MS3

  

Prompt: Review your entire final project and develop a suitable incident response plan (IRP)based on the scenario presented in both your Final Project Scenario and the virtual environment presented in the educational video game Agent Surefire: InfoSec. Be sure to discuss the following in your plan: 

· Identify the purpose of the plan. 

· Create and define roles and responsibilities. 

· Define an incident with at least five examples of that incident (e.g., unauthorized access). 

· Discuss current incident response process within Limetree Inc., including current shortcomings 

· Create a new process for incident response. This must include incident recovery (use a flowchart to enhance your definition).

Guidelines for Submission: Your responses must be submitted as SIX to EIGHT (6-8) pages long excluding 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.

ISE 510 Security Risk Analysis & Plan

Security Breach Analysis and Recommendations

Milestone

3

: Incident Response Plan

Due

Submitted on

If late let me know why:

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

Delete these instructions in blue font before submission:

Change file name to MS#3_LAST_FIRST

A few comments up front:

— After fixing any of my comments to this paper, it should be used, with minor modifications, for the FINAL PROJECT.

— Download and use this publication:

Cichonski, P., Millar, T., Grance, T., & Scarfone, K. (). Computer Security Incident Handling Guide Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (rev 2). Retrieved from

http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-61r2

— Other resources that will be helpful:

Valentin, J. (2013). Building an incident response team and IR process. Retrieved from

http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/building-an-incident-response-team-and-ir-process/

SEI (n.d.) Create a CSIRT. Retrieved from http://www.cert.org/incident-management/products-services/creating-a-csirt.cfm

Wright, C. (2011). Incident handler’s handbook. Retrieved from https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/incident/incident-handlers-handbook-33901

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

Incident Response Plan

Purpose

Identify the purpose of the Incident Response Plan.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Incident Response Plan

Clearly identify and describe the roles and responsibilities in Limetree – you are allowed to make up roles typical to a medium sized company. (Hint: use one of the references listed above)

Examples of Incidents at Limetree

a) Give the definition of an ‘incident’ and b) give exactly 5 examples from Limetree.

This can be a bulleted list with short descriptions. Pull the examples from Agent Surefire Game or Breach description. The examples should be diverse; don’t give two examples of the same incident type.

Current Incident Response Plan at Limetree

Give a brief description of the current IR plan

Proposed Incident Response Plan at Limetree:
In each of the below phases, describe what Limetree should be doing, either proactively or during an active security breach, to enhance their Incident response. Don’t explain in generalities, be specific to Limetree.

1) Preparation
2) Identification
3) Containment
4) Eradication

5) Recovery
6) Lessons Learned

The Incident Response Process:

Describe how the Incident Response process works from Preparation, the discovery of a new incident, all the way through Lessons Learned.

This must include business recovery process – step 5 above.

A process flow diagram is required for “Exemplary Score”. Drawings can be made in Visio, PowerPoint, or inserting shapes directly from Word. Hint: I usually prepare the process flow in a separate word document and then screen capture and paste into the final paper (as opposed to trying to insert shapes from scratch).

References

As academic practitioners, I’d recommend over 3 references (preferably over 5) placed here. I’d like you to “up your game” in the area of APA references. Remember, you’re experienced Graduate School students, and as such, you should be equipped to handle investigating strong academic papers and resources.

3

ISE 510 Final Project Scenario Background

Limetree Inc. is a research and development firm that engages in multiple research projects with the federal government and private corporations in the areas of healthcare, biotechnology, and other cutting-edge industries. It has been experiencing major growth in recent years, but there is also a concern that information security lapses are becoming rampant as the company grows. Limetree Inc. is working to establish a strong reputation in the industry, and it views a robust information security program as part of the means to achieving its goal. The company looks to monitor and remain compliant to any regulation impacting its operations.

Limetree Inc. recently experienced a security breach; it believes confidential company data has been stolen, including personal health information (PHI) used in a research study. Limetree Inc. believes the breach may have occurred because of some security vulnerabilities within its system and processes.

Limetree Inc.’s virtual environment is presented in the Agent Surefire: InfoSec educational video game. The rest of the environment is presented via an interview with the security manager, Jack Sterling.

Highlight of Interview with Jack Sterling

Interview with Jack Sterling revealed the following about Limetree Inc.’s system and processes:

Hardware/Software:

Desktop Apps: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, MS Office, Adobe Flash, Adobe Acrobat

Applications/Databases:

Browser – Browser in use is Internet Explorer and browser security setting was set to low. Browsers allow remote installation of applets, and there is no standard browser for the environment.

