Automated ISMS control auditability

This thesis focuses on researching a possible reference model for automated ISMS’s (Information Security Management System) technical control auditability. The main objective was to develop a generic framework for automated compliance status monitoring of the ISO27001:2013 standard which could be re‐used in any ISMS system. The framework was tested with Proof of Concept (PoC) empirical research in a test infrastructure which simulates the framework target deployment environment. To fulfil the objective the thesis analysed first which ISO27001:2013 controls could be implemented using technical means and whether it would be possible to automate the measurement of the control compliance for these controls. After that different sources were used as input material to actually define how to fulfill, verify and measure the selected controls. The developed framework consists of three parts, Framework Selected Controls, Framework Architecture and guidance how to use the framework. It includes ISO27001:2013 controls which could be automatically audited, a methodology to do this and a framework how this could be fulfilled. The testing was performed using three different types of commercial tools to understand if they could fulfill a part of the developed framework. None of the tested tools was able to fulfill the framework as it is. Empirical research has showed the importance of the integrity assurance when reaching for automated security control compliance. This is the essential part and is somewhat lacking on the tested tools.Tässä opinnäytetyössä tutkitaan mahdollista viitekehysmallia tietoturvan hallintajärjestelmän (ISMS) teknisten kontrollien automaattisesta auditoitavuudesta. Päätavoitteena oli kehittää viitekehysmalli ISO27001:2013 standardin säännönmukaisuuden automaattisesta arvioinnista jota voitaisiin uudelleenkäyttää missä tahansa ISMS‐järjestelmässä. Viitekehysmalli testattiin empiirisellä tutkimuksella jossa ratkaisu pyrittiin todentamaan (Proof of concept). Tavoitteen saavuttamiseksi analysoitiin mitkä ISO27001:2013 kontrollit voitaisiin toteuttaa teknisesti ja olisiko niiden säännönmukaisuuden todennus tehtävissä automaattisesti. Useita eri lähteitä käytettiin hyväksi määriteltäessä miten kontrollit tulisi toteuttaa, todentaa ja miten niitten säännönmukaisuus voitaisiin mitata. Kehitetty viitekehys koostuu kolmesta osasta, viitekehykseen valituista kontrolleista, viitekehyksen arkkitehtuurista sekä käyttöohjeistuksesta ja se sisältää ISO27001:2013 kontrollit jotka voitaisiin automaattisesti auditoida, menetelmä tämän tekemiseen ja varsinaisen viitekehyksen automaattisen auditoitavuuden saavuttamiseen. Testauksessa käytettiin kolmea eri tyyppistä kaupallista työkalua jotta ymmärrettäisiin voisivatko ne toteuttaa osan kehitetystä viitekehyksestä. Mikään työkaluista ei pystynyt tähän suoraan. Empiirinen tutkimus on osoittanut eheyden varmistamisen tärkeyden tavoiteltaessa automaattista säännönmukaisuuden varmistamista. Tämä on olennainen osa joka näyttää puuttuvan testatuista työkaluista

Automating Cyber Analytics

Model based security metrics are a growing area of cyber security research concerned with measuring the risk exposure of an information system. These metrics are typically studied in isolation, with the formulation of the test itself being the primary finding in publications. As a result, there is a flood of metric specifications available in the literature but a corresponding dearth of analyses verifying results for a given metric calculation under different conditions or comparing the efficacy of one measurement technique over another. The motivation of this thesis is to create a systematic methodology for model based security metric development, analysis, integration, and validation. In doing so we hope to fill a critical gap in the way we view and improve a system’s security. In order to understand the security posture of a system before it is rolled out and as it evolves, we present in this dissertation an end to end solution for the automated measurement of security metrics needed to identify risk early and accurately. To our knowledge this is a novel capability in design time security analysis which provides the foundation for ongoing research into predictive cyber security analytics. Modern development environments contain a wealth of information in infrastructure-as-code repositories, continuous build systems, and container descriptions that could inform security models, but risk evaluation based on these sources is ad-hoc at best, and often simply left until deployment. Our goal in this work is to lay the groundwork for security measurement to be a practical part of the system design, development, and integration lifecycle. In this thesis we provide a framework for the systematic validation of the existing security metrics body of knowledge. In doing so we endeavour not only to survey the current state of the art, but to create a common platform for future research in the area to be conducted. We then demonstrate the utility of our framework through the evaluation of leading security metrics against a reference set of system models we have created. We investigate how to calibrate security metrics for different use cases and establish a new methodology for security metric benchmarking. We further explore the research avenues unlocked by automation through our concept of an API driven S-MaaS (Security Metrics-as-a-Service) offering. We review our design considerations in packaging security metrics for programmatic access, and discuss how various client access-patterns are anticipated in our implementation strategy. Using existing metric processing pipelines as reference, we show how the simple, modular interfaces in S-MaaS support dynamic composition and orchestration. Next we review aspects of our framework which can benefit from optimization and further automation through machine learning. First we create a dataset of network models labeled with the corresponding security metrics. By training classifiers to predict security values based only on network inputs, we can avoid the computationally expensive attack graph generation steps. We use our findings from this simple experiment to motivate our current lines of research into supervised and unsupervised techniques such as network embeddings, interaction rule synthesis, and reinforcement learning environments. Finally, we examine the results of our case studies. We summarize our security analysis of a large scale network migration, and list the friction points along the way which are remediated by this work. We relate how our research for a large-scale performance benchmarking project has influenced our vision for the future of security metrics collection and analysis through dev-ops automation. We then describe how we applied our framework to measure the incremental security impact of running a distributed stream processing system inside a hardware trusted execution environment

