Ogcio Security Risk Assessment & Audit

The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES [G51]

Version : 4.0
December 2009
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
2009 by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Unless otherwise indicated, the copyright in the works contained in this publication is owned by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. You may generally copy and distribute these materials in any format or medium provided the following conditions are met (a) the particular item has not been specifically indicated to be excluded and is therefore not to be copied or distributed; (b) the copying is not done for the purpose of creating copies for sale; (c) the materials must be reproduced accurately and must not be used in a misleading context; and (d) the copies shall be accompanied by the words copied/distributed with the permission of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. All rights reserved. If you wish to make copies for purposes other than that permitted above, you should seek permission by contacting the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer.
SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES
CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. 2. 2.1 3. 4. 4.1 4.2 5. 5.1 5.2
PURPOSE................................................................................................................................ 1-1 SCOPE ..................................................................................................................................... 2-1 IT Security Document Overview ............................................................................................. 2-2 REFERENCE .......................................................................................................................... 3-1 DEFINITIONS AND CONVENTIONS .................................................................................. 4-1 Definitions ............................................................................................................................... 4-1 Conventions ............................................................................................................................. 4-1 OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT ............................................................... 5-1 Overview of IT Security Management .................................................................................... 5-1 Security Risk Assessment Vs Security Audit .......................................................................... 5-2 5.2.1 What A Security Risk Assessment Is ........................................................................ 5-2 5.2.2 What A Security Audit Is .......................................................................................... 5-3 SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT ......................................................................................... 6-1 Benefits of Security Risk Assessment ..................................................................................... 6-1 Security Risk Assessment Frequency & Type ......................................................................... 6-1 6.2.1 Security Risk Assessment Frequency ........................................................................ 6-1 6.2.2 Security Risk Assessment Type ................................................................................ 6-1 Security Risk Assessment STEPS ........................................................................................... 6-2 6.3.1 Planning ..................................................................................................................... 6-2 6.3.1.1 Project Scope and Objectives ..................................................................... 6-3 6.3.1.2 Background Information ............................................................................ 6-3 6.3.1.3 Constraints ................................................................................................. 6-3 6.3.1.4 Roles and Responsibilities of Different Parties ......................................... 6-3 6.3.1.5 Approach & Methodology ......................................................................... 6-4 6.3.1.6 Project Size & Schedule ............................................................................. 6-4 6.3.1.7 Data & Tools Protection ............................................................................ 6-4 6.3.2 Information Gathering ............................................................................................... 6-5 6.3.2.1 General Control Review............................................................................. 6-5 6.3.2.2 System Review ........................................................................................... 6-7 6.3.2.3 Vulnerability Identification ........................................................................ 6-7 6.3.3 Risk Analysis ........................................................................................................... 6-10 6.3.3.1 Asset Identification & Valuation ............................................................. 6-10 6.3.3.2 Threat Analysis ........................................................................................ 6-11 6.3.3.3 Vulnerability Analysis.............................................................................. 6-12 6.3.3.4 Assets/Threats/Vulnerabilities Mapping .................................................. 6-13 6.3.3.5 Impact & Likelihood Assessment ............................................................ 6-13 6.3.3.6 Risk Results Analysis............................................................................... 6-14 6.3.4 Identifying & Selecting Safeguards ......................................................................... 6-16 6.3.4.1 Common Types of Safeguards ................................................................. 6-17
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6. 6.1 6.2
6.3
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CONTENTS
6.4 6.5 7. 7.1
6.3.4.2 Major Steps of Identifying & Selecting Safeguards ................................. 6-17 6.3.5 Monitoring & Implementation ................................................................................ 6-18 Common Security Risk Assessment Tasks ........................................................................... 6-18 Deliverables ........................................................................................................................... 6-19 SECURITY AUDIT ................................................................................................................ 7-1 Audit Frequency & Timing...................................................................................................... 7-1 7.1.1 Audit Frequency ........................................................................................................ 7-1 7.1.2 Audit Timing ............................................................................................................. 7-1 Auditing Tools ......................................................................................................................... 7-2 Auditing Steps ......................................................................................................................... 7-2 7.3.1 Planning ..................................................................................................................... 7-3 7.3.1.1 Project Scope and Objectives ..................................................................... 7-3 7.3.1.2 Constraints ................................................................................................. 7-4 7.3.1.3 Roles and Responsibilities ......................................................................... 7-4 7.3.2 Collecting Audit Data ................................................................................................ 7-5 7.3.3 Performing Audit Tests ............................................................................................. 7-6 7.3.4 Reporting for Audit Results ...................................................................................... 7-6 7.3.5 Protecting Audit Data & Tools .................................................................................. 7-6 7.3.6 Making Enhancements & Follow-up......................................................................... 7-7 SERVICE PREREQUISITES & COMMON ACTIVITIES ................................................... 8-1 Assumptions & Limitations ..................................................................................................... 8-1 Client Responsibilities ............................................................................................................. 8-1 Service Prerequisites................................................................................................................ 8-1 Responsibilities of Security Auditors ...................................................................................... 8-2 Examples of Common Activities............................................................................................. 8-2 SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT FOLLOW-UP ................................................ 9-1 Importance of Follow-up ......................................................................................................... 9-1 Effective & Qualified Recommendations ................................................................................ 9-1 Commitment ............................................................................................................................ 9-2 9.3.1 Security Auditors ....................................................................................................... 9-2 9.3.2 Staff ........................................................................................................................... 9-2 9.3.3 Management .............................................................................................................. 9-2 Monitoring and Follow-up....................................................................................................... 9-3 9.4.1 Set Up Monitoring & Follow-up System .................................................................. 9-3 9.4.2 Identify Recommendations & Develop Follow-up Plans .......................................... 9-3 9.4.3 Perform Active Monitoring & Reporting .................................................................. 9-3 9.4.3.1 Progress & Status of Actions ..................................................................... 9-3 9.4.3.2 Follow-Up Actions ..................................................................................... 9-4
7.2 7.3
8. 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 9. 9.1 9.2 9.3
9.4
APPENDIX A - SAMPLE LIST OF QUESTIONS FOR SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT ........................... A-1 B - SAMPLE CONTENTS OF DELIVERABLES ......................................................................... B-1 C - DIFFERENT TYPES OF SECURITY AUDIT ......................................................................... C-1 D - SAMPLE AUDIT CHECKLIST................................................................................................ D-1
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PURPOSE
1.
PURPOSE
Information Technology (IT) security risk assessment and security audit are the major components of IT security management. This document is not intended to cover all elements of IT security management. Instead, it gives an introduction to a generic model for IT security risk assessment and security audit. With the introduction of this model, managerial users, IT managers, system administrators and other technical and operational staff can have more understanding about security risk assessment and audit. They should be able to understand what preparations are required, which areas should be noted, and what results would be obtained. It is not the intention of this document to focus on how to conduct a security risk assessment or audit. Rather, it provides a reference model to facilitate the alignment on the coverage, methodology, and deliverables of the services to be provided by independent security consultants or auditors.
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SCOPE
2.
SCOPE
This document shows a general framework for IT security risk assessment and security audit. It includes the following areas: Overview of IT Security Management Security Risk Assessment Security Audit Services Prerequisites & Common Activities Security Risk Assessment & Audit Follow-up
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SCOPE
2.1
IT SECURITY DOCUMENT OVERVIEW

The following diagram describes the relationship of various IT security documents within the Government:
IT Security Documents
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SCOPE
The purpose and overview of the five core IT security documents are described below: Baseline IT Security Policy : (S17) A top-level directive statement that sets the minimum standards of a security specification for all bureaux / departments (B/Ds). It states what aspects are of paramount importance to a B/D. Thus, the Baseline IT Security Policy can be treated as basic rules which must be observed as mandatory while there can still be other desirable measures to enhance the security. Introduces general concepts relating to Information Technology Security and elaborates interpretations on the Baseline IT Security Policy. It also provides readers some guidelines and considerations in defining security requirements. Acts as a supplementary document to IT Security Guidelines to provide general guidelines on Internet gateway security. These guidelines represent what are regarded as best practices to maintain security risks at an acceptable level under the Internet open platform. It is intended for staff who are involved in the operational and technical functions of Internet gateway services. Acts as a supplementary document to IT Security Guidelines to give an introduction to a generic model for IT security risk assessment and security audit. This document does not focus on how to conduct a security risk assessment or audit. Rather, it provides a reference model to facilitate the alignment on the coverage, methodology, and deliverables of the services to be provided by independent security consultants or auditors. Acts as a supplementary document to IT Security Guidelines to provide a reference for the management, administration and other technical and operational staff to facilitate the development of security incident handling plan, and to be used for preparation for, detection of, and responding to information security incidents.
IT Security Guidelines : (G3)
Internet Gateway Security Guidelines : (G50)
Security Risk Assessment & Audit Guidelines : (G51)
Information Security Incident Handling Guidelines : (G54)
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REFERENCE
3.
REFERENCE
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Draft Australian/New Zealand Standard for Comment Information Security Management Part 1 : General, 1 January, 1999 Guide to Risk Assessment & Safeguard Selection from Communications Security Establishment, Government of Canada , 1996 Guide to Security Risk Management from Communications Security Establishment, Government of Canada, 1996 Federal Information System Controls Audit Manual (Volume I Financial Statement Audits), USA General Accounting Office Executive Guide - Information Security Management May 1998, USA General Accounting Office Handbook of Information Security Management by Micki Krause, Harold F. Tipton ISBN: 0849399475 A systems approach to information security risk management by Frederick G. Tompkins. Information Security Management BS7799 Part 1 Code of practice for information security management systems, Feb 1998 Computer Assurance Guidelines, Department of Trade and Industry, UK , Feb 1997. Request for Comments (RFC) No. 2196 Site Security Handbook Sept. 1997 ISO 7498-2, "Information Processing System Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model Part 2 : Security Architecture", February 15, 1989 How to Get Action on Audit Recommendations, July 1991, USA General Accounting Office. ISO17799:2005, Information Technology - Security Techniques - Code of Practice for Information Security Management OWASP Guide to Building Secure Web Applications, Open Web Application Security Project (http://www.owasp.org/) Guide to Securing Legacy IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networks, NIST Special Publication 800-48 Revision 1, (http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-48rev1/SP800-48r1.pdf) Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems, NIST Special Publication 800-30 (http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-30/sp800-30.pdf)
15.
16.
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DEFINITIONS AND CONVENTIONS
4. 4.1
DEFINITIONS AND CONVENTIONS DEFINITIONS

