INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT L ECTURE 3: P LANNING FOR C ONTINGENCIES You got to be careful if...

INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT

LECTURE 3: PLANNING FOR CONTINGENCIES

You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there. – Yogi Berra

Principles of Information Security Mgmt

Include the following characteristics that will be the focus of the current course (six P’s):

1. Planning2. Policy3. Programs4. Protection5. People6. Project Management

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsTC.html

Chapters 2 & 3

Chapter 4

Introduction

One study found that over 40% of businesses that don't have a disaster plan go out of business

after a major loss

Small Business Approaches

Introduction – 2012 Natural Disaster Map

Introduction – 2012 Natural Disaster Map

Contingency Planning

• Contingency planning (CP)– The overall planning for unexpected events– Involves preparing for, detecting, reacting to, and

recovering from events that threaten the security of information resources and assets

Fundamentals of Contingency Planning

Incident Response

Disaster Recovery

Business Continuity

Developing a CP Document

• Develop the contingency planning policy statement

• Conduct the BIA • Identify preventive controls• Develop recovery strategies• Develop an IT contingency plan• Plan testing, training, and exercises• Plan maintenance

Business Impact Analysis (BIA)

Provides detailed scenarios of each potential attack’s impact

Business Impact Analysis (cont’d.)

• The CP team conducts the BIA in the following stages:– Threat attack identification– Business unit analysis– Attack success scenarios– Potential damage assessment– Subordinate plan classification

• What are the goals of a BIA?

Management of Information Security, 3rd ed.

Business Impact Analysis (cont’d.)

• An organization that uses a risk management process will have identified and prioritized threats

• The second major BIA task is the analysis and prioritization of business functions within the organization• Each should be categorized

Business Impact Analysis (cont’d.)

• Create a series of scenarios depicting impact of successful attack on each functional area

• Attack profiles should include scenarios depicting typical attack including:(1) Methodology, (2) Indicators, (3) Broad consequences

• Estimate the cost

Should this be done in-house or outsourced?

Timing and Sequence of CP Elements

Management of Information Security, 3rd ed.Figure 3-6 Contingency planning implementation timeline

Source: Course Technology/Cengage Learning

Incident Response Plan

The question is not will an incident occur, but rather when an incident will occur

•A detailed set of processes and procedures that commence when an incident is detected

•When a threat becomes a valid attack, it is classified as an information security incident if it:

directed against information assets a realistic chance of success threatens the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of

information assets

Incident Response Plan (cont’d.)

Who creates the incident response plan?

•Planners develop and document the procedures that must be performed during the incident and immediately after the incident has ceased

•Separate functional areas may develop different procedures

Incident Response Plan (cont’d.)

• Develop procedures for tasks that must be performed in advance of the incident– Details of data backup schedules– Disaster recovery preparation– Training schedules– Testing plans– Copies of service agreements– Business continuity plans

Incident Response Plan (cont’d.)

Management of Information Security, 3rd ed.Figure 3-3 Incident response planning

Source: Course Technology/Cengage Learning

Incident Response Plan (cont’d.)

• Planning requires a detailed understanding of the information systems and the threats they face

• The IR planning team seeks to develop pre-defined responses that guide users through the steps needed to respond to an incident

Incident Response Plan (cont’d.)

• Incident classification – Determine whether an event is an actual incident

– Uses initial reports from end users, intrusion detection systems, host- and network-based virus detection software, and systems administrators

(Example: RSA Data Loss Prevention)

Incident Response Software

Incident Response Plan Tools

Incident Response Plan Tools

Incident Response Plan: Indicators

• Possible indicators• Probable indicators• Definite indicators

• When the following occur, the corresponding IR must be immediately activated Loss of availability Loss of integrity Loss of confidentiality Violation of policy Violation of law

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/16/169528579/outsourced-employee-sends-own-job-to-china-surfs-web

Incident Response Plan (cont’d.)

• Once an actual incident has been confirmed and properly classified

– IR team moves from the detection phase to the reaction phase

– A number of action steps must occur quickly and may occur concurrently

Incident Response Plan: Action Steps

1. Notification of key personnel (alert roster)

2. Assignment of tasks

3. Documentation of the incident

Incident Response Plan (cont’d.)

• The essential task of IR is to stop the incident or contain its impact

• Incident containment strategies focus on two tasks:

IRP: Stopping the Incident

Containment strategies

•Once contained and system control regained, incident recovery can begin

•Incident damage assessment

•An incident may increase in scope or severity to the point that the IRP cannot adequately contain the incident

IRP: Recovery Process

• Identify the vulnerabilities• Address the safeguards that failed• Evaluate monitoring capabilities (if present)• Restore the data from backups as needed• Restore the services and processes in use • Continuously monitor the system• Restore the confidence of the members

Incident Response Plan (cont’d.)

• When an incident violates civil or criminal law, it is the organization’s responsibility to notify the proper authorities• Involving law enforcement has both advantages and

disadvantages

Disaster Recovery Plan

• The preparation for and recovery from a disaster, whether natural or man made

• In general, an incident is a disaster when:

Disaster Recovery Plan (cont’d.)

• The key role of a DRP is defining how to reestablish operations at the location where the organization is usually located

• Common DRP classifications:• Natural Disasters• Human-made Disasters

• Scenario development and impact analysis– Used to categorize the level of threat of each potential

disaster

Disaster Recovery Plan (cont’d.)

Disaster Recovery Plan (cont’d.)

Discussion on Disaster Recovery Myths

Business Continuity Plan

• Ensures critical business functions can continue in a disaster

• Activated and executed concurrently with the DRP when needed

• Relies on identification of critical business functions and the resources to support them

BCP: Strategies

• Continuity strategies

Business Continuity Plan:Site Options

• Hot Sites• Warm Sites• Cold Sites

• Other Alternatives: Timeshares, Service Bureaus, Mutual Agreements

Ex. RSA data centers – lease 2 - 10gig Ethernet lines between MA and NC

Business Continuity Plan (cont’d.)

• To get any BCP site running quickly organization must be able to recover data

• Options include:

Timing and Sequence of CP Elements

Figure 3-4 Incident response and disaster recovery

Source: Course Technology/Cengage Learning

Timing and Sequence of BCP

Source: Course Technology/Cengage Learning

Timing and Sequence of CP Elements

Management of Information Security, 3rd ed.Figure 3-6 Contingency planning implementation timeline

Source: Course Technology/Cengage Learning

Business Resumption Planning

• Because the DRP and BCP are closely related, most organizations prepare them concurrently

Business Resumption Planning (cont’d.)

• Components of a simple disaster recovery plan – Name of agency– Date of completion or update of the plan and test date– Agency staff to be called in the event of a disaster – Emergency services to be called (if needed) in event of a

disaster

Business Resumption Planning (cont’d.)

• Components of a simple disaster recovery plan (cont’d.) – Locations of in-house emergency equipment and supplies– Sources of off-site equipment and supplies– Salvage priority list– Agency disaster recovery procedures– Follow-up assessment

Testing Contingency Plans

• Problems are identified during testing– Improvements can be made, resulting in a reliable plan

• Contingency plan testing strategies– Desk check– Structured walkthrough – Simulation – Parallel testing– Full interruption testing

Contingency Planning: Final Thoughts

• Iteration results in improvement

• A formal implementation of this methodology is a process known as continuous process improvement (CPI)

• Each time the plan is rehearsed it should be improved

• Constant evaluation and improvement lead to an improved outcome