You are the CISO of your company. Your primary responsibility is assessment, management, and implementation of InfoSec in your organization. Your organization has set up new servers to hold the personally identifiable information (PII) of the clients in your company. The CIO of your organization is advising you for strategic security assessment, management, and implementation using the CNSS security model.
I have uploaded some documents with respect to InfoSec procedures, policies, and guidelines. Consider the definition of Information Security with respect to the CNSS security model. Focus on C.I.A triad. What technologies and InfoSec procedures you would choose, and how would you consider management and implementation of security measures with respect to InfoSec? This is in relation to Storage, Processing, and Transmission considering incorporation of Policies, Education, and Technologies.
Version 1.5 Revised December 2017 | Office of Management and Enterprise Services | Information Services
State of Oklahoma
Information Security
Policy, Information Security Policy, Procedures, Guidelines
Procedures, Guidelines
Information Security Policies,
Procedures, Guidelines
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
INFORMATION SECURITY POLICY………………………………………………………………………………………… 7
1.0 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
1.1 BACKGROUND……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
1.2 POLICY, PROCEDURES, GUIDELINES ………………………………………………………………………….. 9
1.3 AUDIENCE ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
2.0 INFORMATION ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
2.1 INFORMATION CONFIDENTIALITY ……………………………………………………………………………… 11
2.2 INFORMATION CONTENT ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
2.3 INFORMATION ACCESS ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
2.4 INFORMATION SECURITY …………………………………………………………………………………………… 13
2.5 INFORMATION AVAILABILITY ……………………………………………………………………………………… 13
3.0 SECURITY PROGRAM MANAGEMENT ………………………………………………………………………… 14
3.1 CENTRAL SECURITY PROGRAM…………………………………………………………………………………. 14
3.2 HOSTING AGENCY SECURITY …………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
3.3 AGENCY SECURITY …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
3.4 INCIDENT MANAGEMENT ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 15
3.5 EVENT LOGGING AND MONITORING ………………………………………………………………………….. 16
4.0 RISK MANAGEMENT …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 18
4.1 RISK ASSESSMENT …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18
4.2 RISK MITIGATION ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 19
5.0 PERSONNEL/USER ISSUES ………………………………………………………………………………………… 20
5.1 STAFFING …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 20
5.2 AWARENESS/TRAINING ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 20
5.3 PERSONAL COMPUTER USAGE …………………………………………………………………………………. 21
5.4 EMAIL USAGE ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 22
5.5 INTERNET/INTRANET SECURITY ………………………………………………………………………………… 23
6.0 HELP DESK MANAGEMENT …………………………………………………………………………………………. 26
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6.1 SUPPORT CALLS …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 26
6.2 PASSWORD RESETS …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 27
6.3 VOICE MAIL SECURITY ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 27
7.0 PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY ……………………………………………………………. 29
7.1 OPERATIONS CENTER ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 29
7.2 OPERATIONS MONITORING ………………………………………………………………………………………… 29
7.3 BACK-UP OF INFORMATION ………………………………………………………………………………………… 30
7.4 ACCESS CONTROL ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31
7.5 NETWORK ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31
7.6 ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SECURITY ……………………………………………………………………….. 34
7.7 MOBILE COMPUTING …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 35
7.8 REMOTE COMPUTING …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 36
7.9 EXTERNAL FACILITIES ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 37
7.10 ENCRYPTION ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 37
8.0 BUSINESS CONTINUITY ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 39
8.2 DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN ………………………………………………………………………………………. 43
8.3 BUSINESS RECOVER STRATEGY ……………………………………………………………………………….. 45
9.0 DATA CENTER MANAGEMENT ……………………………………………………………………………………. 47
9.1 OPERATING PROCEDURES ………………………………………………………………………………………… 47
9.2 OPERATIONAL CHANGE CONTROL ……………………………………………………………………………. 47
9.3 SEGREGATION OF DUTIES …………………………………………………………………………………………. 48
9.4 SEPARATION OF DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONAL FACILITIES ………………………….. 48
9.5 SYSTEMS PLANNING AND ACCEPTANCE ………………………………………………………………….. 49
9.6 CAPACITY PLANNING ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 50
9.7 SYESTEMS ACCEPTANCE…………………………………………………………………………………………… 50
9.8 OPERATIONS AND FAULT LOGGING ………………………………………………………………………….. 51
9.9 MANAGEMENT OF REMOVABLE COMPUTER MEDIA …………………………………………………. 51
9.10 DISPOSAL OF MEDIA …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 51
9.11 EXCHANGES OF INFORMATION AND SOFTWARE ……………………………………………………… 52
9.12 PUBLICLY AVAILABLE SYSTEMS ………………………………………………………………………………… 52
9.13 USE OF SYSTEM UTILITIES …………………………………………………………………………………………. 53
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9.14 MONITORING SYSTEMS ACCESS AND USE ……………………………………………………………….. 53
9.15 CONTROL OF OPERATIONAL SOFTWARE …………………………………………………………………. 55
9.16 ACCESS CONTROL TO SOURCE LIBRARY ………………………………………………………………… 55
9.17 CHANGE CONTROL PROCEDURES ……………………………………………………………………………. 56
9.18 RESTRICTIONS ON CHANGES TO SOFTWARE ………………………………………………………….. 56
9.19 INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEMS (IDS) ……………………………………………………………………. 57
9.20 CONTROLS ON MALICIOUS SOFTWARE …………………………………………………………………….. 57
9.21 FIREWALLS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 58
9.22 EXTERNAL FACILITIES MANAGEMENT ……………………………………………………………………….. 58
10.0 LEGAL REQUIREMENTS ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 60
10.1 SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 60
10.2 PROTECTION OF INFORMATION ………………………………………………………………………………… 60
10.3 PRIVACY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION …………………………………………………………………. 61
11.0 COMPLIANCE WITH SECURITY POLICY ……………………………………………………………………… 62
APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 63
APPENDIX B: SAMPLE CRISIS TEAM ORGANIZATION …………………………………………………………. 66
APPENDIX C: RESPONSIBILITY GRID …………………………………………………………………………………… 67
APPENDIX D: CONTINGENCY PLAN CONSIDERATIONS ……………………………………………………… 69
APPENDIX E: PROCEDURES AND ACCEPTABLE USE …………………………………………………………. 70
APPENDIX E, SECTION 1. COMPUTER (CYBER) INCIDENT REPORTING PROCEDURES …… 70
NOTIFICATION ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 71
RESPONSE ACTIONS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 71
AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 71
INCIDENT REPORTING FORM ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 73
APPENDIX E, SECTION 2. INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE………………………………………… 74
OVERVIEW ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 74
INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAM ORGANIZATION ……………………………………………………………………………….. 75
INCIDENT RESPONSE PROCEDURES ………………………………………………………………………………………… 77
APPENDIX E, SECTION 3. MEDIA SANITIZATION PROCEDURES FOR THE DESTRUCTION
OR DISPOSAL OF ELECTRONIC STORAGE MEDIA ………………………………………………………………. 82
INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 82
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POLICY …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 82
PROCEDURES …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 82
APPROVED DESTRUCTION OR DISPOSAL METHODS ……………………………………………………… 83
BACKGROUND AND GUIDELINES …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 85
APPENDIX E SECTION 4. REMOVABLE MEDIA: ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY ……………………… 87
SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION ALTERNATIVES (MOBILE COMPUTING AND REMOVABLE MEDIA) ……….. 88
HARDWARE ENCRYPTION ALTERNATIVES (USB FLASH DRIVES—OTHERS MAY BE ADDED IF
APPROVED) – CURRENT APPROVED AND VETTED LIST OF DEVICES …………………………………………… 89
APPENDIX E, SECTION 5. MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICES: ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 92
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PREFACE
The contents of this document include the minimum Information Security Policy, as well as
procedures, guidelines and best practices for the protection of the information assets of the
State of Oklahoma (hereafter referred to as the State). The Policy, as well as the procedures,
guidelines and best practices apply to all state agencies. As such, they apply equally to all
State employees, contractors or any entity that deals with State information.
The Office of Management and Enterprise Services Information Services (OMES IS) will
communicate the Policy, procedures, guidelines and best practices to all state agencies.
In turn, all agencies are required to review the Policy and make all staff members aware
of their responsibility in protecting the information assets of the State. Those agencies that
require additional controls should expand on the content included in this document, but not
compromise the standards set forth.
The Policy and those procedures prefaced by “must” are mandatory as the system involved
will be classified as insecure without adherence. Guidelines and best practices are generally
prefaced with “should” and are considered as mandatory unless limited by functional or
environmental considerations.
It is recognized that some agencies have their own proprietary systems that may not conform
to the Policy, procedures, guidelines and best practices indicated in this document. A plan
for resolution of these system limitations should be created. Any exceptions are to be
documented and be available on request. Other non-system related standards that do not
require system modification should be instituted as soon as possible.
Revisions to this document are maintained collectively in Appendix E: Revisions, which
includes a “Revision Table” describing each addition, change or deletion and the date it was
implemented. All revisions are referenced using this procedure. The original document will
remain intact.
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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
INFORMATION SECURITY POLICY
Information is a critical State asset. Information is comparable with other assets in that there
is a cost in obtaining it and a value in using it. However, unlike many other assets, the value
of reliable and accurate information appreciates over time as opposed to depreciating.
Shared information is a powerful tool and loss or misuse can be costly, if not illegal. The
intent of this Security Policy is to protect the information assets of the State.
This Security Policy governs all aspects of hardware, software, communications and
information. It covers all State Agencies as well as contractors or other entities who may
be given permission to log in, view or access State information.
Definitions:
■ Information includes any data or knowledge collected, processed, stored,
managed, transferred or disseminated by any method.
■ The Owner of the information is the State Agency responsible for producing,
collecting and maintaining the authenticity, integrity and accuracy of information.
■ The Hosting State Agency has physical and operational control of the hardware,
software, communications and data bases (files) of the owning Agency. The
Hosting Agency can also be an Owner.
The confidentiality of all information created or hosted by a State Agency is the
responsibility of that State Agency. Disclosure is governed by legislation, regulatory
protections and rules as well as policies and procedures of the owning State Agency. The
highest of ethical standards are required to prevent the inappropriate transfer of sensitive or
confidential information.
All information content is owned by the State Agency responsible for collecting and
maintaining the authenticity, integrity and accuracy of the information. The objective of the
owning State Agency is to protect the information from inadvertent or intentional damage,
unauthorized disclosure or use according to the owning Agency’s defined classification
standards and procedural guidelines.
Information access is subject to legal restrictions and to the appropriate approval
processes of the owning State Agency. The owning State Agency is responsible for
maintaining current and accurate access authorities and communicating these in an agreed
upon manner to the security function at the State Agency hosting the information. The
hosting State Agency has the responsibility to adhere to procedures and put into effect all
authorized changes received from the owning State Agencies in a timely manner.
Information security – The State Agency Director, whose Agency collects and maintains
(owns) the information, is responsible for interpreting confidentiality restrictions imposed by
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laws and statutes, establishing information classification and approving information access.
The hosting State Agency will staff a security function whose responsibility will be
operational control and timely implementation of access privileges. This will include access
authorization, termination of access privileges, monitoring of usage and audit of incidents. The
State Agencies that access the systems have the responsibility to protect the confidentiality
of information which they use in the course of their assigned duties.
Information availability is the responsibility of the hosting State Agency. Access to
information will be granted as needed to all State Agencies to support their required
processes, functions and timelines. Proven backup and recovery procedures for all data
elements to cover the possible loss or corruption of system information are the
responsibility of the hosting State Agency.
The hosting State Agency is responsible for securing strategic and operational control of its
hardware, software and telecommunication facilities. Included in this mandate is the
implementation of effective safeguards and firewalls to prevent unauthorized access to
system processes and computing / telecommunication operational centers. Recovery plans
are mandatory and will be periodically tested to ensure the continued availability of services
in the event of loss to any of the facilities.
Development, control and communication of Information Security Policy, Procedures and
Guidelines for the State of Oklahoma are the responsibility of OMES IS. This Policy
represents the minimum requirements for information security at all State Agencies. Individual
agency standards for information security may be more specific than these state-wide
requirements but shall in no case be less than the minimum requirements.
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
1. This document states the Policy and outlines procedures, guidelines and best
practices required for creating and maintaining a secure environment for the
storage and dissemination of information.
2. It is critical that all agencies and their staff are fully aware of the Policy, procedures,
guidelines and best practices and commit to protecting the information of the
State. Common sense and high ethical standards are required to complement the
security guidelines.
3. The Policy, procedures, guidelines and best practices outlined represent the
minimum security levels required and must be used as a guide in developing a
detailed security plan and additional policies (if required).
1.1 BACKGROUND
1. The information Policy, procedures, guidelines and best practices apply to all
agencies and are inclusive of their hardware facilities, software installations,
communication networks / facilities as well as information.
1.2 POLICY, PROCEDURES, GUIDELINES
1. OMES IS has, among other responsibilities, the mandate to establish minimum
mandatory standards for information security and internal controls as well as
contingency planning and disaster recovery (reference: Oklahoma Statute,
Title 62. Section 34.12(A)(3) Duties of Information Services).
2. In reference to the responsibilities stated above, the Statute reads as follows:
“Such standards shall, upon adoption, be the minimum requirements applicable
to all agencies. These standards shall be compatible with the standards
established for the Oklahoma Government Telecommunications Network.
Individual agency standards may be more specific than statewide
requirements but shall in no case be less than the minimum mandatory
standards. Where standards required of an individual agency of the state by
agencies of the federal government are stricter than the state minimum
standards, such federal requirements shall be applicable.”
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1.3 AUDIENCE
1. The Policy, procedures, guidelines and best practices are for distribution to all
State agencies through their respective Security Representative who will then be
responsible for communicating the details to State employees as well as
contractors or other entities whose position responsibilities include the creation,
maintenance, or access of State information residing on any computer system
or platform. Appendix C assigns the primary responsibility of the procedures,
guidelines and best practices to the User, Owning Agency, or Hosting Agency.
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2.0 INFORMATION
1. Management of information requires a working set of procedures, guidelines and
best practices that provide guidance and direction with regards to security. The
primary focus is on the confidentiality and integrity of the information required for
delivering information throughout the State.
2.1 INFORMATION CONFIDENTIALITY
1. The overriding premise is that all information hosted or created by a State Agency
is property of the State. As such, this information will be used solely for
performance of position related duties. Any transfers or disclosures are governed
by this rule.
2. The confidentiality of all information created or hosted by a State Agency is the
responsibility of all State Agencies. Disclosure is governed by legislation,
regulatory protections, rules as well as policies and procedures of the State and
of the owning State Agency. The highest of ethical standards are required
to prevent the inappropriate transfer of sensitive or confidential information.
3. Release of information is strictly for job related functions. Confidentiality is
compromised when knowingly or inadvertently, information crosses the
boundaries of job related activities.
4. Users must be required to follow good security practices in the selection and use
of passwords. Passwords provide a means of validating a user’s identity and
thereby establish access rights to information processing facilities or services. All
agency staff must be advised to:
(A) keep passwords confidential,
(B) avoid keeping a paper record of passwords, unless this can be stored
securely,
(C) change passwords whenever there is any indication of possible
system or password compromise,
(D) select quality passwords with a minimum length of eight characters which
are:
(i) easy to remember,
(ii) not based on anything somebody else could easily guess or obtain
using person related information, e.g. names, telephone numbers and
dates of birth etc.,
(iii) free of consecutive identical characters or all-numeric or all-
alphabetical groups,
(E) change passwords at regular intervals (passwords for privileged accounts
should be changed more frequently than normal passwords),
(F) avoid reusing or cycling old passwords,
(G) change temporary passwords at the first log-on,
(H) not include passwords in any automated log-on process, e.g. stored in a
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macro or function key, and
(I) not share individual user passwords.
2.2 INFORMATION CONTENT
1. All information content hosted by a state agency is owned by and is the primary
responsibility of the Agency responsible for collecting and maintaining the
authenticity, integrity and accuracy of information. The objective of the owning
State Agency is to protect the information from inadvertent or intentional damage
as well as unauthorized disclosure or use according to the classification standards
and procedural guidelines of the owning State Agency.
2. The following procedures must be followed by all State Agencies:
(A) All information content must reflect the actual state of affairs of the
respective Agency.
(B) Changes in the status of personnel who have system access are entered
in the system immediately and the appropriate authorization / change form
sent to the hosting agency’s Security Administration.
(C) In the event of a dismissal, the respective Agency is to call and notify the
hosting agency’s Security Administration immediately.
2.3 INFORMATION ACCESS
1. Information access is subject to legal restrictions and to the appropriate
approval processes of the owning State Agency. The owning State Agency is
responsible for maintaining current and accurate access authorities and
communicating these in an agreed upon manner to the security function at the
State Agency hosting the information.
