Leveraging Information Security for Business Success

1. Introduction • Welcome! • Format of day • Response to previous requests from clients • Amendment to schedule Using Information Security for Business Advantage

2. MWR InfoSecurity The Business Case for Information Security12 March 2009Alex Fidgen Ian Shaw

3. What will we achieve? • Help you gain organisational commitment and justify required spend • Introduction • Part 1 - Visualisation techniques • Part 2 - Communication techniques • Part 3 - Supporting frameworks Using Information Security for Business Advantage

4. Introduction • Communicating security risk can be very hard in environments without structured metrics • The classic chicken and egg scenario • We did not want to concentrate on the • is there/isn’t there argument for ROI.

5. Problems • Senior Management and Board directors need to increase shareholder value • Mature metrics makes it easy to communicateshareholder value based risk • Associating technical risks with revenue is impossible without a business context • Information security managers with IT backgrounds find it hard to communicate risk at a business level • The business seldom understands the value of its information assets

6. Communication! • This is a communication issue!

7. Part 1 – Protecting Traditional Assets (Opening the Board’s Eyes to Information Security Spend – Is information security spending in line with traditional asset protection?) Using Information Security for Business Advantage

8. Questions your Board may be asking • Why do we need to worry about this information security issue? • Why is Malware Protection so expensive? • Are these costs of doing business online justified? • I don’t understand whether this expenditure is justified • The following examples have been developed to demonstrate how security is integrated seamlessly into existing business models • Try to ignore any immediate reaction to industry sector! Using Information Security for Business Advantage

9. Typical Retail Organisation (Asset Protection) Human Resources Vetting / References Internal Audit Disciplinary Procedure External Audit Credit Control Finance Secure Cash Handling Accounting Policies / Standards Financial Reconciliations Security Guards Warehouse / Distribution Store Detectives Stock Control Counterfeit Detection Safes / Alarms Shops Product Integrity* RFID Cardwatch CCTV Local Crime Schemes Using Information Security for Business Advantage * For example: tamper evident jars

10. Typical Retail Organisation (Asset Protection) Human Resources Vetting / References Internal Audit Disciplinary Procedure External Audit Credit Control Finance Secure Cash Handling Accounting Policies / Standards Financial Reconciliations Security Guards Warehouse / Distribution Store Detectives Stock Control Counterfeit Detection Safes / Alarms Shops Product Integrity* RFID Cardwatch CCTV Local Crime Schemes Using Information Security for Business Advantage * For example: tamper evident jars

11. Typical E-Retail (Information Asset Protection) Business Interfaces Vetting / References Information Security Policies Disciplinary Procedure Build Standards InfoSec Awareness Training IT/IS/ Development Threat Modelling Anti-Virus Security in SDLC Patch Management Data Storage Application Testing Vulnerability Assessment Penetration Testing Configuration Reviews Ecommerce Site Access Control Reviews Encryption Firewalls Legislative Compliance Monitoring / Intrusion Detection Using Information Security for Business Advantage Using Information Security for Business Advantage

12. In Summary • Information asset protection still lags behind traditional asset protection • Opening the organisation’s eyes to traditional security measures can ‘set the scene’ to introduce information security • A simple visualisation technique helps soften attitudes to information security spend Using Information Security for Business Advantage

13. Part 2 – A model for information asset identification and classification Using Information Security for Business Advantage

14. Part 2 - Communication of risk • High level abstract link… • How best to communicate the risk from this point forward • Need to highlight risks that may impact shareholder value • Must be flexible and expose risks not currently perceived • One technique is threat modelling…plenty of others however Using Information Security for Business Advantage

15. Risk – A quick reminder Threats Vulnerability An event that could have a detrimental effect on an asset A conduit that could be exploited by a threat Asset An item of value Risks The effect on a business of a risk being realised BUSINESS IMPACT

16. What is threat modelling • Threat Modelling: • Grades Threats • Allows identification of vulnerabilities • Enhances the final calculation of risk • Very powerful and business focussed Using Information Security for Business Advantage

17. What it can provide: • Defence in depth • Effective controls with efficient expenditure • Asset protection is proportional to the business value • Greater measurable returns on security investment Using Information Security for Business Advantage

18. Case Study – Insurance Company • In excess of 600 systems • Business run in a federated sense • There is/was no centralised security management function, • Some security testing in the past against core systems • No set budget for security • Some basic security training, around physical security and access control Using Information Security for Business Advantage

19. How the model was formed.. • identified the systems and the assets, • a high level risk assessment based on the business risk and potential business impact • Assignation of a commercial revenue value to each system Using Information Security for Business Advantage

20. How the model was formed.. cont • All revenue streams documented • the most important systems quickly became evident, • Allowed focus on the most financially important assets • Intangible assets were also assessed (reputation, client satisfaction, employee • happiness etc.).

21. What did this do? • This made an actual and tangible link to the management team connecting the • value of the information assets (within systems) with the value of assigned • security spend to identify and manage the risk • It open their eyes to the asset value, and made justification of budget almost • self fulfilling

22. Part 3 – Effecting Change(Operational Information Security) Using Information Security for Business Advantage

23. Where are we? Information Assets Threats Vulnerabilities Risks Current Position + = = Existing Controls Using Information Security for Business Advantage

24. What is the appetite for risk? Current Position Where we want to be STAGE 1 Organisational Changes - = Using Information Security for Business Advantage

25. Stage 1 – Organisational Change • What is required for successful organisational change • Change Plan – how will we know when we arrive? • Resources – do we have the resources to achieve the change? • Sponsorship – do we have executives backing for change? • Support (Culture) – important if exec sponsorship is broken? Using Information Security for Business Advantage

26. Stage 2 - Operation • Measure performance (results not activities) • Make changes as necessary • Periodically review performance • Review measures Using Information Security for Business Advantage

27. Summary Using Information Security for Business Advantage

28. Questions? Using Information Security for Business Advantage