Risk Assessment Framework for Evaluation of Cybersecurity Threats and Vulnerabilities in Medical Devices

Medical devices are vulnerable to cybersecurity exploitation and, while they can provide improvements to clinical care, they can put healthcare organizations and their patients at risk of adverse impacts. Evidence has shown that the proliferation of devices on medical networks present cybersecurity challenges for healthcare organizations due to their lack of built-in cybersecurity controls and the inability for organizations to implement security controls on them. The negative impacts of cybersecurity exploitation in healthcare can include the loss of patient confidentiality, risk to patient safety, negative financial consequences for the organization, and loss of business reputation. Assessing the risk of vulnerabilities and threats to medical devices can inform healthcare organizations toward prioritization of resources to reduce risk most effectively. In this research, we build upon a database-driven approach to risk assessment that is based on the elements of threat, vulnerability, asset, and control (TVA-C). We contribute a novel framework for the cybersecurity risk assessment of medical devices. Using a series of papers, we answer questions related to the risk assessment of networked medical devices. We first conducted a case study empirical analysis that determined the scope of security vulnerabilities in a typical computerized medical environment. We then created a cybersecurity risk framework to identify threats and vulnerabilities to medical devices and produce a quantified risk assessment. These results supported actionable decision making at managerial and operational levels of a typical healthcare organization. Finally, we applied the framework using a data set of medical devices received from a partnering healthcare organization. We compare the assessment results of our framework to a commercial risk assessment vulnerability management system used to analyze the same assets. The study also compares our framework results to the NIST Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scores related to identified vulnerabilities reported through the Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE) program. As a result of these studies, we recognize several contributions to the area of healthcare cybersecurity. To begin with, we provide the first comprehensive vulnerability assessment of a robotic surgical environment, using a da Vinci surgical robot along with its supporting computing assets. This assessment supports the assertion that networked computer environments are at risk of being compromised in healthcare facilities. Next, our framework, known as MedDevRisk, provides a novel method for risk quantification. In addition, our assessment approach uniquely considers the assets that are of value to a medical organization, going beyond the medical device itself. Finally, our incorporation of risk scenarios into the framework represents a novel approach to medical device risk assessment, which was synthesized from other well-known standards. To our knowledge, our research is the first to apply a quantified assessment framework to the problem area of healthcare cybersecurity and medical networked devices. We would conclude that a reduction in the uncertainty about the riskiness of the cybersecurity status of medical devices can be achieved using this framework

