Re: Is there any way to measure IT Security??

["Alberto Cardona II" <alberto_cardona () hotmail com>]

Larry,

I have worked for major fortune 100 and 500 companies.  Some of these 
companies use a product called Enterprise Security Management and is made by 
Archer (www.archer-tech.com).  It is highly customizable and you are able to 
setup different metrics to monitor.  It ties in and correlates the different 
facets of an InfoSec program:

- Threat Management
- Incident Management
- Asset Management
- Risk Management
- Policy Management


You can set up different gauges, metrics and report on your company security 
posture.
Below are the different modules:

Incident Management:
Report incidents, manage their escalation, track investigations and analyze 
resolutions.
Key features:
- Based on the CERT Security Incident Response Handbook
- Easily open, prioritize and track security incidents with built-in 
workflow.
- Perform impact analyses of incidents on critical assets and business 
processes.
- Manage incident escalation, investigations and forensic activities.
- Track remediation efforts and document incident postmortem.
- Manage response team contact information, processes and procedures.


Threat Management:
Track threats through a comprehensive early warning system to help prevent 
system compromise.
Key features:
- Receive real-time intelligence feeds from iDEFENSE, Symantec or TruSecure.
- Filter alert notifications based on your environment.
- Prioritize remediation plans and corrective actions.
- Utilize a CVE-compliant threat and vulnerability database.
- Integrate with your existing vulnerability scanning tools.
- Search for data using a powerful reporting engine with built-in and custom 
reports.


Asset Management:
Manage enterprise assets and their relationships to secure them according to 
management expectations.
Key features:
- Build the asset database
- Define groups of assets and assign individual responsibilities.
- Tie policies, baselines and procedures to specific assets
- Filter real-time alerts based on the assets under your control
- Manage the activities required to secure those assets.
- Document business criticality for an asset in terms of confidentiality, 
integrity and availability.
- Link critical assets to the business processes they support.
- Fully integrate with Archer Policy, Threat, Risk and Incident Management 
solutions.
- Import data from third-party discovery, scanning and asset management 
tools.
- Track vulnerabilities, remediation efforts and configuration changes.
- Tie in to Change Managment System
- Filter real-time alerts and other security content.
                - Utilize advanced reporting and analysis tools.


Risk Management:
http://www.archer-tech.com/solutions/riskmgmt.html
Perform online risk assessments to determine the proper controls to 
implement based on use and risk.
Key features:
- Utilize integrated risk management methodology based on industry 
standards.
- Generate Online risk assessment questionnaires
- Generate Asset risk scorecards and actionable plans for managing your 
enterprise information risk.
- Automate the risk assessment process.
- Employ predefined and customizable assessment templates.
- Build online risk assessment questionnaires.
- Create risk scorecards and profiles.
- Search for data using advanced management reporting tools.


Policy Management:
http://www.archer-tech.com/solutions/policymgmt.html
Create policies, distribute them online, educate and train employees and 
track compliance.
Key features:
- Creation and Administration:
    Link policies to the industry, regulatory or corporate standards they 
support.
    Attach relevant files to policies (procedures, flowcharts, examples, 
images, etc.).
    Utilize content workflow features for version control and management 
approval.
- Communication and Distribution
    Display policies to users in an easy-to-understand tree format.
    Filter and view policies by job function.
    Alert users of changes to existing policies or new policies via email.
    Allow users to perform keyword searches to quickly find specific 
information among policies.
    Enable users to export policy content directly into Word, Excel, HTML, 
CSV or XML formats.
    Set up, maintain and moderate discussion forums for specific users and 
groups.
- Tracking and Reporting
    Receive online acknowledgement that users have read and accepted 
specific policies.
    Monitor and report on user access to specific policies.
    Track exceptions that have been granted for specific policies and the 
dates exceptions will expire.
    Allow users to report policy violations.
    Track policy violations by date of occurrence and date of remediation 
for compliance.
    Utilize the full policy compliance reporting capability.
- Policy Library
    Access a library of policies and standards that have been developed by 
leading information   security subject matter experts for managing 
compliance with industry regulations and industry-specific legislation.
- All standards in the Policy Library have been mapped to the following 
leading industry standards:
 ISO/IEC 17799 (Code of Practice for Information Security Management)
 Information Security Forum (The Forum’s Standard of Good Practice)
 FFIEC Security Handbook
 Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) Final Ruling
 European Union Directive on Data Protection
 Basel II
 CobIT
 COSO
 Monetary Authority of Singapore’s “Technology Risk Management Guidelines


Kind regards,


Alberto Cardona II, CCSE, MCP, CNA
VP of Information Security - Professional Services


> From: "Larry Marin (Irony Account)" <irony () trini org>
> To: Toto A Atmojo <toto () playon co id>
> CC: pen-test () securityfocus com,security-management () securityfocus com, 
> secpapers () securityfocus com,focus-linux () securityfocus com, 
> libnet () securityfocus com,firewalls () securityfocus com, 
> security-basics () securityfocus com
> Subject: Re: Is there any way to measure IT Security??
> Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 12:29:57 -0400
>
> You should check out NSA IAM/IEM Methodology...it works well for me.
> http://www.iatrp.com/iam.cfm
>
>
> Toto A Atmojo wrote:
>
> > Dear all,
> >
> > Currently I’m looking for a tool, or a technique to measure IT security?
> >
> > The baseline for security is CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity and 
> > Availability), that is every organization which want to called secure must 
> > be guarantee that their system comply this matter.
> >
> > But the problem is, we need a tool/technique to measure how secure are we. 
> > Therefore, wee need a tool/technique to measure how close that our system 
> > status now to CIA.
> >
> > Please share your experience about this matter.
> >
> > If there any link about this issue, I really appreciate if you share to us 
> > (You may contact me privately) .
> >
> > Best Regs,
> >
> > Toto