N/A
4.2
CONVENTIONS
N/A
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OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT
5. 5.1
OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT

IT security management involves a series of activities as shown in Figure 5.1. IT security management can be described as a cycle of iterative processes that require ongoing monitoring and control. Each process consists of different activities and some of which are highlighted below as examples.
Identify Threats, Vulnerabilities & Impacts
Assessing Security Risks
Periodic Review & Security Audit
Maintaining a Reviewing & Secure Improving Framework
Implementing & Maintaining a Secure Framework
Define Policies, Assign Security Responsibilities & Apply Safeguards
Monitoring & Assessing Security Risks Recording
Security Incident Handling & Record Keeping
FIGURE 5.1 AN ITERATIVE PROCESS OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT
Assessing security risk is the initial step to evaluate and identify risks and consequences associated with vulnerabilities, and to provide a basis for management to establish a costeffective security program. Based on the assessment results, appropriate security protection and safeguards should be implemented to maintain a secure protection framework. This includes developing security policies and guidelines, assigning security responsibilities and implementing technical security protections. This step is then followed by a cyclic compliance reviews and re-assessment to provide assurance that security controls are properly put into place to meet users' security requirements, and to cope with the rapid technological and environmental changes. This model relies on continuous feedback and monitoring. The review can be done by conducting periodic security audits to identify what enhancements are necessary. As examples, listed below are some good practices of work that may help to understand what kind of activities would be involved in IT security management.
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Conduct periodic security risk assessment and re-assessment, or in between periods whenever deemed necessary Clearly define and implement security policies, standards, guidelines and procedures; and revise them after each assessment as necessary Define and assign security responsibilities to involved parties Define and implement appropriate security measures, perimeter controls and architecture Keep in pace with security technologies and market trends Promote security awareness to foster staff commitment Provide security skills and training for staff Maintain a security incident handling and reporting procedure Monitor and review the security practices and strategies on an on-going basis Perform periodic security audits to evaluate the existing security measures
5.2
SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT VS SECURITY AUDIT

As shown in Figure 5.1, Security Risk Assessment and Security Audit are different in terms of the nature and functions in the IT security management cycle. A Security Risk Assessment is conducted at the very beginning to identify what security measures are required and when there is a change to the information asset or its environment, while a Security Audit is a repetitive checking process to ensure that these security measures are properly implemented from time to time. Thus, a Security Audit is usually performed more frequently than a Security Risk Assessment.
5.2.1
What A Security Risk Assessment Is

Security Risk Assessment can be defined as a process of evaluating security risks, which are related to the use of information technology. It can be used as a baseline for showing the amount of change since the last assessment, and how much more changes are required in order to meet the security requirements. The assessment process of a system includes the identification and analysis of: all assets of and processes related to the system threats that could affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the system system vulnerabilities to the threats potential impacts and risks from the threat activity protection requirements to control the risks selection of appropriate security measures and analysis of the risk relationships
To obtain useful and more accurate analysis results, a complete inventory list and security requirements for a system shall be made available as inputs to the identification and analysis activities. Interviews with relevant parties such as administrators, computer / network operators, or users can also provide additional information for the analysis. The analysis may also involve the use of automated security assessment tools depending on the assessment scope, requirements and methodology. After evaluation of all collected
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information, a list of observed risk findings will be reported. For each of the observed risks, appropriate security measures will be determined, implemented and deployed. Due to the high demand of expert knowledge and experiences in analysing the collected information and justifying security measures, a security risk assessment should be performed by qualified security expert(s).
5.2.2
What A Security Audit Is

As shown in Figure 5.1, Security Audit is a process or event with the security policy or standards as a basis to determine the overall state of the existing protection and to verify whether the existing protection has been performed properly. It targets at finding out whether the current environment is securely protected in accordance with the defined security policy. A security audit will require an inventory list and audit checklists, which may cover different areas such as web application, network architecture, wireless network, etc. Appendix C provides a sample checklist for security audit on some common areas. It may also involve the use of security audit tools and may apply different review techniques in order to reveal the security loopholes. Hence, it often requires extensive technical support. After the audit process, a status report will be prepared to highlight the conformance and gaps existed between the current protection and the requirements specified in the security policies. To maintain the independence of the audit results, security audits should be performed by an independent and trusted third party.
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SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT
6. 6.1
SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT BENEFITS OF SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT

To provide a complete and systematic view to management on existing IT security risk and on the necessary security safeguards To provide a reasonably objective approach for IT security expenditure budgeting and cost estimation To enable a strategic approach to IT security management by providing alternative solutions for decision making and consideration To provide a basis for future comparisons of changes made in IT security measures
6.2 6.2.1
SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT FREQUENCY & TYPE Security Risk Assessment Frequency
Security risk assessment is an on-going activity. It should be conducted at least once every two years to explore the risks in the information systems. A security risk assessment can only give a snapshot of the risks of the information systems at a particular time. For mission-critical information system, it is recommended to conduct a security risk assessment more frequently.
6.2.2
Security Risk Assessment Type

Depending on the purpose and the scope of the assessment, security risk assessment can be categorised into different types. The exact timing depends on your system requirements and resources. (i) High-level Assessment: This assessment emphasises on the analysis of overall infrastructure or design of a system in a more strategic and systematic approach. In such assessment, B/Ds with many information systems are looking for a high-level risk analysis of their information systems rather than a detailed and technical control review. It can also be applied for system at design phase to identify risks before implementation; (ii) Comprehensive Assessment: This assessment is typically conducted periodically for the security assurance of all information systems or selected information systems of a B/D. It can be used to evaluate the risks of a particular system or systems in a B/D and to provide recommendations for improvement. General control review, system review, and vulnerability identification will be conducted during the information gathering stage. A security audit will usually be followed to ensure all recommended remedies are properly implemented; (iii) Pre-production Assessment: Similar to the works performed in a Comprehensive Assessment, this assessment is commonly conducted on a new information system before it is rolled out or after there is a major functional change. In addition, it is
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suggested that a security audit should be conducted to ensure that all recommended remedies are properly implemented before the information system is rolled out.
6.3
SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT STEPS

Security Risk Assessment involves several major activities as shown in Figure 6.1. They are: Planning, Information Gathering, Risk Analysis, Identifying & Selecting Safeguards and Monitoring & Implementation.
1. Planning
2. Information Gathering
Assets Identification & Valuation
Threat Analysis
Vulnerability Analysis
3. Risk Analysis
Assets/Threats/Vuln erability Mapping
Impact & Likelihood Assessment
4. Identifying & Selecting Safeguards
Risk Results Analysis
5. Monitoring & Implementation
FIGURE 6.1 GENERAL SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT STEPS
6.3.1
Planning
Before a security risk assessment can start, planning is required for proper preparation, monitor and control. Listed below are several major items that should be defined first. Project Scope and Objectives Background Information Constraints Roles & Responsibilities of Different Involved Parties
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Approach & Methodology Project Size & Schedule Data & Tools Protection
6.3.1.1 Project Scope and Objectives

The project scope and objectives can influence the style of analysis and types of deliverables from the security risk assessment. The scope of a security risk assessment may cover the connection of the internal network with the Internet, the security protection for a computer centre, or even the information security of the whole department. Thus, the corresponding objectives may want to identify the security requirements such as protection when connecting to the Internet, to identify potentially risky areas in a computer room, or to assess the overall information security level of a department. The security requirements should be based on business needs, which are typically driven by the senior management, to identify the desired level of security protection in the B/D. Exceed or conform to the departmental and Governmental IT security requirements and regulations can also be considered as one of the security requirements.
6.3.1.2 Background Information

This refers to any relevant information that can provide initial ideas to the consultant about the assessment. For example, the historical and current information of the system under study, the related parties, brief information about the last assessment if any, or the near future changes which may affect the assessment.
6.3.1.3 Constraints
Constraints like time, budget, cost, technology and other restrictions should also be considered. This may affect the project schedule and the available resources to support the assessment. For example, it may be necessary to perform the assessment at non-peak office hours or even at non-office hours.
6.3.1.4 Roles and Responsibilities of Different Parties

Roles and responsibilities of all parties involved should be carefully defined. A team or group of individuals representing a variety of disciplines with assigned responsibilities is recommended to best accomplish the assessment. Depending on the availability and requirements, some or all of the following members may be included:
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System or information owners IT Security Officers Computer operational staff System or network administrators Application or system developers Database administrators
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Users or Senior Users Senior Management Outside contractors
6.3.1.5 Approach & Methodology

The assessment approach or methodology analyses the relationships among assets, threats, vulnerabilities and other elements. In general, there are numerous methodologies. But they can be generally classified into two main types: quantitative and qualitative analysis. To be more useful, the methodology chosen should be able to produce a quantitative statement about the impact of the risk and the effect of the security problems, together with some qualitative statements describing the impact and appropriate security measures for minimising these risks. Details of the two analysis methods will be explained in subsequent sections.
6.3.1.6 Project Size & Schedule

One of the most important tasks is to prepare a project schedule stating all major activities that would be performed in the assessment study. The planned project size such as project cost and the number of staff involved can directly affect the project schedule. This project schedule can be used for progress control and project monitoring.
6.3.1.7 Data & Tools Protection

Throughout stages of the security risk assessment, a tremendous amount of data and system configurations will be collected where some of them may contain sensitive information. Therefore, the assessment team should ensure all the collected data are stored securely. File encryption tools and lockable cabinet/room should be arranged at the planning stage to prevent unauthorised access to the sensitive data. Besides, the assessment tools should also be properly maintained, controlled and monitored to avoid misuse. Such tools should only be run by the subject experts within the assessment team to avoid potential damages to the system. These tools should also be removed immediately after use unless there is proper control to protect them from unauthorised access. At the end of the assessment process, a security risk assessment report will be compiled to document all the risk findings. Any unauthorised access to such information, especially before rectification, may pose immediate threats to the B/D concerned. Hence, it is crucial that the assessment team enforces proper protection on the security risk assessment report during and after the documentation process. Senior management should also be reminded to treat the security risk assessment report in strict confidence. Lastly, the assessment team should also return all requested data or documents to the B/D concerned.
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6.3.2
Information Gathering
The objective is to understand the existing system and environment and identify the risks through analysis of the information / data collected. By default, all relevant information should be collected irrespective of storage format. Listed below are several kinds of information that are often collected. Security requirements and objectives System or network architecture and infrastructure, such as a network diagram showing how the assets are configured and interconnected Information available to the public or found in the web pages Physical assets such as hardware equipment Systems such as operating systems, network management systems Contents such as databases and files Applications and servers information Network such as supported protocols and network services offered Access controls Processes such as business process, computer operation process, network operation process, application operation process, etc. Identification and authentication mechanisms Government laws and regulations pertaining to minimum security control requirements Documented or informal policies and guidelines
In general, there are three common types of information collection methods: General control review System review Vulnerability identification
6.3.2.1 General Control Review

