Guide on the production of Protection Profiles

1. Guide on the production of Protection Profiles Karin Sallhammar Q2S/NTNU 29/11/2003 Reference: ISO/IEC TR 15446 Information technology - Security techniques - Guide on the production of protection profiles and security targets (Editor’s Report) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

2. Outline • Introduction • The Protection Profile (PP) • The development process • Guidance on producing a Protection Profile TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

3. Definitions and abbreviations • DBMS – Database Management System • EAL – Evaluation Assurance Level • ISO/IEC 15408 – ”Common Criteria” • OSP – Organisational Security Policies • PP – Protection Profile • SAR – Security Assurance Requirements • SFR – Security Functional Requirements • SOF – Strength of Function • ST – Security Target • TOE – Target of Evaluation • TTP – Trusted Third Party TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

4. Introduction • The purpose of a Protection Profile (PP) is to state a security problem rigorously for a given collection of systems or product – known as Target of Evaluation (TOE) – and to specify implementation-independent security requirement to address that problem. • The Guide provides detailed guidance relating to the various parts of a PP or ST, and how they interrelate. • In this presentation, I will concentrate on Protection Profiles and NOT Security Targets. However, the guidance for a ST is very similar to the PP guidance. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

5. The Protection Profile (PP) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

6. The development process • PPs are often developed in a logical ”top-down” manner1. define the security concerns2. identify the security objectives3. define the IT security requirements • During an iterative development processnew requirements might surface, due to- new threats may be identified- organisational security policies may change- cost and time constraints may impose changes in division of responsibility between the TOE and its environment- changes in intended attack potential • The TOE might be an already developed product – ”bottom-up” approach. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

7. The Protection Profile (PP) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

8. The TOE security environment • Purpose: ”define the nature and scope of the definition of the environment in which the TOE is intended to be used and the manner in which it is expected to be employed” TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

9. Identify and specify the assumptions • ”What assumptions am I making about the TOE security environment and the scope of the security concern?” • Aspects relating to the intended usage of the TOE • Environmental protection of any part of the TOE • Connectivity aspects • Personal aspects • It is unlikely that you will completely identify all assumptions in a single attempt! TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

10. The TOE security environment TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

11. Identify and specify the threats • ISO/IEC 15408: the PP must contain a description of any threat to the asset against which protection will be required • However the statement of threats may be omitted if the security objectives is derived soley from the OSP and assumptions • Risk analysis may be an important tool! TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

12. Identifying the threats • Definition of ”threat” (ISO/IEC 15408):an undesirable event, which is characterised in terms of a threat agent, a presumed attack method, any vulnerabilities that are the foundation for the attack and identification of the asset under attack • We need to identify- the assets- the threat agents- the attack methods TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

13. Identifying the assets • Definition of ”assets” (ISO/IEC 15408):information and resources to be protected by the countermeasures of a TOE • Assets typically take the form of information which is stored, processed and transmitted by IT-systems • Assets may be external to the TOE (eg. for firewalls) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

14. Identifying the threat agents • Threat agents may either be human or non-human • To identify human threat agent, consider- who might want to compromise the assets and for what reasons- who could gain access to the IT-system - their possible level of technical expertise, opportunities, resources and motivation • Non-human sources of threat and threats unintentionally arising from human sources should also be considered. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

15. Identifying the attack methods • Will be based on knowledge about the TOE security environment • potential vulnerabilities to the assets which a threat agent could exploit • the capabilities of attackers who have access to the TOE security environment • A vulnerability analysis of the TOE security environment can be useful. However, it may not identify all vulnerabilities. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

16. Risk analysis • Risk analysis may be helpful for threat identification. • Such methods may consider • The probability and consequence of compromise of the assets, taking into account- the possible attack methods identified- the likelihood of the attack to succeed- the consequences of any damage that may be caused • Other constraints, eg. legal requirements and cost TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

17. Specifying the threats • The specification of threats in a PP should be clear- include the threat agent- include the asset subject to the attack- include the attack method employedEg: An authorised user of the TOE might gain unauthorized access to information by impersonating another authorised user • The specification of threats in a PP should be concise- the threat descriptions should be disjoint- specify all threats at the same level of detail- each threat should be unique labelled for ease of reference TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

