What’s needed for strong cyber security? Good security policies, processes, and technology safeguards, of course, but highly-secure organizations also integrate security into their corporate culture — from new employees to the corner office. Since the proverbial buck stops at the CEO’s desk, cyber security-conscious and proactive CEOs are a security professional’s best friend.
In its recent research report, “Assessing Cyber Supply Chain Vulnerabilities Within The US Critical Infrastructure” (Note: The report is available for download at www.enterprisestrategygroup.com), ESG Research asked security professionals working at critical infrastructure organizations (i.e., electric power, financial services, health care, etc.) to respond to the following question: “How would you rate your organization’s management team on its willingness to invest in and support cyber security initiatives?” The responses were as follows:
Obviously, executives need to sort through a maze of costs and spend shareholder dollars judiciously. Furthermore, security professionals are paid to be paranoid and will usually want more funding. That said, nearly one-fourth of respondents rated executive management support for cyber security as “fair” or “poor.” Remember too that we are talking about critical infrastructure here — our money, our power, our food, our health care, etc. Yikes! Even more frightening, 38% of survey respondents working at telecommunications companies rated their executive management’s support for cyber security initiatives as “fair” or “poor.” If your cell phone stops working soon, don’t be surprised.
I believe there are several problems here:
It’s time to address these issues. Business managers must realize that automation, digitization, and new applications come with a cyber security cost — period. Security professionals need better communications skills and tools to translate nerdy technospeak into more pedestrian language. Legislators need carrots and sticks to entice technically-challenged 60 year old CEOs to invest in cyber security. It’s that simple. Either we do these things or we wake up one day to darkness. It is our choice.
Tags: Barack Obama, CIP, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Cyber Coordinator, cyber security, cyber supply chain, Cyber supply chain assurance, cyber supply chain security, DHS, DOD, Enterprise Strategy Group, ESG, Howard Schmidt Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Before buying an old house, most people do a thorough home inspection to make sure that plumbing, heating, and electricity infrastructure is safe and stable. When purchasing a car for a new driver, many parents check the vehicle’s crash test rating. These actions are simply common sense due diligence since we want to make sure that our homes and children are safe.
Along the same line of reasoning, one would assume that critical infrastructure organizations (i.e., electric utilities, financial services, health care, food processing/agriculture, etc.) do the same type of due diligence on IT equipment and their IT vendors. After all, these IT systems are the underpinning of their services and thus the backbone of the critical infrastructure at large. One would assume that critical infrastructure organizations do this type of security due diligence, but unfortunately this is usually not true.
According to the new ESG Research Report, “Assessing Cyber Supply Chain Security Within the US Critical Infrastructure” (the report is available for free download at www.enterprisestrategygroup.com), IT product and vendor security audits are performed in a random and haphazard fashion. For example:
Why are many vendors getting a security free pass? I’m not sure. It may be that vendor and product security was no big deal in the past when cyber security was composed of network firewalls and desktop antivirus software. It could be that vendors wow their customers with speeds, feeds, and functionality to keep them from digging into geeky security issues. Perhaps they schmooze customers with sporting event tickets and golf outings to take their minds off of product security.
In any case, this behavior should be unacceptable henceforth. The threat landscape is getting more and more sophisticated each day, so each product’s security must stand out on its own.
Note to critical infrastructure organizations: Many IT vendors virtually ignore security in their product design and development. You should be doing a heck of a lot more security due diligence on IT products, vendors, and services, and institute procurement rules that mandate specific security metrics. Vendors should no longer have security–or insecurity–carte blanche.
Tags: Barack Obama, CIP, Critical Infrastructure Protection, cyber security, cyber supply chain, Cyber supply chain assurance, cyber supply chain security, DHS, DOD, Enterprise Strategy Group, ESG, Howard Schmidt Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
ESG Recently Published a new Research Report titled “Cyber Supply Chain Security Vulnerabilities Within The U.S. Critical Infrastructure.” The report can be downloaded here.
As part of the survey, we asked respondents whether the U.S. Federal Government should be more active with cyber security strategies and defenses. Most respondents believe that the answer is “yes;” 31% said that the U.S. Federal Government should be “significantly more active with cyber security strategies and defenses” while 40% believe that the feds should be “somewhat more active with cyber security strategies and defenses.”
Okay, but what exactly should the government do? ESG asked this question as well–here are the results:
Interesting mix of carrot and stick suggestions. I don’t think the IT industry would be too thrilled with “black lists” or changes in liability laws, so expect lobbyists to push for federal incentives and programs.
One other interesting note here: Heavily regulated critical infrastructure organizations with the highest levels of security were most likely to push for more stringent regulations. It appears that something is lacking in current cyber security legislation that heavily regulated organizations recognize and want to change.
Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, CIP, Critical Infrastructure Protection, cyber security, cyber supply chain, Cyber supply chain assurance, cyber supply chain security, DHS, DOD, Enterprise Strategy Group, ESG, Howard Schmidt Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
In 1998, then President Bill Clinton recognized that the United States was especially vulnerable to a cyber attack to its critical infrastructure. Clinton addressed Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) by issuing Presidential Directive 63 (PDD-63).
Soon after PDD-63, Deputy Defense Secretary John Harme cautioned the US Congress about the importance of CIP by warning of a potential “cyber Pearl Harbor.” Harme stated that a devastating cyber attack “is not going to be against Navy ships sitting in a Navy shipyard. It is going to be against commercial infrastructure.”
It’s been 12 years since this dire warning and the general consensus is that US cyber security vulnerabilities are worse, not better. Barack Obama recognized this problem as a candidate and then as President. Upon taking the oath of office, the President called for a 60-day security review, and then addressed the media in May 2009. The President stated, “it’s now clear this cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation. . . we’re not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country.”
The fundamental assumption here is that the US critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a cyber attack, but is this truly the case or just empty Washington rhetoric? Unfortunately, a recently published ESG Research Report reveals that the US critical infrastructure is vulnerable today and could become more vulnerable in the future without decisive near-term action.
ESG surveyed 285 security professionals working at organizations considered as “Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources” (CIKR) by the US Department of Homeland Security. Here are some key research findings:
Most of the report focused on cyber supply chain security. Simply stated, cyber supply chain security extends cyber security policies, processes, and controls to all parties that touch IT–technology vendors, software developers, business partners, etc. Most CIKR organizations are way behind here. Technology vendor security gets little oversight. Secure software development processes are immature. External IT relationships are secured through informal agreements and security data sharing.
In aggregate, the report provides real data quantifying these and other cyber security issues. The entire report is available for free download here.
Critical infrastructure protection and cyber security have been part of the lexicon in Washington since at least 1998. It is about time for less talk or more action. Hopefully, this report helps accelerate this activity.
Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, CIP, Critical Infrastructure Protection, cyber security, cyber supply chain, Cyber supply chain assurance, cyber supply chain security, DHS, DOD, Howard Schmidt, John Harme, PDD-63 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
A recent Network World article stated that is warning customers that a small number of PowerEdge server motherboards sent out through service dispatches may contain malware.
Dell is doing the right thing by alerting potentially impacted customers, but questions remain:
I could go on and on.
To me, the Dell incident demonstrates an important but relatively unknown concept called cyber supply chain assurance. Servers, software, and other IT equipment are made up of millions of lines of code, a potpourri of components, and hundreds or even thousands of specialized electronic gear. If any one of these elements is compromised, the whole enchilada could be a ticking time bomb. Malware on a server motherboard is just the beginning.
A bit of a tangent: back in 2004, the U.S. federal government issued a report stating that only 21% of semiconductor manufacturing remained in the United States while the bulk of capacity was migrating to China. This caused great concern in the Department of Defense as most our weapons systems, communications, and logistics all depend upon IT. This led to the creation of the Trusted Foundry program, a DOD/industry initiative to ensure microprocessor domestic microprocessor design and manufacturing capabilities.
I bring up this example to illustrate a point. DOD realized that it was dependent upon technology and thus vulnerable to a breach of the cyber supply chain. Outside of the defense community, however, cyber supply chain risk management is nearly invisible. While the Dell incident is minor and seems contained, it is a further warning about the risk we all face. Let’s hope it wakes up some security professionals outside of the Pentagon.
Tags: Cyber supply chain assurance, Cyber supply chain risk management, Dell, DOD, Trusted Foundry program Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
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