This method is to identify threats arisen from the existing general security processes by examining the systems manually through interviews, site visits, documentation review, and observation etc. This may include, but is not limited to, the following items:
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Physical security Information security incident response and handling documentation Change management control Access control such as user ID and passwords, access privileges etc. Security awareness training Staff roles and responsibilities
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Security policy, standards, guidelines and procedures
Security assessment team may check and evaluate the above areas to determine whether these processes or measures are not merely stated, but also implemented properly in accordance with those stated in policy and guidelines. Access to computer resources must be restricted to authorised persons with restricted privileges granted. An inventory list of all identified computer resources may be produced. The following methods can be considered in collecting the information : Site Visit: visit to the data centre, computer rooms, and office environment should be arranged to identify physical security risks. In addition, assessment team should record down on-site observations about system operations and end user behaviours (e.g. the use of password-protected screensaver) in order to verify if relevant security policies are followed accordingly. Group Discussion: group discussions or workshops can be facilitated by the assessment team to gather information about the existing security environment (controls and risks) of the B/D or information systems. The discussion can have any format and topic, depending on the target information to be gathered. Multi-level Interviews: on-site interviews with key persons or representatives at different levels may also be conducted to verify previously obtained information, and to improve the accuracy and completeness of the collected information. For example, multi-level interviews may involve different categories of staff such as: Senior management: who decides strategies such as scope and objective of the assessment Line management: who needs to understand the main business processes and procedures that would be affected by the strategic security changes Human resources personnel: who need to identify specific controls for hiring, terminations and transfers of staff related to systems security and usage rights Operational and technical personnel: who provide technical and operational information
Questionnaires and Checklists: simple and effective tool to determine if a common set of security requirements or standards are met. Questionnaires can be customised and developed by the security consultants to tailor for the environment. A PC/LAN questionnaire and a site survey questionnaire are two examples.
For a high-level assessment or a design-phase assessment, the use of site visit and questionnaires methods may not be applicable or feasible. Hence, security assessment teams should focus information collection from activities such as group discussion and multi-level interviews. Appendix A shows a list of general questions for security risk assessment.
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6.3.2.2 System Review

This review is to identify any vulnerabilities and weaknesses of network or systems from internal point of access. It will focus on operating system, administration and monitoring tools in different platforms. Examples are: System files or logs Running processes Access control files User listing Configuration settings Security patch level Encryption or authentication tools Network management tools Logging or intrusion detection tools
Assessment team should also spot if there is any abnormal activity such as intrusion attempt. Furthermore, system configurations and network settings should be checked against the departmental information security documents (e.g. system hardening standards) or checklist, if any, to identify any difference from the expected settings. Any deviation from the standard will not only lessen the overall security level of the environment, but also imply an incompliance issue or unauthorised modification on the setting. To collectively gather the above information more efficiently and comprehensively, automated scripts and/or tools can be tailored to run on the target host to extract specific information about the system. Such information will be useful in the later stage of risk analysis.
6.3.2.3 Vulnerability Identification

This method will concentrate on identifying vulnerabilities, with the assistance of automated tools or programs, over the network using one of the following methods: (i) Vulnerability Scanning (ii) Penetration Testing These methods are described in details below: (i) Vulnerability Scanning Assessment team can perform vulnerability scans, using an automated vulnerability scanning tool, to quickly identify known vulnerabilities on the target hosts or network devices. Similar to an anti-virus software, scanning tools are installed on assessment
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teams computer and require regular updating on the vulnerability signature files before use. Based on user requirements, a single or group of hosts/networks will be scanned for known vulnerable services (e.g. system allows anonymous File Transfer Protocol [FTP], sendmail relaying) to identify existence of any vulnerability. Since a large amount of system requests will be generated from the automated vulnerability scanning tool, the system and network performance of the target groups for scanning may be slightly impacted during the vulnerability scanning process. The system and network administrators should devise a plan with the assessment team to minimise possible service interruption during the vulnerability scanning. Furthermore, it should be noted that some of the potential vulnerabilities identified by the automated scanning tool may not represent real vulnerabilities in the context of the system environment. For example, some of the vulnerabilities flagged by the automated scanning software may actually not vulnerable as the system may have been intentionally configured to suit the specific system needs or there may already be compensating control in place. Thus, this test method may produce false positives and require professional judgment by the assessment team to determine the validity of the identified vulnerability. Network vulnerability scanning is a good method to collect vulnerability information within a short period of time. In contrast to penetration testing, network vulnerability scanning is non-intrusive and does not attempt to exploit the identified vulnerability. Therefore, a penetration testing may be adopted if a more in-depth security analysis is required. (ii) Penetration Testing Penetration testing can be performed internally or externally. It uses automated tools, which may be installed on a notebook computer, to scan the network or system to create a complete map of connected workstations and servers, and to identify vulnerabilities from either inside or outside the network and system under study by attempting to penetrate them. Penetration testing may also involve user interviews and the use of different hacking techniques to test the system or network. The level of details and types of hacking have to be thoroughly planned and agreed before proceeding. Hacking may stop after gaining access to a particular system, or after further in-depth analysis for the system being penetrated. Advice from vendor or security assessment team should be sought before deciding to perform hacking or not. Legal matters should be settled beforehand when dealing with external ethical hacking. The objectives of the penetration testing are: To identify security weaknesses by testing system's ability to withstand intentional attempts To provide additional assurance for networks and systems requiring high degrees of availability, integrity, and confidentiality
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Typical steps of a penetration testing are depicted in the diagram below:

Defining Scope & Objectives of Penetration Testing
Planning
Performing Tests
Reporting for Results & Recommendations
B/Ds shall pay special attention to penetration testing because the tests may bring impacts to the systems similar to real-world attacks, such as service disruption, unauthorised access or unauthorised data modification, etc. Thus, before conducting a penetration testing, B/Ds should consider the following security concerns: The scope and objectives must be clearly defined; machines / systems outside the scope shall never be tested; The vendor should discuss and agree with owner on suitability and impact of intrusive attacks and denial of service (DoS) attacks The vendor performing the penetration test shall sign a non-disclosure agreement to protect the privacy or confidentiality of the data in the system; Only acquire the service from vendors with good credibility and track record. Consider to conduct background checks and qualification checks on the vendors to see if they possess necessary experience and expertise; Latest full system backup of the target systems must be available because the penetration tests may impact the integrity of the data in target system; Clearly define the capture-the-flag situation, such as placing a file in a designated directory, acquiring the password of some testing accounts, accessing designated web pages which should have proper access control, etc. Production data shall never be modified or deleted; Provide contact list to vendor for emergency contact, such as system owner, IT administrators. The staff will be the contact points for the vendor to report any emergency situation arisen during the tests; Get the contact list of the vendor so that B/D can stop all tests promptly, if necessary; Inform and alert the security monitoring vendor prior to the penetration testing unless it is intended to assess the effectiveness of the monitoring capability of the vendor. Get in advance the source IP addresses of the machines going to perform the testing so that it could be determined if an attack is genuine by examining and comparing the intrusion detection/prevention system logs;
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Consider to arrange the penetration tests to be conducted at non-peak working hours; Ensure the vendor will not modify any user data even if the vendor can successfully access the user data.
Examples of Penetration Testing are: Remote Internet firewall penetration tests: Internet Protocol (IP) address probing, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) probing, protocol-based DoS attacks such as Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) flooding, Domain Name Service (DNS) spoofing, and service-based penetration tests such as sendmail, brute-force password attacks and mail bombs On-site firewall penetration tests: packet sniffing, IP address spoofing, sourcerouted packets and session hijacking Telephony penetration tests: brute-force password attacks and war-diallers
Tight access control on these automated tools must be implemented to limit any unauthorised access and usage. As these tools are able to launch simulated attacks such as DoS attacks to your system or network, they should be closely monitored by the security assessment team and the system administrators when being used.
6.3.3
Risk Analysis
Risk Analysis helps to determine the value of the assets and their associated risks. In general, this process can be divided into several sub-processes as shown in Figure 6.1 above. They are: Asset Identification & Valuation Threat Analysis Vulnerability Analysis Asset/Threat/Vulnerability Mapping Impact & Likelihood Assessment Risk Results Analysis
Each of these sub-processes is explained briefly in later sub-sections. Furthermore, B/Ds can refer to the assurance model in Risk Assessment Reference Framework for Electronic Authentication in analysing the risks relating to registration and authentication process of the electronic service, including Government-to-citizen (G2C) and Government-to-employee (G2E) applications.
6.3.3.1 Asset Identification & Valuation

All assets included within the scope of security risk assessment, both tangible and intangible, such as information, services, reputation, hardware and software,
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communications, interfaces, physical assets, supporting utilities, personnel and access control measures must be identified. Data classification is a key input to the assessment process and each asset can be classified into different categories. For example, an asset can be grouped under a process, an application, a physical asset, a network or a certain kind of information. The purpose is to show the importance of these assets to the systems or areas under assessment. It should be noted that the asset valuation approach will be different and will depend on the analysis method adopted. The risk analysis methods are explained in section 6.3.3.6 Risk Results Analysis. Values of assets can be expressed in terms of: Tangible values such as replacement costs of IT facilities, hardware, media, supplies, documentation, and IT staff supporting the systems Intangible values such as goodwill and replacement costs of data Information values e.g. confidentiality, integrity and availability Data classification of the information stored, processed, or transmitted by the asset
. The output of asset identification & valuation process is an inventory checklist of assets with their corresponding values, if any, in terms of their tangible values, intangible values, or information values in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability. The more specific values the assets are needed, the more time is required to complete this process. The output checklist may include the following items, but is not limited to: Name and type of the information assets Physical location of the assets Storage media and retention period before information stored/processed is destroyed Nature of information stored/processed such as backup or original copy Indicator showing the importance/values of the assets such as the sensitivity levels, operation needs or criticality Incoming/Outgoing information flow such as information transmission mode via email, dial-up modems or other telecommunications Software installed Development and maintenance costs Values of each identified assets
6.3.3.2 Threat Analysis

A threat is any event or action that has the potential to harm a system or an asset affecting its normal use and operation, in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability. Threat analysis may need to be occasionally revised to reflect any new potential threats to the information asset. Examples of sources of threats are:
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Human errors Disgruntled employees Malicious or careless personnel Misuse of systems and computer resources Computer fraud Theft Industrial espionage Environmental disasters
Threat Analysis is to identify the threats and to determine the likelihood of their occurrence and their potential to harm systems or assets. System error or control logs can be a good source of data, which can be converted into threat event information and statistics. Threats can be categorised into 3 main types: Social threats: directly related to human factors, can be intentional or unintentional, such as human errors, results of omission or negligence, theft, fraud, misuse, damage, destruction, disclosure and modification of data Technical threats: caused by technical problems such as wrong processes, design flaws, breakage of communication paths like cabling Environmental threats: caused by environmental disasters such as fire, water damage, power supply, earthquake
6.3.3.3 Vulnerability Analysis

Vulnerability is a weakness in operational, technical and other security controls and procedures that could be exploited by a threat, allowing assets to be compromised. Examples are the interception of data transmission and the unauthorised access of information by third parties. Vulnerability Analysis is to identify and analyse the vulnerabilities of the system and environment. It is important to systematically measure these vulnerabilities. In general, the vulnerability of a system should be measured at least in terms of: its accessibility and its number of authorised users
The accessibility of a system can be affected by many factors such as physical access control, system configuration, network type, network topology and network interfaces. The system with Internet connection is more vulnerable than an internal system. Also, the former one may have a large number of authorised users (i.e. the public) than the latter internal system, which has limited number of users. A system with one user is clearly less vulnerable than a system with several hundreds or thousands of users. As more people can gain access to the system, it is more difficult to ensure that each individual user performs only those functions he or she is permitted to do.
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Each factor can be assigned with a level or degree (e.g. high, medium, low) to indicate its importance. Key and critical assets must first be identified.
6.3.3.4 Assets/Threats/Vulnerabilities Mapping

Mapping threats to assets and to vulnerabilities can help to identify their possible combinations. Each threat can be associated with a specific vulnerability, or even multiple vulnerabilities. Unless a threat can exploit a vulnerability, it would not be a risk to an asset. The range of all possible combinations should be reduced prior to performing risk results analysis. Some combinations may not make sense or are not feasible. This interrelationship of assets, threats and vulnerabilities is critical to the analysis of security risks. But factors like project scope, budget and constraints may also affect the levels and magnitude of mappings.
6.3.3.5 Impact & Likelihood Assessment

Given the assets, threats and vulnerabilities, it is now possible to identify the impact and likelihood. (a) Impact Assessment Impact Assessment, (or Impact Analysis or Consequence Assessment) is to estimate the degree of the overall harm or loss that could occur. Examples of impact are on revenues, profits, cost, service levels and government's reputation. It is necessary to consider about the level of risk that could be tolerated and how, what and when the assets could be affected by such risks. The more severe the consequences of a threat, the higher the risk. (b) Likelihood Assessment Likelihood Assessment is to estimate the frequency of a threat happening, i.e. the probability of occurrence. It is necessary to observe the circumstances that will affect the likelihood of the risk occurring. Normally, the likelihood of threats increases with the number of authorised users. The likelihood can be expressed in terms of the frequency of occurrence such as once in a day, once in a month and once in a year. The greater the likelihood of a threat happening, the higher the risk. For example, if there had been a well-known vulnerability in application software, the likelihood of an intentional social threat exploiting this vulnerability is high. If the systems affected is very critical, then the impact is also very high. As a result, the risk of this threat is high. For each identified risk, determine its impact and likelihood to give an overall estimated level of risk. Assumptions should be clearly defined when making the estimation.
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6.3.3.6 Risk Results Analysis

Risk results can be analysed using different methods and ways: Qualitative & Quantitative Methods and Matrix Approach. (a) Qualitative & Quantitative Methods Qualitative method is to use descriptive, word scales or rankings of significance/severity based on experience and judgement. Examples are past experience, market research, industry practice and standards, surveys, interviews and specialists/experts judgements. This method requires a subjective assignment of categories e.g. levelling using high, medium or low, ordinal ranking from 1 to 5, or degree of importance from least to most significant etc. Qualitative measure is more subjective in nature. For instance, the value of an asset can be expressed in terms of degree of importance e.g. least significant, significant and most significant. Quantitative method is to use numerical information to arrive at percentages or numerical values. An example is the cost/benefit analysis. But this method requires more time and resources than the qualitative method, as every possible element (i.e. asset, threat or vulnerability) has to be categorised and considered. For example, the value of an asset can also be expressed in terms of monetary value such as the purchase costs or maintenance costs. Threat frequency can be expressed in terms of rate of occurrence e.g. once a month or once every year. Normally, a qualitative method is used for initial screening while a quantitative method is used for more detailed and specific analysis on some critical elements and for further analysis on high-risk areas. (b) Matrix Approach A matrix approach can be used to document and estimate the three major needs of security protection: confidentiality, integrity and availability in three different levels of severity (high, medium, low). The risk level can be ranked based on the criticality of each risk elements. Risk interpretation should better be limited to the most significant risks so as to reduce the overall effort and complexity. Table 6.2 shows a sample Risk Ranking Matrix of a particular threat on a particular function or asset. For the Impact and Likelihood columns, a value is assigned to each entry indicating the status (3-high, 2-medium and 1-low). As the risk level is the multiplication of the Impact's and the Likelihood 's values, it will thus has a value ranging from 1 to 9 (9 high, 4 & 6 medium, 1 to 3 - low) excluding 5, 7 and 8 since the multiple of the above two values (Impact's & Likelihood's) cannot be 5, 7 or 8. With this matrix, it is possible to classify each threat into one overall risk level.
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RISK CATEGORIES
IMPACT (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW)
LIKELIHOOD (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW)
Confidentiality Integrity Availability Overall
3 3 2 3
2 1 1 2
RISK LEVEL = IMPACT x LIKELIHOOD (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW) 6 3 2 6
Table 6.2 A Sample of Risk Ranking Matrix Remarks for Table 6.2: High Impact: Most significant: major loss and seriously damaging the organisation; severe, catastrophic, or serious long-term damage/disruption e.g. DoS; unauthorised access to system Medium Impact: Significant: medium loss which would be detrimental to the organisation; serious short-term, or limited long-term damage/disruption e.g. intruder may gather system critical information to gain unauthorised access or launch further attacks Low Impact: Least significant: low loss which would cause little or no damaging to the organisation; limited and short-term damage/disruption e.g. intruder may gain non-critical information for processing
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High Likelihood: Medium Likelihood: Low Likelihood:
Expected to occur in most circumstances Should occur occasionally Could occur at specific time or in exceptional circumstances A low tolerance to risk exposures, i.e. requiring the highest security protection A medium tolerance to risk exposures A high tolerance to risk exposures
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High Risk Level:
Medium Risk Level: Low Risk Level:
Overall Result
Equal to the highest security risk level i.e. 6
This matrix can be further extended by classifying sub-categories for risk exposures and with more weighted, numerical values for risk levels. Once the risk level is identified, a list of technical, operational and administrative requirements can be produced for each identified asset. This provides a basis for making decisions to accept, reduce, avoid or transfer the risk as risks cannot be completely removed. WHEN Consequences/likelihood are low Usability or other factors overweigh security It is a high risk and cannot be accepted. The risks are too high or too costly to be reduced and is unmanageable Another party is willing to accept the risk Another party has greater control over the risk Table 6.3 Options Accept risk Description To bear the liability
Reduce risk
Avoid risk
Transfer risk
To reduce the consequences or the likelihood, or both To use alternative means or not to proceed with the task that would cause the risk To shift the responsibility for the risk to other party either partially or fully
List of Risk Options
For any of the options selected, recommendations on how to proceed with the selected option have to be made to management. Besides, safeguards and security requirements have to be suggested if it is decided to reduce risk. Priority should then be given to each risk to indicate its significance and potential impact. Normally the higher the security risk level, the higher priority should be given. In other words, higher priority risks are usually unacceptable and require more attention from management.
6.3.4
Identifying & Selecting Safeguards

After reviewing the results of security risk assessment, safeguards may be identified and evaluated for their effectiveness. Security assessment team would recommend possible safeguards to reduce the likelihood and impact of identified threats and vulnerabilities to an acceptable level.
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6.3.4.1 Common Types of Safeguards

Safeguards can be quick fixes for problems found on existing system configurations or planned enhancements. Safeguards can be technical or procedural controls. In general, safeguards can be classified into 3 common types: Barriers: keep unauthorised parties completely away from accessing critical resources Hardening: make unauthorised parties difficult to gain access to critical resources Monitoring: help to detect and respond to an attack promptly and correctly
Examples of Safeguards: Develop/Enhance the departmental IT security policy, guidelines or procedures to ensure effective security Re-configure operating systems, network components and devices to cater for the weaknesses identified during the security assessment Implement password control procedures or authentication software to ensure strong passwords Implement encryption or authentication technology to protect data transmission Enhance physical security control protection mechanisms Develop security incident handling and reporting procedures Develop staff awareness and training programs to ensure compliance with security requirements
6.3.4.2 Major Steps of Identifying & Selecting Safeguards

The selection of appropriate security safeguards is not simple. It requires knowledge and technical skills on the system. The cost of managing risks needs to commensurate with the risk exposure. That is, the cost of reducing risk on a specific asset should not exceed the total value of that asset. Listed below are several major steps of identifying and selecting safeguards: Select appropriate safeguards for each targeted vulnerability Identify the costs associated with each safeguard such as the development, implementation and maintenance costs Match safeguard/vulnerability pairs to all threats i.e. develop a relationship between these measures and the threats Determine and quantify the impact of the safeguard i.e. the extent of risk that can be reduced after applying the selected safeguards
Different combinations of physical, managerial, procedural, operational and technical based safeguards may be required. An analysis may be required to determine the optimal combinations for different circumstances.
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A single safeguard may reduce risk for a number of threats. Several numbers of safeguards may act to reduce risk for only one threat. Hence, the integration of all safeguards shows the overall gross risk reduction benefit as a whole. The effects of using different safeguards should be tested before implementation. Hence, this selection process may need to be performed several times to see how the proposed changes affect the risk results. However, there are also other factors that have to be considered other than those identified in security risk assessment. For example, Organisational factors like department's goals and objectives Government law and regulations Cultural factors such as social custom, beliefs, working styles Quality requirements such as safety, reliability, system performance Time constraints Supporting services and functions Technical, procedural and operational requirements and controls Existing technology available in the market
6.3.5
Monitoring & Implementation

Risk assessment results should be properly documented. This enables the security risk assessment process to be audited. This also facilitates on-going monitoring and reviewing. Re-assessment should be conducted whenever necessary. It is essential to keep track of the changing environment and the changing priority of the identified risks and their impact. Security audit is one of the ways to review the implementation of security measures. Roles and responsibilities of related personnel such as operators, system developers, network administrators, information owners, security officers and users should be clearly defined, reviewed and assigned to support the safeguard selection and implementation. Management should commit resources and provide support to monitoring and controlling the implementation.
6.4
COMMON SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT TASKS

Listed below are some common tasks that will be performed in Security Risk Assessment. Please note that they are listed here for reference only. The actual tasks performed still depend on the assessment scope and user requirements. Identify business needs and changes to requirements that may affect overall IT and security direction
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Review adequacy of existing security policies, standards, guidelines and procedures Analyse assets, threats, vulnerabilities, their impacts and likelihood Assess physical protection applied to computing equipment and other network components Conduct technical and procedural review and analysis on the network architecture, protocols and components to ensure that they are implemented according to the security policies Review and check the configuration, implementation and usage of remote access systems, servers, firewalls, and external network connections, including the client Internet connection Review password and other authentication mechanisms Review current level of security awareness and commitment of staff within the organisation Review agreements involving services or products from vendors and contractors Develop practical technical recommendations to address the vulnerabilities identified, and to reduce the level of security risk
6.5
DELIVERABLES
At different stages of security assessment, there may be different deliverables. A table with a list of deliverables is shown below. Appendix B gives some examples of contents of these deliverables for reference. ITEM 1 TASKS Security Requirement Identification DELIVERABLES Security Requirement Report BRIEF DESCRIPTION A report which shows the user security requirements, with regard to identified assets, threats, vulnerabilities and their impacts. Security Assessment A report which shows the results Report of security assessment with identified assets, threats, vulnerabilities, impacts and recommendations for enhancement. New/Revised Security One or a set of security related Policy, Guidelines documents to control the and Procedures implementation of the security protection measures for areas under assessment.
Security Assessment
Review existing security policies, guidelines and procedures
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SECURITY AUDIT
7.
SECURITY AUDIT
Apart from security risk assessment, on-going reviews should be established to ensure that current security measures comply with security policies, standards and requirements. Security audit is one of these reviews. The major objectives of a security audit are to: Check for conformance to existing security policy, standards, guidelines and procedures Identify the inadequacies and examine the effectiveness of the existing policy, standards, guidelines and procedures Identify and understand the existing vulnerabilities Review existing security controls on operational, administrative and managerial issues, and ensure compliance to minimum security standards Provide recommendations and corrective actions for improvements
7.1 7.1.1
AUDIT FREQUENCY & TIMING Audit Frequency

Security audits should be conducted periodically to ensure compliance of security policy, guidelines, and procedures, and to determine the minimum set of controls required to reducing risk to an acceptable level. It should be noted that a security audit only gives a snapshot of the vulnerabilities revealed at a particular point in time. Security audit is an on-going activity, and is not an one-off event. In general, a security audit will be performed in two rounds. Both rounds are conducted in the same manner, but the second round acts as a verification process to ensure that all vulnerabilities discovered in the first round have been fixed and solved with regard to the recommendations provided in the first round audit report. Hence, the second round is usually run one or two months later after the desired enhancements have been implemented. You should be mindful that as vulnerabilities and threats change with time and environment. Hence, the longer the time gap between the two rounds of audit is, the less effective the second round would be.
7.1.2
Audit Timing
There are different situations when a security audit should be performed. The exact timing depends on your system requirements and resources. New Installation/Enhancement Audits: prior to implementation or major enhancements, in order to ensure conformance to existing policies and guidelines and meet the configuration standard
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SECURITY AUDIT
Regular Audits: conduct audits periodically either manually or automatically using tools in order to detect security loopholes or vulnerabilities e.g. at least once a year Random Audits: to perform random checks in order to reflect the actual practice Nightly or non-office hour audits: to reduce the auditing risks by performing during non-office hours or at night
7.2
AUDITING TOOLS
There are many automated tools, which can help to find vulnerabilities. The choice of auditing tools depends on the security needs and the workload impact of monitoring. For instance, some security scanning tools can check for any existing vulnerabilities on the network (network-based) or on specific hosts (host-based) through scanning and launching simulated attacks. Results are then shown in reports for further analysis. These commercially available tools may be used together with security auditors' own developed tools. Latest tools used in the hacker community may also be used by security auditors to simulate the current market environment. Manual review techniques such as social engineering attacks and auditing checklists may be applied for non-technical reviews on all levels of security awareness within the organisation. Please also refer to section 6.3.2.3 for more information about the use of automated tools.
7.3
AUDITING STEPS
In general, a security audit can be divided into the following steps: Planning Collecting audit data Performing audit tests Reporting for audit results Protecting audit data & tools Making enhancements and follow-up
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SECURITY AUDIT
Planning
Collecting Audit Data
Performing Audit Tests
Reporting for Audit Results
Protecting Audit Data & Tools
Making Enhancements & Follow-up
FIGURE 7.1 GENERAL AUDIT STEPS
7.3.1
Planning
Planning can help to determine and select effective and efficient methods for performing the audit and obtaining all necessary information. The required time for planning depends on the nature, extent and complexity of the audit.
7.3.1.1 Project Scope and Objectives

Audit scope and objectives should be clearly defined and established. User requirements should be identified and agreed with security auditors before proceeding. Examples of security audit scopes are:
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Internet security General security of an internal network Mission-critical systems Hosts security Network server's security such as web servers, email servers etc. Network components and devices such as firewalls, routers etc. General security of a computer room
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SECURITY AUDIT
Network services such as directory services, mailing services, remote access services
Some audit objectives are listed below for your reference: To provide evidence of compliance with the system security policy To examine and analyse the safeguards of the system and the operational environment To assess the technical and non-technical implementation of the security design To validate proper or improper integration and operation of all security features
7.3.1.2 Constraints
The period allowed for auditing should be adequate and sufficient enough to complete all tests. Sometimes the systems or networks have to be off-line or not in live production when performing the audit. Possible service interruption may occur. Backup and recovery of existing configuration and information must be performed before starting the security audit.
7.3.1.3 Roles and Responsibilities

Similar to conducting a security risk assessment, the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved should be carefully and clearly defined. Typical members involved can be referenced to section 6.3.1.4. In particular, the security auditors, after their appointment, should plan for pre-audit by: Identifying and verifying the current environment via documentation, interviews, meetings and manual review Identifying the significant areas or operations that are related to the audit Identifying the general controls that may have effects on the audit Estimating and identifying the resources required such as the auditing tools and manpower Identifying any special or additional processing for the audit
A security audit must be properly controlled and authorised before proceeding. A communication channel must be established between the client and the security auditors. On the other hand, there are two major areas that should be considered beforehand: Independence of Security Auditors It is required to consider whether the appointed security auditor is appropriate for the nature of the planned security audit. An independent and trusted third party should be chosen to ensure a true, fair and objective view. The hiring of internal or external security auditors should be carefully planned, especially when dealing with classified information.
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SECURITY AUDIT
Staffing The audit should be performed by persons of sufficient skills and experience accompanied by existing system administrators. Roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of each involved party should be clearly defined and assigned.
7.3.2
Collecting Audit Data

It is required to determine how much and what type of information to be captured, and how to filter, store, access and review the audit data and logs. The amount of data collected depends on the audit scope, objectives, data availability, and the media storage availability. Careful planning is required for data collection. Such collection should be in accordance with government rules and regulations, and should not create or initiate other potential security threats and vulnerabilities. The data collected should be: sufficient for future investigation of a security incident properly stored and protected from unauthorised access properly processed by a data handling plan
Audit data can be stored in many different ways. For example, Files logging: storing audit data in read/write files e.g. system start up and shut down information, logon and logout attempts, commands executed, access violations, accounts and password changes Reports: printing audit data into reports e.g. audit trails, journals, summaries, details reports for all transactions, statistics reports or exception reports Write-once storage: storing data in write once storage media such as CD-ROM
Apart from electronic data collection, some physical or manual events should also be recorded and collected for future reference. Examples are: Computer equipment repair and maintenance activities such as date, time, supporting vendor information and the activity's description Change control and administration events such as configuration changes, installation of new software, data conversion or patches updating Physical site visits by external parties such as security auditors or guests Procedures and policy changes Operation logs Security incident records
In general, the audit data collection steps may follow information gathering techniques as those in a security risk assessment, such as general control review, system review, and vulnerability identification. However, instead of assessing the risk exposures in the
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SECURITY AUDIT
environment, the objective of a security audit is to review existing security controls on operational, administrative and managerial issues, and ensure compliance to established security standards. Audit data, or evidence, is collected to support whether proper security controls are in place and enforced appropriately. For details of the data collection techniques, please refer to Section 6.3.2 Information Collection.
7.3.3
Performing Audit Tests

After thorough planning and data collection, security auditors may perform: A general review on the existing security policies or standards according to the defined scope of audit A general review on the security configurations Technical investigation by using different automated tools for diagnostic review and/or penetration tests
Depending on the audit scope, different network segments may be involved for network security and Internet security. Appendix C shows a checklist for security audit on some common areas.
7.3.4
Reporting for Audit Results

