Security Assessment: Case Studies for Implementing the NSA IAM

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 448 pages
• Published by: Syngress
• Edition: 1st Edition January 1, 2004
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1932266968
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1932266962
• Book Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.9 pounds

Product Review
In 1998, the National Security Agency (NSA) Information Assurance Methodology (IAM) was developed to meet the demand for information security (INFOSEC) assessments-a demand that was increasing due to Presidential Decision Directive 63 (PDD-63) while at the same time NSA was downsizing. NSA sought a way to maximize its resources to assist as many customers as possible and so they created a list of organizations that could perform the same service as the NSA. NSA quickly realized that this system would not only provide valuable information to consumers-it would also provide a vehicle for standardization of INFOSEC assessments.

Define What Composes an Assessment
Learn about the NSAs three-phases: Assessment,
Evaluation, and Red teaming

Understand Industry Concerns for the Assessment Site
Review the items that affect your client: Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley, Financial Management and Accountability (FMA) Act, Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and others.

Create the Organizational Information Criticality Matrix (OICM)
Create the OICM, which provides a basis for everything else in the methodology and clarifies the intentions and goals of the assessment process for the customer.

Handle Documentation Identification and Collection
Work with the client to gather and define documents such as policy, guidelines, plans, SOPs, user documentation and see what happens when no documentation exists.

Understand the Technical Assessment Plan (TAP)
Use the TAP to define all dates and scheduling, personnel involvement, understood boundaries, deliverables, priority concerns, and priority constraints.

Review the 18 NSA INFOSEC Baseline Classes and Categories
Use these 18 categories to address the customers security posture and determine what questions should be asked during the interview process.

Create a Recommendation Road Map
Provide the customer with a road map to the best way to address or implement the corrective measures for negative findings.

Understand the Findings
Assess the overall risk to a customer by looking at the threats, vulnerabilities, and asset value and analyze both negative and positive findings to create a true picture of the customers security posture.

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Book Description
Everything you need to know to conduct a security audit of your organisation

Reader Reviews
There are two things that are extremely frustrating in working on audits and risk and security assessments. One is that too many people in online discussion fora and ListServs want templates handed to them free so they can resell them or tell their boss about the great work that they did. The second has been the absence of, in the technical book arena, any reference book that focuses more on the business process side of conducting security assessments. Security Assessment - Case Studies for Implementing The NSA IAM (Greg Miles, Russ Rogers et al, Syngress Press, 2004, 429 Pages, US$69.95 List/US$44.07 Amazon) fills both of these holes, but not without incurring a penalty stroke for "grounding the club" in a hazard. IAM stands for Information Security (INFOSEC) Assessment Methodology and NSA stands for the National Security Agency. These are two things you learn right up front from the authors as the explain how this methodology came to be a the result of the need to do more in a time of budget cuts and its evolution into a broad methodology that can be used by any group in the public or private sector. From this start and background, the authors successfully walk the reader through the "soft skill" side of the security assessment process. What makes this book different than others is that there is little to no discussion of tools used in the assessment. What it does focus on is how to identify assessment needs (for the customer) and opportunities (for the consulting firm). The authors approach security assessments from a holistic project approach, taking the reader through issues and steps with contract preparation/execution, skills identification, team makeup, preplanning, identification of high risk areas, conducting the assessment, delivering the end product, and closing the project out. For the most part, the authors excel in laying this out in simple terms and provide a number of case studies from their experience. However, as I mentioned at the beginning, I am assessing a penalty stroke in my rating because their discussion of performing security assessment work under government contracts is far too simplistic, is not wholly accurate in their discussion of contract types, and does not even address the issue of all of the additional reporting and cost accounting standards that a vendor will have to accept when doing government work. They also fail to mention how large the universe is of competitors for this work and how difficult it can be to crack this marketplace. They also fail to address legal issues associated with the scope creep in government work, with no discussion of important terms such as "constructive changes", "unauthorized commitments", "change orders", etc. They talk about "colors of money" in the government without even explaining what the term means. Granted, the book could have easily quadrupled in size to address all of this information, but they should have at least included references to sources to provide further insight into these important areas. Oh, and incidentally, the color of money under government contracts is, for the most part, transparent to contractors. Aside from this penalty stroke, and I am harder on it because I was a Contracting Officer in the Federal Government for a number of years, the book provides an excellent roadmap to groups and/or individuals seeking a security assessment roadmap. Who Should Read This Book? Aside from the people who post on the internet looking for solutions to be handed to them, this book would satisfy the needs of a wide variety of users. Practitioners will gain information and insight not provided in typical training classes. Customers would gain a good overview of the process and what to expect as the process goes on. Managers need to read this book so that they do not, as the authors point out often happens, try to turn this methodology into a business process. And finally, Sales staff need to read this book so that they understand what they are trying to sell and that it is not a one size fits all commodity (kudos to the authors for putting this in writing, but it is not enough to recover the penalty stroke). Scorecard Birdie on an short par 5 playing downwind (penalty stroke can be a killer). Comment | | (Report this)