Simulated penetration testing and mitigation analysis

Da Unternehmensnetzwerke und Internetdienste stetig komplexer werden, wird es immer schwieriger, installierte Programme, Schwachstellen und Sicherheitsprotokolle zu überblicken. Die Idee hinter simuliertem Penetrationstesten ist es, Informationen über ein Netzwerk in ein formales Modell zu transferiern und darin einen Angreifer zu simulieren. Diesem Modell fügen wir einen Verteidiger hinzu, der mittels eigener Aktionen versucht, die Fähigkeiten des Angreifers zu minimieren. Dieses zwei-Spieler Handlungsplanungsproblem nennen wir Stackelberg planning. Ziel ist es, Administratoren, Penetrationstestern und der Führungsebene dabei zu helfen, die Schwachstellen großer Netzwerke zu identifizieren und kosteneffiziente Gegenmaßnahmen vorzuschlagen. Wir schaffen in dieser Dissertation erstens die formalen und algorithmischen Grundlagen von Stackelberg planning. Indem wir dabei auf klassischen Planungsproblemen aufbauen, können wir von gut erforschten Heuristiken und anderen Techniken zur Analysebeschleunigung, z.B. symbolischer Suche, profitieren. Zweitens entwerfen wir einen Formalismus für Privilegien-Eskalation und demonstrieren die Anwendbarkeit unserer Simulation auf lokale Computernetzwerke. Drittens wenden wir unsere Simulation auf internetweite Szenarien an und untersuchen die Robustheit sowohl der E-Mail-Infrastruktur als auch von Webseiten. Viertens ermöglichen wir mittels webbasierter Benutzeroberflächen den leichten Zugang zu unseren Tools und Analyseergebnissen.As corporate networks and Internet services are becoming increasingly more complex, it is hard to keep an overview over all deployed software, their potential vulnerabilities, and all existing security protocols. Simulated penetration testing was proposed to extend regular penetration testing by transferring gathered information about a network into a formal model and simulate an attacker in this model. Having a formal model of a network enables us to add a defender trying to mitigate the capabilities of the attacker with their own actions. We name this two-player planning task Stackelberg planning. The goal behind this is to help administrators, penetration testing consultants, and the management level at finding weak spots of large computer infrastructure and suggesting cost-effective mitigations to lower the security risk. In this thesis, we first lay the formal and algorithmic foundations for Stackelberg planning tasks. By building it in a classical planning framework, we can benefit from well-studied heuristics, pruning techniques, and other approaches to speed up the search, for example symbolic search. Second, we design a theory for privilege escalation and demonstrate the applicability of our framework to local computer networks. Third, we apply our framework to Internet-wide scenarios by investigating the robustness of both the email infrastructure and the web. Fourth, we make our findings and our toolchain easily accessible via web-based user interfaces

Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence for Critical Infrastructures Security

Modern critical infrastructures comprise of many interconnected cyber and physical assets, and as such are large scale cyber-physical systems. Hence, the conventional approach of securing these infrastructures by addressing cyber security and physical security separately is no longer effective. Rather more integrated approaches that address the security of cyber and physical assets at the same time are required. This book presents integrated (i.e. cyber and physical) security approaches and technologies for the critical infrastructures that underpin our societies. Specifically, it introduces advanced techniques for threat detection, risk assessment and security information sharing, based on leading edge technologies like machine learning, security knowledge modelling, IoT security and distributed ledger infrastructures. Likewise, it presets how established security technologies like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), pen-testing, vulnerability assessment and security data analytics can be used in the context of integrated Critical Infrastructure Protection. The novel methods and techniques of the book are exemplified in case studies involving critical infrastructures in four industrial sectors, namely finance, healthcare, energy and communications. The peculiarities of critical infrastructure protection in each one of these sectors is discussed and addressed based on sector-specific solutions. The advent of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is expected to increase the cyber-physical nature of critical infrastructures as well as their interconnection in the scope of sectorial and cross-sector value chains. Therefore, the demand for solutions that foster the interplay between cyber and physical security, and enable Cyber-Physical Threat Intelligence is likely to explode. In this book, we have shed light on the structure of such integrated security systems, as well as on the technologies that will underpin their operation. We hope that Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection stakeholders will find the book useful when planning their future security strategies

Integriertes Management von Security-Frameworks

Security-Frameworks sind baukastenähnliche, zunächst abstrakte Konzepte, die aufeinander abgestimmte technische und organisatorische Maßnahmen zur Prävention, Detektion und Bearbeitung von Informationssicherheitsvorfällen bündeln. Anders als bei der Zusammenstellung eigener Sicherheitskonzepte aus einer Vielzahl punktueller Einzelmaßnahmen wird bei der Anwendung von Security-Frameworks das Ziel verfolgt, mit einem relativ geringen Aufwand auf bewährte Lösungsansätze zur Absicherung von komplexen IT-Diensten und IT-Architekturen zurückgreifen zu können. Die praktische Umsetzung eines Security-Frameworks erfordert seine szenarienspezifische Adaption und Implementierung, durch die insbesondere eine nahtlose Integration in die vorhandene Infrastruktur sichergestellt und die Basis für den nachhaltigen, effizienten Betrieb geschaffen werden müssen. Die vorliegende Arbeit behandelt das integrierte Management von Security-Frameworks. Im Kern ihrer Betrachtungen liegen folglich nicht individuelle Frameworkkonzepte, sondern Managementmethoden, -prozesse und -werkzeuge für den parallelen Einsatz mehrerer Frameworkinstanzen in komplexen organisationsweiten und -übergreifenden Szenarien. Ihre Schwerpunkte werden zum einen durch die derzeit sehr technische Ausprägung vieler Security-Frameworks und zum anderen durch die fehlende Betrachtung ihres Lebenszyklus über die szenarienspezifische Anpassung hinaus motiviert. Beide Aspekte wirken sich bislang inhibitorisch auf den praktischen Einsatz aus, da zur Umsetzung von Security-Frameworks immer noch ein erheblicher szenarienspezifischer konzeptioneller Aufwand erbracht werden muss. Nach der Diskussion der relevanten Grundlagen des Sicherheitsmanagements und der Einordnung von Security-Frameworks in Informationssicherheitsmanagementsysteme werden auf Basis ausgewählter konkreter Szenarien mehr als 50 Anforderungen an Security-Frameworks aus der Perspektive ihres Managements abgeleitet und begründet gewichtet. Die anschließende Anwendung dieses Anforderungskatalogs auf mehr als 75 aktuelle Security-Frameworks zeigt typische Stärken sowie Schwächen auf und motiviert neben konkreten Verbesserungsvorschlägen für Frameworkkonzepte die nachfolgend erarbeiteten, für Security-Frameworks spezifischen Managementmethoden. Als Bezugsbasis für alle eigenen Konzepte dient eine detaillierte Analyse des gesamten Lebenszyklus von Security-Frameworks, der zur grundlegenden Spezifikation von Managementaufgaben, Verantwortlichkeiten und Schnittstellen zu anderen Managementprozessen herangezogen wird. Darauf aufbauend werden an den Einsatz von Security-Frameworks angepasste Methoden und Prozesse u. a. für das Risikomanagement und ausgewählte Disziplinen des operativen Sicherheitsmanagements spezifiziert, eine Sicherheitsmanagementarchitektur für Security-Frameworks konzipiert, die prozessualen Schnittstellen am Beispiel von ISO/IEC 27001 und ITIL v3 umfassend ausgearbeitet und der Einsatz von IT-Sicherheitskennzahlen zur Beurteilung von Security-Frameworks demonstriert. Die praktische Anwendung dieser innovativen Methoden erfordert dedizierte Managementwerkzeuge, die im Anschluss im Detail konzipiert und in Form von Prototypen bzw. Simulationen umgesetzt, exemplifiziert und bewertet werden. Ein umfassendes Anwendungsbeispiel demonstriert die praktische, parallele Anwendung mehrerer Security-Frameworks und der spezifizierten Konzepte und Werkzeuge. Abschließend werden alle erreichten Ergebnisse kritisch beurteilt und ein Ausblick auf mögliche Weiterentwicklungen und offene Forschungsfragestellungen in verwandten Bereichen gegeben.Security frameworks at first are modular, abstract concepts that combine technical as well as organizational measures for the prevention, detection, and handling of information security incidents in a coordinated manner. Unlike the creation of scenario-specific security concepts from scratch, for which one has to choose from a plethora of individual measures, using security frameworks pursues the goal of reducing the required time and effort by applying proven solutions for securing complex IT services and IT architectures. The practical realization of a security framework requires its scenario-specific customization and implementation, which especially need to ensure its seamless integration into the existing infrastructure and provides the basis for sustained, efficient operations. This thesis highlights the integrated management of security frameworks. Therefore, it does not focus on individual security framework concepts, but on innovative management methods, processes, and tools for operating multiple security framework instances in complex enterprise-wide and inter-organizational scenarios. Its core contributions are motivated by the very technically oriented characteristics of current security frameworks on the one hand and by the lack of a holistic view on their life cycle that reaches beyond the customization phase on the other hand. These two aspects still inhibit the wide-spread practical application of security frameworks because still significant scenario-specific conceptual efforts have to be made in order to operate and manage the framework instances. After the discussion of the relevant fundamentals of security management and the classification of security frameworks into information security management systems, more than 50 management-specific requirements for security frameworks are derived from practical scenarios and get reasonably weighted. The application of the resulting criteria catalogue to more than 75 current security frameworks points out their typical strengths and weaknesses; besides improvement proposals for the analyzed security frameworks, it also motivates the security-framework-specific management methods that are developed afterwards. For each of the proposed concepts, a detailed analysis of the complete security framework life cycle serves as a reference base. It is also used to specify the basic management tasks, responsibilities, and interfaces to related management processes. Based on this life cycle specification, security-framework-specific management methods and processes, e. g., for risk management and for selected security operations tasks are specified, a security management architecture for security frameworks is designed, process-related interfaces based on ISO/IEC 27001 and ITIL v3 are elaborated, and the application of security metrics to quantitatively assess security frameworks is demonstrated. The practical application of the proposed innovative methods requires several dedicated management tools, which are devised in detail, implemented as prototypes or as simulations, exemplified, and evaluated. An extensive usage example demonstrates the practical application of multiple security frameworks in parallel based on the specified concepts and tools. Finally, all achieved results are critically assessed and an outlook to further research as well as open issues in related disciplines is given

