Developing a Risk-Mitigation Plan Outline for an IT Infrastructure

research on  Strategies for Mitigating Risk, then complete the Lab Manual: Developing a Risk-Mitigation Plan Outline for an IT Infrastructure. 

  

Guidelines for Submission: Your responses must exclude references and cover page as a Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least four sources cited in APA format. Make sure you cite if you take a piece of someone’s work, very important and your reference should relate to your writing (don’t cite a reference because it relates to the course and not this very paper) at least 4 current and relevant academic references. No heavy paraphrasing of others work.

www.citationmachine.net

to format references into the APA style if necessary. Extremely important. Intext citations is very essential and highly needed as well.

  
 

3

ISE 510 Security Risk Analysis & Plan

Week 8 HW

Developing a Risk Remediation Plan

30 points

Due

Submitted on

If late let me know why:

=====================================

Delete these instructions in blue font before submission:

Change file name to HW#8_LAST_FIRST

A few comments up front:
– The Jones and Bartlett Learning, TOPIC 4, is a valuable source of information.

– I encourage you to read through the HW problems below and if you have questions *about* the problem, please ask either through the Classroom or via email.

– If you are rusty on security fundamentals then now is a good time to brush up! Let me know and I can point you to refresher resources

1) The table below has a list of Risks Threats and Vulnerabilities. The primary Domain is provided. You are to place the Impact Factor based on the definitions below, and then place a likelihood factor (Low, Medium, High) based on your experience, research or insight.

1 = Critical: A risk, threat or vulnerability that impacts compliance (privacy laws requirements for securing privacy data and implementing proper security controls) and places the organization at increased liability

2 = Major: A risk, threat or vulnerability that impacts confidentiality, integrity or availability of the organization’s intellectual property assets and IT infrastructure

3 = Minor: A risk, threat or vulnerability that impacts user or employee productivity or availability of the IT infrastructure.

The first one is done as an example.

Rule 1: If there is a Risk Threat or Vulnerability and it has not been exploited yet, it can only have an Impact of 2 or 3.

Rule 2: There are no more than ten 1’s

#

Risks Threats and Vulnerabilities

Domain (primary)

Impact Factor

Likelihood Factor

EX

Technician (user) uses P2P file sharing on company owned PC

#1 – USER domain

2 (might be 1 if it was exploited)

high

1

Unauthorized access from Internet to corporate servers and applications

#7 – Remote Access Domain

2

User destroys data in application and deletes all files she has access too.

#6 Application domain

3

Hacker penetrates your IT infrastructure and gains access to your internal network because default password is left on router

#4 LAN-to-WAN domain

4

Two employee’s relationship goes sour

#1 – USER domain

5

Fire destroys data center

#6 Application domain

6

Workstation OS has known vulnerabilities

#2 Workstation domain

7

Internet Service provider has 2% loss of service which is below the SLA.

#5 WAN Domain

8

Hacker penetrates IT system by a phishing attach

#1 – USER domain

9

LAN switch has default username and password

#3 – LAN Domain

10

Denial of service attack on email server

#5 WAN Domain

11

User turns off screensaver on PC

#1 User domain

12

Corporate Data server has no backups

#6 Application domain

13

VPN tunneling between remote computer and ingress/egress router

#4 LAN-to-WAN domain

14

Internet Service Provider has major outage; no employees can access Internet

#5 WAN domain

15

Web browser vulnerabilities exist on client machines

#2 Workstation domain

16

A general-purpose sniffer is found on organization-controlled client PCs

#2 Workstation domain

17

System admin has found DNS cache poisoning attack

#5 WAN Domain

18

The Telecommunications closet where the switches and routers reside is unlocked and open because the AC is broken.

#3 – LAN Domain

19

Attacker tries brute force attack against Corporate Portal

#7 – Remote Access Domain

20

DDoS attack from the WAN/Internet

#5 WAN Domain

21

WLAN access points are needed for LAN connectivity within warehouse

#3 – LAN Domain

22

WLAN access points need to be protected from eavesdropping

#3 – LAN Domain

23

Weak ingress/egress traffic filtering degrades performance

#4 LAN-to-WAN domain

2) Frequency Table

Looking at your table above, count the number of “High-1” and place the number in cell High-1; then High-2, High-3, Med-1 etc. repeat for all cells. The total of all the cells will be 23.

Impact

1

2

3

Low

Medium

High

Probability

What can you observe about the distribution? Is this company in trouble or are they close to being secure?

3) Remediation plan

For the top 3 most critical risks, threats, or vulnerabilities, give a primary and an alternate remediation course of action. The primary course of action is what you recommend to Management, the alternative is usually not as effective but cheaper. Be sure to consider cost in your recommendation to Management. Use references on each.

3-1. State the risk, threat, or vulnerability here

Primary:

Alternate:

3-2. State the risk, threat, or vulnerability here

Primary:

Alternate:

3-3. State the risk, threat, or vulnerability here

Primary:

Alternate:

4) General Questions regarding Risk-Mitigation:

a) What risk-mitigation solutions do you recommend for the problem of: User inserts CDs and USB hard drives with personal photos, music, and videos on organization-owned computers?

b) Why is Continuity of Operations an important risk-mitigation requirement?

c) Why is the Remote Access Domain the most risk-prone of all in a typical IT infrastructure?

d) When considering the implementation of software updates, software patches, and software fixes, why must you test the upgrade or software patch before you implement it?

Appendix

– Seven major areas of risk in IT infrastructure

From: Jones and Bartlett Learning, TOPIC 1.

Q: What are the major areas of risk in IT infrastructure? See Image below.

A: The seven domains of the typical IT infrastructure are the major areas of risk.

1. USER: The user domain risk areas include user names, passwords, biometric or other authentication, and social engineering.

2. WORKSTATION: In the workstation domain, the risk areas include end user systems, laptops, desktops, and cells phones. The “desktop domain” where most users enter the IT infrastructure

3. LAN: In the local area network (LAN) domain, the risk areas include the equipment required to create an internal LAN, such as hubs, switches, and media. Small network organized by function or department, allowing access to all resources on the LANs.

4. LAN-to-WAN: The risk areas in the LAN-to-wide area network (WAN) domain include the transition area between the LAN and the WAN, including the router and the firewall. The point at which the IT infrastructure joins a WAN and the Internet

5. WAN: The WAN domain risk areas include the routers and circuits connecting the WAN. The point at which the WAN connects to other WANs via the Internet

6. APPLICATION: In the system, or application, domain, the risk areas include the applications you run on your network, such as e-mail, database, and Web applications. Holds all of the mission-critical systems, applications, and data

7. REMOTE ACCESS: The risk areas in the remote access domain include applications, such as a virtual private network (VPN) to guide remote or travelling users. Connects remote employees and partners to the IT infrastructure

Seven major areas of risk in IT infrastructure