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	<description>Empowering today&#039;s enterprise organizations with Proactive Security Intelligence</description>
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		<title>Leveraging Security Metrics To Protect Your Network</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2012/01/29/leveraging-security-metrics-to-protect-your-network/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2012/01/29/leveraging-security-metrics-to-protect-your-network/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:23:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>rforkish</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Automation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Measuring effectiveness]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/?p=438</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Security metrics that actually move the needle and ease management, versus simply measure activity, remain an elusive goal. RedSeal engineering chief Robbie Forkish outlines his take on building a model for maturing security metrics in his latest post.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Maybe we should just give up trying to maintain secure enterprise networks; it’s just too hard.</p>
<p>When we surveyed practitioners, 71% of respondents admitted that <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/10/12/redseal-research-survey-pros-concede-hackers-have-them-outgunned-via-tools-and-automation/">their networks are exposed</a> to external threats due to misconfiguration issues in their security device infrastructure. Verizon reports that <a href="http://www.verizonbusiness.com/resources/reports/rp_2011-payment-card-industry-compliance-report_en_xg.pdf">79% of organizations fail to maintain PCI compliance</a> from their prior year’s assessment. More than 50 percent told us they had no idea <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/10/12/redseal-research-survey-pros-concede-hackers-have-them-outgunned-via-tools-and-automation/">how many of their organizations’ internal hosts were exposed</a> to the Internet.</p>
<p>We know that even in this era of constrained budgets, enterprises are spending more on network security—and yet 75% of network and security pros agree that the <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/10/12/redseal-research-survey-pros-concede-hackers-have-them-outgunned-via-tools-and-automation/">advantage is still on the side of the attacker</a>. Verizon reposts that security “erosion” over the course of the year between PCI audits is the norm with most enterprises, despite the fact that we know there’s a <a href="http://www.verizonbusiness.com/resources/reports/rp_2011-payment-card-industry-compliance-report_en_xg.pdf">correlation between slippage and data breaches</a>.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate our priorities. As our CTO <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/11/27/is-90-percent-compliance-good-enough/">Dr. Mike points out</a>, there’s a general consensus to focus on the core controls. If you’re already covering 90% of the basics, security pros agree it’s more wise to push for 100% versus expand the number of controls.</p>
<p>But if you’re focused on the core controls, how do you know what percentage level you’re at, and where the areas of exposure are? That’s where security metrics come in.</p>
<p>In this case, we’re referring to actionable security metrics — those that provide <em>proactive security intelligence</em>, a direct incentive to act. Many metrics available to security pros: number of patches; number of vulnerabilities; and the number of firewall and router config changes, are without context, or simply measure worker hours. They don’t characterize risk in a meaningful way, nor do they point towards a specific resolution.</p>
<p><strong>Hitting The Books</strong></p>
<p>In his seminal tome <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Security-Metrics-Replacing-Uncertainty-Doubt/dp/0321349989">Security Metrics: Replacing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt</a>, <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-jaquith/2/5b9/a88">Andrew Jaquith</a> describes the value of security metrics by referencing other business disciplines. For example, freight companies know their freight cost per mile and loading factors , and those of their competitors. Management can set objectives and measure themselves against comparable companies. Choosing to be above, on, or below an industry average is a question of strategy as well as operational efficiency. For example, a freight company may be willing to have a lower load factor than its peers if that&#8217;s the tradeoff required to offer faster delivery times (for which it presumably charges a premium).</p>
<p>Similarly, warehousing firms measure and compare their cost/square foot and inventory turns, and e-commerce companies measure site conversion rates. Financial metrics have established for many years. Companies can therefore compare relevant metrics to those of their peers in order to evaluate internal performance.</p>
<p>Could such a use of metrics apply to security? Yes, but only if consistently generated within the context of a security framework.</p>
<p><strong>Building Blocks</strong></p>
<p>The three pillars of security, as we see it here, are visualize, comply and protect. Logically then, if we build a framework on those pillars we’ll be able to generate meaningful security metrics.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Visualize</span>: There is wisdom in Requirement 1 of the PCI DSS, in the section entitled “Build and Maintain a Secure Network”: the requirement is to create a network diagram, and keep it current. Why? You can’t secure what you can’t see. And yet, according to Verizon <a href="http://www.verizonbusiness.com/resources/reports/rp_2011-payment-card-industry-compliance-report_en_xg.pdf">Requirement 1 has the second-highest erosion factor</a> out of the nine requirements not specific to planning and checking. When security pros can visualize the network topology—including groups that clearly identify zones (such as DMZ) and untrusted sources—they become much more effective in creating effective segmentation strategies and policies, and maintaining compliance.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Comply</span>: Compliance refers to PCI, FINRA, FFIEC, SOX and other regulatory frameworks, of course, but also internal policies, and best practices from sources such as SANS’ <a href="https://www.sans.org/critical-security-controls/guidelines.php" target="_blank">20 Critical Security Controls, Version 3.0</a>. However, complying with regulatory and internal policies in most cases is open loop; we perform security measures in an effort to comply, but other than regulatory audits we’re mostly in the dark as to how effective our security controls remain over time. We need move from open loop security to closed loop,  with feedback controls that allow us to make continuous adjustments to thwart erosion.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/closed.metrics.loop_.png"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-469" title="closed.metrics.loop" src="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/closed.metrics.loop_.png" alt="" width="611" height="296" /></a></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Protect</span>: The fundamental security question is whether the network is protected. How can we know what’s working, and where additional focus is required? By developing a security framework that provides security metrics — feedback controls, from which effective remediation for erosion can be devised. Security metrics enable enterprise to answer questions such as:</p>
<p>1. What’s my overall risk; how does it compare to yesterday, last week, last month and last year?<br />
2. How easily can attackers get in?<br />
3. How big is my attack surface?<br />
4. How much of my infrastructure is undocumented?<br />
5. Are investments and actions paying off?<br />
6. Where do we need to improve?<br />
7. Are we ready for our next audit?</p>
<p>Note that the questions above relate to actual network security, unlike, say, how many hosts were patched in the last month (time check) or how many vulnerabilities are being scanned (no context).</p>