18. Completing the statement of threats • The threats that are of principal interest are those that will be countered by the TOE • However, for completeness, the PP may need to include some threats that are not adressed by the TOE, eg - physical attack agains the TOE- abuse of trust by highly privileged users- improper administration and operation of the TOE • The PP author can choose whether to include these in the enviromental assumptions or in the statements of threats… TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

19. The TOE security environment TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

20. Identify and specify the Organisational Security Policies (OSP) • An OSP is defined as one or more rules, procedures and practices imposed by an organisation • The OSP may be omitted if the security objectives are derived soley from the threats and assumptions • Or a combination can be used (but be careful not to restate the same threats) • General rule: Specify OSPs where • the TOE is intended for use by a specific type of organisation • there is a need for the TOE to implement a set of rules that cannot be sensibly included within or implied by a threat description (eg. identification of acces control rules or information flow control rules) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

21. The Protection Profile (PP) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

22. The security objectives • The security objectives provide a concise statement of the intended response to the security problem • Security objectives for the TOE • Security objectives for the environment TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

23. Security objectives for the TOE (1) • ...states what the responsibility of the TOE is in countering the threats and in supporting the OSP. • The security objective is intended to be concise. To ”reach” an appropriate level of detail, you need a strict balance between: • The security objectives for the TOE should be implementation-independent • Ensure that the defined security objectives do not just repeat the information contained within the threats and the OSP • When you construct the rationale for the security objectives and the IT security requirements, you will see if you have succeeded.. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

24. Security objectives for the TOE (2) • Three types of security objective can be identified to address the identified threats: • preventive objectives (prevent or limit threats) • detective objectives (detect and monitor events) • corrective objectives (take action on undesirable events) • An example of a preventive security objective is: • The TOE will ensure that each user is uniquely identified and that the claimed identity is autheticated, before the user is granted accesss to the TOE facilities. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

25. Security objectives for the environment (1) • ...will have to be identified to address those aspects of security concerns that the TOE will not (or cannot) be expected to do • counter threats that are not countered by the TOE • help satisfy OSPs that are not fully satisifed by the TOE • ensure that the environmental assumptions are satisfied • Eg. non-IT security objective for the environment:objectives for education and training of administrators and users • Eg. IT security objective for the environment:a security objective for an underlying operating system to identify and authenticate TOE users. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

26. Security objectives for the environment (2) • An appropriate starting point would be to compile a list of security objectives by taking each threat, OSP and assumption that is not fully addressed by the TOE and • Add a new security objective for the environment , or • If an appropriate one already has been identified, map an existing security object to that aspect • The list should be redefined when you formulate the security objectives rationale. • The statement of security objective should be reviewed to ensure that the division of responsibilities between the TOE and its environment is appropriate. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

27. The Protection Profile (PP) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

28. The security requirements • SFR – identify the requirements for security functions which the TOE must provide to ensure that its security objectives are achieved • SAR – identify the required level of assurance in the implementation of the SFRs • SR IT-environment – define any functional and assurance requirements to be satisfied by the IT-environment (optional) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

29. Security functional requirements • Having defined the security objectives for the TOE in response to the identified security concerns, you need to elaborate how these security objectives are met. This is done by selecting appropriate SFR at a component level. • In the selection process it will be helpful to distinguish between • principal SFRs – which directly satisfies the identified security objectives for the TOE • supporting SFRs – to provide support for the principal SFRs TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

30. Selecting SFRs • For each security objective for the TOE, identify the principle SFRs which directly satisfy them • Once a complete set of principle SFRs has been establish, an iterative process is used to identify a complete set of supporting SFRs. • All SFRs should (where possible) be expressed using functional components from Part 2 of ISO/IEC 15408. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

31. Identifying supporting SFRs • Three stages when identifying the complete set of supporting SFRs • Identify the additional SFRs needed to satisfy the dependencies of all principal SFRs • Identify any additional SFRs that are necessary to ensure that the security objectives for the TOE are achieved • Identify the SFRs needed to satisfy the dependencies of those supporting SFRs selected during stage 2 and 3 (?) • This is usually an iterative process! • Eg. The PP includes a security objective for the TOE to response on detection of events indicating security violation • a principal SFR based on FAU_ARP.1 (Security Alarms) component • FAU_ARP.1 has a dependency on FAU_SAA.1 (Potential Violation Analysis) which should also be included as a supporting SFR • FAU_SAA.1 has a dependency on FAU_GEN.1 (Audit Data Generation) • and so on....... TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

