel, and yet others are frequently shocked.
A new report* from a research team at the University of Illinois specifically concerns failures in the redaction processes and tools applied to PDF documents. The physical size of redacted text denoted (covered or replaced) with a variable-length black rectangle may give clues as to the original content, while historically a disappointing number of redaction attempts have failed to prevent the original information being recovered simply by removing the cover images or selecting then pasting the underlying text. Doh!
Monday 28 November 2022
ISO27k is ...
Thursday 24 November 2022
Exciting news: extension ladders, stubby snakes!
You needn't learn everything the hard way like I did: I can help you move ahead smartly, avoiding tar pits, finding taller ladders and shorter snakes.
Tuesday 22 November 2022
SHOUTY vs ambient infosec
Like ambient music (muzak, elevator tunes), ambient information security blends into the background. The idea is that infosec controls are subtle, seamless, integral parts of whatever is going on, as opposed to blatant in-yer-face shouty SECURITY.
Of course it's not always possible, and there are circumstances where the visibility of security is itself a valuable part of the controls - deterrents, for example, warning signs, distinct boundaries and the menacing presence of beefy security guards, with guns, dogs and attitude.
Personal identification and authentication processes that require user interaction are hard to miss e.g. security passes/tokens, passwords, PIN codes, SMS codes and all that rigmarole. Nevertheless, there are choices for system/security architects when designing login mechanisms that affect the amount of time and effort required from each user.
Those are the exceptions. A majority of security controls go largely unnoticed. Federated identity/social media systems, for instance, slim down subsequent logins to little more than an extra click. Network traffic encryption and message integrity controls use sophisticated cryptography under-the-hood, automatically correcting minor transmission errors or flagging more serious issues such as potentially fake websites with dubious, invalid or missing digital certificates. Antivirus scans, backups and software updates mostly take place quietly in the background, or wait for quiet periods to spring into action.
Once logged-in to some systems, they quietly monitor your activities for indications that it really is you, doing more or less what you normally do, at your normal pace, from your normal device/s and location/s, showing your normal preferences, quirks and errors - or not, in which case as the anomalies stack up, Big Brother takes an increasing interest in what you are up to, perhaps blocking dubious or risky transactions pending further investigation.
Monday 21 November 2022
Governance gardening
Prompted by a random podcast comment and inspired by a productive day in the garden, here's an analogy between governance and gardening.
Governance is ...
... "strategic frameworks, organisational structures, policies and processes used
to guide/direct, oversee/monitor and to some extent control the organisation, ensuring that it fulfils its strategic objectives and complies with internal and external obligations" [source: SecAware glossary]
... applicable to corporations, organisations, nations, the globe, industries, business units, finance, the environment, governments, projects, land, health,
steam engines, watches, IT, information, information risk and security ...
... for the benefit of stakeholders, owners, regulators, authorities, society
... designing and implementing appropriate corporate structures
Tuesday 15 November 2022
Fractal ISMS changes
'6.3 Planning of changes' is a succinct new clause in ISO/IEC 27001:2022, one accidentally omitted from the contents listing (oops).
Monday 14 November 2022
Impact is ...
... "adverse change to the level of business objectives achieved"
[source: ISO/IEC 27000]
... the inertial energy imparted by a moving mass impinging upon an object
... "the
adverse outcome or consequences caused by or arising from an
information security incident, leading to
direct and/or indirect
(consequential) losses/costs to the organisations
and/or
the individuals concerned" [source: SecAware glossary]
... the point when probability functions collapse
... when possibility becomes reality
... when threat meets vulnerability
... short, medium and long-term
... loss of control over an asset
... too late to prevent or avoid
... being smacked in the head
... when p(occurrence) hits 1
... when gloved fist hits chin
... what we tried to prevent
... what we sought to avoid
... an impressive entrance
... the resonance of a bell
... when risk eventuates
... when shit meets fan
... being compromised
... a successful attack
... the point of failure
... adverse outcome
... the after-effects
... hard to quantify
... inconsequential
... career-limiting
... a wake-up call
... loss of control
... consequences
... being harmed
... consequential
... unanticipated
... ramifications
... a pivot point
... motivational
... the moment
... open-ended
... unexpected
... anticipated
... predictable
... memorable
... an incident
... a dull thud
... percussion
... disastrous
... dispersed
... negligible
... bad news
... predicted
... expected
... dramatic
... being hit
... a breach
... a failure
... a crater
... a driver
... focused
... harmful
... gradual
... striking
... serious
... a crash
... sudden
... general
... moving
... a miss
... severe
... shared
... crunch
... a dent
... costly
... trivial
... oh oh
... a flop
... hurty
... costs
... bang
... ouch
... a hit
...
Monday 7 November 2022
Vulnerability is ...
... "an inherent and potentially exploitable weakness in an information asset, system, process, organisation etc." [source: SecAware glossary]
... exposed by one or more missing, ineffective or inadequate controls
... “a security weakness in a computer” [source: NIST SP800-114 rev1]
... “a weakness, susceptibility or flaw of an asset or control
that can be exploited by one or more threats”
[source: Financial Stability Board Cyber Lexicon]
... "weakness of an asset or control that can be exploited
by one or more threats” [source: ISO/IEC 27000]
... "weakness in a system, system security procedures,
internal controls, or implementation that could be
exploited or triggered by a threat"
[source: NIST SP 1800-17b]
... a chink in the armour
... a gap in our defences
... revealed in incidents
... asking for trouble
... taking a chance
... misplaced trust
... the weak link
... unprotected
... an opening
... exploitable
... a soft spot
... deficiency
... endearing
... weakness
... inevitable
... inherent
... pathetic
... a flaw
... latent
Thursday 3 November 2022
7 security culture strengtheners
Tuesday 1 November 2022
Putting policies under pressure
A note on LinkeDin led me to an intriguing scientific research study that tested the following five hypotheses:
- People who receive instructions via a written policy about rules will have better
knowledge of these rules than those that do not.