Virus Software – MacAfee is deployed locally on each user’s machine and users are mandated to update their virus policy every month.

SQL Database – Ordinary users can escalate privilege via SQL Agent. Disk space for SQL database log is small and is overwritten with new information when it is full. Limetree Inc. is not using any encryption for sensitive data at rest within the SQL server environment.

Network:

The network comprises the following: three web/applications servers, three email servers, five file and printer servers, two proxy servers, seven remotely manageable Cisco switches, 250 desktops, three firewall devices, one gateway (router) device to the internet, and three wireless access points.

Configuration Highlights:

Wireless – Wireless network is available with clearly advertised SSID, and it is part of the local area network (LAN). There is no segmentation or authentication between the wireless and wired LAN. Visitors are provided access code to the wireless network at the front desk to use the internet while they wait to be attended to.

Managed switches – There is no logging of network activities on any of the switches.

Web server – Public-facing web server is part of the LAN. This is where internet users get needed information on the company. The web servers are running the following services in addition: File & Print Services, Telnet, IIS.

Firewalls – Firewall configuration is very secure, and the logs are reviewed when there is suspicion of a security event. The following files types are allowed for inbound connection: EXE, DOC, XML, VBS. In addition, Telnet and FTP are allowed for inbound connection.

Passwords – Users determine the length of the password and complexity, but it is mandatory to change password once a year.

Network configuration changes are determined by the IT manager and users are notified immediately once the changes are implemented.

Documentation:

I. There is no documented security policy, or computer use policy.

II. II. There is no documented process for changes to the system.

III. III. There is no contingency plan.

System Backup:

I. Backup is conducted daily by the network administrator, and tapes are kept safely in the computer room.

Personnel/Physical Security:

I. While users are not trained on security awareness, emails go out every month from the system administrator warning users of emerging threat.

II. II. Visitors sign in at the front desk before they are allowed to walk in to see employees at their respective offices.

III. III. Remote employees connect via virtual private network. Their laptops are configured exactly as the desktops in the office with unencrypted hard drives.

IV. IV. Often users are allowed to bring in their own laptops, connect to corporate system, and complete their tasks, especially if they are having issues with laptops provided by the company.

Incident Response:

At Limetree Inc., systems administrators are notified of computer incidents, and the administrators escalate to the IT manager, who reports incidents to the security manager if they are deemed relevant. Currently there is no official documented process of reporting incidents. There is also no previous documented history of incidents, even though Limetree Inc. has experienced quite a few. Corrective measures are taken immediately after an incident, though none of the measures was ever documented.

ISE 510 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

The final project for this course is the creation of a security breach analysis and recommendations.

The relevance of risk assessment cannot be overemphasized as organizations establish or reaffirm their security posture, especially in the wake of overwhelming computer security breaches at many organizations in the United States and around the world, including government agencies. Organizations seek to understand their compliance status for current regulations as well as their vulnerability in order to adopt a proper approach to manage risks. It is equally important to conduct a risk assessment after a system breach has occurred to better understand the threats and the vulnerabilities exploited.

For your final project, you will analyze an information security breach that has already occurred. This will place you in the role of a risk assessment expert, coming in to determine how the breach occurred and develop strategies to mitigate against the breach reoccurring. Risk assessment experts can fill the positions of penetration testers, information security auditors, and independent verification and validation analysts, for example. Such roles will continue to gain relevance as organizations and governments continue to move sensitive financial information, personal health information (PHI), and personally identifiable information (PII) across publicly accessible networks and storage devices.

For the final project for this course, you will analyze an information security breach provided in the Final Project Scenario document and the educational video game (Agent Surefire: InfoSec) you will play in Module Three. In your analysis, you will discuss how the breach occurred, the incident response processes that were initiated, the impact of the breach, and applicable regulations to the organization. Then, you will develop a security test plan for the breached system and create security controls to ensure that the breach will not reoccur.

The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three, Five, and Seven. The final product will be submitted in Module Nine.