Constructing an EMF radiation Hygeia framework and model to demonstrate a public interest override

Scientific views on EMF radiation dosimetry and models increasingly suggest that even a tiny increase in the incidence of diseases resulting from exposure to EMF radiation could have broad¹ implications for public health, social accounting and the economy. In South Africa (SA) there is no national EMF radiation exposure protection standard, statutory monitoring or regulations. Multinational High Court deliberations indicate the need for public interest EMF radiation exposure protection standards in South Africa. Domestic citizens, academics, as well as regulatory and legislative practitioners, are unable to effectively monitor and investigate EMF radiation exposure emissions from infrastructure sources, because industries refuse to provide the required data. Industries have, since 2003, continually obstructed access to the data and the establishment of a national EMF radiation standard, citing that it would be in conflict with their strategic economic interests. The demonstration of a public interest override (PIO) function is legislatively required to gain access to the required data. This study constructed (1) a framework and (2) a model to perform test simulations against the (3) PIO criteria to demonstrate a PIO function and tested one PIO simulation scenario. Testing the PIO scenario firstly required the construction of a public interest framework, drawing input from multiple disciplines. The framework literature review used systematic case law and scientific-technical analysis whilst the framework science sought to understand the connections, feedbacks, and trajectories that occur as a result of natural and human system processes and exchanges. The EMF radiation exposure system functions to support human wellbeing needs and to explore the benefits and losses associated with alternative futures with the goal to uncover the current and future limits thereof. In the second instance a HYGEIA² model was selected as a base investigation and forecast simulation tool. The study had to uncover the key attributes and parameters necessary to construct and to run successful EMF radiation exposure simulations. Thereafter the HYGEIA model was modified to specifically identify and evaluate EMF radiation exposure hazard conditions. Through subsequent simulation runs, the constructed framework was then tested. Requested anthroposphere information was synthesized within a systems model to forecast ecosystem services and human-use dynamics under alternative scenarios. The simulation used the model, the model references and the framework for guidelines, thus allowing multiple simulation / demonstration runs for different contexts or scenarios. The third step was the construction of a PIO checklist which guides criteria testing and provides a means of gaining pertinent information for further studies, based on this dissertation. Framework EMF radiation policy inputs into the model were intersected with identified vulnerable area facilities which were selected based on international criteria. The research output revealed potential EMF radiation violations which served as system feedback inputs in support of a demonstrated PIO function. The research recommends that the identified EMF radiation exposure violations of public health undergo a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) judicial review process to confirm the research findings. The judicial qualification of a PAIA PIO function of ‘substances released into the environment’ and ‘public safety or environmental risk’ would enable access to EMF radiation emissions data essential to future studies

An Approach to Guide Users Towards Less Revealing Internet Browsers

When browsing the Internet, HTTP headers enable both clients and servers send extra data in their requests or responses such as the User-Agent string. This string contains information related to the sender’s device, browser, and operating system. Previous research has shown that there are numerous privacy and security risks result from exposing sensitive information in the User-Agent string. For example, it enables device and browser fingerprinting and user tracking and identification. Our large analysis of thousands of User-Agent strings shows that browsers differ tremendously in the amount of information they include in their User-Agent strings. As such, our work aims at guiding users towards using less exposing browsers. In doing so, we propose to assign an exposure score to browsers based on the information they expose and vulnerability records. Thus, our contribution in this work is as follows: first, provide a full implementation that is ready to be deployed and used by users. Second, conduct a user study to identify the effectiveness and limitations of our proposed approach. Our implementation is based on using more than 52 thousand unique browsers. Our performance and validation analysis show that our solution is accurate and efficient. The source code and data set are publicly available and the solution has been deployed