2. All agencies must designate a security representative whose role includes:
(A) communicating the information security Policy to all their respective
agency’s employees,
(B) communicating the appropriate procedures, guidelines and best practices
to the responsible user, owner, or people directly responsible for hosting
activities as indicated in Attachment C,
(C) granting, on behalf of their agency, user access to system functions, and
(D) reporting all deviations to the Policy, procedures, guidelines and best
practices.
3. Procedures for the Security Administration function at the Hosting Agency are:
(A) Confirm set up to the Agency Director and the individual concerned via
email when the set-up is complete for the role of Security Representative.
(B) Confirm set up to the Security Representative and the individual concerned
when the set-up is complete for the use roles assigned. The email
confirmation will include access rights assigned in the system.
(C) A daily report will be run by the hosting agency to list terminations.
Security Administration at the hosting agency will lock the access privileges
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at the end of day on the effective date. This does not preclude the
responsibility of all agencies to notify the hosting agency of terminations
using agreed upon formal notice or by the phone and/or email in the case of
dismissals.
(D) The hosting agency will run a weekly report of transfers and follow up with
the agencies concerned if a change notification is not received.
(E) Users not using the system for 60 days will be automatically
deactivated. Security Administration at the hosting agency will notify
the respective user agency and will require an email or new activation form
from the user agency’s security representative to reactivate the individual.
4. The hosting State Agency has the responsibility to adhere to procedures and put
into effect all authorized changes received from the owning State Agencies in a
timely manner.
2.4 INFORMATION SECURITY
1. The State Agency Director whose Agency collects and maintains (owns) the
information is responsible for interpreting all confidentiality restrictions imposed by
laws and statutes as well as establishing information classification and approving
information access. The hosting State Agency will staff a Security Administration
function whose responsibility will be operational control and timely implementation
of access privileges.
2. System limitations may prevent all of the following procedures to be
implemented, however, when possible, these rules apply:
(A) Passwords will be required to be a minimum of 8 characters long,
containing at least one (1) numeric character.
(B) Passwords will expire in a maximum of 90 days.
(C) Passwords will be deactivated if not used for a period of 60 days.
(D) Passwords for a given user should not be reused in a 12 month period.
3. The State Agencies that access the systems have the responsibility to protect the
confidentiality of information which they use in the course of their assigned duties.
2.5 INFORMATION AVAILABILITY
1. Information availability is the responsibility of the hosting State Agency. Access
to information will be granted as needed to all State Agencies to support their
required processes, functions and timelines. Proven backup and recovery
procedures for all information elements to cover the possible loss or corruption of
system data are the responsibility of the hosting State Agency.
2. Required availability will vary with normal cycles of use (i.e. information is used
constantly throughout the day, but is only periodically accessed during the evening
by a backup process, becomes archival after the backup is complete). The
following asset availability definitions should include a statement detailing over
what time period the definition is accurate for (i.e. Constant during business
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hours, archival after year-end, etc.):
Availability Frequency of Use Loss / Absence Impact
Constant Accessed at all times Immediate cessation of supported
business functions
Regular Accessed intermittently by 1
individual but constantly by
all users as a group (i.e.
email)
Interruption or degradation, but
not cessation, of supported
business functions
Periodic Accessed intermittently, or on 1
a schedule (i.e. year-end
records)
Delay of supported business
functions
Archival Not normally accessible Disruption of business support
objectives
3. The hosting State Agency will be responsible for:
(A) publishing a Service Level Agreement for all users of the system
including response time, hours of availability and all other services
contracted,
(B) ensuring all backups are current, secure and accessible,
(C) ensuring information facilities and data can be recovered, and
(D) ensuring adequate technical support for systems, data base access
and operating systems.
3.0 SECURITY PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
1. Managing information security within the State can be layered into three
components:
2. Central organization (OMES IS) is responsible for direction and leadership in
all aspects of information security.
3. Agencies that host data services are responsible for creating system specific
policies and guidelines to complement, but not contradict those issued by the
central organization.
4. All agencies are required to develop procedures specific to their information and
process flows to protect the integrity of information and guard against misuse or
loss. This is not limited to, but includes computer based information systems.
3.1 CENTRAL SECURITY PROGRAM
1. In regards to information services, OMES IS will develop, maintain and
communicate polices and guidelines for the protection of information assets
including but not limited to hardware, software, information and communications.
The Policy, Procedures, Guidelines and Best Practices will be mandatory for all
agencies and represent the minimum standards that all agencies will adopt.
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2. Minimum standards will be issued for:
(A) systems planning,
(B) systems development methodology,
(C) documentation,
(D) hardware requirements and compatibility,
(E) operating systems compatibility,
(F) software and hardware acquisition,
(G) information security and internal controls,
(H) data base compatibility, and
(I) contingency planning and disaster recovery.
3.2 HOSTING AGENCY SECURITY
1. Under the boundaries established by the minimum mandatory standards issued by
the OMES IS, agencies hosting information and systems for their own use or for
the use of other agencies will further develop, maintain and communicate
polices and guidelines for the protection of information assets including but not
limited to hardware, software, information and communications.
2. All hosting agencies will:
(A) follow a systems development methodology,
(B) create and maintain adequate documentation,
(C) develop hardware requirements and compatibility for review by the
Office of State Finance,
(D) ensure operating systems compatibility,
(E) expand and apply information security and internal controls,
(F) ensure data base compatibility, and
(G) develop and test contingency planning and disaster recovery.
3.3 AGENCY SECURITY
1. All agencies have the responsibility of protecting their information assets
from disclosure, loss or misuse. As such all agencies are required to adhere to
and have documented procedures for:
(A) security of information flow within their area of control,
(B) information retention,
(C) information disposal (including shredding and deletion of electronic
information), and
(D) communication of information security Policy, procedures, guidelines and
best practices monitoring adherence with polices.
3.4 INCIDENT MANAGEMENT
1. Incident management responsibilities and procedures must be established by
the hosting agency to ensure a quick, effective and orderly response to security
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incidents. Procedures must be established to cover all potential types of
security incidents, including:
(A) information system failures and loss of service,
(B) denial of service,
(C) errors resulting from incomplete or inaccurate business information, and
(D) breaches of confidentiality.
2. In addition to normal contingency plans (designed to recover systems or services
as quickly as possible), the procedures must also cover:
(A) analysis and identification of the cause of the incident,
(B) planning and implementation of remedies to prevent recurrence, if
necessary,
(C) collection of audit trails and similar evidence,
(D) communication with those affected by or involved with recovery from the
incident, and
(E) reporting the action to the security administration function at the hosting
agency.
3. Audit trails and similar evidence must be collected and secured as appropriate,
for:
(A) internal problem analysis,
(B) use as evidence in relation to a potential breach of contracts,
policies, or regulatory requirements,
(C) use in the event of civil or criminal proceedings, e.g. under computer
misuse or information protection, and
(D) use in negotiating for compensation from software and service suppliers.
4. Action to recover from security breaches and correct system failures should be
carefully and formally controlled. The procedures must ensure that:
(A) only clearly identified and authorized staff are allowed access to live
systems and information,
(B) all emergency actions taken are documented in detail,
(C) emergency action is reported to management and reviewed in an
orderly manner, and
(D) the integrity of business systems and controls is confirmed with minimal
delay.
3.5 EVENT LOGGING AND MONITORING
1. Audit logs recording exceptions and other security-relevant events must be
produced and kept for an agreed period to assist in future investigations and
access control monitoring. Audit logs should include:
(A) user IDs,
(B) dates and times for log-on and log-off,
(C) terminal identity or location if possible,
(D) records of successful and rejected system access attempts, and
(E) records of successful and rejected data and other resource access
attempts.
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2. Certain audit logs may be required to be archived as part of the record retention
procedures or because of requirements to collect evidence.
3. Procedures for monitoring use of information processing facilities must be
established and the result of the monitoring activities reviewed regularly. Such
procedures are necessary to ensure that users are only performing activities that
have been explicitly authorized. The level of monitoring required for individual
facilities should be determined by a risk assessment. Areas that should be
considered include:
(A) Authorized access, including detail such as:
(i) the user ID,
(ii) the date and time of key events,
(iii) the types of events,
(iv) the files accessed, and
(v) the program/utilities used.
(B) All privileged operations, such as:
(i) use of supervisor account,
(ii) system start-up and stop, and
(iii) I/O device attachment/detachment.
(C) Unauthorized access attempts, such as:
(i) failed attempts,
(ii) access procedure violations and notifications for network gateways
and firewalls, and
(iii) alerts from proprietary intrusion detection systems.
(D) System alerts or failures such as:
(i) console alerts or messages,
(ii) system log exceptions, and
(iii) network management alarms.
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4.0 RISK MANAGEMENT
1. Risk management encompasses risk assessment, risk mitigation as well as
evaluation and assessment. The risk assessment process includes
identification and evaluation of risks and risk impacts and recommendation
of risk-reducing measures. Risk mitigation refers to prioritizing,
implementing and maintaining the appropriate risk-reducing measures
recommended from the risk assessment process. Through a continual
evaluation process, the hosting agency is responsible for determining
whether the remaining risk is at an acceptable level or whether additional
security controls should be implemented to further reduce or eliminate the
residual risk.
4.1 RISK ASSESSMENT
1. The hosting agency will be responsible for determining the likelihood of
an adverse event, the threats to system resources, the vulnerability of the
system and the impact such an adverse event may have.
2. To determine the likelihood of an adverse event, consider:
(A) Motivation
(B) Nature of the vulnerability
(C) Current controls
3. A threat needs, and cannot exist without a vulnerability. A vulnerability is a
weakness that can be intentionally or accidentally triggered. Threats can be
posed from a lot of sources, some of which are:
(A) System Intruders (hackers)
(B) Criminals
(C) Terrorists
(D) Espionage
(E) Insiders which could be malicious or a result of poor training
4. In identifying the vulnerabilities, consideration must be given to:
(A) Hardware
(B) Software
(C) Network
(D) System Interfaces
(E) Data and information
(F) People who support and use the system
(G) Information sensitivity
5. The impact of an adverse event is the:
(A) Loss of Integrity
(B) Loss of Availability
(C) Loss of Confidentiality
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4.2 RISK MITIGATION
1. All hosting agencies are responsible for reducing risk to all information assets.
The following are options provided in analyzing the alternatives.
(A) Risk Assumption. To accept the potential risk and continue operating
the IT system or to implement controls to lower the risk to an acceptable
level.
(B) Risk Avoidance. To avoid the risk by eliminating the risk cause
and/or
consequence (e.g., forgo certain functions of the system or shut down the
system
when risks are identified).
(C) Risk Limitation. To limit the risk by implementing controls that
minimizes the adverse impact of a threat exercising a vulnerability (e.g.,
use of supporting, preventive, detective controls).
(D) Risk Planning. To manage risk by developing a risk mitigation plan
that prioritizes, implements and maintains controls.
(E) Research and Acknowledgment. To lower the risk of loss by
acknowledging the vulnerability or flaw and researching controls to correct
the vulnerability.
(F) Risk Transference. To transfer the risk by using other options to
compensate for the loss, such as purchasing insurance.
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5.0 PERSONNEL/USER ISSUES
1. Personnel awareness of the information security Policy, procedures, guidelines and
best practices is the responsibility of all agencies. Adherence to the Policy,
procedures, guidelines and best practices is the responsibility of all state agencies
on behalf of their employees.
2. Information security must be adopted at all levels as a “norm” of job performance.
Information systems and data are vulnerable. With constant re-enforcement and
monitoring, individuals will accept their responsibility to protect the information
assets of the State and relate their performance in this area to standards of
performance.
3. The IT staff must be alert and trained in offensive and defensive methods to protect
the State information assets. Adequate staffing and key position backup are
essential to run and maintain a secure environment.
5.1 STAFFING
1. Adequate staffing, training and backup are the responsibility of all hosting
agencies. Each agency will be responsible for:
(A) ensuring qualifications meet position requirements,
(B) identifying roles that will impact operations when not filled, i.e. if the
incumbent leaves or cannot perform the function,
(C) ensuring training is in place to keep key individuals current with the
technology available in the marketplace (this is particularly important
with regards to the Internet and data base controls), and
(D) documenting contingency plans if critical functions are not available.
5.2 AWARENESS/TRAINING
1. Awareness is not training. The purpose of awareness presentations are simply to
focus attention on security and are intended to allow individuals to recognize IT
security concerns and respond accordingly. Awareness relies on reaching broad
audiences, whereas training is more formal, having a goal of building
knowledge and skills to facilitate job performance.
2. Effective IT security awareness presentations must be designed. Awareness
presentations must be on-going, creative and motivational, with the objective of
focusing attention so that the learning will be incorporated into conscious decision-
making.
3. The OMES IS will be responsible for:
(A) communicating the minimum standards for all related policies and
procedures,
(B) providing recommendations for best practices in selected areas
related to information security, and
(C) providing all necessary information for the development of an
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awareness
program by the agencies.
4. All state agencies will:
(A) create and present security awareness sessions for their staff members,
and
(B) ensure all staff members have attended an awareness session.
5. All current employees as well as new employees or contractors when hired that
have access to any information assets must be briefed by the hiring or contracting
agency as follows:
(A) the access requirements of their position or contract,
(B) their responsibilities for safeguarding sensitive information and assets,
(C) all information security policies, procedures, guidelines and best practices,
and
(D) a written document outlining the contents of the briefing and the date,
which should be signed by the individual briefed acknowledging receipt of
its contents.
5.3 PERSONAL COMPUTER USAGE
1. The agency computers of the State are provided for job related activities. To this
end, the hosting agency provides support in networking and information resources
for its computing community.
2. All users are given access to computers for job related duties and this usage
must remain in compliance with State and agency policies as well as all state
and federal laws governing usage and communication of information. Failure to
comply will result in the denial of access privileges and may for employees lead to
disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. For contractors, it may lead
to the cancellation of the contractual agreement. Litigation may ensue.
3. In the effort to protect the integrity of the statewide network and its systems, any
proof of unauthorized or illegal use of any agency computer and/or its accounts
will warrant the immediate access to these files, accounts and/or systems by the
hosting agency’s security and information systems staff and appropriate action will
be taken.
4. Information Security Policy for computer usage prohibits the use of its resources
to:
(A) Send email using someone else’s identity (Email forgery).
(B) Take any action that knowingly will interfere with the normal operation
of the network, its systems, peripherals and/or access to external networks.
(C) Install any system or software on the network without prior approval.
(D) Install any software systems or hardware that will knowingly install a virus,
Trojan horse, worm or any other known or unknown destructive mechanism.
(E) Attempt IP spoofing.
(F) Attempt the unauthorized downloading, posting or dissemination of
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copyrighted materials.
(G) Attempt any unauthorized downloading of software from the Internet.
(H) Transmit personal comments or statements in a manner that may be
mistaken as the position of the State.
(I) Access, create, transmit (send or receive), print or download material
that is discriminatory, derogatory, defamatory, obscene, sexually explicit,
offensive or harassing based on gender, race, religion, national
origin, ancestry, age, disability, medical condition, sexual orientation or
any other status protected by state and federal laws.
5. Furthermore, it is the State’s position that all messages sent and received,
including personal messages and all information stored on the agency’s electronic
mail system, voicemail system or computer systems are State property regardless
of the content. As such, the hosting agency reserves the right to access, inspect
and monitor the usage of all of its technology resources including any files or
messages stored on those resources at any time, in its sole discretion, in order
to determine compliance with its policies, for purposes of legal proceedings, to
investigate misconduct, to locate information or for any other business purpose.
5.4 EMAIL USAGE
1. Electronic mail (email) is a highly efficient form of modern communication media.
Used appropriately, email provides people with a means to communicate thereby
facilitating business contact. However, this convenience also tempts users to
experiment or take advantage of this media, resulting in email of unwelcome
types (collectively known along with other unwelcome activity as Net Abuse). The
improper use of this email technology may jeopardize systems integrity, security
and service levels. Access to email is provided to users to assist them to perform
their work and their use of email must not jeopardize operation of the system or
the reputation and/or integrity of the State.
2. Email accounts are made available to all agency staff that require the service for
the performance of job related functions. The following statements apply:
(A) All email and associated system resources are the property of the State.
Email is subject to the same restrictions on its use and the same review
process as is any other government furnished resource provided for the use
of employees. Its use and content may be monitored.
(B) Email usage must be able to withstand public scrutiny. Users must comply
with all applicable legislation, regulations, policies and standards. This
includes complying with copyright and license provisions with respect to
both programs and data.
(C) While email is provided as a business tool to users, its reasonable,
incidental use for personal purposes is acceptable. This use must not,
however, detrimentally affect employee productivity, disrupt the system
and/or harm the government’s reputation.
