Stefan Fenz

This paper is joint work with Raydel Montesino from University of Informatics Sciences (Cuba). It will be presented at the Sixth International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES) in Vienna, Austria. You can download the full paper from the Publications section in August 2011.

Abstract: Information security management is a very complex task which involves the implementation and monitoring of more than 130 security controls. To achieve greater efficiency in this process it is necessary to automate as many controls as possible. This paper provides an analysis of how many controls can be automated, based on the standards ISO 27001 and NIST SP800-53. Furthermore, we take the automation potential of controls included in the Consensus Audit Guidelines into account. Finally, we provide an overview of security applications that support automation in the operation of information security controls to increase the efficiency of information security management.

The paper has been accepted for publication and I will present it in March 2011 at the 6th ACM Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security in Hongkong, China.

Abstract: Information security risk management is crucial for ensuring long-term business success and thus numerous approaches to implementing an adequate information security risk management strategy have been proposed. The subjective threat probability determination is one of the main reasons for an inadequate information security strategy endangering the organization in performing its mission. To address the problem we developed an ontology- and Bayesian-based approach to determine threat probabilities taking general information security knowledge and organization-specific knowledge about existing control implementations and attacker profiles into account. The elaborated concepts enable risk managers to comprehensibly quantify by the Bayesian threat probability determination the current security status of their organization.

Our article “Verification, Validation, and Evaluation in Information Security Risk Management” got accepted at IEEE Security & Privacy. Check out the preprint at the IEEE Digital Library.

Abstract:
Over the last four decades, various information security risk management (ISRM) approaches have emerged. However, there is a lack of sound verification, validation, and evaluation methods for these approaches. While restrictions, such as the impossibility of measuring exact values for probabilities and follow-up costs, obviously exist, verification, validation, and evaluation of research is essential in any field, and ISRM is no exception. Individual approaches exist, but so far there is no systematic overview of the available methods. In this article we survey verification, validation and evaluation methods referenced in ISRM literature and discuss in which ISRM phases the methods should be applied. The selection of appropriate methods is demonstrated with a potential real-world example. This systematic analysis draws conclusions on the current status of ISRM verification, validation and evaluation and can serve as a reference for researchers and users of ISRM approaches who aim to establish trust in their results.