A security audit report is required upon completion of audit work. Security auditors should analyse the auditing results and provide a report, which reflects the current security environment. Reports generated from scanning tools do require analysis because they are so generalised that not all findings are applicable to your environment. Some may be false findings or false severity level in accordance with your environment. This audit report must be readable by different readers such as IT management, executive management, related system administrators and owners, and the auditing and controlling sections. See also Appendix B for the suggested contents of a security audit report.
7.3.5
Protecting Audit Data & Tools

After auditing, it is essential to safeguard the audit data and tools for the next audit or future use. No audit data should remain on-line. If possible, such data should be encrypted before being stored in secondary storage media. All physical documents relating to the audit should also be physically secured from unauthorised users or persons. The audit tools should be properly maintained, controlled and monitored to avoid misuse. Such tools should be separated from development and operational systems. Remove
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SECURITY AUDIT
these tools immediately after use unless proper control has been made to protect them from unauthorised access. Security auditors should also return all audit information to each department after completing their audit services. This can be agreed with security auditors in advance before their appointment.
7.3.6
Making Enhancements & Follow-up

If corrective actions are required, resources should be allocated to ensure that the enhancements could be performed at the earliest opportunity. Details of follow-up can be referred in the later section.
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SERVICES PREREQUISITES & COMMON ACTIVITIES
8. 8.1
SERVICE PREREQUISITES & COMMON ACTIVITIES ASSUMPTIONS & LIMITATIONS

In conducting a security risk assessment or audit, a few assumptions have been made. There are limited time and resources It is intended to reduce and manage security risks as much as possible Security controls can be improved if users who carry them out know more
8.2
CLIENT RESPONSIBILITIES
When performing security risk assessment or audit by an independent third party, the client should observe and be responsible for the following activities: Conduct background checks and qualification checks on supporting vendor and security auditors, to see if they possess necessary experience and expertise Prepare an agreement for supporting vendor to sign, including but are not limited to the disclaimer of liability, the service details, and statement of non-disclosure, before starting any assessment or auditing activities; this is especially important when deciding to perform external penetration testing such as war dialling or hacking into the internal network from the Internet Assign staff to be the primary and/or secondary point of contacts for the vendor Provide contact lists to vendor for both office and non-office hours whenever necessary Be cooperative and open-minded. Acknowledge the results and develop plans for improvement if there are security needs Allow physical and logical access only to the systems, network or computer equipment, which are necessary to perform the evaluations, and protect all assets that may be affected by this service Obtain formal notification from the vendor about the level of impact or damage on the network, services or system during the testing, so that recovery scheme and appropriate incident handling procedure could be ready before proceeding Provide response to security auditors' enquiries within a reasonable time span Provide sufficient office space and office equipment for the vendor to perform their service; a restricted area is preferred Provide all necessary documentation about the specific area under assessment such as keeping logs of everything e.g. phone calls and logs checked Hold regular meeting with vendor for project control and review Apply changes or enhancements at the earliest opportunity, especially those that were at very high risks
8.3
SERVICE PREREQUISITES
The following prerequisites should be met:
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Provide all the necessary information and documentation, either formal or informal, such as network diagrams, operation manual, user access control lists, security policy, standards, guidelines, procedures Provide personnel support related to the areas under study such as Internet usage, firewall configuration, network and system management, security needs and requirements and so on Arrange guided site visit to gather more information for the assessment
8.4
RESPONSIBILITIES OF SECURITY AUDITORS

In performing security assessment or audit for a client, the security auditors should: Possess the necessary skills and expertise Understand the impact of every tool and estimate impact to clients that fit their business needs Obtain proper written authorisation from other necessary parties such as Internet Service Provider (ISP) and police, especially when performing hacking tests Document every test regardless whether it is successful Ensure that the report reflects the client's policy and needs Exercise good judgment in reporting immediately any significant security risk findings to the client
8.5
EXAMPLES OF COMMON ACTIVITIES

ITEM 1 2 3 4 LIST OF ACTIVITIES Introductory Meeting Project Planning Information Gathering Security Risk Assessment Policies, Guidelines and Procedures Review Risk & Impact Analysis Safeguards Analysis Delivery of Security Assessment Report Presentation of Security Assessment Results Security Audit General Control Review DESCRIPTIONS Agree on service scope, goals, and deliverables. Develop a mutually agreeable delivery schedule and duration of service. Interviews, meetings, site visits etc. Develop/review existing policies, guidelines and procedures. Identify assets, threats, vulnerabilities and their impacts. Identify and select alternative safeguards. Produce the assessment report to state the findings and recommendations. Present the results and findings to management. Review policies, guidelines and procedures, previous audit results & other manual reviews such as physical security review, backup & recovery procedure etc.
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Technical Review Delivery of Security Audit Report Presentation of Security Audit Results Safeguard data and results
Perform diagnostic review or penetration testing. Produce the security audit report. Present the results and findings to management. After completion, all data collected and testing results & tools should be safeguarded.
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SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT FOLLOW-UP
9. 9.1
SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT FOLLOW-UP IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOW-UP

The benefit of security risk assessment and audit is not in the recommendations made, but in their effective implementation. When a recommendation is made, the management is basically responsible for implementing it. If management has made the decision of not implementing a recommendation, they have to bear the associated security risk. Adequate reasons should be provided to support the decision. There are three major areas of concern with regard to recommendations made in the security risk assessment and audit: Effective and qualified recommendations Commitment Monitoring and follow-up
EFFECTIVE & QUALIFIED RECOMMENDATIONS
MONITORING & FOLLOW-UP
COMMITMENT
FIGURE 9.1 FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS ON RECOMMENDATIONS
9.2
EFFECTIVE & QUALIFIED RECOMMENDATIONS

Security auditors are required to produce effective and qualified recommendations, which should possess the following characteristics: Specific and clear, readily understandable and identifiable Convincing and persuasive with sufficient evidence Significant Feasible and practical
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In addition, the recommendations should be able to deal with the actual causes of problems, and should propose the best alternatives with supporting evidence and justifications. All these recommendations must be submitted to management which, in turn, has the authority to approve and enforce the recommendations.
9.3
COMMITMENT
Individual and departmental commitment is important for implementation of the recommendations. Security auditors, staff and management may have different interests, emphasis and priority given to the recommendations.
9.3.1
Security Auditors
Security auditors are those who first introduce the recommendations for improvement. They: should have confidence on their recommendations and if followed, there would be desirable improvements; should understand the client department's environment and its constraints such as time, resources and culture; and should communicate through an appropriate and effective channel to give their recommendations.
9.3.2
Staff
Staff are those who would be directly or indirectly affected by the recommendations. They may need to provide support for implementing the recommendations, or they are actually the users who may have to change their daily operation procedures. They: should be encouraged and motivated to co-operate with the security auditors; should be given sufficient time and resources to perform the enhancements; and should be assured that they would benefit from the recommendations.
9.3.3
Management
Management plays an important role in enforcing the enhancements. They: should be proactive rather than reactive on security matters; should provide sufficient support throughout the assessment or audit process; should allocate sufficient resources for making the enhancements; should understand that follow-up is a valuable and significant responsibility; should encourage prompt enhancements with adequate planning, control and communication; and should promote staff awareness and training.
Ref. No. : G51
9-2
9.4
MONITORING AND FOLLOW-UP

Monitoring and follow-up consists of 3 major steps: Set up an effective monitoring and follow-up system Identify recommendations and develop follow-up plan Perform active monitoring and reporting
9.4.1
Set Up Monitoring & Follow-up System

Management should set up a monitoring and follow-up system to follow up the recommendations. Besides those responsible for the security audit, management may assign additional staff to oversee the overall effectiveness of the monitoring system. Management is responsible for providing adequate support, overall guidance and direction. It can establish scope, objectives and functions of the monitoring system. In addition, basic rules and guidelines can be set up as a general reference for performing security assessment monitoring and follow-up.
9.4.2
Identify Recommendations & Develop Follow-up Plans

To perform effective and prompt enhancements, the following have to be done: Identify key, significant and critical recommendations in which additional monitoring and maximum effort should be used Develop a follow-up plan for all recommendations; this may include implementation plan, estimated time, action lists, results verification procedures and methods Emphasis on these key recommendations should be reported and highlighted in the follow-up process All recommendations should be followed up according to the plan
9.4.3
Perform Active Monitoring & Reporting

Proactively monitoring and reporting the progress and status of actions, and taking follow-up actions on all recommendations is required until implementation is completed.
9.4.3.1 Progress & Status of Actions

There are different progress and status of actions: Actions not yet started Completed actions Actions being undertaken with a target completion date Reasons for actions not being taken Alternative actions if different from recommendations
Ref. No. : G51
9-3
9.4.3.2 Follow-Up Actions

Some follow-up actions are suggested for considerations: Review the implementation plans, documentation and time frames for planned actions Find the underlying reasons why the action was not taken Establish additional steps or tasks to handle the technical, operational or managerial difficulties Find alternative recommendations due to unexpected environmental or requirement changes Determine the "closing" of recommendations when they are proved to be successfully implemented and tested, to be no longer valid, or to be unsuccessful even after further actions Assess the effectiveness of the corrective actions Report accomplishment, status and progress to management Escalate to management whenever applicable, especially when implementation of key recommendations is inadequate or delayed
*** End ***
Ref. No. : G51
9-4
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A - SAMPLE LIST OF QUESTIONS FOR SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT

Depending on the scope of security risk assessment, there are many different areas that may need to be evaluated before security risks can be identified. During a security risk assessment, consultants may design questionnaires to gather current information from different groups of people in the organisation. Some questions are illustrated below as examples. CATEGORIES Rules & Policy SAMPLES OF QUESTIONS Are there any appropriate security policy, guidelines or procedures established? Do the existing security policy/procedures/guidelines adequately state what are allowed or not allowed to do? Are staff and users informed of their obligation with regard to the relevant laws, security policy and procedures before giving access rights? Do the security policy/guidelines/procedures readily available to users? Are there any ongoing monitor and review on these security documents? Is all the software used in the system complying with the existing intellectual property rights and licensing agreements? Are all the rules and policy correctly followed and observed? Does the system solely used for performing official duties and no massive violation in usage? Are all the users adequately trained for using the systems/services offered to them? Are there any written application and authorisation procedures for applying and granting the rights for using the service or system? Does the supporting vendor e.g. ISP provide a reliable and cost effective supporting service? Is appropriate protection given on the emails held at ISP? Is the supporting vendor's performance properly monitored, controlled and reviewed? Is it forbidden for users to have connection or gain access to the service or system by themselves? E.g. Internet connection Are all hosts and workstations configured to prevent active contents or applets?
System Service Usage & Support
System/Network Integrity
Ref. No. : G51
A-1
APPENDIX A
CATEGORIES
SAMPLES OF QUESTIONS Are system logs or error logs been kept for an appropriate period of time? Are all logs, with both logical and physical control, to protect from unauthorised access and modification? Is there any protection in the system or network from external side to gain access to it? Is there any classified data being sent across the network but without encrypted? Are there digital certificates technology been used? If then, which service or application are they being used for? Is there any security incident response/handling procedure? Do all the related parties understand and follow this procedure, at least the part which they are supposed to be responsible and affected by? Has the security incident response/handling procedure stated any immediate actions should be performed in case suspicious activity occurred? Are there any audit logs, reports or alerts produced if there are any suspicious activities? Is there any periodic or regular review on this procedure? Are there sufficient reports to facilitate monitoring of users' activities e.g. user identity, user log in/log out, connection date/time, services used, type of data sent/received, access rights given, emails usage, Internet usage, computer equipment allocated for the users etc.? Are the users' activity monitoring reports generated and reviewed regularly? Are there any security breaches happened in the past? What was the recent/latest security breach? How was it handled? Is there any dedicated staff for monitoring the service/network? Is there any contingency plan? Have they been tested and trial run before? Have these plans been regularly reviewed and tested to cater for the system/network changes? Are all critical network components, e.g. firewalls, servers, routers and hubs located in a restricted or secured area?
Intrusion Detection & Monitoring
Physical Security
Ref. No. : G51
A-2
APPENDIX A
CATEGORIES
SAMPLES OF QUESTIONS Are there any environmental controls on the area where the network components are located to protect them from fire, power failure or irregular supply, flooding? Are all the backups properly kept in a secure place? Is there any access control on the network components such as with sign in and sign out logbook, control on the keys of the door of the computer room? Are the roles and responsibilities of the system administrators, users and operators clearly defined and assigned for accessing the system/network? Have all the changes to configuration been formally approved, thoroughly tested and documented prior to implementation? Is there any protection and access control on the configuration documentation to prevent unauthorised access? Are all latest patches been applied to operating system and software? Is there any logical access control on administration work both locally and remotely, if any? Is there any dedicated staff assigned responsible for daily monitoring, administration and configuration? Is there any training provided for the staff to perform the necessary system/network configuration function? Does the entire configuration fully backup both locally and remotely? Are all the backup media be securely protected? Have there been any security risk assessments and audit performed? When, and what did each security risk assessment and audit do? What were the major security risks identified? Had there been any follow-up plans to implement the recommendations? And, had they all been satisfactorily resolved? If not, why? Had the assessment and audit results been properly stored and saved up? Are there any standard anti-virus, and malicious code detection and repair software or tools being used? Have they been installed in all hosts and servers?
A-3
Change Control Management
Security Risk Assessment & Audit
Protection Against Computer Virus and Malicious Code
Ref. No. : G51
APPENDIX A
CATEGORIES
SAMPLES OF QUESTIONS Is there any standard or guidelines on how to use these anti-virus or malicious code detection and repair software tools? Are all workstations and hosts installed with the latest virus signatures, malicious code definitions as well as updated with the corresponding detection and repair engines? Are virus signature files kept up-to-date? At what time intervals will they been updated or distributed to users? Have users been regularly informed about the latest virus signatures available? Are the tools capable of checking any email macro viruses, compressed files, email attachments, memory resident data etc.? Are there any supporting team to handle computer virus and malicious code attacks? If computer virus or malicious code are detected, are they all investigated? Are there any training or seminars about IT security? Are there any periodic announcement or updates to users about changes on I.T. security technology and policy, or news? Is all supported staff having sufficient training to ensure proper network/system configuration, administration and monitoring?
Education & Training
Ref. No. : G51
A-4
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX B - SAMPLE CONTENTS OF DELIVERABLES B.1 Security Requirement Report

This report shows the minimum security requirements of the areas under assessment. These requirements can be defined in high level or low level depending on department's own needs. But in general, the requirements are defined with regard to assets, threats and vulnerabilities and their impacts as well. The following is a sample list of security requirements for reference: Promote security awareness and training Ensure sufficient physical access controls Develop a complete set of information systems and operations documentation Establish a security incident handling and response procedure Develop a formal written contingency plan Perform periodic security audits Keep adequate and appropriate logs Develop some authorised access and control procedures Secure data transfer including encryption for classified data
B.2
Security Assessment Report

A security assessment report should include the followings, but is not limited to: Introduction/Background Information Executive Summary Assessment scope, objectives and assumptions, for what was and was not covered. Current environment or system description with network diagrams, if any Security Requirements Summary of findings and recommendations Risk analysis results including identified assets, threats, vulnerabilities and their impact, and their risk levels with appropriate reasons Recommended safeguards with cost/benefit analysis if more than one alternative e.g. install defensive mechanisms or enhance existing security policy and procedures etc.
B.3
Security Policies, Guidelines & Procedures

Apart from the reports, the security auditors can assist the clients to develop and propose some policies and guidelines. Examples are: Departmental Security Policy Change Management Control Procedures Password Management Guidelines Security Incident Response and Handling Guidelines General Host Security Guidelines
B-1
Ref. No. : G51
APPENDIX B
Unix Security Policy Netware Directory Services (NDS) Security Policy
B.4
Security Audit Report

This audit report should include the following information: Audit Scope and Objectives Assumptions & Limitations Declaration of security auditors independence1 Methodology & auditing tools used Descriptions of current environment Summary of findings Details of tests and their results and findings Analysis of test results with rankings or grading Vulnerabilities Revealed Recommendations and corrective actions based on the problem areas found e.g. violation of security policy, misconfiguration, well-known and potential vulnerabilities, information leaks, unused services especially those default ones, and unused user accounts and so on
1 In case there is potential for impaired independence due to non-audit involvement, information about the non-audit
role should be disclosed. Ref. No. : G51 B-2
APPENDIX C
APPENDIX C - DIFFERENT TYPES OF SECURITY AUDIT C.1 FIREWALL AUDIT

This audit service is to ensure that its firewall and associated systems has been properly configured to enforce the security policy with the minimal and optimal security protection. The firewall should be audited not only for its configuration, but also for its physical access control. A firewall audit may cover the following areas, but are not limited to: Physical access control to the firewall host. Firewall operating system version and patches. Firewall configuration & controls on Internet traffic such as rulebase and ports opened. Services permitted or disallowed to go through the firewall. Current architecture of Internet connection such as connections with routers, proxy servers, email servers and web servers. Connection with other third party products for additional services such as virus scanning and malicious code detection and repair software. Remote connection support and configuration. Administration and change control procedures. Access control list if any.
The security audit report should be delivered summarising the firewall evaluation and recommendations in the firewall architecture, configuration, administration and operation.
C.2
INTERNAL NETWORK AUDIT

The goal of this security audit is to discover any vulnerability that could be exploited by authorised internal users, and to identify any weaknesses and strengths in the controls of the internal systems and networks. The topology of internal network infrastructure may be reviewed as well. The audit test usually includes an internal network scan to check for any security holes on specified times or pre-agreed periods. The scanning on critical hosts or workstations may be included. This kind of security audit would likely cover: Scanning of internal workstations, servers or network to identify hosts, services and network configuration. Identifying vulnerabilities, protocol and configuration errors on operating systems, internal firewalls, routers, network components and infrastructure. Attempting intrusion of internal network and systems. Evaluating internal security related to access control and monitoring, administration and change control procedures and practices. Recommending measures to strengthen the network security.
C-1
Ref. No. : G51
APPENDIX C
C.3
EXTERNAL NETWORK AUDIT

The goal of this assessment is to identify security weaknesses of the systems and networks from outside such as the Internet. This helps to anticipate external attacks that might cause security breaches by scanning and launching attacks (i.e. hacking) from Internet to internal network at specified and pre-agreed time and locations. The audit would cover: Scanning internal servers for ports and services vulnerable to attack. Scanning external network gateways to identify ports, services and topology. Attempting to gather internal configuration information from external. Launching intrusion attacks to internal systems from external.
Agreements must be set up to clearly define the auditing scope and testing level details e.g. which network segments/components or the acceptable severity of attack. The security auditor must commit to minimising disruptions and avoiding damage to the systems and network.
C.4
PHONE LINE AUDIT

The goal of the audit is to identify undocumented or uncontrolled modems connecting internal computers directly to the telephone network. This helps to eliminate any unauthorised or inappropriate modem connection and configuration to internal network and systems. The audit would cover: Assessing each modem entry point connected. Identifying any undocumented dial-up entry points. Attempting to establish connection to internal network. Attempting to gather internal system information through the connection.
C.5
SECURITY POLICY, GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES REVIEW

The objective is to review or develop the existing security policy, guidelines and procedures. The review can focus on high-level overall organisation-wide security policy, or on specific systems, networks or areas under concerns. Listed below are some sample areas under concerns: Remote access control Internet access control, usage and monitoring Internet email system Operating system management Password control policy User account management
C-2
Ref. No. : G51
APPENDIX C
Network, systems or gateways administration Change control practices Network security practices
C.6
HOST SECURITY AUDIT

The purpose of this audit is to assess the operating system level security of different computer platforms. Misconfiguration of the operating system can open up security holes that may not be known by the system administrators. When considering the operation system security, accounts & password management, files system, networking workgroups, access permissions and auditing are all common areas that should not be omitted. Details are elaborated as follows: Accounts & Password Management Password control policy such as password minimum or maximum length User profiles, privileges and permissions Default user or administration accounts Group accounts Account policy such as account lockout, account validity period Files System System files protection and access permissions Files access control lists Network Files System (NFS) usage Networking Workgroups Domain and trust relationships Workgroups Shared directories Replicated directories Remote access control Access Permissions Default directory permissions Shared workstation Shared printer permission Registry permission Shared files permission Auditing Event logs/system logs/error logs File & directory auditing Registry auditing Printer auditing Alerts Accounting and audit trail protections
Ref. No. : G51
C-3
APPENDIX C
C.7
INTERNET SECURITY AUDIT