- People who receive a shorter form version of policy about the rules with less text
will have better knowledge of the rules than those who receive a longer training
form.
- People who receive a written policy outlining the rules in a more vernacular and
less legal technical language will have better knowledge of the rules than those
presented with a more formal-legal-styled training text.
- People with better knowledge of rules will also comply more with such rules.
- The more legal rules align with people’s personal and social norms, the higher people score in their knowledge of these legal rules.
Monday 31 October 2022
Threat is ...
an information system via unauthorized access, destruction, disclosure, modification of information, and/or denial of service"
or generic in nature) that is hazardous or dangerous, capable of causing
... "potential cause of an unwanted incident, which can result in
harm to a system or organization" [source: ISO/IEC 27000:2018]
... a competitor's unexpected shift of tactics
... an ominous promise to cause harm
... an accident waiting to happen
... the cause of a really bad day
... nature red in tooth and claw
... storm clouds on the horizon
... an active component of risk
... an unfortunate coincidence
... sometimes hard to detect
... intended to provoke fear
... advanced and persistent
... go ahead, make my day
... mitigated by deterrents
... a laser dot on the torso
... a stated intent to harm
... the catalyst for change
... a burst of testosterone
... external to the system
... all mouth and trousers
... retarded and tentative
... not always recognised
... what might go wrong
... part of the landscape
... dark and foreboding
... obvious in hindsight
... economic downturn
... when luck runs out
... bad consequences
... competitive intent
... a ransom demand
... coming tooled-up
... potential to harm
... marauding gangs
... an implied attack
... easily discounted
... over-emphasised
... impending doom
... adverse weather
... lack of oversight
... a nasty promise
... a nasty surprise
... static discharge
... unpredictability
... a show of force
... not when but if
... not if but when
... something bad
... hard to control
... a warning sign
... Freddy Kruger
... worth ducking
... the unknown
... a probability
... best avoided
... an oversight
... a possibility
... a prediction
... provocative
... a likelihood
... xenophobia
... generalised
... unintended
... a certainty
... intentional
... theoretical
... the enemy
... hazardous
... bad actors
... existential
... accidental
... a warning
... deliberate
... menacing
... or else ...
... uncertain
... fearsome
... outsiders
... expected
... criminals
... technical
... for show
... ominous
... coercion
... volatility
... left-field
... demonic
... violence
... physical
... directed
... mythical
... genuine
... looming
... bravado
... a worry
... a pitfall
... insiders
... disease
... a bomb
... obvious
... a scowl
... a tactic
... assault
... human
... spooky
... feared
... failure
... 'them'
... anger
... death
... social
... scary
... fake
...
Wednesday 26 October 2022
Monday 24 October 2022
Oversight is ...
... "various forms of supervision and inspection used to ensure that important information security activities and controls are operating properly, and to identify any anomalies" [source: SecAware glossary]
... "forgetfulness, carelessness, neglect or incompetence, typically leading to errors, omissions and other information security incidents"
[source: SecAware glossary]
... absent from ISO/IEC 27002 except for one measly mention (clause 5.16)
... maintaining a watching brief
... an opportunity to review
... the four eyes principle
... the act of overseeing
... the prompt to revisit
... keeping a close eye
... hands off, eyes on
... something missed
... a sign of distrust
... an opportunity
... a vulnerability
... a sign of trust
... incompetence
... management
... carelessness
... an omission
... an accident
... an override
... supervision
... inspection
... ineptitude
... a problem
... assurance
... a mistake
... authority
... guidance
... a control
... checking
... freedom
... a threat
... skipped
... neglect
... caring
... a risk
... audit
...
Monday 17 October 2022
Assurance is ...
... "provision of a certain level of trust, confidence, confirmation or proof of something, typically by reviewing, checking, testing, certified compliance or auditing it" [source: SecAware glossary]
... knowing when to stop climbing the ladder
... the absence of anxiety and doubt
... a necessary part of management
... the result of testing - pass or fail
... swimming out of the shark cage
... an integral governance function
... stepping into the shark cage
... packing your own parachute
... a friendly hand reaching out
... engineering the shark cage
... an underappreciated goal
... an undervalued objective
... certifying the shark cage
... welding the shark cage
... confidence in another
... an independent view
... holding all the cards
... a measure of power
... plausible deniability
... taking a space walk
... stacking the deck
... hitting the mark
... being confident
... a winning hand
... self-confidence
... not insurance
... being certain
... confirmatory
... bearing it all
... unnecessary
... nice to have
... checking-up
... baring it all
... naïve belief
... mandatory
... knowledge
... comforting
... reassuring
... being sure
... necessary
... insurance
... oversight
... essential
... checking
... a control
... valuable
... optional
... security
... a game
... testing
... costly
... audit
... valid
... trust
...
Security awareness month
SecAware's information security awareness modules explore a deliberately wide variety of individual topics in some depth: