CTEM VS. ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 – Mastering Risk Assessment and the Statement of Applicability

Nov 05 2024

ISO 27001 clauses 6.1.2 and 6.1.3 on information security risk assessment should be relocated to clause 8

Category: ISO 27k,Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — disc7 @ 9:03 am

Clause 6.1.1 is often misunderstood and frequently overlooked. It requires organizations to assess risks and opportunities specifically related to the Information Security Management System (ISMS)—focusing not on information security itself, but on the ISMS’s effectiveness. This is distinct from the information security risk assessment activities outlined in 6.1.2 and 6.1.3, which require different methods and considerations.

In practice, it’s rare for organizations to assess ISMS-specific risks and opportunities (per 6.1.1), and certification auditors seldom address this requirement.

To clarify, it’s proposed that the information security risk assessment activities (6.1.2 and 6.1.3) be moved to clause 8. This aligns with the structure of other management system standards (e.g., ISO 22301 for Business Continuity Planning). Additionally, a note similar to ISO 22301’s should be included:

“Risks in this sub clause relate to information security, while risks and opportunities related to the effectiveness of the management system are addressed in 6.1.1.”

Need expert guidance? Book a free 30-minute consultation with a ISO27k expert.

The Risk Assessment Process and the tool that supports it

What is the significance of ISO 27001 certification for your business?

Pragmatic ISO 27001 Risk Assessments

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 – Mastering Risk Assessment and the Statement of Applicability

Risk Register Templates: Asset and risk register template system for cybersecurity and information security management suitable for ISO 27001 and NIST

ISO 27001 implementation ISO 27002 ISO 27701 ISO 27017 ISO27k

ISO 27001 Standard, Risk Assessment and Gap Assessment

ISO 27001/2 latest titles

InfoSec services | InfoSec books | Follow our blog | DISC llc is listed on The vCISO Directory | ISO 27k Chat bot

Tags: clauses 6.1.2, clauses 6.1.3

What is the significance of ISO 27001 certification for your business?

Nov 04 2024

The Risk Assessment Process and the tool that supports it

Category: ISO 27k,Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — disc7 @ 12:00 pm

The “Risk Assessment analysis” covers key areas of risk assessment in information security:

Risk Assessment Process: The core steps include identifying assets, analyzing risks, and evaluating the value and impact of each risk. This process helps determine necessary controls and treatments to mitigate or accept risks.
Types of Risk:
- Asset-Based Risk: Focuses on assessing risks to tangible assets like data or hardware.
- Scenario-Based Risk: Evaluates hypothetical risk scenarios, such as potential data breaches.
Risk Analysis:
- Impact Analysis: Measures the financial, operational, and reputational impact of risks, assigning scores from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high).
- Likelihood Analysis: Assesses how likely a risk event is to occur, also on a scale from 1 to 5.
Risk Response Options:
- Tolerate (accept risk),
- Treat (mitigate risk),
- Transfer (share risk, e.g., via insurance),
- Terminate (avoid risk by ceasing the risky activity).
Residual Risk and Risk Appetite: After treatments are applied, residual risk remains. Organizations determine their acceptable level of risk, known as risk appetite, to guide their response strategies.

These structured steps ensure consistent, repeatable risk management across information assets, aligning with standards like ISO 27001.

The Risk Assessment Process involves systematically identifying and evaluating potential risks to assets. This includes:

Identifying Assets: Recognizing valuable information assets, such as data or physical equipment.
Risk Analysis: Analyzing the potential threats and vulnerabilities related to these assets to assess the level of risk they pose.
Evaluating Impact and Likelihood: Measuring the potential impact of each risk and estimating how likely each risk is to occur.
Implementing Controls: Deciding on control measures to mitigate, transfer, accept, or avoid each risk, based on organizational risk tolerance.

To streamline this process, organizations often use risk assessment tools. These tools assist by automating data collection, calculating risk levels, and supporting decision-making on risk treatments, ultimately making the assessment more consistent, thorough, and efficient.

CyberComply makes compliance with cybersecurity requirements and data privacy laws simple and affordable.

Manage all your cybersecurity and data privacy obligations
Accelerate certification and supercharge project effectiveness
Get immediate visibility of critical data and key performance indicators
Stay ahead of regulatory changes with our scalable compliance solution
Reduce errors and improve completeness of risk management processes
Identify and treat data security risks before they become critical concerns

Reduce data security risks with agility and efficiency

Quickly identify and treat data security risks before they become critical concerns with the intuitive, easy-to-use risk manager tool
Keep track of data security compliance requirements and the security controls you have in place in conjunction with critical laws and information security frameworks
Demonstrate compliance with ISO 27001, the leading information security management standard, with powerful built-in reports
The software includes control sets from ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, ISO 22301, ISO 27032, NIST, CSA CCM, the PCI DSS, SOC 2, and the CPRA

Need expert guidance? Book a free 30-minute consultation with a Risk assessment specialist.

Pragmatic ISO 27001 Risk Assessments

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 – Mastering Risk Assessment and the Statement of Applicability

Risk Register Templates: Asset and risk register template system for cybersecurity and information security management suitable for ISO 27001 and NIST

ISO 27001 implementation ISO 27002 ISO 27701 ISO 27017 ISO27k

ISO 27001 Standard, Risk Assessment and Gap Assessment

ISO 27001/2 latest titles

InfoSec services | InfoSec books | Follow our blog | DISC llc is listed on The vCISO Directory | ISO 27k Chat bot

Tags: Risk Assessment analysis, Risk Assessment Process

Comments (8)

Oct 30 2024

A step-by-step guide to risk management following ISO 27001 and ISO 27005 standards

Category: ISO 27k,Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — disc7 @ 9:44 am

The ISO 27001 risk management guide provides a structured methodology for managing information security risks aligned with ISO standards. It first covers setting risk criteria, helping organizations define their risk appetite and identify high-priority assets and vulnerabilities. Risk assessment follows, where risks are quantified based on their likelihood and impact, allowing for prioritization.

The guide emphasizes the importance of treatment planning, advising on risk responses: avoidance, transfer, mitigation, or acceptance, with decisions documented for compliance. Documentation ensures transparency and traceability, forming a record of risk decisions.

A key component is regular review, where organizations reassess risks as threats change, supporting ISO 27001’s principle of continuous improvement. This cyclical approach helps keep the risk management framework adaptable and responsive to evolving security needs.

Additionally, the guide underscores the role of management, recommending their involvement in review and support of risk processes. Management buy-in ensures that security efforts align with strategic goals, encouraging organization-wide commitment.

In summary, the guide helps organizations maintain a robust, adaptive risk management system that meets ISO 27001 standards, enabling proactive risk control. For more detail, you can access the document here.

some commonly adopted approaches:

What is the significance of ISO 27001 certification for your business?

Pragmatic ISO 27001 Risk Assessments

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 – Mastering Risk Assessment and the Statement of Applicability

Risk Register Templates: Asset and risk register template system for cybersecurity and information security management suitable for ISO 27001 and NIST

ISO 27001 implementation ISO 27002 ISO 27701 ISO 27017 ISO27k

ISO 27001 Standard, Risk Assessment and Gap Assessment

ISO 27001/2 latest titles

InfoSec services | InfoSec books | Follow our blog | DISC llc is listed on The vCISO Directory | ISO 27k Chat bot

Tags: guide to risk management, iso 27001, iso 27005

Information Risk Management: A practitioner’s guide

Oct 16 2024

Not all information security risks translate directly to business risks

Category: Information Security,Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — disc7 @ 3:15 pm

There is a misconception among security professionals: the belief that all information security risks will result in significant business risks. This perspective is misleading because not every information security incident has a severe impact on an organization’s bottom line. Business decision-makers can become desensitized to security alerts if they are inundated with generalized statements, leading them to ignore real risks. Thus, it is essential for security experts to present nuanced, precise analyses that distinguish between minor and significant threats to maintain credibility and ensure their assessments are taken seriously.

There are two types of risks:

Information Security Risk: This occurs when a threat (e.g., a virus) encounters a vulnerability (e.g., lack of antivirus protection), potentially compromising confidentiality, availability, or integrity of information. Depending on the severity, it can range from a minor issue, like a temporary power outage, to a critical breach, such as theft of sensitive data.
Business Risk: This affects the organization’s financial stability, compelling decision-makers to act. It can manifest as lost revenue, increased costs (e.g., penalties), or reputational damage, especially if regulatory fines are involved.

Not all information security risks translate directly to business risks. For example, ISO27001 emphasizes calculating the Annual Loss Expectation (ALE) and suggests that risks should only be addressed if their ALE exceeds the organization’s acceptable threshold.

Example:

Small Business Data Breach: A small Apple repair company faced internal sabotage when a disgruntled employee reformatted all administrative systems, erasing customer records. The company managed to recover by restoring data from backups and keeping customer communication open. Despite the breach’s severity, the company retained its customers, and the incident was contained. This case underscores the importance of adequate data management and disaster recovery planning.

Several factors to consider when assessing the relationship between information security and business risk:

Business Model: Certain businesses can withstand breaches with minimal financial impact, while others (e.g., payment processors) face more significant risks.
Legal Impact: Fines and legal costs can sometimes outweigh the direct costs of a breach. Organizations must assess regulatory requirements and contractual obligations to understand potential legal implications.
Direct Financial Impact: While breaches can lead to financial loss, this is sometimes treated as a routine cost of doing business, akin to paying for regular IT services.
Affected Stakeholders: It is crucial to identify which parties will bear the brunt of the damage. In some cases, third parties, like investors, may suffer more than the organization experiencing the breach.

Ultimately, information security risks must be evaluated within the broader business context. A comprehensive understanding of the company’s environment, stakeholders, and industry will help in prioritizing actions and reducing overall breach costs.

InfoSec services | InfoSec books | Follow our blog | DISC llc is listed on The vCISO Directory | ISO 27k Chat bot

Tags: business risks, Information Risk Management: A practitioner's guide

Oct 09 2024

Pragmatic ISO 27001 Risk Assessments

Category: ISO 27k,Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — disc7 @ 1:33 pm

Andrew Pattison, a seasoned expert with over 30 years in information security and risk management, emphasizes the pragmatic nature of ISO 27001 in this interview. He explains that ISO 27001 is often misunderstood as a rigid framework when, in fact, it takes a flexible, risk-based approach. This misconception arises because many implementers prioritize certification, leading them to adopt a “you must do X” attitude, which gives the impression that the standard’s clauses are more rigid than they are. Pattison stresses that organizations can tailor controls based on risk, selecting or excluding controls as needed, provided they can justify these decisions.

He explains that a true risk-based approach to ISO 27001 involves understanding risk as the combination of a vulnerability, a threat to that vulnerability, and the likelihood of that threat being exploited. Organizations often focus on sensationalized, niche technical risks rather than practical issues like staff awareness training, which can be addressed easily and cost-effectively. Pattison advises focusing on risks that have a real-world impact, rather than obscure ones that are less likely to materialize.

To keep risk assessments manageable, Pattison advocates for simplicity. He favors straightforward risk matrices and encourages organizations to focus on what truly matters. According to him, risk management should answer two questions: “What do I need to worry about?” and “How do I address those worries?” Complicated risk assessments, often bogged down by mathematical models, fail to provide clear, actionable insights. The key is to maintain focus on where the real risks lie and avoid unnecessary complexity.

Pattison also believes in actively involving clients in the risk assessment process, rather than conducting it on their behalf. By guiding clients through the process, he helps them develop a deeper understanding of their own risks, linking these risks to their business objectives and justifying the necessary controls. This collaborative approach ensures that clients are better equipped to manage their risks in a meaningful and practical way, rather than relying on third parties to do the work for them.

For more information on Andrew Pattison interview, you can visit here

ISO/IEC 27001:2022 – Mastering Risk Assessment and the Statement of Applicability

Risk Register Templates: Asset and risk register template system for cybersecurity and information security management suitable for ISO 27001 and NIST

ISO 27001 implementation ISO 27002 ISO 27701 ISO 27017 ISO27k

ISO 27001 Standard, Risk Assessment and Gap Assessment

Measuring and Managing Information Risk: A FAIR Approach

InfoSec services | InfoSec books | Follow our blog | DISC llc is listed on The vCISO Directory | ISO 27k Chat bot

Tags: iso 27001, ISO 27001 Risk Assessment, ISO27k

Comments (10)

Apr 12 2024

An Adoption Guide
For FAIR

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — disc7 @ 8:44 am

Via RiskLens

Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR), a powerful methodology for assessing and quantifying information risks. Here’s a comprehensive overview:

1. What Is FAIR?
a. FAIR, short for Factor Analysis of Information Risk, is a quantitative risk quantification methodology designed to help businesses evaluate information risks.
b. It stands out as the only international standard quantitative model framework that addresses both operational risk and information security.
c. Mature organizations that utilize Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions significantly benefit from FAIR.

2. Objective of FAIR:
a. The primary goal of FAIR is to support existing frameworks and enhance risk management strategies within organizations.
b. Unlike cybersecurity frameworks (such as NIST CSF), FAIR is not a standalone framework. Instead, it complements other industry-standard frameworks like NIST, ISO 2700x, and more.
c. As organizations shift from a compliance-based approach to a risk-based approach, they need a quantitative risk methodology to support this transition.

3. How FAIR Differs from Legacy Risk Quantification Methods:
a. FAIR is not a black-box approach like traditional penetration testing. Instead, it operates as a “glass-box” method.
b. Legacy methods focus on penetration testing without internal knowledge of the target system. While they identify vulnerabilities, they cannot provide the financial impact of risks.
c. In contrast, FAIR translates an organization’s loss exposure into financial terms, enabling better communication between technical teams and non-technical leaders.
d. FAIR provides insights into how metrics were derived, allowing Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to present detailed information to board members and executives.

4. Benefits of FAIR:
a. Financial Context: FAIR expresses risks in dollars and cents, making it easier for decision-makers to understand.
b. Risk Gap Identification: FAIR helps organizations efficiently allocate resources to address risk gaps.
c. Threat Level Scaling: Unlike other frameworks, FAIR scales threat levels effectively.
d. Board Engagement: FAIR fosters interest in cybersecurity among board members and non-technical leaders.

5. Drawbacks of FAIR:
a. Complexity: FAIR lacks specific, well-defined documentation of its methods.
b. Complementary Methodology: FAIR is not an independent risk assessment tool; it complements other frameworks.
c. Probability-Based: While FAIR’s probabilities are not baseless, they may not be entirely accurate due to the unique nature of cyber-attacks and their impact.

In summary, FAIR revolutionizes risk analysis by providing a quantitative, financially oriented perspective on information risk. It bridges the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders, enabling better risk management decisions.

InfoSec services | InfoSec books | Follow our blog | DISC llc is listed on The vCISO Directory | ISO 27k Chat bot

Tags: A FAIR Approach

InfoSec services | InfoSec books | Follow our blog | DISC llc is listed on The vCISO Directory

Mar 21 2024

HACK-PROOF YOUR CLOUD: THE STEP-BY-STEP CONTINUOUS THREAT EXPOSURE MANAGEMENT CTEM STRATEGY FOR AWS & AZURE

Category: Cloud computing,Security Risk Assessment,Threat detection,Threat Modeling — disc7 @ 7:31 am

Hack-Proof Your Cloud: The Step-by-Step Continuous Threat Exposure Management CTEM Strategy for AWS & AZURE

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is an evolving cybersecurity practice focused on identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and addressing security weaknesses and vulnerabilities in an organization’s digital assets and networks continuously. Unlike traditional approaches that might assess threats periodically, CTEM emphasizes a proactive, ongoing process of evaluation and mitigation to adapt to the rapidly changing threat landscape. Here’s a closer look at its key components:

Identification: CTEM starts with the continuous identification of all digital assets within an organization’s environment, including on-premises systems, cloud services, and remote endpoints. It involves understanding what assets exist, where they are located, and their importance to the organization.
Assessment: Regular and ongoing assessments of these assets are conducted to identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and other security weaknesses. This process often utilizes automated scanning tools and threat intelligence to detect issues that could be exploited by attackers.
Prioritization: Not all vulnerabilities pose the same level of risk. CTEM involves prioritizing these weaknesses based on their severity, the value of the affected assets, and the potential impact of an exploit. This helps organizations focus their efforts on the most critical issues first.
Mitigation and Remediation: Once vulnerabilities are identified and prioritized, CTEM focuses on mitigating or remedying these issues. This can involve applying patches, changing configurations, or implementing other security measures to reduce the risk of exploitation.
Continuous Improvement: CTEM is a cyclical process that feeds back into itself. The effectiveness of mitigation efforts is assessed, and the approach is refined over time to improve security posture continuously.

The goal of CTEM is to reduce the “attack surface” of an organization—minimizing the number of vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers and thereby reducing the organization’s overall risk. By continuously managing and reducing exposure to threats, organizations can better protect against breaches and cyber attacks.

CTEM VS. ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) represents a proactive and ongoing approach to managing cybersecurity risks, distinguishing itself from traditional, more reactive security practices. Understanding the differences between CTEM and alternative approaches can help organizations choose the best strategy for their specific needs and threat landscapes. Let’s compare CTEM with some of these alternative approaches:

1. CTEM VS. PERIODIC SECURITY ASSESSMENTS

Periodic Security Assessments typically involve scheduled audits or evaluations of an organization’s security posture at fixed intervals (e.g., quarterly or annually). This approach may fail to catch new vulnerabilities or threats that emerge between assessments, leaving organizations exposed for potentially long periods.
CTEM, on the other hand, emphasizes continuous monitoring and assessment of threats and vulnerabilities. It ensures that emerging threats can be identified and addressed in near real-time, greatly reducing the window of exposure.

2. CTEM VS. PENETRATION TESTING

Penetration Testing is a targeted approach where security professionals simulate cyber-attacks on a system to identify vulnerabilities. While valuable, penetration tests are typically conducted annually or semi-annually and might not uncover vulnerabilities introduced between tests.
CTEM complements penetration testing by continuously scanning for and identifying vulnerabilities, ensuring that new threats are addressed promptly and not just during the next scheduled test.

3. CTEM VS. INCIDENT RESPONSE PLANNING

Incident Response Planning focuses on preparing for, detecting, responding to, and recovering from cybersecurity incidents. It’s reactive by nature, kicking into gear after an incident has occurred.
CTEM works upstream of incident response by aiming to prevent incidents before they happen through continuous threat and vulnerability management. While incident response is a critical component of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, CTEM can reduce the likelihood and impact of incidents occurring in the first place.

4. CTEM VS. TRADITIONAL VULNERABILITY MANAGEMENT

Traditional Vulnerability Management involves identifying, classifying, remediating, and mitigating vulnerabilities within software and hardware. While it can be an ongoing process, it often lacks the continuous, real-time monitoring and prioritization framework of CTEM.
CTEM enhances traditional vulnerability management by integrating it into a continuous cycle that includes real-time detection, prioritization based on current threat intelligence, and immediate action to mitigate risks.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF CTEM

Real-Time Threat Intelligence: CTEM integrates the latest threat intelligence to ensure that the organization’s security measures are always ahead of potential threats.
Automation and Integration: By leveraging automation and integrating various security tools, CTEM can streamline the process of threat and vulnerability management, reducing the time from detection to remediation.
Risk-Based Prioritization: CTEM prioritizes vulnerabilities based on their potential impact on the organization, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to address the most critical issues first.

5 best free API security testing tools. Protecting your cloud CI/CD Pipeline

CTEM offers a comprehensive and continuous approach to cybersecurity, focusing on reducing exposure to threats in a dynamic and ever-evolving threat landscape. While alternative approaches each have their place within an organization’s overall security strategy, integrating them with CTEM principles can provide a more resilient and responsive defense mechanism against cyber threats.

CTEM IN AWS

Implementing Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) within an AWS Cloud environment involves leveraging AWS services and tools, alongside third-party solutions and best practices, to continuously identify, assess, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities and threats. Here’s a detailed example of how CTEM can be applied in AWS:

1. IDENTIFICATION OF ASSETS

AWS Config: Use AWS Config to continuously monitor and record AWS resource configurations and changes, helping to identify which assets exist in your environment, their configurations, and their interdependencies.
AWS Resource Groups: Organize resources by applications, projects, or environments to simplify management and monitoring.

2. ASSESSMENT

Amazon Inspector: Automatically assess applications for vulnerabilities or deviations from best practices, especially important for EC2 instances and container-based applications.
AWS Security Hub: Aggregates security alerts and findings from various AWS services (like Amazon Inspector, Amazon GuardDuty, and IAM Access Analyzer) and supported third-party solutions to give a comprehensive view of your security and compliance status.

3. PRIORITIZATION

AWS Security Hub: Provides a consolidated view of security alerts and findings rated by severity, allowing you to prioritize issues based on their potential impact on your AWS environment.
Custom Lambda Functions: Create AWS Lambda functions to automate the analysis and prioritization process, using criteria specific to your organization’s risk tolerance and security posture.

4. MITIGATION AND REMEDIATION

AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager: Automate the process of patching managed instances with both security and non-security related updates.
CloudFormation Templates: Use AWS CloudFormation to enforce infrastructure configurations that meet your security standards. Quickly redeploy configurations if deviations are detected.
Amazon EventBridge and AWS Lambda: Automate responses to security findings. For example, if Security Hub detects a critical vulnerability, EventBridge can trigger a Lambda function to isolate affected instances or apply necessary patches.

5. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

AWS Well-Architected Tool: Regularly review your workloads against AWS best practices to identify areas for improvement.
Feedback Loop: Implement a feedback loop using AWS CloudWatch Logs and Amazon Elasticsearch Service to analyze logs and metrics for security insights, which can inform the continuous improvement of your CTEM processes.

IMPLEMENTING CTEM IN AWS: AN EXAMPLE SCENARIO

Imagine you’re managing a web application hosted on AWS. Here’s how CTEM comes to life:

Identification: Use AWS Config and Resource Groups to maintain an updated inventory of your EC2 instances, RDS databases, and S3 buckets critical to your application.
Assessment: Employ Amazon Inspector to regularly scan your EC2 instances for vulnerabilities and AWS Security Hub to assess your overall security posture across services.
Prioritization: Security Hub alerts you to a critical vulnerability in an EC2 instance running your application backend. It’s flagged as high priority due to its access to sensitive data.
Mitigation and Remediation: You automatically trigger a Lambda function through EventBridge based on the Security Hub finding, which isolates the affected EC2 instance and initiates a patching process via Systems Manager Patch Manager.
Continuous Improvement: Post-incident, you use the AWS Well-Architected Tool to evaluate your architecture. Insights gained lead to the implementation of stricter IAM policies and enhanced monitoring with CloudWatch and Elasticsearch for anomaly detection.

This cycle of identifying, assessing, prioritizing, mitigating, and continuously improving forms the core of CTEM in AWS, helping to ensure that your cloud environment remains secure against evolving threats.

CTEM IN AZURE

Implementing Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) in Azure involves utilizing a range of Azure services and features designed to continuously identify, assess, prioritize, and mitigate security risks. Below is a step-by-step example illustrating how an organization can apply CTEM principles within the Azure cloud environment:

STEP 1: ASSET IDENTIFICATION AND MANAGEMENT

Azure Resource Graph: Use Azure Resource Graph to query and visualize all resources across your Azure environment. This is crucial for understanding what assets you have, their configurations, and their interrelationships.
Azure Tags: Implement tagging strategies to categorize resources based on sensitivity, department, or environment. This aids in the prioritization process later on.

STEP 2: CONTINUOUS VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT

Azure Security Center: Enable Azure Security Center (ASC) at the Standard tier to conduct continuous security assessments across your Azure resources. ASC provides security recommendations and assesses your resources for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
Azure Defender: Integrated into Azure Security Center, Azure Defender provides advanced threat protection for workloads running in Azure, including virtual machines, databases, and containers.

STEP 3: PRIORITIZATION OF RISKS

ASC Secure Score: Use the Secure Score in Azure Security Center as a metric to prioritize security recommendations based on their potential impact on your environment’s security posture.
Custom Logic with Azure Logic Apps: Develop custom workflows using Azure Logic Apps to prioritize alerts based on your organization’s specific criteria, such as asset sensitivity or compliance requirements.

STEP 4: AUTOMATED REMEDIATION

Azure Automation: Employ Azure Automation to run remediation scripts or configurations management across your Azure VMs and services. This can be used to automatically apply patches, update configurations, or manage access controls in response to identified vulnerabilities.
Azure Logic Apps: Trigger automated workflows in response to security alerts. For example, if Azure Security Center identifies an unprotected data storage, an Azure Logic App can automatically initiate a workflow to apply the necessary encryption settings.

STEP 5: CONTINUOUS MONITORING AND INCIDENT RESPONSE

Azure Monitor: Utilize Azure Monitor to collect, analyze, and act on telemetry data from your Azure resources. This includes logs, metrics, and alerts that can help you detect and respond to threats in real-time.
Azure Sentinel: Deploy Azure Sentinel, a cloud-native SIEM service, for a more comprehensive security information and event management solution. Sentinel can collect data across all users, devices, applications, and infrastructure, both on-premises and in multiple clouds.

STEP 6: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND COMPLIANCE

Azure Policy: Implement Azure Policy to enforce organizational standards and to assess compliance at scale. Continuous evaluation of your configurations against these policies ensures compliance and guides ongoing improvement.
Feedback Loops: Establish feedback loops using the insights gained from Azure Monitor, Azure Security Center, and Azure Sentinel to refine and improve your security posture continuously.

EXAMPLE SCENARIO: SECURING A WEB APPLICATION IN AZURE

Let’s say you’re managing a web application hosted in Azure, utilizing Azure App Service for the web front end, Azure SQL Database for data storage, and Azure Blob Storage for unstructured data.

Identification: You catalog all resources related to the web application using Azure Resource Graph and apply tags based on sensitivity and function.
Assessment: Azure Security Center continuously assesses these resources for vulnerabilities, such as misconfigurations or outdated software.
Prioritization: Based on the Secure Score and custom logic in Azure Logic Apps, you prioritize a detected SQL injection vulnerability in Azure SQL Database as critical.
Mitigation: Azure Automation is triggered to isolate the affected database and apply a patch. Concurrently, Azure Logic Apps notifies the security team and logs the incident for review.
Monitoring: Azure Monitor and Azure Sentinel provide ongoing surveillance, detecting any unusual access patterns or potential breaches.
Improvement: Insights from the incident lead to a review and enhancement of the application’s code and a reinforcement of security policies through Azure Policy to prevent similar vulnerabilities in the future.

By following these steps and utilizing Azure’s comprehensive suite of security tools, organizations can implement an effective CTEM strategy that continuously protects against evolving cyber threats.

IMPLEMENTING CTEM IN CLOUD ENVIRONMENTS LIKE AWS AND AZURE

Implementing Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) in cloud environments like AWS and Azure involves a series of strategic steps, leveraging each platform’s unique tools and services. The approach combines best practices for security and compliance management, automation, and continuous monitoring. Here’s a guide to get started with CTEM in both AWS and Azure:

COMMON STEPS FOR BOTH AWS AND AZURE

Understand Your Environment
- Catalogue your cloud resources and services.
- Understand the data flow and dependencies between your cloud assets.
Define Your Security Policies and Objectives
- Establish what your security baseline looks like.
- Define key compliance requirements and security objectives.
Integrate Continuous Monitoring Tools
- Leverage cloud-native tools for threat detection, vulnerability assessment, and compliance monitoring.
- Integrate third-party security tools if necessary for enhanced capabilities.
Automate Security Responses
- Implement automated responses to common threats and vulnerabilities.
- Use cloud services to automate patch management and configuration adjustments.
Continuously Assess and Refine
- Regularly review security policies and controls.
- Adjust based on new threats, technological advancements, and changes in the business environment.

IMPLEMENTING CTEM IN AWS

Enable AWS Security Services
- Utilize AWS Security Hub for a comprehensive view of your security state and to centralize and prioritize security alerts.
- Use Amazon Inspector for automated security assessments to help find vulnerabilities or deviations from best practices.
- Implement AWS Config to continuously monitor and record AWS resource configurations.
Automate Response with AWS Lambda
- Use AWS Lambda to automate responses to security findings, such as isolating compromised instances or automatically patching vulnerabilities.
Leverage Amazon CloudWatch
- Employ CloudWatch for monitoring and alerting based on specific metrics or logs that indicate potential security threats.

IMPLEMENTING CTEM IN AZURE

Utilize Azure Security Tools
- Activate Azure Security Center for continuous assessment and security recommendations. Use its advanced threat protection features to detect and mitigate threats.
- Implement Azure Sentinel for SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) capabilities, integrating it with other Azure services for a comprehensive security analysis and threat detection.
Automate with Azure Logic Apps
- Use Azure Logic Apps to automate responses to security alerts, such as sending notifications or triggering remediation processes.
Monitor with Azure Monitor
- Leverage Azure Monitor to collect, analyze, and act on telemetry data from your Azure and on-premises environments, helping you detect and respond to threats in real-time.

BEST PRACTICES FOR BOTH ENVIRONMENTS

Continuous Compliance: Use policy-as-code to enforce and automate compliance standards across your cloud environments.
Identity and Access Management (IAM): Implement strict IAM policies to ensure least privilege access and utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA) for enhanced security.
Encrypt Data: Ensure data at rest and in transit is encrypted using the cloud providers’ encryption capabilities.
Educate Your Team: Regularly train your team on the latest cloud security best practices and the specific tools and services you are using.

Implementing CTEM in AWS and Azure requires a deep understanding of each cloud environment’s unique features and capabilities. By leveraging the right mix of tools and services, organizations can create a robust security posture that continuously identifies, assesses, and mitigates threats.

AWS Security

Azure Security

Tags: AWS, AWS security, Azure, Azure Security, cloud security

RISK ASSESSMENT: AN INDEPTH GUIDE TO PRINCIPLES, METHODS, BEST PRACTISE, AND INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Sep 20 2023

Balancing budget and system security: Approaches to risk tolerance

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — disc7 @ 10:56 am

Balancing budget and system security: Approaches to risk tolerance

Recently, it was revealed that Nickelodeon, an American TV channel and brand, has been the victim of a data leak. According to sources, the breach occurred at the beginning of 2023, but much of the data involved was “related to production files only, not long-form content or employee or user data, and (appeared) to be decades old.” The implication of this ambiguous statement: because the data is old and not related to individuals’ personally identifiable information (PII) or any proprietary information that hasn’t already been publicly released, this is a non-incident.

Let’s say Nickelodeon didn’t suffer any material harm because of this incident — great! It’s probable, though, that there are facts we don’t know. Any time proprietary data ends up where it shouldn’t, warning bells should go off in security professionals’ heads. What would be the outcome if the “decades old” files did contain PII? Some of the data would be irrelevant, but some could be crucial. What if the files contained other protected or private data? What if they compromised the integrity of the brand? All organizations need to think through the “what ifs” and apply the worst and base case scenarios to their current security practices.

The Nickelodeon case raises the question of whether keeping “decades old” data is necessary. While holding onto historical data can, in some cases, benefit the organization, every piece of kept data increases the company’s attack surface and increases risk. Why did Nickelodeon keep the old files in a location where it could be easily accessed? If the files were in a separate location, the security team likely did not apply adequate controls to accessing the files. Given that the cost of securing technology and all its inherent complexity is already astronomically high, CISOs need to prioritize budgetary and workforce allocation for all security projects and processes, including those for all past, present, and future data protection.

In a slow economy, balancing system security and budget requires skill and savvy. Even in boom times, though, throwing more money at the problem doesn’t always help. There is no evidence that an increase in security spending proportionately improves an organization’s security posture. In fact, some studies suggest that an overabundance of security tools leads to more confusion and complexity. CISOs should therefore focus on business risk tolerance and reduction.

Approaches to cyber risk management

Because no two organizations are alike, every CISO must find a cyber risk management approach that aligns with the goals, culture, and risk tolerance of the organization. Budget plays an important role here, too, but securing more budget will be an easier task if the security goals align with those of the business. After taking stock of these considerations, CISOs may find that their organizations fall into one or more core approaches to risk management.

Risk tolerance-based approach

Every company– and even every department within a company– has a tolerance for the amount and type of risk they’re willing to take. Security-specific tolerance levels must be based on desired business outcomes; cyber security risk cannot be determined or calculated based on cybersecurity efforts alone, rather how those efforts support the larger business.

To align cybersecurity with business risk, security teams must address business resilience by considering the following questions:

How would the business be impacted if a cybersecurity event were to occur?
What are the productivity, operational, and financial implications of a cyber event or data breach?
How well equipped is the business to handle an event internally?
What external resources would be needed to support internal capabilities?

With answers to these types of questions and metrics to support them, cyber risk levels can be appropriately set.

Maturity-based approach

Many companies today estimate their cyber risk tolerance based on how mature they perceive their cybersecurity team and controls to be. For instance, companies with an internal security operations center (SOC) that supports a full complement of experienced staff might be better equipped to handle continuous monitoring and vulnerability triage than a company just getting its security team up and running. Mature security teams are good at prioritizing and remediating critical vulnerabilities and closing the gaps on imminent threats, which generally gives them a higher security risk tolerance.

That said, many SOC teams are too overwhelmed with data, alerts, and technology maintenance to focus on risk reduction. The first thing a company must do if it decides to take on a maturity-based approach is to honestly assess its own level of security maturity, capabilities, and efficacy. A truly mature cybersecurity organization isbetter equipped to manage risk, but self-awareness is vital for security teams regardless of maturity level.

Budget-based approach

Budget constraints are prevalent in all aspects of business today, and running a fully staffed, fully equipped cybersecurity program is no bargain in terms of cost. However, organizations with an abundance of staff and technology don’t necessarily perform better security- or risk-wise. It’s all about being budget savvy for what will be a true compliment to existing systems.

Invest in tools that move the organization toward a zero trust-based architecture, focusing on security foundation and good hygiene first. By laying the right foundations, and having competent staff to manage them, cybersecurity teams will be better off than having the latest and greatest tools implemented without mastering the top CIS Controls: Inventory and control of enterprise and software assets, basic data protection, secure configuration management, hardened access management, log management, and more.

Threat-based approach

An important aspect of a threat-based approach to risk management is understanding that vulnerabilities and threats are not the same thing. Open vulnerabilities can lead to threats (and should therefore be a standard part of every organization’s security process and program). “Threats,” however, refer to a person/persons or event in which a vulnerability has the potential to be exploited. Threats also rely on context and availability of a system or a resource.

For instance, the Log4Shell exploit took advantage of a Log4j vulnerability. The vulnerability resulted in a threat to organizations with an unpatched version of the utility running. Organizations that were not running unpatched versions — no threat.

It is therefore imperative for organizations to know concretely:

All assets and entities present in their IT estates
The security hygiene of those assets (point in time and historical)
Context of the assets (non-critical, business-critical; exposed to the internet or air-gapped; etc.)
Implemented and operational controls to secure those assets

With this information and context, security teams can start to build threat models appropriate for the organization and its risk tolerance. The threat models used will, in turn, allow teams to prioritize and manage threats and more effectively reduce risk.

People, process and technology-based approach

People, process, and technology (PPT) are often considered the “three pillars” of technology. Some security pros consider PPT to be a framework. Through whatever lens PPT is viewed, it is the most comprehensive approach to risk management.

A PPT approach has the goal of allowing security teams to holistically manage risk while incorporating an organization’s maturity, budget, threat profile, human resources, skill sets, and the entirety of the organization’s tech stack, as well as its operations and procedures, risk appetite, and more. A well-balanced PPT program is a multi-layered plan that relies evenly on all three pillars; any weakness in one of the areas tips the scales and makes it harder for security teams to achieve success — and manage risk.

The wrap up

Every organization should carefully evaluate its individual capabilities, business goals, and available resources to determine the best risk management strategy for them. Whichever path is chosen, it is imperative for security teams to align with the business and involve organizational stakeholders to ensure ongoing support.

InfoSec tools | InfoSec services | InfoSec books | Follow our blog | DISC llc is listed on The vCISO Directory

Tags: risk tolerance

In what situations would a vCISO Service be appropriate?

Mar 12 2023

Security Risk Assessment Services

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 11:16 pm

Security risk assessment services are crucial in the cybersecurity industry as they help organizations identify, analyze, and mitigate potential security risks to their systems, networks, and data. Here are some opportunities for providing security risk assessment services within the industry:

Conducting Vulnerability Assessments: As a security risk assessment service provider, DISC can conduct vulnerability assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities in an organization’s systems, networks, and applications. You can then provide recommendations to mitigate these vulnerabilities and enhance the organization’s overall security posture.
Performing Penetration Testing: Penetration testing involves simulating a real-world attack on an organization’s systems and networks to identify weaknesses and vulnerabilities. As a security risk assessment service provider, DISC can perform penetration testing to identify potential security gaps and provide recommendations to improve security.
Risk Management: DISC can help organizations identify and manage risks associated with their information technology systems, data, and operations. This includes assessing potential threats, analyzing the impact of these threats, and developing plans to mitigate them.
Compliance Assessment: DISC can help organizations comply with regulatory requirements by assessing their compliance with industry standards such as ISO 27001, HIPAA, or NIST-CSF. DISC can then provide recommendations to ensure that the organization remains compliant with these standards.
Cloud Security Assessments: As more organizations move their operations to the cloud, there is a growing need for security risk assessment services to assess the security risks associated with cloud-based systems and applications. As a service provider, DISC can assess cloud security risks and provide recommendations to ensure the security of the organization’s cloud-based operations.
Security Audit Services: DISC can provide security audit services to assess the overall security posture of an organization’s systems, networks, and applications. This includes reviewing security policies, processes, and procedures and providing recommendations to improve security.

By providing these services, DISC can help organizations identify potential security risks and develop plans to mitigate them, thereby enhancing their overall security posture.

Transition plan from ISO 27001 2013 to ISO 27001 2022

We’d love to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our team is here to help and we’re always looking for ways to improve our services. You can reach us by email (info@deurainfosec.com), or through our website’s contact form

Contact DISC InfoSec if you need further assistance in your ISO 27001 2022 transition Plan

InfoSec Threats | InfoSec books | InfoSec tools | InfoSec services

Tags: Security Risk Assessment

Gain the frameworks and vocabulary to make better strategic decisions that boost your organization’s cyber resilience from top to bottom.

Mar 01 2023

Best GRC tools in 2023

Category: GRC,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 1:28 pm

Best GRC tools

GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) online tools are designed to help organizations manage their internal processes, risk assessments, compliance, and audits. Here are some of the best GRC online tools available:

ZenGRC: ZenGRC is a cloud-based GRC tool that offers risk management, compliance management, and vendor management solutions. It allows users to streamline compliance tasks, track risks, and manage third-party vendors.
LogicManager: LogicManager is a GRC platform that helps businesses identify, assess, and manage risks. It offers a variety of modules, including regulatory compliance, vendor risk management, and incident management.
RSA Archer: RSA Archer is an enterprise GRC platform that helps businesses manage risk, compliance, and audit processes. It offers a variety of modules, including risk management, compliance management, and policy management.
SAP GRC: SAP GRC is a suite of GRC tools that helps businesses manage risk, compliance, and audit processes. It offers a variety of modules, including access control, process control, and risk management.
MetricStream: MetricStream is a cloud-based GRC platform that helps businesses manage compliance, risk, and audit processes. It offers a variety of modules, including regulatory compliance, risk management, and quality management.
NAVEX Global: NAVEX Global is a GRC platform that helps businesses manage compliance, risk, and ethics. It offers a variety of modules, including policy management, incident management, and third-party risk management.
Compliance 360: Compliance 360 is a GRC platform that helps businesses manage compliance, risk, and audit processes. It offers a variety of modules, including risk management, compliance management, and incident management.

Each of these tools offers unique features and benefits, so it’s important to evaluate your organization’s specific needs before choosing the best GRC tool for your business.