This security audit is to identify security weaknesses of the systems and networks in connection with the Internet. It is a combination of the internal network and external network security audit with focus on the Internet gateway. This test includes the following items, but is not limited to: Firewall and routers configuration and audit. Reviewing security on host servers such as web server, mail server, authentication servers. Host, system and network security administration and control policy and procedures. Physical Security of the Internet gateway network components and servers. Network security in Internet gateway segment and interfaces with internal network. Launching DoS attacks from external to the internal Internet gateway. Attempting to compromise the internal network components.
C.8
REMOTE ACCESS SECURITY AUDIT

The assessment will deal with vulnerabilities associated with remote access services via communication links such as dial-up connections and broadband connections (e.g. VPN, SSL VPN, etc). This audit may involve the following activities: Use automatic dialling software to identify remote access users. Review security and configuration of remote access servers and the network where they are located. Conduct site visits to review the physical controls and location of modems or remote connection devices. Establish a remote access control policy or procedure.
Remote access without controls may open up a backdoor to external side. The problem is how to establish a secure connection. The followings may be identified and reviewed under this study: Applications/services requiring remote access and their security requirements. Any existing policies and procedures pertaining to remote access. Existing remote access connections such as using modems, remote access servers, modem pool connections, or broadband connections. Current remote access control methods Current shortcomings and recommendations to improve the situation.
Ref. No. : G51
C-4
APPENDIX C
C.9
WIRELESS NETWORK SECURITY AUDIT

The assessment will deal with vulnerabilities associated with wireless network. This security audit should include, but not limited to: Assessing SSID naming and other security configurations Assessing current wireless encryption protocols Assessing the adoption of Virtual Private Network Getting a list of access points and understanding their coverage Identifying any unauthorised or rogue access points Attempting to establish connection to the wireless network Attempting to gather internal system information through the wireless network Cracking the encryption key of the protocol (e.g. WEP, WPAv2, etc.) Assessing if site survey is conducted and the coverage of wireless network communication of the site Assessing if the encryption key is properly protected at the client devices
C.10
WEB APPLICATION SECURITY AUDIT

The assessment will deal with vulnerabilities associated with web applications. The following tests should be included in the security audit: Validating if security requirements are defined in early stage Validating if security requirements specified in the functional specification document are met by the security controls implemented Validating if malformed user inputs are handled or filtered Assessing information leakage from error messages and meta data in the HTTP header Replaying security test cases prepared in the system acceptance test document for assuring proper security controls are maintained Assessing the network and application architecture of the web application Assessing if proper access control mechanisms are in place Assessing the encryption mechanisms and protocols Assessing the privilege of web application programs
Ref. No. : G51
C-5
APPENDIX D
APPENDIX D - SAMPLE AUDIT CHECKLIST

Illustrated below are some examples of items to be checked in a security audit. This checklist is not intended to cover all aspects, but rather acts as a preliminary reference. AUDIT AREAS Security Policy ITEMS TO BE CHECKED It is well documented and easy to understand. It is easily accessible by all involved parties. All roles & responsibilities are clearly defined. It is periodic reviewed and updated to reflect current environment. Users are informed and committed to the policy. Adequate training on security is given to relevant parties. All rules stated in the policy are implementing. It is enforced by the Head of B/D. There are security standards set up for computer rooms/server rooms/computer areas. The physical environment meets the requirements specified in the departmental IT security policy, Security Regulations and other related standards. All cables are tidy and properly labelled to assist maintenance and fault detection. All under floor spaces, if any, are properly cleaned up. The ceiling is regularly cleaned to avoid dust and dirt. Water detectors, if any, are fitted in the under floor space to detect flooding automatically. Cables in ceiling voids are properly installed. UPS are installed for necessary equipment. UPS are capable to provide sufficient power supply for an expected period of time. UPS are regularly tested. UPS are located in a safe place. Operators in computer room are properly educated for the power supply control and power failure scenarios. No inflammable equipment or materials are left in the computer room. All automatic fire detection systems are operated in proper conditions with regular testing and inspection.
Physical Security Computer Room/Server Room/Computer Area
Ref. No. : G51
D-1
APPENDIX D
AUDIT AREAS
ITEMS TO BE CHECKED All automatic fire extinguishing system installed is regularly tested and is in good conditions. All water pipes passing through the room or under the floor, if any, are in good conditions. The room temperature and humidity is monitored and set in a way that fits for the computer equipment to be operated in good conditions. All keys of the doors in the computer room are properly issued, kept and recorded. There are well-defined procedures for handling and distributing keys of the locks. All personnel are trained and informed about the use of the fire extinguishers and other physical protection mechanism. Smoking, food and drinks are not allowed inside the computer room. Notebook computers and other computer equipment, which are brought into the computer room, should be controlled. There are specially assigned staff responsible for arranging cleaning of the computer room. All backup media are properly labelled and locked in a safe place/area. The place or cabinet where backup media is kept is always in lock. There is proper transportation control for offsite storage. Access to media is properly controlled and recorded. An inventory is kept for all storage media. Computer stationery held in a computer room is just sufficient for operation. No extra stock is held to avoid fire. All expensive computer stationery is properly kept and controlled. There is procedure for issuing, authorising and recording expensive computer stationery. A proper inventory is kept for all computer equipment. Sample physically checking on the computer equipment against the inventory record is correct. All visitors must be authorised and identified before entering into the computer room.
Computer Inventory/Storage Media
Physical Access Control
Ref. No. : G51
D-2
APPENDIX D
AUDIT AREAS
ITEMS TO BE CHECKED All visitors must be accompanied with internal staff at all times. All visitors are provided with visitor labels when entering into the room. All staff visits must be recorded. There is only limited control entry to the computer room. All entries to computer room are controlled by locked doors. Only authorised staff are allowed to enter into the computer room with sign in and sign out. All manuals and documents are not freely put aside but bookshelves are provided with filing and access controls. There are procedures established and documented for backup and recovery. Logs are kept for all backups and recovery taken including date/time, backup media used, taken by who etc. At least two-backup are kept with one is placed off-site. There are well-defined retention periods for backups.
Backup & Recovery
Change Control There are well-documented change control procedures. Evaluation or estimation has been made on the effects of such change requests. All changes are properly approved, recorded and tested before implementation. Adequate backups (before and after) are performed before and after the change. There are recovery procedures defined before each change. There are controls to ensure that no testing data/programs are resided in the production environment. After applying to production environment, verification (e.g. manual review) has been made to assure that it was implemented as desired and planned. There are proper access rights granted to allow only dedicated staff or administrator to amend the system/network's configuration.
Ref. No. : G51 D-3
APPENDIX D
AUDIT AREAS
ITEMS TO BE CHECKED The backup and recovery procedures have been revised to reflect the change if necessary. There is a well-documented password policy for the system/network. All passwords are at least 6 characters in length. Last password selection(s) cannot be reused for renewal. All passwords are not displayed in plain text during entry. Passwords are known only by the owner or the administrator when newly created. There is expiry period on the password. Maximum 3 trials are allowed for password attempts. No dictionary words, user names or obvious phases are found in the password contents. Users change the password immediately when their accounts are newly created. No users write their passwords in labels or obvious place. Users change their passwords at least once every 60 to 90 days. Each user is given with unique user identity. All users are granted with minimum privileges that are sufficient for carrying out their duties. Users are informed about their privileges and access rights. There are proper and secure procedure for distribution of user accounts and passwords. Passwords written in a paper are considered as classified information. Logs are properly kept for users' activities such as log in/out time, connection period, connection point, functions performed etc. No unused accounts are found in the system/network. Administrators are also provided with user accounts. Administrator accounts are solely used for administration work. Users are classified into different categories with well-defined privileges for each category.
Logical Access Control Password Policy
User Account Policy
Network Security
Ref. No. : G51
D-4
APPENDIX D
AUDIT AREAS
ITEMS TO BE CHECKED Network connected to Internet is protected by Firewall. All dial-in access into the internal network is properly controlled with authentication and logs. Administration to network components is done by authorised staff only. Controls are put on the use of network resources such as file sharing, printing etc. to allow only authorised and authenticated users to use. Upgrading on software located in the network is done by authorised persons only. Policy is set up to control the proper use of the network and its resources. Security protection is used for information that is allowed to be transmitted and sent through the network, e.g. encryption. Daily logs e.g. system logs, error logs or user activity logs are properly kept, reviewed and analysed. A dedicated person is assigned to monitor the network performance and the daily operation. All network user profiles are properly protected from unauthorised access. Network configuration is documented and put in a secured place. All network components are located in a secure area. There are regularly updates and patches applied to the operating system to fix their known vulnerabilities. Controls on changes in configuration of the operating system are in place. Access to operating system utilities is restricted to authorised persons only. No unused/suspicious services are running under the operating system account. No unused user accounts are remained in the operating systems. System logs are properly generated and reviewed on daily or regular basis.
Operating System
Ref. No. : G51
D-5

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The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES [G51]

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

1. 2. 2.1 3. 4. 4.1 4.2 5. 5.1 5.2

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

6.4 6.5 7. 7.1

8. 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 9. 9.1 9.2 9.3

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

IT SECURITY DOCUMENT OVERVIEW

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

IT Security Guidelines : (G3)

Internet Gateway Security Guidelines : (G50)

Security Risk Assessment & Audit Guidelines : (G51)

Information Security Incident Handling Guidelines : (G54)

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

DEFINITIONS AND CONVENTIONS

DEFINITIONS AND CONVENTIONS DEFINITIONS

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT

OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT

Assessing Security Risks

Periodic Review & Security Audit

Maintaining a Reviewing & Secure Improving Framework

Implementing & Maintaining a Secure Framework

Define Policies, Assign Security Responsibilities & Apply Safeguards

Monitoring & Assessing Security Risks Recording

Security Incident Handling & Record Keeping

FIGURE 5.1 AN ITERATIVE PROCESS OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT VS SECURITY AUDIT

What A Security Risk Assessment Is

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

OVERVIEW OF IT SECURITY MANAGEMENT

What A Security Audit Is

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT BENEFITS OF SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT

Security Risk Assessment Type

Ref. No. : G51

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GUIDELINES

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT

SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT STEPS

Assets Identification & Valuation

Assets/Threats/Vuln erability Mapping

Impact & Likelihood Assessment

4. Identifying & Selecting Safeguards