<p><strong>Comparing Models</strong></p>
<p>Are these good security metrics? Let&#8217;s look at Andrew Jacquith&#8217;s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Security-Metrics-Replacing-Uncertainty-Doubt/dp/0321349989" target="_blank">definition </a>:</p>
<p>1. Consistently &#8211; measured, without subjective criteria;<br />
2. Cheap &#8211; to gather, preferably in an automated way;<br />
3. Expressed &#8211; as a cardinal number or percentage, not high, medium and low;<br />
4. Expressed &#8211; using at least one unit of measure, such as &#8220;number of hosts directly exposed&#8221;; and<br />
5. Contextually &#8211; specific—relevant enough so someone can read it and take action.</p>
<p>The security metrics provided in RedSeal 5 satisfy all of Jacquith’s criteria for good metrics, empowering our customers to continuously monitor their network through a closed loop process and therefore address problem areas—and in doing so protect their organization’s network.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abLB7aTmnE4" target="_blank">Behold</a>, security metrics that actually work.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Can You Trust Your Partners?  Lessons from Symantec, PCI, and the Government</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2012/01/10/can-you-trust-your-partners-lessons-from-symantec-pci-and-the-government/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2012/01/10/can-you-trust-your-partners-lessons-from-symantec-pci-and-the-government/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:54:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>drmike</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Attackers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Automation]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/?p=452</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Symantec's hacking incident is only embarassing to the security giant in that it's partners weren't sufficiently defending the content.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Symantec&#8217;s <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/database-security/167901020/security/antivirus/232301459/hackers-claim-breach-of-norton-antivirus-source-code-experts-say-claims-are-exaggerated.html" target="_blank">recent issues</a> with stolen source code are interesting. They were not attacked directly; rather, the code they had placed on an outside network was taken, presumably due to defensive defects at the third party where it resided.</p>
<p>The fact that Symantec suffered a breach due to lax protection in <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/insider-threat/167801100/security/security-management/220001149/tech-insight-how-to-make-business-partner-security-work.html" target="_blank">someone else&#8217;s network</a> is a significant wake-up call. It is not enough to ensure you follow best practices; in an interconnected world, you have to worry about the security of other organizations.</p>
<p>Your business partners and strategic customers may be friendly, but they are not going to expose specifics to you about how well they protect themselves (unless maybe you force them to, as with hosting companies or cloud providers).</p>
<p>This issue &#8211; needing to understand the risk of a network you cannot see &#8211; has led to standards like PCI, FISMA, and <a href="http://iase.disa.mil/stigs/" target="_blank">DISA STIGs</a>, which establish accepted, measurable baselines of &#8220;basic hygiene&#8221;. As we steadily lose control of our own critical assets, and as attackers increasingly automate their attacks, we will need more baselines like this so that one organization can show another that it is handling things properly.</p>
<p>Now, when I wrote the above <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/symantec-confirms-segment-of-source-code-stolen/?comments#permid=1" target="_blank">comments in a discussion</a>, I got some push-back about the standards I chose to highlight &#8211; not everyone agrees that PCI or FISMA are good role models. Some correspondents challenged me to defend whether these regulations really work, or provide any security. What follows is my response &#8211; a take on what PCI DSS is, what it&#8217;s not, and why I think it&#8217;s good at what it aims to do:</p>
<p>The key thought here is “cui bono” – who benefits?</p>
<p>PCI is not a magic recipe for perfect security – some would thus call it “inadequate”. But that’s not what it’s for. From the point of view of credit card companies, their money sits inside other peoples’ networks (in the form of those credit card numbers). They have spent years thinking about the problem Symantec faced – what happens when you have to put your assets inside a network you can’t control? You need assurance; PCI exists to give the credit card companies some assurance that the numbers are being looked after.</p>
<p>However, what makes it really interesting is that they cannot simply require that all Mom &amp; Pop corner stores will run Fort Knox levels of security – the issuers lose money if they make it too hard to work with credit cards! So they are really in a bind. Enforce too stringent a set of standards, and nobody will be able to meet them, and so nobody will be able to use credit cards. Set the bar too low, and keep on losing larger amounts of money to theft. <a href="https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/" target="_blank">PCI is an impressive balancing act</a> between these pressures.</p>
<p>PCI is also moving – the rules change in each revision, in a process of gradually raising the bar. FISMA is changing too. It’s true that it started as a paperwork exercise, but recent changes are shaking that up. I would say the thinking behind FISMA represents some of the best work going on today on this problem – how can you motivate people to improve, without imposing too much overhead, and while staying flexible (since the threat landscape is moving).</p>
<p>The attackers are increasingly relying on automation, and so the big theme in FISMA reform is “<a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/12/14/complexity-and-confusion-the-reality-of-continuous-monitoring/" target="_blank">continuous monitoring</a>” – automate your defenses, as far as possible. That is, FISMA is no longer a simple checklist – it requires metrics, and it requires them to be generated so frequently that it’s not even possible to use wasteful, inaccurate human effort. Automation is the only way to meet FISMA, and defensive automation is the right next stage of evolution.</p>
<p>As for how the baselines should be enforced, we can already see the answer. The government focuses on regulations of defense networks (DISA STIGs), on government infrastructure (FISMA), and on critical infrastructure such as power generation (NERC/FERC) – this is an appropriate role for government. PCI, on the other hand, is not a law – it’s a commercial agreement between people whose money (in the form of credit card numbers) is held inside the networks of other people (merchants, clearing houses, etc). This is the right model.</p>
<p>Anyone who faces risk due to assets under someone else’s control needs to establish a yardstick that the outside entity can use to show they have taken due care. Such yardsticks cannot be impossibly hard to meet – they need to be practical and achievable (even if this means they cannot guarantee perfect security – who can?).</p>
<p>The yardsticks need to be measurable – opinion calls should be avoided. They need to maintain some privacy for the organization being studied – nobody will agree to expose all their infrastructure to an outside party, so the yardstick needs to summarize well. Finally, the yardstick must actually <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/downloads/white-papers/transforming-it-security-management-via-outcome-oriented-metrics.pdf" target="_blank">measure security effectiveness</a>, not just busy-ness.</p>
<p>In today’s world, PCI is a good example of all of these properties. It’s no panacea – it doesn’t guarantee security. All it does is offer some assurance to the person taking on third party risk that the third party is at least basically competent – “you must be at least this high to ride this ride”.</p>