Cybersecurity Risk and Strategy

ISO 27001/ISO 22301 RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLKIT

InfoSec Threats | InfoSec books | InfoSec tools | InfoSec services

Tags: GRC, GRC tools

Feb 27 2023

Understanding Cyber Risk Quantification: The Buyer’s Guide” by Jack Jones

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 11:42 am

Version 2 Updated for Release – February 2023.

From Jack Jones, Chairman of the FAIR Institute and creator of the FAIR model for cyber risk quantification (CRQ) — the definitive guide to understanding CRQ: What it is (and isn’t), its value proposition and limitations, and facts regarding the misperceptions that are commonplace.

If you’re considering or are actively shopping for an analysis solution that treats cyber risk in financially-based business terms, Jack’s extensive, jargon-free guide — including an evaluation checklist — will give you the objective and practical advice you need.

And just in time. There’s never been more interest or, frankly, confusion in the marketplace over what exactly is cyber risk quantification. As you’ll read in this buyer guide, many solutions may count vulnerabilities, provide ordinal values, or deliver numeric “maturity” scores but don’t measure risk, let alone put a financial value on it to help make business decisions.

This paper answers questions such as:

What does CRQ provide that I’m not already getting from other cyber risk-related measurements?
What makes CRQ reliable? Why should I believe the numbers?
Do I have enough data to run an analysis?

Jack also provides red flags to look out for in CRQ solutions, such as:

Mis-identification of risks.
Mis-use of control frameworks as risk measurement tools.
Over-simplification that can result in poorly-informed decisions, especially when performed at scale.

The ‘Understanding Cyber Risk Quantification’ guide is designed to be of use to security and risk executives, industry analysts, consultants, auditors, investors, and regulators–essentially anyone who has a stake in how well cyber risk is managed.

Download Below

DOWNLOAD NOW

Tags: CRQ, cyber risk quantification

ISO 27001/ISO 22301 RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLKIT

Feb 26 2023

10 Best selling information security risk management books

Category: InfoSec Books,Security playbook,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 12:15 pm

Here are some of the best-selling books on information security risk management:

“Security Risk Management: Building an Information Security Risk Management Program from the Ground Up” by Evan Wheeler
“The Basics of Information Security: Understanding the Fundamentals of InfoSec in Theory and Practice” by Jason Andress and Steven Winterfeld
“Security Risk Assessment: Managing Physical and Operational Security” by John M. White
“IT Risk: Turning Business Threats into Competitive Advantage” by George Westerman and Richard Hunter
“Information Security Risk Management: Understanding ISO 27001” by Alan Calder and Steve Watkins
“Risk Management Framework: A Lab-Based Approach to Securing Information Systems” by James Broad and Andrew Green
“Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection: Background, Policy, and Issues” by Thomas A. Johnson
“The Manager’s Guide to Cybersecurity Law: Essentials for Today’s Business” by Tari Schreider
“NIST Special Publication 800-30, Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems” by National Institute of Standards and Technology
“Information Security: Principles and Practices” by Mark Merkow and Jim Breithaupt.

InfoSec Risk Assessment

Tags: Security Risk Assessment, security risk management

Security Risk Management: Building an Information Security Risk Management Program from the Ground Up

Nov 28 2022

Best practices for implementing a company-wide risk analysis program

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 11:36 pm

Best practices for implementing a company-wide risk analysis program

The associated risk management programs are also constantly evolving, and that’s likely due to outside influences such as client contract requirements, board requests and/or specific security incidents that require security teams to rethink and strengthen their strategy. Not surprisingly, CISO’s today face several dilemmas: How do I define the business impact of a cyber event? How much will it cost to protect our company’s most valuable assets? Which investments will make the business most secure? How do we avoid getting sidetracked by the latest cyber breach headline?

A mature risk analysis program can be thought of as a pyramid. Customer-driven framework compliance forms the base (PCI/ISO frameworks required for revenue generation); then incident-driven infrastructure security in the middle (system-focused security based on known common threats and vulnerabilities); with analysis-driven comprehensive coverage at the pinnacle (identification of assets, valuations, and assessment of threat/vulnerability risk).

How do you kickstart that program? Here are five steps that I’ve found effective for getting risk analysis off the ground.

Determine enterprise-specific assets

The first step is determining what is critical to protect. Unlike accounting assets (e.g., servers, laptops, etc.), in cybersecurity terms this would include things that are typically of broader business value. Often the quickest path is to talk with the leads for different departments. You need to understand what data is critical to the functioning of each group, what information they hold that would be valuable to competitors (pricing, customers, etc.) and what information disclosures would hurt customer relationships (contract data, for instance).

Also assess whether each department handles trade secrets, or holds patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Finally, assess who handles personally identifiable information (PII) and whether the group and its data are subject to regulatory requirements such as GDPR, PCI DSS, CCPA, Sarbanes Oxley, etc.

When making these assessments, keep three factors in mind: what needs to be safe and can’t be stolen, what must remain accessible for continued function of a given department or the organization, and what data/information must be reliable (i.e., that which can’t be altered without your knowledge) for people to do their jobs.

Value the assets

Once you’ve identified these assets, the next step is to attach a value. Again, I make three recommendations: keep it simple, make (informed) assumptions, and err on the side of overestimating. The reason for these recommendations is that completing a full asset valuation for an enterprise would take years and wouldn’t ever be finished (because assets constantly change).

Efficient risk analysis requires a more practical approach that uses broad categories, which can then be prioritized to understand where deeper analysis is needed. For instance, you might use the following categories, and assign values based on informed assumptions:

Competitive advantage – the items/processes/data that are unique to your company and based on experience. These are items that would be of value to a competitor to build on. To determine value, consider the cost of growing a legitimate competitor in your dominant market from scratch, including technology and overhead.
Client relationships – what directly impacts customer relationships, and therefore revenue. This includes “availability” impacts from outages, SLAs, etc. Value determination will likely be your annual EBIT goal, and impact could be adjusted by a Single Loss Exposure.
Third-party partnerships – relating to your ability to initiate, maintain or grow partner networks, such as contractors, ISPs or other providers. When valuing, consider the employee labor cost needed to recruit and maintain those partners.
Financial performance – items that impact your company’s ability to achieve financial goals. Again, valuation might equate to annual EBIT.
Employee relations – the assets that impact your ability to recruit and retain employees. Valuation should consider the volume of potential losses and associated backfill needs, including base salaries, bonuses, benefit equivalencies, etc.

Determine relevant threats, assess vulnerability, and identify exposures

When it comes to analyzing risk from threats, vulnerabilities and exposures, start with the common security triad model for information security. The three pillars – Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA) – help guide and focus security teams as they assess the different ways to address each concern.

Confidentiality touches on data security and privacy; it entails not only keeping data safe, but also making sure only those who need access, have it.

