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A risk management cost benefit analysis (SAR). IT Research Paper

Research Paper Instructions:

Many companies and agencies conduct an IT audit to test and assess the rigor of IT security controls in order to mitigate risks to IT networks. Such audits meet compliance mandates by regulatory organizations. Federal IT systems follow Federal Information System Management Act (FISMA) guidelines and report security compliance to US-CERT, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which handles defense and response to cyberattacks as part of the Department of Homeland Security. In addition, the Control Objective for Information Technology (COBIT) is a set of IT security guidelines that provides a framework for IT security for IT systems in the commercial sector.

These audits are comprehensive and rigorous, and negative findings can lead to significant fines and other penalties. Therefore, industry and federal entities conduct internal self-audits in preparation for actual external IT audits and compile security assessment reports.

In this project, you will develop a 12-page written security assessment report and executive briefing (slide presentation) for a company and submit the report to the leadership of that company.



After completing your master's degree, you have been hired by a contracting company as an information systems security officer, or ISSO, supporting systems for federal clients. One morning, your boss asks you to come to her office. She tells you that you'll be working on a network security audit. Network security audits, based on FISMA standards, are used annually to determine the effectiveness of our security controls. The boss explains, prior to the security audit, I will need you to test, execute, collect, and compile your results into a security assessment report, or SAR. Once you're finished, you will submit the report to me and the executive leadership.

Later, you receive a follow-up email from your boss with instructions. First, you will conduct a risk and threat assessment of the enterprise network. Next, you will perform black-box testing of the network using network analysis tools. After identifying any network vulnerabilities, you will lead efforts to remedy and mitigate those vulnerabilities using appropriate risk management controls. You will then perform a white box test, and compile the results in the final security assessment report. And provide this to leadership, along with an executive briefing in your lab analysis. So management has a baseline view of the security posture of the enterprise network, before the actual external IT audit. The email ends with this note, thank you for taking this on. Our executive leadership is excited to learn of your findings.



STEP1: CONDUCT A SECURITY ANALYSIS BASELINE

In the first step of the project, you will conduct a security analysis baseline of the IT systems, which will include a data-flow diagram of connections and endpoints, and all types of access points, including wireless. The baseline report will be part of the overall security assessment report (SAR).

You will get your information from a data-flow diagram and report from the MICROSOFT THREAT MODELLING TOOL 2016. The scope should include network IT security for the whole organization. Click the following to view the data-flow diagram: DIAGRAM AND REPORT



Include the following areas in this portion of the SAR:



Security requirements and goals for the preliminary security baseline activity.

Typical attacks to enterprise networks and their descriptions. Include Trojans, viruses, worms, denial of service, session hijacking, and social engineering. Include the impacts these attacks have on an organization.

Network infrastructure and diagram, including configuration and connections. Describe the security posture with respect to these components and the security employed: LAN, MAN, WAN, enterprise. Use these questions to guide you:

What are the security risks and concerns?

What are ways to get a real-time understanding of the security posture at any time?

How regularly should the security of the enterprise network be tested, and what type of tests should be used?

What are the processes in play, or to be established to respond to an incident?

Workforce skill is a critical success factor in any security program, and any security assessment must also review this component. Lack of a skilled workforce could also be a security vulnerability. Does the security workforce have the requisite technical skills and command of the necessary toolsets to do the job required?

Is there an adequate professional development roadmap in place to maintain and/or improve the skillset as needed?

Describe the ways to detect these malicious codes and what tactics bad actors use for evading detection.

Public and private access areas, web access points. Include in the network diagram the delineation of open and closed networks, where they co-exist. In the OPEN NETWORK and CLOSED NETWORK portion, show the connections to the Internet.

Physical hardware components. Include routers and switches. What security weaknesses or vulnerabilities are within these devices?

Operating systems, servers, network management systems.

data in transit vulnerabilities

endpoint access vulnerabilities

external storage vulnerabilities

virtual private network vulnerabilities

media access control vulnerabilities

ethernet vulnerabilities

Possible applications. This network will incorporate a BYOD (bring your own device) policy in the near future. The IT auditing team and leadership need to understand current mobile applications and possible future applications and other wireless integrations. You will use some of this information in Project 2 and also in Project 5.

The overall SAR should detail the security measures needed, or implementations status of those in progress, to address the identified vulnerabilities. Include:



remediation

mitigation

countermeasure

recovery

Through your research, provide the methods used to provide the protections and defenses.



From the identification of risk factors in the risk model, identify the appropriate security controls from NIST SP 800-53A and determine their applicability to the risks identified.



The baseline should make up at least three of the 12 pages of the overall report.



When you have completed your security analysis baseline, move on to the next step, in which you will use testing procedures that will help determine the company's overall network defense strategy.



Step 2: DETERMINE A NETWORK DEFENSE STRATEGY

You've completed your initial assessment of the company's security with your baseline analysis. Now it's time to determine the best defenses for your network.