<p>Other organizations can learn lessons from PCI, and use comparable guidelines when they take on third party risk. The movement to cloud services is a great example – the financial benefits of moving to the cloud are obvious, but the risk side remains too murky.</p>
<p>Buyers of <a href="http://cloudsecurity.org/" target="_blank">cloud services</a> face the same problem Symantec faced, and that credit card companies faced. They need to demand quantified, summarized metrics of security effectiveness and security posture from their cloud service providers. Government cannot solve this (beyond prosecuting fraud), but commercial contracts can, and PCI stands as a clear example.</p>
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		<title>Complexity and Confusion: The Reality of Continuous Monitoring</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/12/14/complexity-and-confusion-the-reality-of-continuous-monitoring/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/12/14/complexity-and-confusion-the-reality-of-continuous-monitoring/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:40:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mhines</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Attackers]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/?p=426</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The results of RedSeal's survey on continuous monitoring are surprisingly dire.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Admittedly, we expected to hear some mixed reviews and differing levels of preparedness planning our survey on the OMB’s directive for all federal agencies to implement continuous monitoring of network security by the end of fiscal 2012.</p>
<p>Yet, as much as we expected to hear from attendees at the GFirst conference in September that there was still a good deal of confusion as to the specifics and timing of their continuous monitoring plans, <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/company/press-releases/121411.html" target="_blank">the results that came back</a> – less than half of all agencies said they feel confident they’ll be able to make the cutoff date – opened some eyes all around.</p>
<p>As our government advisor Major General John Casciano (USAF-Ret.) has been <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2010/12/21/the-two-sides-of-continuous-monitoring/" target="_blank">saying for years</a>, we knew that various agencies’ and practitioners’ perceptions of what adopting continuous monitoring actually entails would likely be all over the map.</p>
<p>But, for none of the four technologies we included in the survey to emerge as a leading model, or even two, really made us shake our heads in wonder. (For the record 51 percent of respondents labeled IDS/IPS as part of their projects, followed by SIEM at 49 percent, network device audit at 43 percent and vulnerability assessment tools at 35 percent – respondents could obviously choose more than one option).</p>
<p>Clearly, government IT security pros are not only discouraged about their ability to get continuous monitoring in place ahead of the White House deadline, but they’re not even sure what they need to do. They still don’t feel comfortable with the specifics of what the OMB regulators are <a href="http://www.thecre.com/cm/?p=105" target="_blank">expecting of them</a>.</p>
<p>Considering that the Obama administration cited improvement of cyber-security as a primary objective and former Fed CIO Vivek Kundra, along with cyber-czar Howard Schmidt, listed continuous monitoring as one of the most important programs in making progress, it would seem, given the replies, that those objectives are truly falling short.</p>
<p>To be fair, the whole nature of continuous monitoring is pretty complex, with <a href="http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SMA/fisma/documents/faq-continuous-monitoring.pdf" target="_blank">NIST calling for agencies </a>to both monitor for suspicious traffic on their networks, as well as deploy far more proactive and comprehensive means of assessing exposed vulnerabilities and other underlying points of risk.</p>
<p>However, I doubt anyone would have guessed that, if our results are representative of the larger community and not simply the relatively small sample of 200-plus experts that we reached, the atmosphere around continuous monitoring seems so completely out of whack.</p>
<p>Without getting too self-serving, we at RedSeal feel that the brand of intelligence we can provide regarding real-world network access and vulnerability exposure can help government agencies make continuous monitoring a reality, and a very valuable effort.</p>
<p>When <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/company/press-releases/011011.html" target="_blank">In-Q-tel invested in us </a>earlier this year to help facilitate continuous monitoring in the U.S. intelligence community we felt that was an endorsement that spoke for itself.</p>
<p>For all of us dependent on these hard-working government decision makers and practitioners to help keep our nation and its critical infrastructure safe, here’s hoping that 2012 proves a period of rapid acceleration of both understanding and deployment of continuous monitoring capabilities.</p>
<p>We all know, given both <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/middleeast/16stuxnet.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">recent and historic events</a>, there’s a heck of a lot of important matters at stake.</p>
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		<title>Is 90 Percent Compliance Good Enough?</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/11/27/is-90-percent-compliance-good-enough/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/11/27/is-90-percent-compliance-good-enough/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 27 Nov 2011 21:01:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>drmike</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Attackers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Automation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Consensus Audit Guidelines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Breaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DBIR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal agencies]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Industry Analysts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Main Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network security visibility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Proactive Security Intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Process maturity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SANS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security management models]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[451 Group Andrew Hay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CAG]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[continuous monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cyber-security legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cybercrime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[data breaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[federal policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hackers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hacktivism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intellectual property theft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IT security industry analysts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[network security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal Networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Verizon Data Breach Report]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/?p=388</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As evidenced by informal polling of CISOs and reinforced via a refined set of critical controls recently issued by SANS, it's more important to focus on nailing the basics of IT security and compliance than to worry about the latest and greatest threats.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here&#8217;s a great review of practical security controls: SANS&#8217; <a href="https://www.sans.org/critical-security-controls/guidelines.php" target="_blank">20 Critical Security Controls, Version 3.0</a>.</p>
<div id="page-title">
<p>It&#8217;s heavy in FedSpeak, and clearly aimed at FISMA folks, but even if that&#8217;s not you, I encourage you to check out the controls anyway. I think there&#8217;s real wisdom here &#8211; practical advice from people who&#8217;ve lived it, and thought about it, a lot.</p>
<div>
<p>As the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LglT4wS9hP8" target="_blank">Verizon DBIR</a> makes perfectly clear, the essential two-step is 1) check the basics, then 2) check them again.</p>
<div>
<p>I&#8217;ve been talking to some CISO&#8217;s recently on an informal survey &#8211; a hypothetical situation:</p>
<p>Suppose you have some core controls, and you&#8217;re hitting 90 percent <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/blog/232200215/partner-management-1-a-compliance-program-essential.html" target="_blank">compliance with them</a>. What&#8217;s the next most important action you would take? Should you define more controls to cover more aspects of security? Or should you drive for 95 percent, then 99 percent, on those same core issues where you&#8217;re already at 90 percent?</p>
<p>I was expecting some divergence of opinion. So far, I haven&#8217;t found any.</p>
<p>Everyone I&#8217;ve spoken with seems to agree that you have to drive higher than 90 percent on the basics first. The thinking appears to be that when the <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/256344/20111126/2011-review-hacks-shook-world.htm" target="_blank">Lulz ant swarm</a> comes for you, or the script kiddies turn their automation tools your way, they will find your weak spots, and they will do it easily &#8211; just like real ants, trying to get to your kitchen. So people want to make sure the fundamentals are covered.</p>
<p>If you see it differently, <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/11/27/is-90-percent-compliance-good-enough/#respond">please argue with me</a> &#8211; I&#8217;m curious to find anyone with a contrary point of view.</p>
<p>If we all just agree that the first thing is to get better at the basics, then we have to ask &#8220;what are the basics?&#8221; and that&#8217;s why I like the SANS piece.</p>
<p>By most appearances it&#8217;s the latest version of the project formerly known as CAG &#8211; the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_audit_guidelines" target="_blank">Consensus Audit Guidelines</a>. That was a hot topic a while back, but I&#8217;ve seen it cool a bit recently. (It did come up in an analyst call recently with the <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/andrewsmhay">451 Group&#8217;s Andew Hay</a>, but in the camp of &#8220;whatever happened to <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/html-the-standard-failed-585" target="_blank">that stuff</a>?&#8221; &#8211; a pity.)</p>
<p>If this &#8220;Controls 3.0&#8243; SANS guideline set is the new home of the CAG thinking, I&#8217;m happy &#8211; I think this is a really good overview of the basics, and as I say, most people seem to agree that it&#8217;s about getting better at the basics before we waste our time and money focusing on Dr No&#8217;s latest evil scheme.</p>
<p>Time has shown us &#8211; the bad guys <a href="http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20111127/NEWS07/311279968?tags=%7C299%7C74%7C303%7C335" target="_blank">won&#8217;t use difficult attacks</a> to get in through an upstairs window if we leave the front door open.</p>
</div>
</div>
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		<title>RedSeal’s Vision: Proactive Security Intelligence for the Enterprise</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/11/09/redseal%e2%80%99s-vision-proactive-security-intelligence-for-the-enterprise/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/11/09/redseal%e2%80%99s-vision-proactive-security-intelligence-for-the-enterprise/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:50:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>pjain</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Attackers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Automation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communicating risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Continuous Monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cyber-security Legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Breaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal agencies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Main Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network security visibility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OMB]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prioritizing remediation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Proactive Security Intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Process maturity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security Metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Translating scanner results]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vulnerability data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vulnerability Management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/?p=379</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Welcome to the era of proactive security intelligence. RedSeal's latest procuct release has evolved our value proposition and overall story to a new place, with broader visibility into risk metrics and security infrastructure change.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome to the<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/RedSealSystems" target="_blank"> future of enterprise security</a> and vulnerability management.</p>
<p>That new era begins today with the relaunch of RedSeal, as we introduced the most significant update to our solution ever – RedSeal 5 – and rebrand from “RedSeal Systems” to “RedSeal Networks.”</p>
<p>If you’re a regular visitor to the blog you likely notice that we’ve given our public image, and website, a total facelift – refocusing from the concept of security posture management into what we feel is the next big enterprise IT risk modelling – proactive security intelligence.</p>
<p>Our technical and marketing experts will tell you <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/what-we-offer/products/index.html" target="_blank">everything about RedSeal 5</a>  in upcoming posts, and you can read about the introduction <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/vulnerability-management/167901026/security/perimeter-security/231902625/product-watch-new-redseal-app-lets-enterprises-benchmark-security-risk-attack-surface.html">here</a>, but long story short, this is precisely the type of release you leverage to turn a page and redefine what you do.</p>
<p>While RedSeal 4.2 and its predecessors delivered incredible value around assessment of network defenses and available access, as well as vulnerability exposure, RedSeal 5 is a much evolved species of the same origin.</p>
<p>By <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/what-we-offer/solutions/security-metrics.html" target="_blank">generating key metrics</a> that trend actionable security performance data, RedSeal 5 is ground-breaking; its increased capabilities for predicting the impact that proposed changes will have on security infrastructure are unprecedented.</p>
<p>Predictive risk analysis capabilities on one end and quantitative analysis of historic performance on the other – both previously nonexistent; we know that’s a big deal.</p>
<p>I’ll keep my promise not to delve into product in this space, so the bigger question – why proactive security intelligence – remains.</p>
<p>Here’s what we know. Enterprises aren’t starved for security and risk information anymore, they’re <a href="http://gcn.com/articles/2011/02/28/comment-marc-demarest-sensor-data.aspx" target="_blank">drowning under a tidal wave of data </a>produced by their network defenses and vulnerability assessment tools.</p>