Integrity reflects the need to make sure data is trustworthy and tamper-free. While data accuracy can be compromised by simple mistakes, what the security team is more concerned with is intentional compromise that’s designed to harm the organization.

Availability is just what it sounds like – making sure that information can be accessed where and when needed. Availability is an aspect of the triad where security teams need to coordinate closely with IT on backup, redundancy, failover, etc. That said, it also involves everything from secure remote access to timely patches and updates to preventing acts of sabotage like denial of service or ransomware attacks.

In undertaking this part of the risk assessment, you’re using this security triad to determine threats, and then identifying exposure and assessing vulnerability to better estimate both the potential impact and probability of occurrence. Once these determinations are made, you’re ready for the next step.

Define risk

AV = assigned Asset Value (quantitative/qualitative) as identified above.
EF = the Exposure Factor, a subjective assessment of the potential percentage loss to the asset if a specific threat is realized. For example, an asset may be degraded by half, giving an EF of 0.50.

From this we can calculate the Single Loss Expectancy (SLE) – the monetary value from one-time risk to an asset – by multiplying AV and EF. As an example, if the asset value is $1M, and the exposure factor from a threat is a 50% loss (0.50) then the SLE will be $500,000.

Risk definition also takes this one step further by using this SLE and multiplying it by a potential Annualized Rate of Occurrence (ARO) to come up with the Annualized Loss Expectancy (ALE). This helps us understand the potential risk over time.

When working through these figures, it’s important to recognize that potential loss and probability of occurrence are hard to define, and thus the potential for error is high. That’s why I encourage keeping it simple and overestimating when valuing assets – the goal is to broadly assess the likelihood and impact of risk so that we can better focus resources, not to get the equations themselves perfectly accurate.

Implement and monitor safeguards (controls)

Now that we have a better handle on the organizational risks, the final steps are more familiar territory for many security teams: implementing and monitoring the necessary and appropriate controls.

You’re likely already very familiar with these controls. They are the countermeasures – policies, procedures, plans, devices, etc. – to mitigate risk.

Controls fall into three categories: preventative (before an event), detective (during) and corrective (after). The goal is to try to stop an event before it happens, quickly react once it does, and efficiently get the organization back on its feet afterward.

Implementing and monitoring controls are where the rubber hits the road from a security standpoint. And that’s the whole point of the risk analysis, so that security professionals can best focus efforts where and how appropriate to mitigate overall organizational risk.

Tags: risk analysis program

Risk-management-toolkit-1 Download

Nov 16 2022

Risk Management Toolkit

Category: Information Security,Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 11:15 pm

“By implementing sound #management of our #risks and the threats and opportunities that flow from them we will be in a stronger position to deliver our organisational objectives, provide improved services to the community, achieve better value for money and demonstrate compliance with the Local Audit and Accounts Regulations. #Riskmanagement will therefore be at the heart of our good management practice and corporate governance arrangements.”

Tags: Risk Management Toolkit

How to do an information security risk assessment for ISO27001

Oct 20 2022

Why chasing risk assessments will have you chasing your tail

Category: Risk Assessment,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 10:07 am

Why chasing risk assessments will have you chasing your tail

Third-party risk assessments are often described as time-consuming, repetitive, overwhelming, and outdated. Think about it: organizations, on average, have over 5,000 third parties, meaning they may feel the need to conduct over 5,000 risk assessments. In the old school method, that’s 5,000 redundant questionnaires. 5,000 long-winded Excel sheets. No wonder they feel this way.

The reason why risk assessments have become so dreaded is that it has always been a process of individual inspection and evaluation. For perspective, that’s roughly 14 risk assessments completed per day in the span of one year. How can we expect security, risk, and procurement professionals to get any other work done with this type of task on their plate? With the state of today’s threat landscape, wouldn’t you rather your security team be focused on actual analysis and mitigation, rather than just assessing? And, not to mention the fact that a tedious risk assessment process will contribute to burnout that can lead to poor employee retention within your security team. With how the cybersecurity job market is looking now, this isn’t a position any organization wants to be in.

So, now that you know how the people actually with their ‘hands in the pot’ feel about risk assessments, let’s take a look at why this approach is flawed and what organizations can do to build a better risk assessment process.

The never-ending risk assessment carousel ride

The key to defeating cybercriminals is to be vigilant and proactive. Not much can be done when you’re reacting to a security incident as the damage is already done. Unfortunately, the current approach to risk management is reactive, and full of gaps that do not provide an accurate view into overall risk levels. How so? Current processes only measure a point-in-time and do not account for the period while the assessment is being completed–or any breaches that occurred after the assessment was submitted. In other words, assessments will need to be routinely refilled out, a never-ending carousel ride, which is not feasible.

It should come to no surprise that assessments are not updated nearly as much as they should be, and that’s to no one’s fault. No one has the time to continually fill out long, redundant Excel sheets. And, not to mention, unless the data collected is standardized, very little can be done with it from an analysis point of view. As a result, assessments are basically thrown in a drawer and never see the light of day.

Every time a third-party breach occurs there is a groundswell of concern and company executives and board members immediately turn to their security team to order risk assessments, sending them on a wild goose chase. What they don’t realize is that ordering assessments after a third-party breach has occurred is already too late. And the organizations that are chosen for a deeper assessment are most likely not the ones with the highest risk. Like a never-ending carousel ride, the chase for risk assessments will never stop unless you hop off the ride now.

Show me the data!

The secret ingredient for developing a better risk management collection process is standardized data. You can’t make bread without flour, and you can’t have a robust risk management program without standardized data. Standardized data is the process of gathering data in a common format, making it easier to conduct an analysis and determine necessary next steps. Think of it this way, if you were looking at a chart comparing student test grades and they were all listed in various formats (0.75, 68%, 3/16, etc.), you would have a difficult time comparing these data points. However, if all the data is listed in percentages (80%, 67%, 92%, etc.), you could easily identify who is failing and needs more support in the classroom. This is the way using standardized data in the risk assessment process works. All data collected from assessments would be in the same format and you can understand which third parties are high risk and require prioritized mitigation.

CISOs who are still focused on point-in-time assessments are not getting it right. Organizations need to understand that risk assessment collection alone does not in fact equal reduced risk. While risk assessments are important, what you do with the risk assessment after it is complete is what really matters. Use it as a catalyst to create a larger, more contextual risk profile. Integrate threat intelligence, security ratings, machine learning, and other data sources and you’ll find yourself with all the data and insights you need and more to proactively reduce risk. You’ll be armed with the necessary information to mitigate risk and implement controls before the breach occurs, not the rushed patchwork after. A data-driven approach to third-party risk assessment will provide a more robust picture of risk and put an end to chasing assessments once and for all.

Security Risk Assessment

Tags: data breach, Risk Assessment, Third Party Risk