32. Operations on SFRs • Permitted operations on SFRs: • Assignment – specification of an identified parameter • Iteration – multiple use of the same functional component to express different requirements • Selection – specification of one or more elements from a given list • Refinement – addition of details to the security requirements • For ”assignment” and ”selection” the guidance suggest that the operations should be partially completed. • The ”iteration” can be used where the clarity of the PP can be enhanched, eg. to break down a complex SFR into distinct functional requirements TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

33. Additional advices on SFRs • The guide also give advices on: • How to specify audit requirements • How to specify management requirements • How to specify SOF (Strength of Function) • How to specify SFRs not included in part 2 of ISO/IEC 15408 • and so on.... TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

34. Security Assurance Requirements • The selection of SARs will require the balancing if several factors, e.g: • the value of the assets to be protected and the perceived risk of compromising those assets • technical feasability • likely development and evaluation costs • perceived market requirement (in the case of products) • The selection of the SARs will be relatively straight-forward if choosing an appropriate assurance packet (eg. an EAL). It is possible to include augmented SARs to the packet in order to ensure that the security objectives are satisfied. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

35. Additional advices on SARs • The guide also gives advices on: • How to perform operations on SARs (iterations and refinements) • How to specify SARs not included in Part 3 of ISO/IEC 15408 in a PP TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

36. Security requirements on the environment • .. for meeting the security objectives for the environment. • SR on the IT environment.These should be specified, where feasible, using ISO/IEC 15408 functional and assurance components • SR for the non-IT environment (optional). • The guidance did not provide any clear advices (at least to me) on this topic... TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

37. The Protection Profile (PP) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

38. PP rationale • Purpose: • ” to demonstrate that a conformant TOE provides an effective set of IT security countermeasures within the TOE security environment” • Security objectives rationale • Security requirements rationale TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

39. Security objectives rationale • First, show that the security objectives are necessary by (eg): • Cross-reference the threats, OSPs and assumptions against the security objectives which are intended to adress them. It should be evident that • Each security objective covers at least one threat, OSP or asumption • Each threat, OSP and assumption is covered by at least one securty objective • Secondly, demonstrate that the security objectives are sufficient to meet the security concerns by providing informal arguments to supplement the cross-reference information • For each threat, give informal arguments why the identified security objectives will provide for effective countermeasures (detected and recovered, prevented or reduced) towards the threats • Similarily, for each identified OSP or assumption, give informal arguments… TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

40. Security requirements rationale • Show that the IT security requirements (in particular the SFRs) are suitable to meet the identified security objectives and thereby address the security concerns. • As with the security objectives, you need to demonstrate that the security requirements are both necessary and sufficient. • Cross-reference each security objective for the TOE against the SFR which satisfies it and check that- each SFR addresses at least one security objective- each security objective for the TOE is adressed by at least one SFR • Supplement the cross reference-information with informal arguments for the sufficiency. TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

41. Security requirements rationale • We also need to show that the assurance requirements (SAR) are appropriate for the TOE, ie: • sufficient to address the security objectives and thus meet the security concerns • not excessive (given the statement of security objectives/concerns) • attainable (it should be technically feasible for the TOE to attain the defined assurance requirements) • You also have to show that: • The strength of functions (SOF) are appropriate • The security requirements (in particular the SFRs) are mutually supportive • The assurance measures satisfy the assurance requirements (SAR) • The IT security functions satisfy the SFRs TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

42. The guide also includes • PPs for composite and component TOEs • Functional packages • Assurance packages • Appendices- A summary in form of a checklist- Example threats, OSPs, assumptions and security objectives and identifies appropriate ISO/IEC 15408 functional components- Special guidance for PPs which implement cryptographic functionality- Application of the guidance in various of contexts, using worked examples for different types of TOE (firewall, DBMS, TTP) TM8104 IT Security Evaluation

43. Questions? TM8104 IT Security Evaluation