<p>The “visibility” into such data provided by RedSeal was the most popular benefit cited by customers when we recently polled them. Just as today’s astronomers use intelligent tools that comb through the mountains of data generated by their infrared telescopes to discover new stars, the professionals using our product leverage automation to find those security infrastructure issues<br />
invisible to the naked eye.</p>
<p>In addition to <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/tag/in-q-tel/" target="_blank">our friends at In-Q-Tel</a> advancing our products into the U.S. government’s intelligence community, we’re seeing the concept arise everywhere, from our customer Cisco’s “open security intelligence” data analysis, to White House OMB directives on FISMA reporting guidelines.</p>
<p>The cut on infrastructure defenses, and, in particular, vulnerability management, has long been that the processes aren’t “proactive” enough.</p>
<p>That’s where you get PSI from. Preventative analysis of network security risks, it’s not particularly hard to understand.</p>
<p>We made the messaging change because RedSeal 5 does so much more than isolate gaps and <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/what-we-offer/solutions/vulnerability-management.html" target="_blank">exposed vulnerabilities</a>. Those are still core values, but with metrics and change, RedSeal does far more.</p>
<p>How do we know there’s a need? Once again, our customers told us. In a survey we conducted this summer, clients unfailingly touted RedSeal’s ability to help translate their security information into something useful – deeper intelligence about security infrastructure performance and changes.</p>
<p>Security posture isn’t dead, it’s just a smaller piece of this larger puzzle.</p>
<p>We’re riding these features into a new world where we can help solve enterprise security management challenges of a higher order, the big ones that CSOs have only dreamt of.</p>
<p>Stopping advanced attacks, maintaining continuous compliance, <a href="http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/tag/mike-rothman-securosis/" target="_blank">trending vital security performance indicators</a> and communicating such powerful information back to sales.</p>
<p>We think it’s an idea whose time is finally here, specifically realized via development of a powerful new analytical engine sitting at the middle of security infrastructure data and built to last.</p>
<p>Proactive security intelligence. Does that make sense or what? You tell me.</p>
<p>And welcome along for the ride.</p>
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		<title>RedSeal Research: Survey: Pros Concede Hackers Have Them Outgunned Via Tools and Automation</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/10/12/redseal-research-survey-pros-concede-hackers-have-them-outgunned-via-tools-and-automation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/10/12/redseal-research-survey-pros-concede-hackers-have-them-outgunned-via-tools-and-automation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:22:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mhines</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Attackers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Automation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communicating risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Continuous Monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Breaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FISMA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Main Blog]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Risk mapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security management models]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security Metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vulnerability exposure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vulnerability Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[continuous monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cyber-security legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cybercrime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[data breaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[executive leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[federal policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[firewalls]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hackers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hacktivism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[implementation]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[network security]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal Systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[risk map]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security Posture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security posture management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security practitioners]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vulnerability data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vulnerability management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redseal.net/blog/?p=352</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[RedSeal released the findings of its maiden IT security practitioner survey today, and the results point to growing concern that attackers are winning the war of automation.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s here!<a href="http://www.redseal.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/RedSeal.Survey.Infograph.FINAL_.10.113.jpg"><img class="alignright size-large wp-image-367" title="RedSeal.Survey.Infograph.FINAL.10.11" src="http://www.redseal.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/RedSeal.Survey.Infograph.FINAL_.10.113-349x1024.jpg" alt="" width="255" height="812" /></a></p>
<p>Today RedSeal published what we hope will be the first of many <a href="http://go.redseal.net/DimensionalResearchSurveyResults_LP_ResultsRegistration.html">research reports</a> that help bring light to current issues amongpractitioners in the enterprise IT security space.</p>
<p>Undertaken in partnership with <a href="http://www.dimensionalresearch.com/">Dimensional Research</a>, our new report is titled: “Hackers Versus Enterprise Security: A Survey of IT Security Professionals.”</p>
<p>Based on just under 2,000 interviews with network and security pros, the major finding is that these workers feel that today&#8217;s attackers retain the upper hand in terms of automation. Over 50 percent of those surveyed were responsible for networks containing over 100 or more such devices, suggesting that the sheer size and scale of today’s security infrastructure is preventing organizations from adequately maintaining defense.</p>
<p>The data was culled on the show floor over the course of this summer at the Black Hat and <a href="http://go.redseal.net/DGIWebcast_LPWebcastReplay.html" target="_blank">Cisco Live</a> conferences, and the findings are pretty thought provoking if you&#8217;re involved in managing IT security, or even just an average Joe getting your hacking geek on.</p>
<p>Among the specific findings:</p>
<ul>
<li>More than 75 percent of network management and security professionals believe that automated tools give hackers the upper hand in evading the defensive systems utilized by most enterprises to protect their critical assets and data.</li>
<li>Over 71 percent of respondents admitted that their networks are exposed to external threats due to misconfiguration issues present in their security device infrastructure.</li>
<li>More than 50 percent had no idea how many of their organizations’ internal hosts were actually exposed to the Internet.</li>
<li>Roughly 52 percent conceded that their vulnerability management initiatives don’t allow them to prioritize remediation based on the likelihood of real-world attacks.</li>
<li>While many security regulations and industry leaders have recommended for years that enterprises adopt a more metrics-driven approach toward measuring the effectiveness of security infrastructure, only 47 percent of respondents said that their employers do so today.</li>
</ul>
<p>Clearly the results point to the true underlying value of <a href="http://www.redseal.net/solutions/" target="_blank">RedSeal solutions</a> in isolating gaps in network security infrastructure, providing visibility into vulnerability exposures and generating actionable metrics regarding the overall performance of security systems and strategies &#8212; but hopefully it&#8217;s clear that this research was straightforward and objective, informed completely by practitioners&#8217; responses.</p>
<p>“Consistent application of network security controls across even medium sized networks has transcended human ability,” said Dr. Mike Lloyd, Chief Technology Officer at RedSeal. “For many years there’s been the notion of an arms race between IT security professionals and attackers; what this survey proves is that the good guys understand they’re facing a truly daunting task to<br />
keep up.&#8221;</p>
<p>As CSO reporter Bill Brenner noted in his <a href="http://blogs.csoonline.com/1744/you_just_cant_win_when_the_bad_guys_have_cooler_toys" target="_blank">write-up</a>, it&#8217;s hard to maintain security standing when the bad guys &#8220;have better toys.&#8221;</p>
<p>We think that RedSeal is one of the toys that every CSO should have in their collection, because as they say, you have to fight fire with fire. Or firepower?</p>
<p><a href="http://go.redseal.net/DimensionalResearchSurveyResults_LP_ResultsRegistration.html" target="_blank">Click here</a> to read the entire report.</p>
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		<title>Big Step for Continuous Monitoring: OMB Orders Monthly Reporting</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/09/26/big-step-for-continuous-monitoring-omb-orders-monthly-reporting/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/09/26/big-step-for-continuous-monitoring-omb-orders-monthly-reporting/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:01:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jcasciano</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communicating risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Continuous Monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cyber-security Legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Breaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal agencies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal Policy]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Main Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network security visibility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NIST]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama Administration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OMB]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prioritizing remediation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Process maturity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Risk mapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security management models]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security Metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security Optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vulnerability Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[compliance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[continuous monitoring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cyber-security legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[data breaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[federal policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hackers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[network security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network security models]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal Systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security metrics]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[vulnerability management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redseal.net/blog/?p=314</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The OMB's move to push federal agencies to report results of ongoing security assessment on a monthly, versus annual basis represents an important step forward in moving to adopt the concept of continuous monitoring.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) significantly advanced its push for federal agencies to move away from traditional security assessments and further embrace the practice of continuous monitoring in its latest set of requirements, <a href="http://www.govinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=4066" target="_blank">issued last week</a>.</p>
<p>Continuous monitoring, or the process of <a href="http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SMA/fisma/documents/faq-continuous-monitoring.pdf" target="_blank">proactively scoping risks</a> posed to critical systems and data on an ongoing basis – versus through periodic assessment, has gained overwhelming support from leading experts and practitioners in recent years, but to this point actual adoption of the practice has moved slowly.</p>
<p>However, with its September 14 guidance issued to agencies including the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, the OMB took a major step forward in requiring government stakeholders to finally get onboard – ordering them to begin to reporting their security standing on a monthly basis.</p>
<p>Until now federal agencies have reported this information to the OMB on an annual schedule.</p>
<p>The new guidance, contained in <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2011/m11-33.pdf" target="_blank">OMB Memorandum 11-33</a>, FY 2011 Reporting Instructions for the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and Agency Privacy Management, specifically requires reporting information produced by continuous monitoring methodologies, along with setting guidelines for protecting personal privacy and reporting breaches.</p>
<p>As regulators appear to be taking a &#8220;crawl-walk-run&#8221; approach, this guidance is a major step (&#8220;walk&#8221;) in the right direction as it provides for more frequent and meaningful reporting of agencies’ security status comparative to quarterly, semi-annual or annual reporting. At the same time, the guidance still recognizes that many government enterprises are <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20110916_2902.php" target="_blank">not yet fully equipped</a> to perform continuous monitoring.</p>
<p>An unexpressed, but implicit, by-product of this reporting is that it allows security leaders to <a href="http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=88&amp;sid=1989096" target="_blank">better manage many processes</a>: plugging obvious security holes, eliminating known threats and vulnerabilities, denying unnecessary connections, keeping security policies up to date, and better enforcing security policies &#8230; to name just a few.</p>
<p>It’s no coincidence that I’m posting this feedback on the blog here at RedSeal, as the company’s solutions provide exactly the types of capabilities around proactive assessment and utilization of outcome-based metrics that the OMB, NIST and others have defined as <a href="http://www.redseal.net/blog/2010/12/21/the-two-sides-of-continuous-monitoring" target="_blank">requirements for continuous monitoring</a>.</p>
<p>Hopefully, this guidance is a prelude to real-time (&#8220;run&#8221;), or at least daily, continuous monitoring facilitated by software such as RedSeal that analyzes output from firewalls, intrusion detection systems and other key defensive mechanisms.</p>
<p>Yet, while the memo also addresses the issue of privacy and breach reporting and notification, it appears not to make significant changes in those key areas. This issue alone will likely take lawyers, politicians and the courts years to sort out.</p>
<p>While continuous monitoring is badly needed today, it may take the government several years to get there, either due to affordability concerns or bureaucratic in-fighting.</p>
<p>But, all-in-all, the new OMB guidance represents tangible progress that will ultimately enable federal security leaders to better manage their overall posture.</p>
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		<title>Security Metrics: Please, Just the Facts</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/09/09/security-metrics-please-just-the-facts/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/09/09/security-metrics-please-just-the-facts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Sep 2011 23:50:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>mhines</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communicating risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Industry Analysts]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Risk mapping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security management models]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[data breaches]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[IT security industry analysts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mike Rothman Securosis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[network security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network security models]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal Systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vulnerability management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redseal.net/blog/?p=304</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Analyst Mike Rothman's series on Fact-based Security hasn't raised the ire of metrics propellor heads because it states simple facts about metrics-driven management that pretty much everyone sane can agree on.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When we first approached security analyst and all-around industry good guy <a href="http://www.stillsecureafteralltheseyears.com/.a/6a00d83451e4d369e20120a6ff62b2970b-pi" target="_blank">Mike Rothman</a> of Securosis to work a series of blogs that would eventually roll up into a white paper around security metrics I have to admit we were slightly leery of what his posts might attract in terms of attention.</p>
<p>You see, it wasn’t too long ago that one of <a href="http://securosis.com/blog/firestarter-risk-metrics-are-crap" target="_blank">Mike’s rants</a> on security metrics and the overall fuzziness of many people’s models in the field drew a lot of spirited debate and subsequent controversy as respondents to his post threw virtual mud at each other based on their differing opinions.</p>
<p>And, as anyone who knows Mike can attest, he’s never shy to roll up his sleeves and stir the pot vigorously himself, if only for the sake of adding some well-informed fuel to the fire. Like all great pundits, you have to love Mike for his candor, but you don’t want to <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20101110/viral-video-keith-olbermanns-non-apologetic-apology/" target="_blank">push him over the top</a>!</p>
<p>Our goal was to sponsor a piece of work that merely highlighted the intrinsic and growing value of bringing hard metrics to bear in making smarter, more informed decisions about network security and risk management.</p>
<p>If a discussion could be fostered all the better, but as we feel that <a href="http://www.redseal.net/products/" target="_blank">RedSeal</a> can play a pivotal role in forwarding the adoption of<br />
practical, real-world security metrics, we were definitely hoping that some sort of philosophical war of the words wouldn’t break out; at least not one that might make us look bad.</p>
<p>Much to our surprise, nothing of the sort ever materialized.</p>
<p>It would appear, in fact, that mostly everyone who read and commented on his series on “<a href="http://securosis.com/blog/new-blog-series-fact-based-network-security-metrics-and-the-pursuit-of-prio" target="_blank">Fact-based Security</a>” would basically agree with everything he was saying.</p>
<p>It seems that just about everyone watching agrees with Mike’s assertions that the need for security metrics isn’t really much of a debate at all anymore. Nor even his basic methodology for how organizations might derive the most effective facts and figures to begin trending.</p>
<p>The responses have been curiously tame!</p>
<p>To summarize the involved posts to this point, here’s pretty much what Mike’s had to say:</p>
<ul>
<li>You need to choose and collect metrics with an eye toward specific outcomes that matter to your business, that guide and<br />
substantiate the decisions you need to make every day.</li>
<li>You need to build metrics by defining relative asset value, but this is a concept that will continue to evolve in light of the<br />
dynamic nature of business.</li>
<li>You need to start by establishing goals for outcome-driven metrics to give you an idea of what you are trying to achieve<br />
and define success.</li>
<li>You need to find quick wins and capitalize on the momentum they create to cement your organization’s commitment to<br />
metrics-based management.</li>
<li>You need to show how the project can impact compliance, either by addressing audit deficiencies or making the compliance process more efficient, thus saving money.</li>
</ul>
<p>Sounds pretty straightforward right? Well that’s because it is.</p>
<p>Mike’s blogs work, and haven’t drawn the ire of metrics propeller heads because they simply just make sense.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.securitymetrics.org/content/Wiki.jsp" target="_blank">Security metrics</a> make sense.</p>
<p>We can debate which models work best in which environments but by and large taking a practical, informed approach to embracing metrics will provide immediate benefits… as long as you use common sense!</p>
<p>RedSeal of course feels that our product is one of the most straightforward sensible methods for building and trending those measurements of network security efficacy and change that allow you to truly optimize your approach and make smarter decisions.</p>
<p>Do you disagree it’s that simple? Do you like to step on Mike’s toes?</p>
<p>Post a comment here or click back to <a href="http://www.securosis.com/blog/security-has-always-been-a-bigdata-problem" target="_blank">one of his blogs</a> to have your say before they finish up in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>But, even when offering your opinions… please, just the facts.</p>
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		<title>Ignorance Of Risk Ain&#8217;t Bliss</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/07/28/ignorance-of-risk-aint-bliss/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/07/28/ignorance-of-risk-aint-bliss/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:48:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Steve Hultquist</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Data Breaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Main Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[continuous monitoring]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[implementation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[industry events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intellectual property theft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[network security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Network security models]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Process maturity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal Systems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[risk map]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RSA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SecureID]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vulnerability Advisor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vulnerability management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redseal.net/blog/?p=266</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[High profile breaches should drive every organization to take a deeper look at their true network security resiliency, because the issues at play are systematic.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s easy to feel smug when someone else&#8217;s mistakes explode spectacularly into <a href="http://www.crn.com/news/security/231002862/rsa-secureid-breach-costs-emc-66-million.htm;jsessionid=PBr9wGEc9aJdC4b1+B9oqg**.ecappj03" target="_blank">press reports</a>, firestorms, and case studies.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s more valuable to take them as a warning and turn your attention to your own infrastructure and efforts to secure your own realm.</p>