This assessment addresses the following course outcomes:

 Determine how cybersecurity attacks occur in organizations through analysis of security breaches

 Evaluate incident response processes for their effectiveness in ensuring business continuity in support of organizational goals

 Assess the impact of cybersecurity regulations on the information security of organizations

 Create security test plans for networks, applications, or physical security assessment projects based on established cybersecurity standards

 Develop risk mitigation strategies for addressing application, website, and network vulnerabilities

 Recommend methods to reduce the impact of organizational culture and communication challenges that could affect cybersecurity risk assessment in a diversified world

Prompt

Your security breach analysis and recommendations should answer the following prompt: Using your Final Project Scenario and gameplay from the educational video game Agent Surefire: InfoSec that you will complete in Module Three, analyze the information security breach to determine how the breach occurred, evaluate the incident response processes, and assess the impact of the breach and applicable regulations on the business or organization. Then use your analysis to develop a security test plan, security controls to mitigate risk, and recommendations that reduce the impact of organizational culture and communication challenges.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Introduction: Provide a brief profile of the business or organization that has been attacked, including its organizational goals. In your profile, you could consider the industry in which the business or organization operates and the product or service that is the focus, for example.

II. II. Security Breach: In this section, you will analyze one current information security breach, describing the business or organization that has been affected by this breach and explaining how the breach occurred. Specifically, you should:

A. Attack Location: Determine what part of the business or organization was attacked by analyzing the security breach that occurred. For example, was the network attacked? Or was the company website hacked?

B. Attack Method and Tools: Analyze the security breach to determine the method and tools that were used to effect the attack. In other words, how did the attack occur?

C. Vulnerabilities: Based on your analysis, what vulnerabilities of the business or organization were exploited? How were the vulnerabilities discovered? For example, were the vulnerabilities discovered by an employee, a third party, or a customer?

III. Incident Response: In this section, you will evaluate the incident response processes that were initiated in response to the breach. Specifically, you should:

A. Actions: What incident response actions were initiated to minimize the impact of the breach? In other words, what did the business or organization do to address the vulnerabilities and resume normal system operations after the breach?

B. Business Continuity: Evaluate these incident response actions for their effectiveness in allowing the business to resume normal system operations after the breach. In other words, how effective were these incident response actions in ensuring business continuity and supporting the organization’s goals?

IV. Impact: In this section, you will discuss the possible impacts of applicable cybersecurity regulations to the business or organization. Specifically, you should:

A. Application: Describe the government and industry regulations that apply to the business or organization in relation to the security breach. For example, what legislation, directives, and policies relate to the security breach?

B. Impact: How do these regulations impact the business or organization and its information security? Support your response with specific examples.

C. Financial and Legal Implications: Discuss possible financial and legal implications of the security breach for the business or organization. Will the business or organization be subject to any fines or sanctions because of the security breach, for example?

V. Security Test Plan: In this section, you will develop a security test plan for the breached system, basing your plan on your analysis of the security breach and established cybersecurity standards such as those from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Specifically, you should:

A. Scope: Determine the scope of the risk assessment. For example, what assets, threats, and vulnerabilities will need to be addressed? Will the risk assessment need to include networks, applications, or physical security systems? What policies and procedures will need to be reviewed?

B. Resources: Document the resources required for the risk assessment. In other words, what do you need to actually do the assessment?

C. Hardware and Software: Create a list of system hardware and software within the target of the risk assessment. In other words, what are the parts of the system that you are assessing? D. Tools: Determine the necessary tools for the risk assessment, based the list of system hardware and software you created.

VI. Risk Mitigation: In this section, you will create security controls to ensure that the breach will not reoccur. Specifically, you should:

A. Security Controls: Create at least five security controls that mitigate future risks by ensuring that the security breach will not reoccur. These controls can be technical, administrative, or personnel security controls, for example.

B. Vulnerabilities: How will the security controls you created mitigate risks by reducing application, website, and network vulnerabilities?

C. Evaluation: What are the criteria for measuring the controls to ensure they are properly implemented? In other words, how will the security controls be evaluated?

VII. Conclusion: In this section, you will recommend methods to reduce the impact of organizational culture and communication challenges. Specifically, you should:

A. Communication: Document interpersonal communication issues encountered within the risk assessment team. How were the issues resolved?

B. Organizational Culture: What challenges to organizational culture occurred as a result of the security breach? In your response, consider the impact of the security breach on the reputation of the business or organization.

C. Recommendations: What methods can you recommend to reduce the impact of these communication and organizational cultural issues in future risk assessments?

Milestones

Milestone One: Kickoff Agenda In Module Three, you will submit a kickoff agenda. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Test Plan In Module Five, you will submit a test plan. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Incident Response Plan In Module Seven, you will submit an incident response plan. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.

Final Submission: Security Breach Analysis and Recommendations In Module Nine, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. It should also be structured to follow the outline presented in the Prompt. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric (below).