3. Users may not:
(A) use email for commercial solicitation or for conducting or pursuing their
own business interests or those of another organization,
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(B) use email to distribute hoaxes, chain letters or advertisements and/or
send rude, obscene, threatening or harassing messages,
(C) use email to distribute pornographic material or hate literature,
(D) use email to harass other staff members,
(E) use email to send executable programs or games,
(F) use email to send potentially offensive material, and
(G) propagate viruses knowingly or maliciously.
4. Users must not send, forward and/or reply to large distribution lists concerning
non-government business. In addition, users must consider the impact on the
network when creating and using large, work-related distribution lists.
5. Email is a record and therefore management of email must comply with existing
legislation, regulations, policies and standards.
6. Alleged inappropriate use of the email technology will be reviewed by the agency
involved as well as the hosting agency on a case by case basis and may lead to
disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. In respect to contractors, it may
lead to cancellation of the contractual arrangement. In any of the cases, it may
lead to litigation.
5.5 INTERNET/INTRANET SECURITY
1. The World Wide Web (WWW) is a system for exchanging information over the
Internet. An Intranet is a proprietary network that is specific for an entity, such as
the State.
2. At the most basic level, the Web can be divided in two principal components:
Web servers, which are applications that make information available over the
Internet (in essence publish information) and Web browsers (clients), which are
used to access and display the information stored on the Web servers. The Web
server is the most targeted and attacked host on most organizations’ network. As
a result, it is essential to secure Web servers and the network infrastructure that
supports them.
3. The specific security threats to Web servers generally fall into one of the following
categories:
(A) Malicious entities may exploit software bugs in the Web server,
underlying operating system or active content to gain unauthorized
access to the Web server. Examples of unauthorized access are gaining
access to files or folders that were not meant to be publicly accessible or
executing privileged commands and/or installing software on the Web
server.
(B) Denial of Service attacks may be directed to the Web server denying valid
users an ability to use the Web server for the duration of the attack.
(C) Sensitive information on the Web server may be distributed to
unauthorized individuals.
(D) Sensitive information that is not encrypted when transmitted between the
Web server and the browser may be intercepted.
(E) Information on the Web server may be changed for malicious purposes.
Web site defacement is a commonly reported example of this threat.
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(F) Malicious entities may gain unauthorized access to resources elsewhere
in the organization’s computer network via a successful attack on the Web
server.
(G) Malicious entities may attack external organizations from a compromised
Web server, concealing their actual identities and perhaps making the
organization from which the attack was launched liable for damages.
(H) The server may be used as a distribution point for illegal copies software
attack tools, or pornography, perhaps making the organization liable for
damages.
4. The hosting agency is responsible for the Web server. Some examples of controls
to protect from unauthorized access or modification are:
(A) install or enable only necessary services,
(B) install Web content on a dedicated hard drive or logical partition,
(C) limit uploads to directories that are not readable by the Web server,
(D) define a single directory for all external scripts or programs executed as
part of Web content,
(E) disable the use of hard or symbolic links,
(F) define a complete Web content access matrix that identifies which folders
and files within the Web server document directory are restricted and
which are accessible (and by whom), and
(G) use host-based intrusion detection systems and/or file integrity
checkers to detect intrusions and verify Web content.
5. Maintaining a secure Web server is the responsibility of the hosting agency and
involves the following steps:
(A) configuring, protecting and analyzing log files,
(B) backing up critical information frequently,
(C) maintaining a protected authoritative copy of the organization’s Web
content,
(D) establishing and following procedures for recovering from compromise,
(E) testing and applying patches in a timely manner, and
(F) testing security periodically.
6. A firewall environment must be employed to perform the following general
functions:
(A) filter packets and protocols,
(B) perform inspection of connections,
(C) perform proxy operations or selected applications,
(D) monitor traffic allowed or denied by the firewall, and
(E) provide authentication to users using a form of authentication that does not
rely on static, reusable passwords that can be sniffed.
7. The hosting agency responsible for Internet security will:
(A) Keep operational systems and applications software up to date.
Because software systems are so complex, it is common for security-
related problems to be discovered only after the software has been in
widespread use. Although most vendors try to address known security
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flaws in a timely manner, there is normally a gap from the time the
problem is publicly known, the time the vendor requires to prepare
corrections and the time you install the update. This gap gives potential
intruders an opportunity to take advantage of this flow and mount an attack
on computers and networks. To keep this time interval as short as
possible, it is required to stay aware of:
(i) announcements of security-related problems that may apply,
(ii) immediate actions to reduce exposure to the vulnerability, such as
disabling the affected software and
(iii) permanent fixes from vendors.
(B) Restrict only essential network services and operating system on the host
server.
(i) Ensure that only the required set of services and applications are
installed on the host server. Either do not install unnecessary
services or turn the services off and remove the corresponding
files (and any other unnecessary files) from the host.
(C) Configure computers for file backup.
(D) Protect computers from viruses and programmed threats.
(E) Allow only appropriate physical access to computers.
(F) Design, implement and monitor an effective firewall system.
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6.0 HELP DESK MANAGEMENT
1. A world class Help Desk is characterized by responsiveness, knowledge, feedback
and improvement. The speed at which issues are resolved, the number of requests
handled by the first level in support, the follow-up with the user community on
status, security and the monitoring of performance with the goal of continuous
improvement are the characteristics that separate a progressive, secure, mission
critical operation from the ordinary, reactive operation.
2. The mandate of the help desk function should include:
(A) Adherence to all policies and procedures as published.
(B) Recommendation of new and/or changes to policies and procedures.
(C) Ownership of all the calls until reassigned or routed.
(D) Performance of all front line tasks such as password resets, printer resets,
etc.
(E) Routing of system or technical queries to the knowledge expert responsible.
(F) Reporting on and monitor calls.
(G) Reporting and escalation of all incidents of suspicious activity or
violations of security.
3. The following is a list of suggested reports required for managing the Help Desk.
(A) Incident Report – Content: all known information, status.
Schedule: Immediately. Distribution: Security Administration at
hosting Agency.
(B) Call Activity – Content: calls by type agency, severity average
resolution time. Schedule: Monthly. Distribution: Management.
(C) Open Calls – Content: calls by user agency, severity, ranked by oldest
time open. Schedule: Weekly. Distribution: Help Desk,
Knowledge Experts.
(D) Daily Activity – Content: calls received by time of day. Schedule:
Daily. Distribution: Help Desk.
(E) Repeat Calls – Content: number of calls ranked by user (over 3) showing
Agency, type. Schedule: Monthly. Distribution: Knowledge Expert and
Director of the agency generating the calls.
6.1 SUPPORT CALLS
1. Call handling and routing is the responsibility of the hosting agency’s help desk
function. This function should present a standard front to all users of their services
including telephone calls, emails and voice mails. Information on all calls will be
logged and violations in security or suspicious activity will be reported
immediately to the appropriate designated authority. The help desk function will
verify the identity of the caller by:
(A) Obtaining their name.
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(B) Verifying a question and answer submitted on a Systems Access
Authorization Request.
(C) Requesting additional information, such as:
(i) User ID (interchangeable with Log-on ID)
(ii) Agency
(iii) Phone number
6.2 PASSWORD RESETS
1. Password resets are the responsibility of the hosting state agency’s help desk
function. Identities of requestors will be verified by the help desk, logged and
confirmed back to the user at the respective State Agency.
2. It is the responsibility of the requestor from all State Agencies, in requesting a
password reset, to confirm their identity. This may be accomplished by:
(A) Providing their name.
(B) Answering a unique question and answer submitted on sign up, such as:
place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc.).
(C) Providing additional information as may be requested, such as:
(i) Agency
(ii) Phone number
3. The responsibility of the host agency’s Help Desk is to:
(A) Confirm the identity of the requestor.
(B) Report all suspicious activity to the security Administrator
immediately. Discrepancies in answers, inability to provide the correct
User ID, frequent requests for changes to the same User ID, or
obvious password sharing constitute security breaches and will be
reported.
(C) Reset the password.
(D) Log details of the call.
(E) Confirm the password reset to the user registered to the User ID via email.
(F) Report activity monthly to each State Agency involved.
6.3 VOICE MAIL SECURITY
1. The voice mail feature of many PBXs can be a particularly vulnerable feature. This
is because voice mail is typically used to let someone store voice messages at a
central location by calling in from any inside or outside line and then retrieve the
messages from any inside or outside line. It also grants the general public access
to the PBX system.
2. In retrieving messages, the target extension and a password are usually required to
gain access to the messages. Since the target extension is usually easy to
determine, the only significant restriction to an adversary is the password.
Once an adversary determines a target user’s password all messages left for the
target user are accessible to the adversary. The adversary could also delete
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messages from the target user’s mailbox to prevent an important message from
getting to the target user. Some guidelines to secure the contents of voice mail
include the following:
(A) Default and obvious passwords must be changed at initial log-in. The
target user’s extension is easily known. Default passwords
established at system initialization time may never have been changed.
Fixed length passwords are more vulnerable than variable length
passwords. Variable length passwords can be terminated by a special key
such as the # or * key. If not, the passwords would probably be of fixed
length and it reduces the number of random combinations that may be
tried before a correct password is found.
(B) Non-terminated password entry should be avoided. Some systems
accept a continuous string of digits, granting entry when the correct
password sequence is entered. By not requiring a password entry to be
terminated, the length of the average sequence needed to guess a four-
digit password is reduced by a factor of five.
(C) A complete password must be entered before an incorrect password is
rejected. If it is rejected on the first incorrect digit, sequential guessing
becomes much more practical. For example, on such a system that has a
fixed password length of four and uses the digits 0-9, it would take at most
40 sequential attempts to guess a password. On a system that required all
four digits to be entered at most 10,000 guesses would be required.
(D) Disallow access to external lines via the Voice Mail system.
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7.0 PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY
1. The hosting agency has the responsibility for documentation, execution, monitoring
and testing of a physical security plan for both computer and telecommunication
assets. This physical security plan would evaluate the risks from potential losses
due to:
(A) physical destruction or theft of physical assets,
(B) loss or destruction of information and program files,
(C) theft of information,
(D) theft of indirect assets, and
(E) delay or prevention of computer processing.
2. Included in the plan would be measures for reducing the possibility of a loss and
must address:
(A) changes in the environment to reduce exposure,
(B) measures to reduce the effect of a threat,
(C) improved control procedures,
(D) early detection, and
(E) contingency plans.
7.1 OPERATIONS CENTER
1. The following are guidelines of the action items for establishing, implementing and
maintaining a physical security program at the hosting agency:
(A) conduct a risk analysis (refer to section 4),
(B) determine local natural disaster probabilities,
(C) protect supporting utilities
(D) ensure computer reliability,
(E) provide physical protection
(F) implement procedural security,
(G) plan for contingencies,
(H) develop security awareness, and
(I) validate the program.
7.2 OPERATIONS MONITORING
1. Hosting agencies can monitor security effectiveness by comparing performance to
the metrics in a service level agreement and incidents that occur in violation of
security policies, procedures, guidelines and best practices.
2. Guidelines for hosting agencies in establishing a service level agreement are:
(A) hours of system availability,
(B) hours of application system support,
(C) hours of technical support,
(D) off hours support,
(E) average system response time, and
(F) other metrics as suitable for agency specific applications.
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3. Hosting agencies should have a goal of achieving 99.9%+ of the metrics
established in the service level agreement. Failure to achieve these targets could
be an indication of security breaches.
4. Insofar as incidents are concerned, both offensive and defensive actions to protect
the security of physical assets should be considered routine. Examples of offensive
actions include:
(A) routine changes of passwords,
(B) develop an escalation procedure of incidents,
(C) routine changes of locks or combinations to the facilities,
(D) have more than one person knowledgeable for critical functions,
(E) rotate shifts or people between functions,
(F) monitor all incursion attempts,
(G) install latest versions of firewall software,
(H) maintain 24×7 vendor contact list,
(I) routine backups,
(J) off-site storage of system information and programs,
(K) redundant components, lines for critical systems, and
(L) testing of recovery procedures.
5. Examples of defensive actions include:
(A) report and action all deviations to security policies, procedures, guidelines
and best practices,
(B) shut down any infected machine immediately,
(C) disconnect any problem areas from the network,
(D) revoke privileges of users violating policies,
(E) assign severity to an issue and escalate, and
(F) acquire knowledgeable resources.
7.3 BACK-UP OF INFORMATION
1. Back-up copies of essential business information and software must be taken
regularly. Adequate backup facilities should be provided to ensure that all essential
business information and software can be recovered following a disaster or media
failure. Backup arrangements for individual systems should be regularly tested to
ensure that they meet the requirements of business continuity plans. The following
controls must be considered:
(A) A minimum level of back-up information, together with accurate and
complete records of the back-up copies and documented restoration
procedures, should be stored in a remote location at a sufficient distance
to escape any damage from a disaster at the main site. At least three
generations or cycles of back-up information should be retained for
important business applications.
(B) Back-up information should be given an appropriate level of physical
and environmental protection consistent with the standards applied at the
main site. The controls applied to media at the main site should be
extended to cover the back-up site.
(C) Back-up media should be regularly tested, where practicable, to ensure that
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they can be relied upon for emergency use when necessary.
(D) Restoration procedures should be regularly checked and tested to ensure
that they are effective and that they can be completed within the time
allotted in the operational procedures for recovery.
(E) The retention period for essential business information and also any
requirement for archive copies to be permanently retained should be
determined.
7.4 ACCESS CONTROL
1. Logical and physical access controls are required to ensure the integrity of
the information and physical assets.
2. The following guidelines for controlling logical access should be implemented
by all state hosting agencies:
(A) document and adhere to procedures for granting, modifying and revoking
access,
(B) ensure segregation of duties for access
(C) install detection mechanisms for unauthorized access attempts,
(D) timeout a session after 15 minutes of inactivity, and
(E) revoke access after an inactivity period of 60 days.
3. Physical access control guidelines for all agencies include:
(A) all telecommunication and computer related equipment are to be in a
secured, locked environment,
(B) access codes for secure environments must be changed at least every 60
days or in the event of an individual departing that previously had access,
(C) account for all keys issued for those facilities using this method and
replace locking mechanism when a key is missing,
(D) when the system permits, log all accesses and retain, and
(E) secure all peripherals such as air conditioning, generators, etc.
(F) segregation of duties must be implemented to prevent unauthorized access
to systems or data
7.5 NETWORK
1. Unsecured connections to network services can affect the whole organization.
Users must only have direct access to the services that they have been specifically
authorized to use. This control is particularly important for network connections
to sensitive or critical business applications or to users in high-risk locations, e.g.
public or external areas that are outside the organization’s security management
and control.
2. Procedures concerning the use of networks and network services should cover:
(A) the networks and network services which are allowed to be accessed,
(B) authorization procedures for determining who is allowed to access
which networks and networked services, and
(C) management controls and procedures to protect the access to
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network connections and network services.
3. The path from the user terminal to the computer service must be controlled.
Networks are designed to allow maximum scope for a sharing of resources
and flexibility of routing. These features may also provide opportunities for
unauthorized access to business applications, or unauthorized use of
information facilities. Incorporating controls that restrict the route between a
user terminal and the computer services its user is authorized to access, e.g.
creating an enforced path can reduce such risks. The objective of an enforced
path is to prevent any users selecting routes outside the route between the user
terminal and the services that the user is authorized to access. This usually
requires the implementation of a number of controls at different points in the
route. The principle is to limit the routing options at each point in the network,
through predefined choices.
4. The following methods should be implemented to limit the path to a service:
(A) allocating dedicated lines or telephone numbers,
(B) automatically connecting ports to specified application systems or
security gateways,
(C) limiting menu and submenu options for individual users,
(D) preventing unlimited network roaming,
(E) enforcing the use of specified application systems and/or security
gateways for external network users,
(F) actively controlling allowed source to destination communications via
security gateways, e.g. firewalls, and
(G) restricting network access by setting up separate logical domains, e.g.
virtual private networks, for user groups within the organization.
5. External connections provide a potential for unauthorized access to business
information, e.g. access by dial-up methods. Therefore, access by remote users
must be subject to authentication. There are different types of authentication
method, some of these provide a greater level of protection than others, e.g.
methods based on the use of cryptographic techniques can provide strong
authentication. It is important to determine from a risk assessment the level of
protection required. This is needed for the appropriate selection of an
authentication method.
(A) Authentication of remote users should be achieved using one of the
following techniques:
(B) a cryptographic based technique,
(C) hardware tokens,
(D) a challenge/response protocol,
(E) dedicated private lines or a network user address checking, and
(F) call-back procedures.