Start by reading a publication by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST-SP-800-115 Technical Guide to Information Security Testing and Assessment, and outline how you would test violations. Identify how you will assess the effectiveness of these controls and write test procedures that could be used to test for effectiveness. Write them in a manner to allow future information systems security officer to use them in preparing for an IT security audit or IT certification and accreditation. Within this portion of the SAR, explain the different testing types (black-box testing, white-box testing).



Include these test plans in the SAR. The strategy should take up at least two of the 12 pages of the overall report.



Click the following link to learn more about cybersecurity for process control systems: Cybersecurity for Process Control Systems



After you've completed this step, it's time to define the process of penetration testing. In the next step, you'll develop rules of engagement (ROE).



STEP 3: PLAN PENETRATION TESTING ENGAGEMENT.

Now that you've completed your test plans, it's time to define your penetration testing process. Include all involved processes, people, and timeframe. Develop a letter of intent to the organization, and within the letter, include some formal rules of engagement (ROE). The process and any documents can be notional or can refer to actual use cases. If actual use cases are included, cite them using APA format.



This portion should be about two pages of the overall 12-page report.



After you have outlined the steps of a penetration testing process, in the next step you will perform penetration testing. During the testing, you will determine if the security components are updated and if the latest patches are implemented, and if not, determine where the security gaps are.



STEP 4: COMPLETE A RISK MANAGEMENT COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

You've completed the penetration testing, and now it's time to complete your SAR with a risk management cost-benefit analysis. Within this analysis, think about the cost of violations and other areas if you do not add the controls. Then add in the cost of implementing your controls.



When you have finished with the cost-benefit analysis, which should be at least one page of your overall report, move to the final step, which is the completed SAR. As part of the final assignment, remember that you will need to create a slide presentation as part of the executive briefing, and submit that along with the SAR.

Security assessment report (SAR): Your report should be 12 pages minimum, double-spaced with citations in APA format. The page count does not include figures, diagrams, tables or citations.

In text citation and diagrams for illustration on the paper does not count as a page. Thank you very much.

Research Paper Sample Content Preview:

A Risk Management Cost-Benefit Analysis
Student’s Name
Institutional AffiliationCourse
Date
A Risk Management Cost-Benefit Analysis
Introduction
The document represents a Security Assessment report for a network security audit which was conducted by FISMA. The report covers the security analysis baseline regarding the potential risks. The network defense strategies are also reviewed, which helps in determining the best defense for the network. Also, there is a penetration testing process outlined, and the results are analyzed which are used in making the cost-benefit analysis.
Security Analysis Baseline
According to the FISMA standards, the main goal of the preliminary baseline activity is identifying the level for categorizing the system information. The risk levels are usually based on the negative effect of the network if the section is compromised. Plans are established to prevent the compromise; the enterprise networks should always have frequent security testing (Bouyoucef & Khorasani, 2016). The frequency of the experiment depends on the organization and the likelihood of an attack because the network compromises are either external or internal. The various attack include;
Computer virus
A computer virus which is in the form of a malicious code that is aimed at altering how a computer operates. The virus is spread from host to host where it replicates itself; the virus is code; thus, it lies dormant until it is activated. When it is activated it spread to the other computers where it takes complete control of a computer entirely.
Worms
Worms are similar to the viruses, although the worms can replicate themselves without any aid of the user’s interaction and they act as backdoors for the targeted networks.
Trojan
A Trojan is a type of malware which is disguised as legitimate software. Cybercriminals employ the Trojans in tricking users into giving them access to a web. When criminals are able to have access, they steal and modify the data.
DoS attacks
The DoS attacks are used in denying the users access to various applications. During this attack, the targeted system is flooded with traffic which triggers the crashing of the system.
Session attack
A session attack is a situation whereby two parts of a system are connected, and the hackers highjack the sessions entirely. During the session hijacking, the attackers steal the token issued to the user and enters the network as a user.
Social engineering
Also, hackers can apply social engineering to gain information or access to a network. Social engineering is used in tricking people into revealing information which allows them to access the network. The most common type of social engineering experienced is phishing. The attackers tend to send an email which appears to be sent by a reliable source requesting information. Once the victim gives a response to that email, the attackers are able to have access to the network.
There are numerous different threats to a venture network these, in any case, are the most widely recognized ones utilized. These attacks are the most commonly used, yet they may likewise be the most harming to an association. This is the reason they are being used as the establishment for structure the security baseline of the network. The utilization of interruption detection systems (IDS) and ensuring that infection insurance programming is state-of-the-art helps in setting that baseline.
H-bot networks infrastructure
There is a wide range of networks that are utilized by an association. This segment will cover how the H-bot system is developed, and the security acts that are considered for it. Local Area Network (LAN) is more than one PC that is associated with a network. Instances of this would be a school or emergency clinic. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is the association of numerous LAN's that are near each other. Wide Area Network (WAN) are like MAN's apart from inclusion can interface nations (Dixon, 2014). WANs are regularly claimed by an association. The figure above demonstrates the foundation of the H-bot network. This outline reflects an area of the network for one place of business, or a LAN. There are various arrangements like this one which makes up the whole network. Being a venture network has its advantages; however, it comes risks and concerns. These potential issues are information misfortune, security breaks, and fatal attacks running from infections to programmers. To genuinely comprehend the security act at some random time is to start some kind of test. There is no set standard concerning how consistently a network ought to be tested, yet it ought to be done frequently. Presently strategy expresses that testing is done two times per year. Penetration tests are utilized for testing and ought to be done quarterly at the very least. Contingent upon the idea of the data on the network, and the probability of an assault, they should be possible all the more every now and again. Since the H-bot network is possessed by an administration office, the odds of an assault are higher than the typical association. The present procedure set up for occurrence reaction is detection and control. Regardless of whether it be a penetration test or actual situation, the area of the rupture is recognized (Faircloth, 2014). That zone is isolated until the danger type is known, and countermeasure can be executed. When the issue is settled, a report is created to report the rupture.
The security staff has the information base for the present security procedures set up; however, may not excessively have the knowledge on further developed procedures that can help lower occurrence reaction times. The present security stance is at a stop. There are no guides for headways in the security process, nor does advancement intend to expand the information base among the staff. Territories in which the team can improve their insight base would be on the most proficient method to distinguish destructive codes. By and by the staff depends on disassemblers and debuggers which separate the code to make sense of what each part does. Programmers use rootkits to avoid detection from basic debuggers. Rootkits enable the malicious code to shroud profound inside system and gives the programmer access to the network.
The H-bot network is hierarchically based, and in this way is WAN network type. Inside the network, there is the utilization of both open and close network. The web is a public network. This can enable access to the organization's site page. Shut networks "intranet" are increasingly secure and must be gotten to by staff. Security stances ought to guarantee that firewalls are set up to keep the two networks isolated. Inside the intranet guarantee that staff is utilizing secure connections, for example, HTTPS, sharing capacities on computers are killed, and VPNs are utilized at whatever point not legitimately associated with the network.
A significant piece of an endeavor network working appropriately is the Operating System (OS). The OS is the thing that handles the majority of the client solicitations, and applications that keep running on the gadgets. The greatest danger to any OS is the end-clients. This might be purposeful or incidental. The OS for the H-bot network presently utilizes the Role Base Access Control (RBAC) model to secure the OS (Howard, 1981). The RBAC gives clients managerial rights dependent on the jobs of the position they hold.
Network Management Systems (NMS) are what permit network administrators to take a shot at explicit areas of the network without getting to the entire network. Each venture network utilizes servers. Servers are computers on the network that are utilized for access to equipment and printers. Clients and applications send data to these servers. Data while in travel is the point at which it is at its most helpless state. At the point when there are holes in assurance, endpoint vulnerabilities happen. These holes in security can occur at the client, operational, and specialized region. Holes at the client level are ordinarily of the absence of information on the client part.
At the core of a security baseline, are the following stages once a defenselessness of has been recognized. These means are remediation, mitigation, countermeasure, and recoups. Remediation is the initial step after powerlessness is effectively-recognized. The reaction group decides whether the episode can be contained. Once contain it very well may be examined to help forestall future events. The helplessness is then expelled from the network. Mitigation is the subsequent stage all the while and manages the business strategy. An examination from the investigation of the hazard will decide the hazard level. A hazard can be acknowledged, controlled, dodged, or moved. An acknowledged hazard when the expense to fix the hazard is more than the harm that could be brought about by the hazard. Hazard control requires the utilization of innovation and approaches to bring down the odds of the hazard occurring (Luo & Szidarovszky, 2012). The utilization of chancy innovation and strategies to keep away from a hazard is chance evasion. Passing the issue to an outsider is what is known as hazard move. Countermeasures are the advances and policies that are utilized in the mitigation. The last advance is recuperation. In this progression, the system has come back to a similar state as it was preceding the episode. Recuperation time is essential to the endurance of an association following a digital assault.
Following recognizable proof of the hazard factors in the hazard model, these NIST SP 800-53 security control families are applicable to the association owning the H-bot network. Access Control (AC), the network should just be available by explicit people. Contingency Planning (CP), the association ought to have an arrangement set up to resume every single ordinary capacity after the system has been undermined. Incident Response (IR), the time it takes the associations IT staff to distinguish the security break and respond (Odey, 2016). Awareness and Training (AT), the association ought to have a composed arrangement to prepare staff and make them mindful of potential threats.
Network defense strategy
Performing a security review is a method for self-exploring. The initial phase in building up a decent guard methodology is to comprehend the qualities and shortcomings of the network initially. With this understanding, it is anything but difficult to perceive how the network could be assaulted. An appropriately created arrangement will permit future data systems security officials to plan for reviews. There are five keys that ought to be pursued when getting ready for a review. First, all delicate data ought to be distinguished. Understanding what data inside the network that programmers may need will help in setting up barriers. This is otherwise called the arranging stage....
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