<p>With growing investments in <a href="http://www.mobiledia.com/news/100323.html" target="_blank">cybercrime</a> and <a href="http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/57550-south-korea-blames-chinese-hackers-over-massive-data-theft" target="_blank">cyberwarfare</a> by those endeavoring to profit from it, your defensive efforts can never sleep. What are you doing?</p>
<p>Recent reports from customers of RSA who use SecureID tokens show an increase in attacks aimed at <a href="http://www.zdnet.com.au/amp-follows-rsa-token-replacement-339318735.htm" target="_blank">compromising the tokens</a> that were targeted in the actual break-in of the RSA network. These ongoing attacks make clear the focus of the real enemies of your network: they want to take over, steal your customers&#8217; data, and damage you to the greatest extent possible…</p>
<p>&#8230;and they are being paid quite well to do it.</p>
<p>How can you tell what hosts in your network are at risk of attack from the outside?</p>
<p>There are about 3.7 billion IPv4 addresses. Protocols using TCP and UDP use one or two out of 65,000 ports.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.redseal.net/products/redseal-network-advisor" target="_blank">Each of the firewall rules</a>, Network Address Translations, and router Access Control Lists impact the possible flows from untrusted networks into your core. Calculating which flows are possible to where – especially taking into account the impacts of dynamic routing within your network – is onerous. In fact, I would argue that it&#8217;s actually impossible without a &#8220;calculator.&#8221;</p>
<p>That calculator has to calculate all of the possible flows, taking into account all of the <a href="http://www.redseal.net/solutions/actionable-vulnerability-management" target="_blank">variables of a modern IP network</a>. Remember, after all, that TCP/IP was designed to survive war and so is very resilient to roadblocks in the network. It&#8217;s designed to overcome them.</p>
<p>So, the most important question is:</p>
<p>How do you calculate the flows in your network to be sure that you won&#8217;t be next?</p>
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		<title>Executive Visibility: RedSeal&#8217;s Evolving Opportunity</title>
		<link>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/07/19/executive-visibility-introducing-network-security-optimization/</link>
		<comments>http://www.redsealnetworks.com/blog/2011/07/19/executive-visibility-introducing-network-security-optimization/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:25:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>pjain</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communicating risk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Compliance]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[RedSeal Systems]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.redseal.net/blog/?p=293</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[RedSeal's new CEO Parveen Jain talks about the ongoing evolution of the company's messaging and the potential to recast its market segment as Network Security Optimization.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You may have <a href="http://www.redseal.net/news-and-events/press-releases/071911" target="_blank">seen the news this morning</a> that I’ve accepted the position of full-time CEO here at RedSeal – and as in many cases, the arrival of a new leader is only one step in the continued evolution of our entire organization.</p>
<p>If you read closely, you likely noticed another interesting change – we’ve begun a transition in evolving our messaging away from identifying ourselves as a Security Posture Management specialist and started validating the idea of casting RedSeal as a provider of Network Security Optimization solutions.</p>
<p>What’s driving this shift?</p>
<p>The answers are pretty simple. Once again, we’re following the lead of those organizations that have embraced our solutions most heartily in developing their own internal network security management strategies, our <a href="http://www.redseal.net/customers/" target="_blank">leading customers</a>.</p>
<p>That’s always been RedSeal’s goal – to build solutions that allow organizations to appreciate significant evolution of their own philosophies and take major steps forward in improving their ability to identify and manage network security risks.</p>
<p>Yet, those companies’ focus has evolved significantly in recent years, driven primarily by the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/231002015" target="_blank">high-profile security breaches</a> that we’re seeing reported in major headlines almost every day. Like those organizations, and in partnership with them, we see an even broader opportunity for use of our solutions to do more than just help prevent attacks.</p>
<p>They need true visibility into their overall state of network security on a daily basis. They demand the ability to drive stronger ROI of all their security investments, from products to people. They need to be able to ensure continuous compliance to ensure that they’re always meeting requirements.</p>
<p>They need to be able to measure their ability to succeed, as well as understand how the alterations they make to their networks will affect their security standing, both before and after they’re enacted.</p>
<p>And yes, they need a way to optimize all the layers of policies, processes and defensive mechanisms that they’ve put into place to prevent all these attacks that won’t stop.</p>
<p>Customers need to enhance, improve, augment and elevate (synonyms for the word optimize) all the network security tasks that they pursue if they’re going to make progress and <a href="http://www.darkreading.com/security/perimeter-security/231001898/enemy-at-the-loading-dock-defending-your-enterprise-from-threats-in-the-supply-chain.html?cid=nl_IW_week_2011-07-18_html" target="_blank">stave off real-world threats</a>.</p>
<p>We feel that “optimization” is one of the best ways to describe what we do because it fits all these customer stated challenges so clearly.</p>
<p>Later this year we’ll be unveiling the most significant update to RedSeal’s products that has arrived on the market in several years, and it’s aimed squarely at helping our customers address these specific issues.</p>
<p>How do we know the market is ready for this type of solution?</p>
<p>One way that we know is through first-person interactions. At the CiscoLive conference in Las Vegas last week our booth was overwhelmed by attendees seeking information and product demos. The positive response to what we were saying was unanimous.</p>
<p>For another proof point, look no further than the sold out <a href="http://www.redseal.net/news-and-events/ciscolive2010" target="_blank">presentation detailing Cisco’s own use of RedSeal </a>at the show by the networking giant’s Audit Team Lead, Doug Dexter.</p>
<p>Even though he presented late in the afternoon on the last day of the conference after a keynote from William Shatner (yes that William Shatner) CiscoLive workers were forced to turn away people who wanted to get in even after the capacity 200 room was overfull.</p>
<p>I can’t think of a stronger endorsement than Doug’s framing of RedSeal as a solution that addresses a hugely pressing matter of complexity that a lot of people have been struggling with for many years – an issue that even the smartest experts can no longer solve without the kind of automation we offer.</p>
<p>That’s the true essence of the RedSeal proposition – it’s not just a simple problem that our products solve, it’s not a nice-to-have for the people who have it, it’s a game changer, and one that’s growing its value and influence every day. The words we use to describe how we do this may evolve, but our dedication to customers cannot if we’re to succeed.</p>
<p>Pick your cliché: change is good, change is the only constant, the more you change you stay the same.</p>
<p>At RedSeal, we’re always going to work as hard as we can to meet our customers’ needs and empower them to do the best job of securing their network infrastructure possible.</p>
<p>Some things truly never change.</p>
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