6. Dial-back procedures and controls, e.g. using dial-back modems, can provide
protection against unauthorized and unwanted connections to an
organization’s information processing facilities. This type of control
authenticates users trying to establish a connection to an organization’s
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network from remote locations. When using this control an organization should
not use network services which include call forwarding or, if they do, they should
disable the use of such features to avoid weaknesses associated with call
forwarding. It is also important that the call back process includes ensuring that
an actual disconnection on the organization’s side occurs. Otherwise, the
remote user could hold the line open pretending that call back verification has
occurred. Call back procedures and controls should be thoroughly tested for this
possibility.
7. A facility for automatic connection to a remote computer could provide a way of
gaining unauthorized access to a business application. Connections to
remote computer systems must therefore be authenticated. This is especially
important if the connection uses a network that is outside the control of the
organization’s security management. Node authentication can serve as an
alternative means of authenticating groups of remote users where they are
connected to a secure, shared computer facility.
8. Access to diagnostic ports must be securely controlled. Many computers and
communication systems are installed with a dial-up remote diagnostic facility for
use by maintenance engineers. If unprotected, these diagnostic ports provide a
means of unauthorized access. They should therefore be protected by an
appropriate security mechanism, e.g. a key lock and a procedure to ensure that
they are only accessible by arrangement.
9. Networks are increasingly being extended beyond traditional organizational
boundaries as business partnerships are formed that may require the
interconnection or sharing of information processing and networking facilities.
Such extensions will increase the risk of unauthorized access to already existing
information systems that use the network, some of which might require
protection from other network users because of their sensitivity or criticality. In
such circumstances, controls must be introduced in networks to segregate groups
of information services, users and information systems.
10. The security of large networks should be controlled by dividing them into
separate logical network domains, e.g. an organization’s internal network domains
and external network domains, each protected by a defined security perimeter.
Such a perimeter should be implemented by installing a secure gateway between
the two networks to be interconnected to control access and information flow
between the two domains. This gateway should be configured to filter traffic
between these domains and to block unauthorized access in accordance with the
organization’s access control procedures. An example of this type of gateway is
what is commonly referred to as a firewall. The criteria for segregation of networks
into domains should be based on the access control procedures and access
requirements and also take account of the relative cost and performance impact of
incorporating suitable network routing or gateway technology.
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11. The connection capability of users must be restricted in shared networks, in
accordance with the access control procedures.
12. Such controls should be implemented through network gateways that filter traffic
by means of pre-defined tables or rules. The restrictions applied should be based
on the access procedures and requirements of the business applications and
should be maintained and updated accordingly. Examples of applications to
which restrictions should be applied are:
(A) electronic mail,
(B) one-way file transfer,
(C) both-ways file transfer,
(D) interactive access, and
(E) network access linked to time of day or date.
13. Shared networks must have routing controls to ensure that computer connections
and information flows do not breach the access control procedures of business
applications. This control is essential for networks shared with third party (non-
organization) users.
14. Routing controls should be based on positive source and destination address
checking mechanisms. Network address translation is also a very useful
mechanism for isolating networks and preventing routes to propagate from the
network of one organization into the network of another. They can be
implemented in software or hardware. Implementers should be aware of the
strength of any mechanisms deployed. A wide range of public or private network
services is available, some of which offer value added services. Network services
may have unique or complex security characteristics.
15. A clear description of the security attributes of all network services used by the
organization must be provided.
7.6 ELECTRONIC COMMERCE SECURITY
1. Electronic commerce can involve the use of electronic data interchange (EDI),
electronic mail and on line transactions across public networks such as the
Internet. Electronic commerce is vulnerable to a number of network threats
which may result in fraudulent activity, contract dispute and disclosure or
modification of information and must be protected. The following issues must
be resolved:
(A) Authentication. What level of confidence should the customer and trader
require in each other’s claimed identity?
(B) Authorization. Who is authorized to set prices, issue or sign key
trading documents? How does the trading partner know this?
(C) Contract and tendering processes. What are the requirements for
confidentiality, integrity and proof of dispatch and receipt of key
documents and the non-repudiation of contracts?
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(D) Pricing information. What level of trust can be put in the integrity of
the advertised price list and the confidentiality of sensitive discount
arrangements?
(E) Order transactions. How is the confidentiality and integrity of order,
payment and delivery address details and confirmation of receipt, provided?
(F) Vetting. What degree of vetting is appropriate to check payment
information supplied by the customer?
(G) Settlement. What is the most appropriate form of payment to guard
against fraud?
(H) Ordering. What protection is required to maintain the confidentiality and
integrity of order information and to avoid the loss or duplication of
transactions?
(I) Liability. Who carries the risk for any fraudulent transactions?
2. Electronic commerce arrangements between trading partners should be supported
by a documented agreement which commits both parties to the agreed terms of
trading, including details of authorization. Other agreements with information
service and value added network providers may be necessary.
3. Consideration should be given to the resilience to attack of the host used for
electronic commerce and the security implications of any network interconnection
required for its implementation.
7.7 MOBILE COMPUTING
1. Formal procedures must be in place and appropriate controls must be adopted
to protect against the risks of working with mobile computing facilities, in particular
in unprotected environments. For example such procedures should include
the requirements for:
(A) physical protection,
(B) access controls,
(C) cryptographic techniques,
(D) back-ups, and
(E) virus protection.
2. Procedures should also include rules and advice on connecting mobile facilities
to networks and guidance on the use of these facilities in public places.
3. Care should be taken when using mobile computing facilities in public places,
meeting rooms and other unprotected areas outside of the organization’s
premises. Protection should be in place to avoid the unauthorized access to or
disclosure of the information stored and processed by these facilities, e.g. using
cryptographic techniques.
4. It is important that when such facilities are used in public places care is taken to
avoid the risk of overlooking by unauthorized persons. Procedures against
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malicious software should be in place and be kept up to date. Equipment should
be available to enable the quick and easy back-up of information. These back-ups
should be given adequate protection against, e.g., theft or loss of information.
5. Suitable protection should be given to the use of mobile facilities connected to
networks.
6. Remote access to business information across public network using mobile
computing facilities should only take place after successful identification and
authentication and with suitable access control mechanisms in place
7. Mobile computing facilities should also be physically protected against theft
especially when left, for example, in cars and other forms of transport, hotel rooms,
conference centers and meeting places. Equipment carrying important, sensitive
and/or critical business information should not be left unattended and, where
possible, should be physically locked away, or special locks should be used to
secure the equipment.
7.8 REMOTE COMPUTING
1. Remote computing uses communications technology to enable staff or agencies
to work remotely from a fixed location outside of their organization. Suitable
protection of the remote computing site should be in place against, e.g., the theft
of equipment and information, the unauthorized disclosure of information,
unauthorized remote access to the organization’s internal systems or misuse of
facilities. It is important that remote computing is both authorized and
controlled by management and that suitable arrangements are in place for this
way of working.
2. Procedures must be developed from best practices to authorize and control
remote computing activities. Agencies should only authorize remote computing
activities if they are satisfied that appropriate security arrangements and controls
are in place and that these comply with the agency’s security procedures.
The following should be considered:
(A) the existing physical security of the remote computing site, taking into
account the physical security of the building and the local environment,
(B) the communications security requirements, taking into account the
need for remote access to the organization’s internal systems, the
sensitivity of the information that will be accessed and passed over the
communication link and the sensitivity of the internal system, and
(C) the threat of unauthorized access to information or resources from other
people using the accommodation.
3. The controls and arrangements to be considered include:
(A) the provision of suitable equipment and storage furniture for the
remote computing activities,
(B) a definition of the work permitted, the hours of work, the
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classification of information that may be held and the internal systems
and services that the user is authorized to access,
(C) the provision of suitable communication equipment, including
methods for securing remote access,
(D) physical security,
(E) the provision of hardware and software support and maintenance,
(F) the procedures for back-up and business continuity, and
(G) audit and security monitoring.
7.9 EXTERNAL FACILITIES
1. The use of an external contractor to manage information processing or
communication facilities may introduce potential security exposures, such as
the possibility of compromise, damage or loss of data at the contractor’s site.
2. Prior to using external facilities, the risks must be identified and appropriate
controls agreed with the contractor and incorporated into the contract. Particular
issues that should be addressed include:
(A) identifying sensitive or critical applications better retained in-house,
(B) obtaining the approval of business application owners,
(C) implications for business continuity plans,
(D) security standards to be specified and the process for measuring
compliance,
(E) allocation of specific responsibilities and procedures to effectively
monitor all relevant security activities, and
(F) responsibilities and procedures for reporting and handling security incidents.
7.10 ENCRYPTION
1. Encryption should be applied to protect the confidentiality of sensitive or critical
information.
2. Based on a risk assessment, the required level of protection should be identified
taking into account the type and quality of the encryption algorithm used and the
length of cryptographic keys to be used.
3. Specialist advice should be sought to identify the appropriate level of protection,
to select suitable products that will provide the required protection and the
implementation of a secure system of key management. In addition, legal
advice may need to be sought regarding the laws and regulations that might
apply to the organization’s intended use of encryption.
4. Procedures for the use of cryptographic controls for the protection of information
must be developed and followed. Such procedures are necessary to maximize
benefits and minimize the risks of using cryptographic techniques and to avoid
inappropriate or incorrect use.
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5. When developing procedures the following should be considered:
(A) the management guidelines on the use of cryptographic controls
across the organization,
(B) including the general principles under which business information
should be protected,
(C) the approach to key management, including methods to deal with the
recovery of encrypted information in the case of lost, compromised or
damaged keys,
(D) roles and responsibilities, e.g. who is responsible for: the implementation
of the procedures; the key management,
(E) how the appropriate level of cryptographic protection is to be determined,
and
(F) the standards to be adopted for the effective implementation
throughout the organization (which solution is used for which business
processes).
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8.0 BUSINESS CONTINUITY
1. Information Technology facilities and systems are vulnerable to a variety of
disruptions, some of which are short term (measured in minutes and hours) and
others lasting for a day or longer. The intent of Business Continuity Planning is
to be alert and ready to sustain an organization’s processes during and following
a significant unforeseen disruption in services caused by disasters and security
failures.
2. Business continuity should begin by identifying events that can cause interruptions
to business processes, e.g. equipment failure, flood and fire. This should be
followed by a risk assessment to determine the impact of those interruptions
(both in terms of magnitude and recovery time frame). Both of these activities
should be carried out with full involvement from owners of business resources and
processes. This assessment considers all business processes, and is not limited
to the information processing facilities.
3. A strategy plan, based on appropriate risk assessment, must be developed
for the overall approach to business continuity.
4. All hosting State Agencies will develop contingency plans for each major
application or general support system to meet the needs of critical IT operations
in the event of a disruption extending beyond a given time period. The length of
the time period may vary with the system or facility involved. The procedures
for execution of such a capability will be documented in a formal contingency
plan, be reviewed annually and updated as necessary by the hosting agency.
The procedures must account for differential daily backups and complete weekly
backups to be conducted and sent to a designated off-site facility. As well, the
plans should assign specific responsibilities to designated staff or positions to
facilitate the recovery and/or continuity of essential IT functions. Designated
personnel will be trained to execute contingency procedures. An annual test of the
recovery procedures will be conducted.
5. Business continuity management should include controls to identify and reduce
risks, limit the consequences of damaging incidents, and ensure the timely
resumption of essential operations.
8.1 CONTINGENCY PLAN
1. A contingency plan provides the documented organizational plan to mitigate risks
of business interruption and minimize the impact of any disruption of service. It
must maintain instructions for achieving a full or minimally acceptable set of
business objectives in the absence of assets, through cost-effective strategies
to provide replacements for assets as they become unavailable. The Plan must
involve advance planning and preparations to respond to external circumstances
as determined by a risk assessment and continue to provide a pre-determined
acceptable level of business functionality. Procedures and guidelines must be
defined, implemented, tested and maintained to ensure continuity of
organizational services in the event of a disruption. Each contingency plan is
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unique and must be tailored to organization’s requirements; it must be flexible
enough to allow additions, modifications and maintenance. The plan should
minimize dependency on individuals for interpretation and implementation – in
the event of emergency, key personnel may not be available. It must ensure
completeness and establish critical decisions. Always make sure that the plan
remains current. The following questions must be answered:
(A) What risks the organization is facing in terms of their likelihood and their
impact, including an identification and prioritization of critical business
processes?
(B) How long can the enterprise operate without this asset?
(C) What is the impact interruptions are likely to have on the business (it is
important that solutions are found that will handle smaller incidents, as
well as serious incidents that could threaten the viability of the
organization), and establishing the business objectives of information
processing facilities?
(D) What is the maximum acceptable delay before which temporary systems
must be made available?
(E) What is the minimum time in which temporary systems may be
expected to become available?
(F) At what minimally acceptable level of functionality can the enterprise
operate?
(G) How long can the enterprise operate at a minimally acceptable level of
performance?
(H) At what point can the enterprise begin to resume normal operations?
(I) At what point must the enterprise begin to resume normal operations?
2. A Contingency Plan should contain the roles, responsibilities and procedures
for restoring a system or facility following a major disruption. The following
guidelines represent the stages to be followed in preparing and executing a
Contingency Plan:
(A) Documentation – A plan must be documented, tested and
communicated. Included in the plan should be a mission, a scope of
what is included and not included assumptions, requirements, staffing and
responsibilities.
(B) Notification/Activation – Internally within IT, the notification, timing and
paths should be documented. There should only be one voice talking for
the recovery team for communication and escalation outside the
boundaries of IT. Immediately following damage assessment, the plan is
activated.
(C) Recovery – The sequence of recovery activities should be
documented in procedures. These activities are to restore
operations which may be in temporary locations or with incomplete data.
(D) Reconstitution – Restoring facilities and systems to the “norm” will include
testing and proof of operations viability.
(E) What equipment / facilities are expected to be unavailable?
(F) What is the timing of the disruption?
(G) What records, files and materials may / may not be expected to be
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protected from destruction?
(H) What resources are available or required following the event?
(i) Applications / Processes
(ii) Functionality / Capacity
(iii) Equipment / Infrastructure
(iv) Staff /Skills
(v) Connectivity / Network
(vi) Data Sources
(vii) Facilities / Services / Physical Premises
(viii) Transportation
(ix) Documentation / Reference material
(x) Security Policies and Procedures
(xi) Specific Policies and Procedures
(xii) Authorization
3. Following is a list of considerations that, at a minimum, must be addressed in
creating contingency plans:
(A) What additional security measures are required to protect assets in the
planning, execution and maintenance of procedures to assure business
continuity?
(B) What degree of functionality is still available at the main facility, if any?
(C) Availability of staff to perform critical functions defined within the plan.
(D) Ability of staff to be notified and report to the backup site(s) to
execute contingency plans.
(E) Backup files and recovery methods.
(F) Off-site storage facilities and materials availability.
(G) Disaster recovery plan.
(H) Suitability of subsets of the overall plan, to be used to recover from
minor interruptions.
(I) Availability of an alternate facility.
(J) Off-site availability of critical forms and supplies, either at an alternate
facility or off-site storage.
(K) Existence of a backup site for processing the organization’s work.
(L) Availability of long distance and local communications lines.
(M) Quality of surface transportation in from local to remote sites.
(N) Ability of vendors to perform according to their general commitments to
support the organization in a disaster.
(O) Provisions for staff while at off-site location (food, water, telephones, beds,
etc.)
This list of considerations is not all inclusive and must be added to as appropriate.
4. General requirements of contingency plans must include:
(A) Definitions of conditions under which the Business Recovery Strategy
must be implemented.
(B) Recovery point objective stages.
(C) Recovery time objective stages.
(D) Security preservation checklist.
(E) Task Assignments.
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(F) Post-event Recovery Analysis.
(G) Required resources, by priority.
(H) Required recovery time / levels of availability of resources.
(I) Documentation of normal and response procedures.
5. Refer to the considerations outlined in Appendix D.
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8.2 DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
1. A Disaster Recovery Plan is intended to maintain critical business processes in
the event of the loss of any of the following areas for an extended period of time:
(A) desktop computers and portable systems,
(B) servers,
(C) Web sites,
(D) local area networks,
(E) wide area networks,
(F) distributed systems, and
(G) mainframe systems.
2. Teams should be formed to address each of the areas indicated consisting of a
team lead and designate as well as key knowledge personnel required for that
particular area. All contact information must be available for IT management, team
members, all IT personnel and designated business unit management. When
available, this information should include:
(A) work telephone number,
(B) pager number,
(C) home telephone number,
(D) cellular telephone number,
(E) work email address,
(F) home email address, and
(G) home address.
3. Upon receiving the information of a serious incident any member of management
can invoke the Plan. Depending on the nature of the incident a command center
will be established and appropriate teams mobilized. Management and the team
leads are responsible for contacting all required personnel. Appendix B
represents a sample crisis team organization and roles corresponding with
potential disaster situations. All roles would have designates in the event one or
more individuals are unavailable.
4. Communications to the IT department is the responsibility of Management and
the Team Lead. In respect to external communications, it is extremely important
that there is a single point of disclosure in order to ensure accurate and timely
updates. The following roles and individuals must be determined and documented:
(A) Upwards, within the affected agency’s organization.
(B) Outwards to affected agencies.
(C) Outwards to the public.
5. Hard copies of the Plan must be:
(A) stored off site at a secure location,
(B) stored at the personal residence of the team leads,
(C) stored at the personal residence of all IT managers and directors, and
(D) stored on a secure internet site.
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6. As soon as an emergency is detected:
(A) Identify the problem and,
(i) Notify emergency services in cases of physical threats to
personnel or facilities,
(ii) Notify the IT Director and his alternate.
(iii) Notify the appropriate team leads. In the event of a mainframe
disaster, notify all team leads.
(iv) Notify vendors and business partners.
(B) Evacuate the premises if there are concerns of personal safety. All
personnel should:
(i) be aware of evacuation routes and
(ii) have in possession or be aware of notification numbers.
(C) Reduce any exposure:
(i) In the event of air conditioning failure (this usually involves
powering down the systems at a temperature determined by the
tolerances set by the manufacturer),
(ii) In the event of fire (this usually involves the automatic releasing of fire
retardant, cutting of power, notification to emergency services and
evacuation),
(iii) In the event of electrical failure (If a UPS and generator are
available, usually the only action is to monitor fuel levels of the
generator. If a UPS only is available, shut down procedures
should begin and be terminated with at least 20% of rated capacity
left),
(iv) In the event of flood, water or wind damage (this usually involves the
normal powering down all systems if possible. If not, the
immediate cut off of power is required, followed by notification to
emergency services and evacuation),
(v) In the event of malicious intrusion (this usually involves the
immediate isolation of affected hardware from all networks and
connectivity. Usually the extent of exposure and damage is not
immediately known so the immediate isolation of all network links is
recommended and processing on affected facilities halted
pending analysis by crisis teams).
(D) Initiate backup site procedures:
(i) The Plan Coordinator establishes a command and control center
(usually an onsite and offsite center have been previously
identified and the necessary computer and communication links are
readily available).
(ii) The Plan Coordinator ensures all team leaders are notified (usually it is
the responsibility of the Team Lead to get in touch with all team
members).
(iii) The Plan Coordinator notifies the off-site storage facility that a
contingency event has occurred and to ship the necessary
materials as determined in the damage assessment to the
alternate site.
(iv) The Plan Coordinator notifies the alternate site that a contingency
event has occurred and to prepare the facility for the organization’s
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arrival.
(v) Both upward and outward communication on status is the
responsibility of the Plan Coordinator (usually set times are pre-
established such as: immediate after 1 hour, after 3 hours, etc. or at
major milestones such as problem determination, resolution plan,
when planned resumption of services is known and start-up of
services is accomplished).
(vi) The Plan Coordinator is responsible for managing expectations.
(E) Initiate recovery at the alternate site:
(i) Contingency plan is followed using documented recovery points and
defined priorities.
(ii) The Plan Coordinator reviews responsibilities with all team
members and establishes recovery logs.
(iii) Recovery goals and procedures are established and prioritized by the
Plan Coordinator.
7. The Disaster Plan appendices should include:
(A) Personnel Contact List
(B) Vendor Contact List
(C) Equipment and Specifications.
(D) Service Level Agreements.
(E) Related Contracts.
(F) Standard Operating Procedures.
8.3 BUSINESS RECOVER STRATEGY
1. A Business Recovery Strategy provides the documented organizational plan to
restore full business functionality as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible.
The Business Recovery Strategy is initiated as soon as the enterprise is
deemed able to resume normal operations following a disaster.
2. The Business Recovery Strategy must involve advance planning and preparations
to recover from external circumstances. Recovery strategies must be
created, implemented, tested and maintained to ensure restoration of
organizational services in the event of an interruption.
3. A “worst case scenario” must be the basis for developing the plan, where the worst-
case scenario is the destruction of the main or primary facility. Because the plan
is written based on this premise, less critical situations can be handled by using
subsets of the plan, with minor (if any) alterations required. Recovery from, or
mitigation of a scenario should not be considered an all-or-nothing proposition.
Many stages may be required, each with its own success conditions, before a
‘final’ state of continuity or recovery is reached.
4. Specific goals of the Business Recovery Strategy must include:
(A) Complete service functionality recovery objectives, in stages, by delay,
duration and degree.
(B) Details of processes already in place to recover from an incident.
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(C) Details of what degree of business functionality they may be expected to
restore.
(D) In what length of time existing process may be expected to restore service.
(E) Requirements to bridge from existing processes to sufficient processes.
(F) Lead time to secure additional resources.
5. The Business Recovery Strategy must include detailed, step-by-step
instructions for how to replace / restore the following, in appropriate sequence:
(A) Applications / Processes
(B) Functionality / Capacity
(C) Equipment / Infrastructure
(D) Staff /Skills
(E) Execution Duration / Delay
(F) Connectivity / Network
(G) Data Sources
(H) Facilities / Services / Physical Premises
(I) Transportation
(J) Documentation / Reference material
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9.0 DATA CENTER MANAGEMENT
1. Related specifically to security of information and data center management, the
pace of change, the reality of the World Wide Web and the increasing numbers of
internal and external portals demand constant monitoring with both offensive
and defensive strategies.
9.1 OPERATING PROCEDURES
1. The operating procedures identified by security procedures should be documented
and maintained. Operating procedures should be treated as formal documents and
changes authorized by management.
2. The procedures should specify the instructions for the detailed execution of each
job including the following:
(A) processing and handling of information,
(B) scheduling requirements, including interdependencies with other
systems, earliest job start and latest job completion times,
(C) instructions for handling errors or other exceptional conditions, which might
arise during job execution, including restrictions on the use of system
utilities,
(D) support and owner contacts in the event of unexpected operational or
technical difficulties,
(E) special output handling instructions, such as the use of special stationery
or the management of confidential output, including procedures for secure
disposal of output from failed jobs, and
(F) system restart and recovery procedures for use in the event of system
failure.
3. Documented procedures should also be prepared for system housekeeping
activities associated with information processing and communication facilities,
such as computer start-up and close-down procedures, back-up, equipment
maintenance, computer room and mail handling management and safety.
9.2 OPERATIONAL CHANGE CONTROL
1. Changes to information processing facilities and systems must be
controlled. Inadequate control of changes to information processing facilities and
systems is a common cause of system or security failures. Formal management
responsibilities and procedures should be in place to ensure satisfactory
control of all changes to equipment, software or procedures.
2. Operational programs should be subject to strict change control. When programs
are changed an audit log containing all relevant information should be retained.
Changes to the operational environment can impact applications. Wherever
practicable, operational and application change control procedures should be
integrated.
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3. In particular, the following controls must be implemented:
(A) identification and recording of significant changes,
(B) assessment of the potential impact of such changes,
(C) formal approval procedure for proposed changes,
(D) communication of change details to all relevant persons, and
(E) procedures identifying responsibilities for aborting and recovering
from unsuccessful changes.
9.3 SEGREGATION OF DUTIES
1. Duties and areas of responsibility must be segregated in order to reduce
opportunities for unauthorized modification or misuse of information or services.
2. Small agencies may find this method of control difficult to achieve, but the
principle should be applied as far as is possible and practicable. Whenever it is
difficult to segregate, other controls such as monitoring of activities, audit trails and
management supervision must be implemented. It is important that security
audit remains independent.
3. Care should be taken that no single person can perpetrate fraud in areas of single
responsibility without being detected. The initiation of an event should be
separated from its authorization.
4. The following controls must be implemented:
(A) It is important to segregate activities which require collusion in order to
defraud, e.g. raising a purchase order and verifying that the goods have
been received.
(B) If there is a danger of collusion, then controls need to be devised so that
two or more people need to be involved, thereby lowering the possibility of
conspiracy.
(C) Separation of duties of both physical and logical access controls must be
implemented to separate the access and functions of:
(i) information systems and infrastructure administration to include
configuration;
(ii) security, audit, and accountability functions;
(iii) privileged users and power user functions;
(iv) data analysis and report generation functions;
(v) general user functionality and associated access must be segregation
between user and administrative functions and access must be maintained.
9.4 SEPARATION OF DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONAL FACILITIES
1. Development and testing facilities must be separated from operational facilities.
Rules for the transfer of software from development to operational status should
be defined and documented.
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2. Development and test activities can cause serious problems, e.g. unwanted
modification of files or system environment or of system failure. The level of
separation that is necessary, between operational, test and development
environments, to prevent operational problems should be considered. A similar
separation should also be implemented between development and test functions.
In this case, there is a need to maintain a known and stable environment in which
to perform meaningful testing and to prevent inappropriate developer access.
3. Where development and test staff have access to the operational system and
its information, they may be able to introduce unauthorized and untested code or
alter operational information. On some systems this capability could be misused
to commit fraud, or introduce untested or malicious code. Untested or malicious
code can cause serious operational problems.
4. Developers and testers also pose a threat to the confidentiality of
operational information. Development and testing activities may cause
unintended changes to software and information if they share the same
computing environment. Separating development, test and operational
facilities is therefore desirable to reduce the risk of accidental change or
unauthorized access to operational software and business information.
5. The following controls should be considered:
(A) Development and operational software should, where possible, run on
different computer processors, or in different domains or directories.
(B) Development and testing activities should be separated the best way
possible.
(C) Compilers, editors and other system utilities should not be accessible
from operational systems.
(D) Different log-on procedures should be used for operational and test
systems, to reduce the risk of error. Users should be encouraged to use
different passwords for these systems and menus should display
appropriate identification messages.
(E) Development staff should only have access to operational passwords
where controls are in place for issuing passwords for the support of
operational systems. Controls should ensure that such passwords are
changed after use.
9.5 SYSTEMS PLANNING AND ACCEPTANCE
1. To minimize the risk of systems failure:
(A) Advance planning and preparation are required to ensure the
availability of adequate capacity and resources.
(B) Projections of future capacity requirements should be made, to reduce the
risk of system overload.
(C) The operational requirements of new systems should be
established, documented and tested prior to their acceptance and use.
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9.6 CAPACITY PLANNING
1. Capacity demands must be monitored and projections of future capacity
requirements made to ensure that adequate processing power and storage are
available. These projections should take account of new business and system
requirements and current and projected trends in the organization’s information
processing.
2. Mainframe computers require particular attention, because of the much greater
cost and lead time for procurement of new capacity. Operations managers of
mainframe services should monitor the utilization of key system resources,
including processors, main storage, file storage, printers and other output devices
and communications systems. They should identify trends in usage, particularly in
relation to business applications or management information system tools.
3. These managers should use this information to identify and avoid potential
bottlenecks that might present a threat to system security or user services and
plan appropriate remedial action.
9.7 SYESTEMS ACCEPTANCE
1. Acceptance criteria for new information systems, upgrades and new versions
must be established and suitable tests of the system carried out prior to
acceptance. Operations managers should ensure that the requirements and
criteria for acceptance of new systems are clearly defined, agreed, documented
and tested.
2. The following controls should be considered:
(A) performance and computer capacity requirements,
(B) error recovery and restart procedures and contingency plans,
(C) preparation and testing of routine operating procedures to defined
standards,
(D) agreed set of security controls in place,
(E) effective manual procedures,
(F) business continuity arrangements as required,
(G) evidence that installation of the new system will not adversely affect
existing systems, particularly at peak processing times, such as month end,
(H) evidence that consideration has been given to the effect the new system
has on the overall security of the organization, and
(I) training in the operation or use of new systems.
3. For major new developments, the operations function and users should be
consulted at all stages in the development process to ensure the operational
efficiency of the proposed system design. Appropriate tests should be carried out
to confirm that all acceptance criteria are fully satisfied.
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9.8 OPERATIONS AND FAULT LOGGING
1. Operational staff must maintain a log of their activities. Logs should include as
appropriate:
(A) system starting and finishing times,
(B) system errors and corrective action taken,
(C) confirmation of the correct handling of data files and computer output, and
(D) the name of the person making the log entry.
2. Faults must be reported and corrective action taken. Faults reported by users
regarding problems with information processing or communications systems
should be logged. There should be clear rules for handling reported faults
including:
(A) review of fault logs to ensure that faults have been satisfactorily resolved,
and
(B) review of corrective measures to ensure that controls have not
been compromised and that the action taken is fully authorized.
9.9 MANAGEMENT OF REMOVABLE COMPUTER MEDIA
1. Appropriate operating procedures must be established to protect documents,
computer media (tapes, disks, cassettes, etc.), input/output data, and system
documentation from damage, theft and unauthorized access. The following
procedures should be followed:
(A) If no longer required, the previous contents of any re-usable media that are
to be removed from the organization should be erased.
(B) Authorization should be required for all media removed from the
organization and a record of all such removals maintained.
(C) All media should be stored in a safe, secure environment, in accordance
with manufacturers’ specifications.
(D) All procedures and authorization levels should be clearly documented.
9.10 DISPOSAL OF MEDIA
1. Formal procedures for the secure disposal of media should be established to
minimize this risk. The following controls should be considered:
(A) Media containing sensitive information should be stored and disposed of
securely and safely, e.g. by incineration or shredding or emptied of
information for use by another application within the organization.
(B) The following list identifies items that might require secure disposal:
(i) paper documents,
(ii) voice or other recordings,
(iii) output reports,
(iv) one-time-use printer ribbons,
(v) magnetic tapes,
(vi) removable disks or cassettes,
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(vii) optical storage media (all forms and including all manufacturer
software distribution media),
(viii) program listings,
(ix) test information, and
(x) system documentation.
(C) It may be easier to arrange for all media items to be collected and
disposed of securely, rather than attempting to separate out the sensitive
items.
(D) Disposal of sensitive items should be logged where possible in order to
maintain an audit trail.
(E) Disposal of certain hardware must conform to the current EPA
requirements or other relevant legislation in effect.
9.11 EXCHANGES OF INFORMATION AND SOFTWARE
1. Exchanges of information and software between organizations should be controlled
and should be compliant with any relevant legislation.
2. Exchanges should be carried out on the basis of agreements. Procedures
and standards to protect information and media in transit must be established. The
business and security implications associated with electronic data interchange,
electronic commerce and electronic mail and the requirements for controls should
be considered.
3. Agreements, some of which must be formal, must be established for the electronic
or manual exchange of information and software between organizations. The
security content of such an agreement should reflect the sensitivity of the business
information involved. Agreements on security conditions should include:
(A) responsibilities for controlling and notifying transmission, dispatch and
receipt,
(B) procedures for notifying sender, transmission, dispatch and receipt,
(C) minimum technical standards for packaging and transmission,
(D) courier identification standards,
(E) responsibilities and liabilities in the event of loss of information,
(F) information and software ownership and responsibilities for information
protection, software copyright compliance and similar considerations,
(G) technical standards for recording and reading information and software, and
(H) any special controls that may be required to protect sensitive items,
such as cryptographic.
4. Information can be vulnerable to unauthorized access, misuse or corruption
during physical transport, for instance when sending media via the postal service
or via courier. As such, media being transported must be protected from
unauthorized access, misuse or corruption.
9.12 PUBLICLY AVAILABLE SYSTEMS
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1. Information on a publicly available system, e.g. information on a Web server
accessible via the Internet, may need to comply with laws, rules and regulations in
the jurisdiction in which the system is located or where trade is taking place. There
must be a formal authorization process before information is made publicly
available and the integrity of such information must be protected to prevent
unauthorized modification.
2. Software, data and other information requiring a high level of integrity, made
available on a publicly available system, should be protected by appropriate
mechanisms, e.g. digital signatures. Electronic publishing systems, especially
those that permit feedback and direct entering of information, should be carefully
controlled so that:
(A) information is obtained in compliance with any information protection
legislation,
(B) information input to and processed by, the publishing system will be
processed completely and accurately in a timely manner,
(C) sensitive information will be protected during the collection process and
when stored, and
(D) access to the publishing system does not allow unintended access to
networks to which it is connected.
9.13 USE OF SYSTEM UTILITIES
1. Most computer installations have one or more system utility programs that might
be capable of overriding system and application controls. Use of these system
utility programs must be restricted and tightly controlled. The following controls
should be considered:
(A) use of authentication procedures for system utilities,
(B) segregation of system utilities from applications software,
(C) limitation of the use of system utilities to the minimum practical number of
trusted authorized users,
(D) authorization for ad hoc use of systems utilities,
(E) limitation of the availability of system utilities, e.g. for the duration
of an authorized change,
(F) logging of all use of system utilities,
(G) defining and documenting of authorization levels for system utilities, and
2. removal of all unnecessary software based utilities and system software.
9.14 MONITORING SYSTEMS ACCESS AND USE
1. Systems should be monitored to detect deviation from access control procedures
and record system events to provide evidence in case of security incidents.
System monitoring allows the effectiveness of controls adopted to be checked.
2. Audit logs recording exceptions and other security-relevant events must be
produced and kept for a period defined by the agency and within the mandate of
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both federal and State legislation to assist in future investigations and access
control monitoring. Audit logs should also include:
(A) user IDs,
(B) dates and times for log-on and log-off,
(C) terminal identity or location if possible,
(D) records of successful and rejected system access attempts, and
(E) records of successful and rejected data and other resource access
attempts.
3. Certain audit logs may be required to be archived as part of the record retention
procedures or because of requirements to collect evidence.
4. Procedures for monitoring use of information processing facilities must be
established and the result of the monitoring activities reviewed regularly. Such
procedures are necessary to ensure that users are only performing activities that
have been explicitly authorized. The level of monitoring required for individual
facilities should be determined by a risk assessment. Areas that should be
included are:
(A) authorized access, including detail such as:
(i) the user ID,
(ii) the date and time of key events,
(iii) the types of events,
(iv) the files accessed, and
(v) the program/utilities used.
(B) all privileged operations, such as:
(i) use of supervisor account,
(ii) system start-up and stop, and
(iii) I/O device attachment/detachment.
(C) unauthorized access attempts, such as:
(i) failed attempts,
(ii) access procedure violations and notifications for network gateways
and firewalls, and
(iii) alerts from proprietary intrusion detection systems.
(D) system alerts or failures such as:
(i) console alerts or messages,
(ii) system log exceptions, and
(iii) network management alarms.
5. The result of the monitoring activities should be reviewed regularly. The
frequency of the review should depend on the risks involved. Risk factors that
should be considered include:
(A) the criticality of the application processes,
(B) the value, sensitivity or criticality of the information involved,
(C) the past experience of system infiltration and misuse and
(D) the extent of system interconnection (particularly public networks).
6. A log review involves understanding the threats faced by the system and the
manner in which these may arise. System logs often contain a large volume of
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information, much of which is extraneous to security monitoring. To help identify
significant events for security monitoring purposes, the copying of appropriate
message types automatically to a second log and/or the use of suitable system
utilities or audit tools to perform file interrogation should be considered. When
allocating the responsibility for log review a separation of roles should be
considered between the person(s) undertaking the review and those whose
activities are being monitored.
7. Particular attention should be given to the security of the logging facility because
if tampered with it can provide a false sense of security. Controls should aim to
protect against unauthorized changes and operational problems including:
(A) the logging facility being de-activated,
(B) alterations to the message types that are recorded,
(C) log files being edited or deleted, and
(D) log file media becoming exhausted and either failing to record
events or overwriting itself.
9.15 CONTROL OF OPERATIONAL SOFTWARE
1. Control must be applied to the implementation of software on operational
systems. To minimize the risk of corruption of operational systems, the
following controls should be considered:
(A) The updating of the operational program libraries should only be
performed by the nominated librarian upon appropriate management
authorization.
(B) Operational systems should only hold executable code.
(C) Executable code should not be implemented on an operational system
until evidence of successful testing and user acceptance is obtained
and the corresponding program source libraries have been updated.
(D) An audit log should be maintained of all updates to operational program
libraries.
(E) Previous versions of software should be retained as a contingency
measure.
2. Vendor supplied software used in operational systems should be maintained at a
level supported by the supplier. Any decision to upgrade to a new release should
take into account the security of the release, i.e. the introduction of new security
functionality or the number and severity of security problems affecting this version.
Software patches should be applied when they can help to remove or reduce
security weaknesses.
9.16 ACCESS CONTROL TO SOURCE LIBRARY
1. In order to reduce the potential for corruption of computer programs, strict control
must be maintained over access to program source libraries.
(A) Program source libraries should not be held in operational systems.
(B) A program librarian should be nominated for each application.
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(C) IT support staff should not have unrestricted access to program source
libraries.
(D) Programs under development or maintenance should not be held in
operational program source libraries.
(E) The updating of program source libraries and the issuing of program
sources to programmers should only be performed by the nominated
librarian upon authorization from the IT support manager for the
application.
(F) Program listings should be held in a secure environment.
(G) An audit log should be maintained of all accesses to program source
libraries.
(H) Old versions of source programs should be archived, with a clear
indication of the precise dates and times when they were operational,
together with all supporting software, job control, data definitions and
procedures.
(I) Maintenance and copying of program source libraries should be subject to
strict change control procedures.
9.17 CHANGE CONTROL PROCEDURES
1. The implementation of changes must be strictly controlled by the use of formal
change control procedures to minimize the risk of system corruption. These
formalized change controls must be enforced. They should ensure that security
and control procedures are not compromised, that programmers are given access
to only those units required for their work and that formal approvals are obtained.
Changing application software can impact the operational environment. Whenever
practical, application and operational change procedures should be integrated.
These processes should include:
(A) maintaining a record of agreed authorization levels,
(B) ensuring changes are submitted by authorized personnel,
(C) reviewing controls and procedures to ensure they will not be compromised
by the changes submitted,
(D) identifying all the software, databases and hardware that require change,
(E) obtaining formal approval before work commences,
(F) ensuring the changes are carried out to minimize any possible disruptions,
(G) ensuring the system documentation is current,
(H) maintaining version control on all updates,
(I) maintaining an audit trail of all change requests,
(J) ensuring that operational documentation and user procedures reflect the
new environment, and
(K) ensuring that the changes are implemented without business disruption.
2. Test environments should be separated from development and production
environments.
9.18 RESTRICTIONS ON CHANGES TO SOFTWARE
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1. Modification to software packages must be discouraged and essential
changes controlled. Only when deemed essential, should the packages be
modified. The following points should be considered:
(A) the possibility of controls and processes included in the base software
being compromised,
(B) the necessity of obtaining the vendor’s consent,
(C) the possibility of the vendor including the changes into the base offering,
and
(D) the impact of incorporating these changes in future releases of the
base software.
9.19 INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEMS (IDS)
1. Network IDS utilize traffic analysis to compare session data against a known
database of popular application attack signatures. On detection, the network IDS
can react by logging the session alerting the administrator, terminating the session
and even reconfiguring the firewall or router to block selected traffic
2. Host IDS compare application / internal service log events against a known
database of security violations and custom policies. If a breach of policy occurs,
the host IDS can react by logging the action alerting the administrator and in some
cases stopping the action prior to execution.
3. Application-Level IDS rely upon custom applications to log unauthorized or
suspect activity and / or produce an alert. An example of an Application-Level
IDS would be a Web application which maintains its own internal user / password
system. Attempts to circumvent this system would not be noticed by a Network
IDS, or recorded by a Host IDS.
9.20 CONTROLS ON MALICIOUS SOFTWARE
1. Detection and prevention controls to protect against malicious software and
appropriate user awareness procedures must be implemented. Protection
against malicious software should be based on security awareness
appropriate system access and change management controls. The following
procedures should be implemented:
(A) compliance with software licenses and prohibiting the use of
unauthorized software,
(B) protection against risks associated with obtaining files and software either
from or via external networks or on any other medium, indicating what
protective measures should be taken,
(C) installation and regular update of anti-virus detection and repair software to
scan computers and media either as a precautionary control or on a routine
basis,
(D) regular reviews of the software and information content of systems
supporting critical business processes—the presence of any unapproved
files or unauthorized amendments should be formally investigated,
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(E) verification of files on electronic media of uncertain or unauthorized origin, or
files received over un-trusted networks, for viruses before use,
(F) verification of any electronic mail attachments and downloads for
malicious software before use—this check may be carried out at
different places, e.g. at electronic mail servers, desk top computers or
when entering the network of the organization,
(G) assignment of responsibilities to deal with the virus protection on
systems, training in their use, reporting and recovering from virus attacks,
(H) appropriate business continuity plans for recovering from virus attacks,
including all necessary data and software back-up and recovery
arrangements,
(I) verification of all information relating to malicious software and ensure
that warning bulletins are accurate and informative, and
(J) verification that qualified sources, e.g. reputable journals, reliable Internet
sites or anti-virus software suppliers are used to differentiate between
hoaxes and real viruses.
2. Staff should be made aware of the problem of hoaxes and what to do on receipt
of them. These controls are especially important for network file servers supporting
large numbers of workstations.
9.21 FIREWALLS
1. Firewalls’ functionality must be documented and detail how they manage security
policy as applied to network traffic and how they maintain internal security.
2. System documentation must detail the following:
(A) Purpose / Business rationale for the system
(B) Services offered, including business rationale
(C) Rationale for the choice of platform, operating system, components and
configuration.
(D) Adjacent or integrated systems.
(E) Modifications to the default system software configuration
(F) Installed software
(G) Installed software configuration
(H) Installed hardware
(I) Installed hardware configuration
(J) Support contracts
(K) Software licenses
(L) Hardware lease details
(M) Procedures for shutdown, restart and recovery
(N) System maintenance schedule
9.22 EXTERNAL FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
1. The use of an external contractor to manage information processing facilities
may introduce potential security exposures, such as the possibility of compromise,
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damage, or loss of data at the contractor’s site. Prior to using external facilities
management services, the risks must be identified and appropriate controls
agreed with the contractor, and incorporated into the contract.
2. Particular issues that should be addressed include:
(A) identifying sensitive or critical applications better retained in-house,
(B) obtaining the approval of business application owners,
(C) implications for business continuity plans,
(D) security standards to be specified, and the process for measuring
compliance,
(E) allocation of specific responsibilities and procedures to effectively monitor all
relevant security activities, and
(F) responsibilities and procedures for reporting and handling security incidents.
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10.0 LEGAL REQUIREMENTS
1. All security related aspects of information processing may be subject to statutory
or contractual security requirements. Each agency must be aware of their
responsibilities as dictated by legislation and other legal commitments particularly
as they apply to the information systems and practices required by the federal and
state governments. All agencies should put in place the appropriate procedures
to ensure compliance with legal considerations.
10.1 SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT
1. Proprietary software products are usually supplied under a license agreement that
limits the use of the products to specified machines and may limit copying to the
creation of back-up copies only. The following controls should be implemented:
(A) publishing software copyright compliance procedures which define the legal
use of software and information products,
(B) maintaining awareness of the software copyright and acquisition procedures
and giving notice of the intent to take disciplinary action against staff
who breach them,
(C) maintaining appropriate asset registers,
(D) maintaining proof and evidence of ownership of licenses, master disks,
manuals, etc.,
(E) implementing controls to ensure that any maximum number of users
permitted is not exceeded,
(F) carrying out checks that only authorized software and licensed
products are installed,
(G) providing procedures for maintaining appropriate license conditions, and
(H) providing procedures for disposing or transferring software to others.
10.2 PROTECTION OF INFORMATION
1. Important records of an organization must be protected from loss, destruction and
falsification. Some records may need to be securely retained to meet statutory
or regulatory requirements as well as to support essential business activities.
The time period and information content for retention may be set by federal and
state laws or regulations.
2. Records should be categorized into record types, such as accounting records,
database records, transaction logs audit logs and operational procedures, each
with details of retention periods and type of storage media, e.g. paper, microfiche,
magnetic, optical. Any related cryptographic keys associated with encrypted
archives or digital signatures, should be kept securely and made available to
authorized persons when needed.
3. Consideration should be given to the possibility of degradation of media used
for storage of records. Storage and handling procedures should be
implemented in accordance with Manufacturer’s recommendations.
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4. Wherever electronic storage media are chosen, procedures to ensure the ability to
access information (both media and format readability) throughout the retention period
should be included, to safeguard against loss due to future technology change.
5. The system of storage and handling should ensure clear identification of records and
of their statutory or regulatory retention period. It should permit appropriate
destruction of records after that period if they are not needed by the organization.
6. To meet these obligations, the following steps should be taken within an organization:
(A) Guidelines should be issued on the retention, storage, handling and disposal of
records and information.
(B) A retention schedule should be drawn up identifying essential record types and
the period of time for which they should be retained.
(C) An inventory of sources of key information should be maintained.
(D) Appropriate controls should be implemented to protect essential records and
information from loss, destruction and falsification.
10.3 PRIVACY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
1. In many cases, legislation controls the processing and transmission of personal
information (generally information on living individuals who can be identified from that
information). Such controls impose responsibilities on those collecting, processing and
disseminating personal information.
2. Controls must be applied to protect personal information in accordance with relevant
legislation. Compliance with information protection legislation requires appropriate
management structure and control. It is the responsibility of the owner of the
information to ensure the information is protected and that there is awareness by all
users of the information protection principles defined in the relevant legislation.
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11.0 COMPLIANCE WITH SECURITY POLICY
1. Agencies must ensure that all security procedures within their area of responsibility
are documented and carried out correctly. All areas within the organization may
be subject to regular review to ensure compliance with security procedures and
standards. These should include the following:
(A) information systems,
(B) systems providers,
(C) owners of information and information assets,
(D) hosting agencies of information and information assets, and
(E) users.
2. Both the owning and hosting agencies should support regular reviews of the
compliance of their systems with the appropriate security procedures,
standards and any other security requirements. All variances must be
documented.
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APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY
Backup: A copy of files and programs made to facilitate recovery if necessary.
Business Continuity: The predetermined set of instructions or procedures that describe
how an organization’s business functions will be sustained during and after a significant
disruption of the normal business environment.
Business Recovery Strategy: The documentation of a predetermined set of
instructions or procedures that describe how business processes will be restored after a
significant disruption to the normal business environment has occurred.
Cold Site: A backup facility that has the necessary electrical and physical components of a
computer facility, but does not have the computer equipment in place. The site is ready to
receive the necessary replacement computer equipment in the event that the user has to
move from their main computing location to an alternate site.
Contingency Plan: Management policy and procedures designed to maintain or restore
business operations, including computer operations, possibly at an alternate location, in the
event of emergencies, system failures or disaster.
Critical Application: An application that requires special attention to security because of
the risk and magnitude of the harm resulting from the loss, misuse or unauthorized access
to, or modification of, the information in the application. A breach in a critical application
might comprise many individual application programs and hardware, software and
telecommunications components. Critical applications can be either a major software
application or a combination of hardware and software in which the only purpose of the system
is to support a specific mission-related function.
Disaster Recovery Plan: An information technology plan designed to restore
operability of the target system, application, telecommunication, or computer facility after a
major hardware or software failure or destruction of facilities.
Disruption: An unplanned event that causes the general system or major application to be
inoperable for an unacceptable length of time (e.g., minor or extended power outage,
extended unavailable network, equipment or facility damage or destruction, or corruption of
files by accidental or malicious intent).
Distributed System: A distributed system is an interconnected set of multiple
autonomous processing units, configured to exchange and process information to complete
a single business function. To the user a distributed system appears to be a single source.
Distributed systems use the client-server relationship model to make the application more
accessible to users in different locations.
Environmental Considerations: Those physical or tangible factors that affect the
performance of, or compliance with, a given procedure or process.
Facilities: Interconnected information resources that share common functionality. They
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include hardware, software, information, information applications and communications.
Functional Considerations: Those process or procedure factors that affect the
performance of, or compliance with, a given function.
Hosting Agency: The Hosting State Agency has physical and operational control of the
hardware, software, communications and data bases (files) of the owning Agency. The
Hosting Agency can also be an Owner.
Hot Site: A fully operational off-site information processing facility equipped with
hardware and system software to be used in the event of a disaster.
Incident: A malicious attack against an organization’s IT systems. It is normally
associated with cyber attacks but includes any unauthorized violation of policies and
procedures.
Information: Any data or knowledge collected, processed, stored, managed, transferred or
disseminated by any method.
Intrusion Detection System: The function of an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is to
monitor and analyze captured activity data and issue alerts when unauthorized activity is
detected. The functionality of the IDS must be documented as well as details on how the
IDS discovers, filters and reports events based on guidelines set by security policy.
Local Area Network (LAN): A local area network (LAN) is a data communications network
owned by a single organization. It can be as small as two PCs attached or can include
hundreds of users and multiple servers.
Mainframe: A mainframe is a multi-user computer designed to meet the computing needs
of a large organization. The term was created to describe the large central computers
developed in the late 1950s and 1960s to process bulk accounting and information
management functions. Mainframe systems store most, if not all data in a central location
rather than dispersing data among multiple machines as with distributed systems.
Owner: The Owner of the information is the State Agency responsible for producing,
collecting and maintaining the authenticity, integrity and accuracy of information.
Risk Management: Risk management is the ongoing process of assessing, controlling and
mitigating the risks to information systems and technologies. Risk management should
prevent or reduce the likelihood of damage to its information resources through
implementation of security controls to protect a system or technologies against natural,
human and environmental threats. Risk management should encompass actions to reduce
or limit the consequences of risks in the event they disrupt a system or technological
component.
Security Representative: An individual designated by a state agency to approve user
access, communicate security policies, procedures, guidelines and best practices to agency
personnel, and report on all deviations to security policies, procedures, guidelines and
best practices.
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Server: A server is a computer that runs software to provide access to a resource or part
of the network and network resources, such as disk storage, printers and network
applications. A server can be any type of computer running a network operating system. A
server may be a standard PC or it can be a large computer containing multiple disk drives
and a vast amount of memory that will allow the computer to process multiple, concurrent
requests.
Service Level Agreement: A documented commitment on products, services or service
levels to be provided. This must be agreed upon by the provider as well as the recipient and
serves to manage expectations and monitor performance.
Shared Network: A network shared with third party or non-organizational users.
System: A generic term used for briefness to mean either a major application or a general
support system.
Systems Access Authorization Request: Documented authorization for an individual’s
system access signed and approved by the requesting manager, the designated Security
Representative and the Owner.
System Development Life Cycle: The scope of activities associated with a system,
encompassing the system’s initiation, development and acquisition, implementation,
operation and maintenance and ultimately its disposal that instigates another system
initiation.
Vetting: Verification of information or individuals associated with the process or task
assigned.
Warm Site: An environmentally conditioned workspace that is partially equipped with IT and
telecommunications equipment to support relocated IT operations in the event of a significant
disruption.
Web Site: A Web site is used for information dissemination on the Internet or an intranet.
The Web site is created in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) code that may be read by a
Web browser on a client machine. A Web site is hosted on a computer (Web server) that
serves Web pages to the requesting client browser. The Web server hosts the components
of a Web site (e.g., pages, scripts, programs and multimedia files) and serves them using the
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Web sites can present static or dynamic content. A
Web site can be either internal to an organization (an intranet) or published to the public
over the Internet.
Wide Area Network (WAN): A wide area network (WAN) is a data communications network
that consists of two or more LANs that are dispersed over a wide geographical area.
Communications links, usually provided by a public carrier, enable one LAN to interact with
other LANs.
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APPENDIX B: SAMPLE CRISIS TEAM ORGANIZATION
The following sample illustrates crisis team compositions insofar as skills mix required for
the disaster recovery components. Alternates should be assigned for all critical skills.
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APPENDIX C: RESPONSIBILITY GRID
The following grid outlines the primary responsibilities (in bold) for all the security
considerations listed in the Policy, Procedures, and Guidelines document. In addition, the
considerations are applied to the major components listed under disaster recovery. This
does not preclude the fact that all State employees and agencies share in all
responsibilities pertaining to information security.
Security Considerations
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Information Confidentiality x x x x x x x x x x
Information Content x x x x x x
Information Access x x x x x x
Information Security x x x x x x
Information Availability x x x x x x x x
Hosting Agency Security x x x x x x x x
Agency Security x x x x x x x x x x
Incident Management x x x x x x x x x
Event Logging and Monitoring x x x x x x x
Risk Assessment x x x x x x x x
Risk Mitigation x x x x x x x x
Staffing x x x x x x x
Awareness/Training x x x x x x x x x
Personal Computer Usage x x x
Email Usage x x x x x x
Internet/Intranet Security x x x
Support Calls x x x x x x x
Password Resets x x x x
Voice Mail Security x x x
Operations Center x x x x x x x
Operations Monitoring x x x x x x x
Back Up of Information x x x x x x
Access Control x x x x x x x x
Network x x x x
Electronic Commerce Security x x x x x x
Mobile Computing x x x x
Remote Computing x x x x x x
External Facilities x x x x x x x x
Encryption x x x x x x x
Contingency Plan x x x x x x x x
Disaster Recovery Plan x x x x x x x x
Business Recovery Strategy x x x x x x x x
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Security Considerations
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Operating Procedures x x x x x x x
Operational Change Control x x x x x x x
Segregation of Duties x x x x
Separation of Development & Operational Facilities x x x x
Systems Planning & Acceptance x x x x
Capacity Planning x x x x x x x
Systems Acceptance x x x x x x x
Fault Logging x x x x
Management of Removable Computer Media x x x x x
Disposal of Media x x x x x x x
Exchanges of Information & Software x x x x x x x
Publicly Available Systems x x x x
Use of System Utilities x x x x
Monitoring Systems Access & Use x x x x x x x x x
Control of Operational Software x x x x
Access Control to Source Library x x x
Change Control Procedures x x x x
Restrictions on Changes to Software x x x x
Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) x x x x
Controls on Malicious Software x x x x
Firewalls x x x x x x
External Facilities Management x x x x x x x x
Software Copyright x x x x x x x
Protection of Information x x x x x x x x x x
Privacy of Personal Information x x x x x x x
Compliance with Security Policy x x x x x x x x x x
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APPENDIX D: CONTINGENCY PLAN CONSIDERATIONS
Considerations
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Maintain an up to date inventory of hardware and
software.
x x x x
Standardize hardware, software, and peripherals. x x x x
Coordinate with security policies and procedures. x x x x x x x
Backup and storage of critical information offsite. x x x x
Ensure interoperability among system components. x x x x
Implement redundancy in critical system components. x x x x x x
Use uninterruptible power supplies. x x x x x x
Document system and application configurations x x x x x x x
Document environmental requirements. x x x x x
Backup and storage of information and applications
offsite.
x x x x
Implement fault tolerance in critical system components. x x x
Replicate information. x x x
Document Web site. x
Code and program the Web site uniformly. x
Consider contingencies of supporting infrastructure. x x x
Implement load balancing. x
Coordinate with incident response procedures. x x x
Document the network. x x
Coordinate with vendors. x x x x x
Identify single points of failure. x x x
Monitor the network. x x
Institute service level agreements x x x x
Consider a hot site or reciprocal agreement. x x x x
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APPENDIX E: PROCEDURES AND ACCEPTABLE USE
APPENDIX E, SECTION 1. COMPUTER (CYBER) INCIDENT REPORTING
PROCEDURES
Purpose: The purpose of this procedure is to provide a computer incident reporting and
response process that the State of Oklahoma will employ in the event of an intrusion to or
an attack on government computer systems. This reporting and response process provides
a coordinated approach to handling incidents across all levels of government. The intention
of this coordinated process is to minimize or eliminate the propagation of an event to other
computers and networks. Reporting computer crimes is the only way for law enforcement
to deter and apprehend violators.
Centralized reporting serves the goal of increasing awareness of vulnerabilities and
threats to state government as a whole. Centralized reporting is necessary to discern
patterns, identify areas of vulnerability, allocate resources, and develop statewide
solutions.
Scope: This procedure applies to all agency, authority, board, department, division,
commission, institution, institution of higher education, bureau, or like government entity of
the executive branch of the state government.
Definitions: A computer or cyber incident is an event violating an explicit or implied
computer security policy. The following types of events or activities are widely
recognized as being in violation of a typical security policy. These activities include but are
not necessarily limited to:
■ Attempts or activities interpreted by the agency as legitimate attempts to gain
unauthorized access to a system or its data;
■ Unwanted disruption or denial of service;
■ Unauthorized use of a system for the transmission, processing or storage of
data;
■ Storage and/or distribution of child pornography;
■ Changes to system hardware, firmware, or software characteristics without the
owner’s knowledge, instruction, or consent; and
■ Cyber-terrorism is the unlawful and deliberate use, modification, disruption or
destruction of computing resources to intimidate or coerce a government, the
civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social
objectives.
The Oklahoma CyberCommand maintains partnerships of federal, state, and local law
enforcement agencies within the state of Oklahoma to aggressively address cyber threats
and crime in a coordinated manner.
Procedures: It is the responsibility of all state employees to report suspected computer
incidents as quickly as possible. The ultimate goals, regardless of incident, are the protection
of assets, containment of damage, and restoration of service.
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The reported cyber incident will be coordinated by the Oklahoma CyberCommand with the
Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security, Information Analysis/Infrastructure Protection
Division (OHS IA/IPD) and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI).
Primary support for an incident response will be at the request of the OHS IA/IPD and OSBI
and be provided by the Oklahoma CyberCommand.
NOTIFICATION
■ Initial notification of a cyber incident should be made to the Lead Technology Position
(Chief Information Officer, IT Director, Manager or Administrator) of the affected state
agency or office. The affected state agency or office will make the appropriate cyber
incident notification to the Oklahoma CyberCommand and law enforcement.
■ Notification of this cyber incident should be made through the OMES IS Service Desk
at 405-521-2444 or toll free at 1-866-521-2444. The Oklahoma CyberCommand will
provide all necessary notification and coordination to the Supervisory Special Agent
of the Computer Intrusion Squad at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and
the Electronic Crimes Special Agent at the United States Secret Service.
RESPONSE ACTIONS
■ Once an incident has been reported, the incident specifics such as time, date,
location, affected systems, and the nature and consequence of the incident will be
obtained.
■ An initial response team and the affected agency will respond to the incident.
■ The focus will be on identifying the origins of the incident and apprehending those
responsible. If the initial response team suspects the incident to be a cyber
terrorism incident, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), and Oklahoma
Office of Homeland Security will be notified. Based on continuing analysis and
assessments, the initial response team will focus on remediation of mission critical
information and telecommunications systems, as well as those systems whose loss
would constitute an immediate threat to public health or safety.
■ The Oklahoma CyberCommand shall apprise the State Chief Information Officer,
and the person(s) responsible for Information Technology at the agency, affected by
the computer incident of the progress of the investigation to the extent possible.
AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES
Employee:
■ To adhere to this procedure and any other state or agency security policies
and procedures.
■ To report all suspected computer incidents to their supervisors and to the
appropriate business or technical area manager who in turn will notify the
Oklahoma CyberCommand through the OMES IS Service Desk at 405-
521-2444. This number is monitored 24 x 7 x 365.
■ To fully cooperate with any subsequent investigation of a computer incident.
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Agency:
■ To communicate this procedure to all employees.
■ To provide periodic security awareness training to agency employees.
■ To implement procedures to ensure compliance with the initial notification
procedures described in this policy.
It is the responsibility of each agency to identify procedures, whereby its IT staff will
determine if a computer or cyber incident has taken place and if it should be reported
using this process.
The Incident Reporting Form is attached.
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INCIDENT REPORTING FORM
Note: This form is required for all suspected or actual privacy or security breaches.
This form will be sent in confidence to the state Incident Response Center.
Type of Incident (Privacy, Security, Virus, etc) Incident Date
Individuals Providing Report (Full Name) Report Date
Phone Division Supervisor/ Manager
Incident Description
Complete all information known at the time of the report preparation. Supervisors and investigators will complete other
items on the report as results become available.
Incident Description
Information Compromised (or at
risk)
Information Systems Compromised
(Hardware, software, sites): include
host name(s), host IP address(es), &
primary purpose of host machine(s)
Location of the Incident or Systems:
include street, city, state, zip
Other affected hosts/sites /
information (include 3rd parties,
local public health, other state
agencies, etc.)
Damage or observations resulting
from attack (Impact on Operations
to include downtime, costs, other
damages)
Summary of Incident Investigation
Results
(i.e., number of hosts attacked, how
access was obtained, how was attack
identified, was an incident response
organization contacted prior to
submission of this report, etc.)
Identify the agency or agencies
which received a report concerning
this incident.
Report Completed by: Information Reviewed by:
Date: Date:
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APPENDIX E, SECTION 2. INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE
OVERVIEW
The Office of Management and Enterprise Services Information Services (OMES IS)
monitors the State of Oklahoma network backbone, primarily focusing on the segments
used by OMES IS and by the agencies to which OMES IS provides services. When
abnormal and excessive traffic are revealed, further investigation is conducted. OMES IS
will notify the agencies involved when events are observed and recorded that clearly
indicate questionable activities. Examples of such activity include events indicating the
possible presence of computers compromised by unknown attackers or computers
actively being used to scan and perhaps exploit other cyber assets belonging to State or
other entities. These activities are indicative of a serious and potentially critical intrusion
and as such are considered a possible criminal act. The agency will be given a period of
time to evaluate their environment and report the results of their evaluation. If the
suspected incident is not reported within 24 hours and depending on the suspected
severity of the observed activity, OMES IS can submit a report on behalf of the agency,
after notifying the agency Director. Agencies can submit, update and modify reports for
their agency, regardless of who submits them.
These procedures will be used together with the Computer (Cyber) Incident Reporting
Procedures contained in Appendix E, Section 1. In this section, a computer or cyber
incident is defined as “an event violating an explicit or implied computer security policy”.
The goal of these procedures is to define the process for reporting and responding to
“significant” incidents, whether they originate externally or internally.
When any intrusion occurs, it is the responsibility of the agency to analyze and validate
each incident, documenting each step taken. When the agency believes that an incident
has occurred, they shall perform an initial analysis to determine the incident’s scope, such
as which networks, systems, or applications are affected; who or what originated the
incident; and how the incident is occurring (e.g., what tools or attack methods are being
used, what vulnerabilities are being exploited). The initial analysis should provide enough
information for the agency to prioritize subsequent activities, such as containment of the
incident and deeper analysis of the effects of the incident. The agency shall assume
the worst until thorough analysis concludes the root cause(s) of the incident and steps
have been taken to mitigate or remediate the vulnerabilities and the results of any
exploit(s).
Below is the list of recommended actions for the agency to follow.
Recommended Actions:
1. Report this incident to the Oklahoma CyberCommand, following the procedures in
Appendix E: Section 1. Computer (Cyber) Incident Reporting Procedures of the
statewide Information Security Policy, Procedures, and Guidelines document.
2. The initial incident response activities are the responsibility of the agency
experiencing the event. Whenever possible, it is imperative to preserve evidence
in case of a criminal investigation. This means avoiding actions that would alter
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or destroy physical evidence that resides in memory and/or on the disk drives
of suspected host computers.
3. The first priority must always be to protect state assets and ensure the
continuity of critical services. So the statements in #2 above must be weighed
in light of the criticality, urgency and perceived risk(s) to the state. If the impact
and/or risk to the state are significant, then those factors override the
importance of preserving data. If the agency is able to make this decision, it
must be based on the results gathered during steps #4 and #5 below.
4. Analyze the computer(s) in question to determine if any sensitive data may
have been exposed, lost or damaged. Oklahoma statute (74 O.S. 3113.1)
defines sensitive data to include “personal information”, consisting of the
first name or first initial and last name of an individual in combination with any
one or more of the following data elements, when either the name or the data
elements are not encrypted: a) social security number; b) driver license
number; or c) account number, credit or debit card number, in combination with
any required security code, access code, or password that would permit access
to the financial account of an individual. This statute also specifies that if such
information is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized
person, then disclosure shall be made in the most expedient time possible and
without unreasonable delay, consistent with the legitimate needs of law
enforcement.
5. Conduct an analysis of the network traffic flows between the compromised
computers) and other inbound and/or outbound computer(s), including all
known assets that communicate with the primary suspect devices involved in
questionable activities; also, do not initiate communication with unknown assets
or IP addresses of any kind, including use of the “ping command” — such
activity will alert the intruder that we are aware of their presence, which may
produce undesired results. If the agency is not able to perform this analysis,
please notify OMES IS for assistance.
6. The Oklahoma CyberCommand will evaluate the reported incident and determine
if a criminal investigation is needed. If not, the incident will be turned over to
the agency and/or OMES IS to continue the response activities.
7. The remaining actions will depend on the decisions made by the agency based
on the results of the analysis above that set the expectations for the overall
impact of the event on critical agency assets and services.
The following describes the computer incident response team organization and
roles. These procedures define the agency’s roles and the roles of the state and/or
other agencies where appropriate.
INCIDENT RESPONSE TEAM ORGANIZATION
Response to significant cyber incidents is guided by the agency’s Incident Response
Team (IRT). Although first responders may be general IS or IT staff and can include other
agency staff with prior approval, the IRT provides overall response guidance. This team’s
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first effort during an incident is to take control of the situation with the intent of mitigating
potential damage to the agency or its customers.
It is the IRT’s responsibility to:
■ Manage the incident response process
■ Defend against attacks and prevent further damage from occurring when an
incident does occur
■ Implement improvements that prevent attacks from reoccurring
■ Report the outcome of any security incidents to the Information Security
Officer or Cyber Security Representative, who will report the incident using
established state procedures
The agency will appoint a qualified IRT with current members listed in the following table, if
available.
IRT Groups
IRT Functional
Members*
IRT Member Roles
State Agency Agency Director Decisions related to assets & services
IT/IS Director Technology decisions & alternatives
Security Manager/Admin Response coordinator & documentation
Network Manager/Admin
Address network related
questions/issues
Server Manager/Admin Address server questions/issues
Workstation
Manager/Admin
Address workstation questions/issues
Operations
Manager/Admin
Address operational questions/issues
Applications
Manager/Admin
Address application questions/issues
Office of Management
and Enterprise Services
IS Director
Notify Agency Director if issues are
identified Coordinate with OKOHS &
OSBI to enforce the statewide
minimum information security and
internal control standards
Information Security
Officer
Coordinate IRT activities with agency
& OCCA Coordinate IRT support for
agencies requesting or requiring
assistance
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Information Security
Admin
Document & clarify monitored events
Coordinate/support non-criminal IRT
activities with agency & other group
team members
Network Manager/Admin
Coordinate/support OMES IS customer
equipment
Oklahoma Office of
Homeland Security
(OKOHS) Agency Director
Enforce the statewide minimum
information security and internal control
standards
IRT Groups
IRT Functional
Members*
IRT Member Roles
Information Analysis /
Infrastructure Protection
Enforce the statewide minimum
information security and internal control
standards
Oklahoma State Bureau
of Investigation
(OSBI) Division Director
Enforce the statewide minimum
information security and internal control
standards
Computer Crimes Unit
Enforce the statewide minimum
information security and internal control
standards
Oklahoma Cyber Crime
Alliance Partners (OCCA)
Office of Homeland
Security
Assess incident reports for
prosecutable value and investigate and
gather evidence when necessary
OSBI
Assess incident reports for
prosecutable value and investigate
and gather evidence when
necessary
FBI Coordinate resources & investigations
OMES IS Maintain incident reporting system
*Note: It is recognized that multiple functions may be handled by the same incident response
team member(s), depending on how each agency is organized. If the agency uses a third party
to perform any of these functions, then that group will be responsible for providing the support
necessary to identify and address the requirements or issues involved.
INCIDENT RESPONSE PROCEDURES
Each agency will develop an IRT Plan based on the FBI’s National Infrastructure Protection
Center guidelines, which are now part of the Office of Domestic Preparedness/Department
of Homeland Security and US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness
Team). These guidelines are segmented into three phases:
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Phase I: Detection, Assessment and Triage
Phase II: Containment, Evidence Collection, Analysis and Investigation, and Mitigation
Phase III: Remediation, Recovery and Post-Mortem
Checklists for agency incident response are provided in the following tables. The original
checklists have been updated to reflect statewide policy and statute requirements.
The IRT or other staff will generally respond to incidents by following these steps in the order
given. Every step, however, may not apply to each incident, and the IRT shall use discretion
and experience when applying these steps to actual incidents. The checklist steps below are
initiated at the point in time when a potential incident is detected and declared.
Phase I activities are designed to control risk and damage and are particularly critical to the
successful response. These Phase I tasks shall be conducted by technical staff or by the IRT.
Phase I
Detection, Assessment and Triage
Step I -1 Document all aspects of the incident. Documentation is one of the most
critical success factors for incident response. Documentation is electronic
or handwritten and need not be well-organized initially. The purpose of this
step is to capture everything that occurs in detail, especially names, times
and events as they actually occurred. For the initial incident handler, a
notebook and pen may be adequate. Screen shots and digital pictures are
used when possible to capture information completely and unambiguously.
Detailed documentation continues by the IRT throughout the response.
Step I -2 Notify the IRT leader and, on a need-to-know basis only, other
relevant entities. In this step all appropriate contacts and only appropriate
contacts shall be made. Incidents may have legal, human resources and
public relations implications and shall not be disclosed to anyone without a
specific need-to-know. Care shall be taken not to communicate at any time
using potentially compromised data or voice systems.
Step I -3 Protect evidence. During this step, evidence is not collected but care is
taken to preserve the integrity of potential evidence by guarding against:
(a) destruction of evidence through established processes like re-use of
backup media, system use or hard-disk wiping; and (b) destruction or
tainting of evidence through incident handling actions (logging onto
affected systems, etc). If deliberate destruction is considered likely (e.g., by
a suspect or attacker), then more aggressive actions may be required to
preserve evidence (i.e., removing systems from the network, placing
evidence in safe storage, etc.)
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Step I -4 Determine if an actual incident has occurred. Based on available data,
establish whether or not an incident has occurred. This action shall
consider the previous steps so that actions such as logging on to affected
systems, sending out broadcast e-mails and other similar activities shall be
avoided. An event is verified by reaching one of three conclusion-action
pairs:
1. verified and proceed
2. undetermined and proceed
3. refuted and terminate (this conclusion must be fully documented
and verified)
Phase I
Detection, Assessment and Triage
Step I -5 Notify Appropriate Personnel. Once the incident is validated (or
undetermined), the appropriate internal and external personnel shall be
notified immediately. These contacts follow the communication plan
established by the IRT and shall include technical and management staff,
human resource, public relations, legal, as well as appropriate external
contacts, including the OCCA if they have not been already.
Step I -6 Determine Incident Status. This step determines whether the attack /
incident remains active or has ceased; and if it has ceased, if it likely to
resume. If this step will cause only minimal delay to communications in
Step I-5, then activities in Step I-6 may actually occur prior to Step I-5.
Step I -7 Assess Scope. Activities in this step determine which and how many
systems and data are potentially affected, including whether or not
compromised system(s) are the end target or part of a more distributed
attack on other systems.
Step I -8 Assess Risk. This activity determines agency risk based on the incident
activity, scope assessment and potential impact.
Step I -9 Establish Goals. This step determines appropriate business goals to
guide the response. For instance, the agency may determine that the
incident has potential regulatory impact which may guide response
activities. The agency realizes that accommodating all business goals may
be impossible (i.e., protecting confidential data and maintaining resource
availability may conflict).
Step I -10 Evaluate response options. Based on information gained in the previous
steps, this activity identifies and evaluates appropriate options to meet the
goals determined in Step I-9.
Step I -11 Implement Triage. Implement the agreed to strategy and option(s)
identified in the previous step.
Step I -12 Escalation and handoff. At this point, evidence is preserved, appropriate
communications made, containment activities executed, and goals
identified as possible. If the IRT has not been handling the incident directly,
at this point, primary incident response is transferred to the IRT.
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Phase II activities are intended to: address containment; stabilization of the environment;
evidence collection and analysis; evaluate impact to operations; and determine if interim
mitigation actions are available and need to be implemented. These Phase II tasks shall
be conducted by the OCCA, where deemed appropriate, by technical staff and/or by the
IRT.
Phase II
Containment, Evidence Collection, Analysis and Investigation and Mitigation
(Note: The OCCA must be contacted and participate, if criminal activity is suspected.)
Step II – 1 Containment. Since triage actions are often executed in a crisis environment,
the first step in Phase II is to validate that the containment and related triage
activities are effective.
Step II – 2 Re-assess. Once a relatively stable state is established, the scope, risk
assessment and response goals are re-analyzed and re-validated. The following
questions are generally addressed during this step:
• How did the incident happen? When? What is the verified scope or depth of
the incident?
• Was there any activity after the initial incident?
• Who was the source of the attack?
• What are the immediate and future recommendations for response?
Reestablishing the specific goals of the investigation may alter the response
approach (i.e., trap and trace, disconnect systems, active or passive searching, etc.)
Step II – 3 Collect evidence. Evidence collection involves the identification and capture of
data relevant to an incident investigation. Evidence is collected in a way that the
integrity of the evidence is ensured and a solid chain of custody is maintained. All
evidence relevant to the investigation is captured and may include evidence from
systems not actually affected by the incident (e.g., firewall logs, IDS logs, DHCP
logs, mail servers, physical access logs, etc.). It’s possible some evidence
collection activities may involve outside entities (e.g., ISPs web hosting services,
etc), legal, human resource and other agency resources are recruited as necessary
to ensure proper processes are followed.
Step II – 4 Analyze Evidence. If the OCCA determines that criminal prosecution is
appropriate, the appropriate law enforcement agency will conduct a criminal
investigation.
Step II – 5 Develop Hypotheses and Verify. Previous activities formulate hypothetical
answers to questions identified in Step II-2. Each hypothesis is substantiated
by evidence, but answers are often not absolute requiring qualitative
interpretation with reasoned conclusions. It may be necessary to collect
additional evidence to support a given conclusion.
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Step II – 6 Intermediate Mitigation. As the investigation proceeds, interim mitigation
recommendations may be formulated and implemented to control risk. As
resources and priorities permit, and as the criticality of the incident indicates,
such interim recommendations may be implemented while the investigation
continues.
Phase III activities are intended to: finalize the analysis and reporting; secure evidence;
implement required remediation; recover any lost or damaged data; and document
lessons learned. These Phase III tasks will typically take place after the OCCA has
completed any required investigation activities and shall be conducted by the technical
staff and/or by the IRT.
Phase III
Remediation, Recovery, Post-Mortem
Step III – 1 Finalize Analysis and Report. In this step, a report is prepared to include,
at a minimum:
• A statement of the circumstances surrounding the incident
• A summary of the incident activities and timeline
• Conclusions and supporting evidence
• Recommendations for short and long term mitigation
Step III – 2 Archive Evidence. All evidence is securely archived and stored. In most
cases, at least the original evidence, one back-up copy, the report and
supporting documentation are maintained at least until the incident is
resolved. Special circumstances may dictate that some investigation material
is destroyed. If this is necessary, secure disposal processes are followed.
Step III – 3 Implement Remediation. Short term and long term remediation activities
are implemented based on a risk-justified approach. Remediation activities
may include, among others, policy updates, modifications to business
partner processes and upgrades to technical infrastructure.
Step III – 4 Execute Recovery. If an incident results in the destruction or corruption of
data, then a recovery is necessary. Even if temporary recoveries are executed
during the incident response, after the remediation is complete a complete,
reliable recovery is made.
Step III – 5 Post-Mortem Analysis. Following the incident response, or during
implementation of remediation activities, an analysis is completed to
identify the strong and weak aspects of the response and to facilitate plan
improvements.
Information Security Policies,
Procedures, Guidelines
Revised December 2017 Page 82 of 94
APPENDIX E, SECTION 3. MEDIA SANITIZATION PROCEDURES FOR THE
DESTRUCTION OR DISPOSAL OF ELECTRONIC STORAGE MEDIA
INTRODUCTION
POLICY
The policy for the disposal of the electronic media is included in Section 9.10 –
Disposal of Media.
PROCEDURES
These procedures apply to all agencies, authorities, boards, commissions, and other
government entities of the executive branch of the State of Oklahoma.
Electronic Equipment Destruction or Disposal Rules
1. For the purpose of this procedure, electronic storage media is defined as follows:
a. All forms of electronic storage media, whether purchased or leased, and is
used to process or store information belonging to an entity of the state of
Oklahoma;
b. Examples include, but are not limited to:
i. Magnetic Disk Drives: from any kind of computer, whether internally or
externally installed and/or accessed, including floppy disks, ATA hard
drives, SCSI Drives, Reel and Cassette format magnetic tapes, Optical
Disks (CDs, DVDs, WORM), Zip Disks, USB removable media (pen drives,
thumb drives, flash drives, and memory sticks) with recordable, non-
volatile memory capabilities;
ii. Hand-Held Devices: including Personal Digital Assistants (i.e., Palm,
PocketPC, iPAQ, BlackBerry, etc.); basically any PDA, cell phone or media
player (MP3, iPod, etc.) that has been connected to a computer or computer
network and/or may have received messages or data wirelessly;
2. If an asset belonging to a state entity is no longer needed and it is not in
satisfactory working condition, it can be surplused to OMES Division of
Capital Assets Management (DCAM) pursuant to State Surplus Property
administrative rules. All associated electronic media shall be destroyed by
DCAM, if the agency has not destroyed the electronic media.
3. If an asset belonging to a state entity is no longer needed and it is in
satisfactory working condition, then it can be surplused to DCAM pursuant
to State Surplus Property administrative rules and DCAM shall destroy all
associated electronic media.
4. All “electronic media” to be “destroyed” shall be logged on the DCAM Surplus
Information Security Policies,
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Property Transfer form, by “asset and/or serial number”, as has been
destroyed or released for destruction.
5. If an asset belonging to a state entity is no longer needed, is in satisfactory
working condition and the agency is willing to provide the resources needed to
perform the required sanitization purging process described below, a state
entity can submit a written request for approval to OMES IS for an exemption
to support the agency’s asset donation program. Prior to approval of a
written request for exemption, the state entity shall demonstrate
accountability and justification by implementing a formal program that includes
the following:
a. OMES IS shall review and approve the process used by the state entity to
sanitize the electronic media; and OMES IS can designate an entity to
perform random audits of sanitized media to ensure that the process is
working satisfactorily;
b. The state entity donating the surplus assets shall provide OMES IS and
DCAM with a list of the nonprofit organization(s) receiving them, including an
inventory of the equipment, with serial number(s), donated to each
organization;
c. A signed agreement between the entity donating the surplus assets and
the organization(s) receiving the donation(s) shall be in place; and
d. The agreement shall specify that the organization(s) receiving the
donated asset(s) accept transfer of ownership, which includes proper
disposal, once the asset(s) are no longer needed, or if they stop working.
APPROVED DESTRUCTION OR DISPOSAL METHODS
Destruction or Disposal Rule #1
All electronic media shall be removed from the surplus asset and delivered to or held
for pickup by a state authorized destruction agent. Such agents shall be identified by
a statewide contract specifically for this purpose. All such equipment shall be
destroyed using one of the approved methods described below.
There are many different types, techniques and procedures for media destruction.
If destruction is decided on because of the high security categorization of the
information, the media should be able to withstand a laboratory attack after its
destruction (defined below in Background and Guidelines).
• Disintegration, Pulverization, Melting and Incineration. These sanitization
methods are designed to completely destroy the media. They are
typically carried out at an outsourced metal destruction or licensed
incineration facility with the specific capabilities to perform these activities
effectively, securely and safely.
• Shredding. Paper shredders can be used to destroy flexible media such
as diskettes once the media are physically removed from their outer
containers. The shred size of the refuse should be small enough that
there is reasonable assurance in proportion to the data confidentiality
Information Security Policies,
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that the data cannot be reconstructed.
Optical mass storage media, including compact disks (CD, CD-RW, CD-R, CD-
ROM), optical disks (DVD) and MO disks, shall be destroyed by pulverizing,
crosscut shredding or burning. When material is disintegrated or shredded all
residues shall be reduced to nominal edge dimensions of five millimeters (5 mm)
and surface area of twenty-five square millimeters (25 mm ).
Destruction or Disposal Rule #2
All electronic media shall be destroyed using the same method(s) described in rule
#1; or they may be sanitized using the following Secure Erase procedure, provided
that an approved exemption program is in place:
Secure Erase is a set of commands embedded in most advanced technology
attachment (ATA) standard drives built since 2001 (drives greater than 15 GB).
Secure Erase overwrites every track on the hard drive, which includes all data on bad
blocks, data left at the end of partly overwritten blocks and directories.
HDDerase is a DOS-based utility that utilizes this set of commands to securely erase,
sanitize, all data on ATA hard disk drives in Intel architecture computers.
In order for the utility to work, the BIOS chip on the motherboard must support the
secure erase function. Some BIOS chips prohibit the secure erase option (Freeze
Lock). HDDerase will attempt to bypass the Freeze Lock, but in the event that it
cannot, there are a few workarounds located in the utilities documentation.
The user must have a bootable device to use the utility. This device may be a:
• Wndows boot disk
• Bootable CD (Ultimate Boot CD works well and it contains HDDerase 3.1)
• A bootable USB Device
• A Secure Erase Drive eRazer (which is a 3rd party hardware appliance form
WiebeTechTM)
http://www.cru-inc.com/products/wiebetech/wiebetech_drive_erazer_ultra/
(Testing has shown this device to provide the most consistent results with the
least amount of issues, at a cost of around $200 per appliance.) REVIEW – now
is a eRazer Ultra, pricing?
(Note: The bootable media must be able to run an “. Exe” file)
HDDerase can be used as follows:
• Boot the computer in DOS using the bootable disk (CD, Floppy or USB)
containing HDDerase
• Type “hdderase” at system/DOS prompt
• All ATA hard disk drives connected to the motherboard will be identified
• Select the Device you want to “sanitize”
• HDDerase will test whether the device supports this feature
• It can take from 30 to 180 minutes to complete the secure erase process.
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Revised December 2017 Page 85 of 94
(Note: Ensure that the hard disk drive jumpers are NOT set to cable select, but rather
to Master or Slave.)
THIS PROCESS SHALL BE EXECUTED BY A TRAINED, EXPERIENCED AND
AUTHORIZED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TECHNICIAN.
Links:
• WiebeTechTM Secure Erase Drive eRazer –
http://www.cru-
inc.com/products/wiebetech/wiebetech_drive_erazer_ultr
a/
• Ultimate boot CD – http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
BACKGROUND AND GUIDELINES
The above procedure is based on NIST SP800-88, a standard from the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – a federal technology agency that
develops and promotes measurement, standards and technology. NIST SP800-88
is the Guidelines for Media Sanitization standard developed by the Information
Technology Laboratory in the Computer Security Division of NIST.
Definitions: In order for organizations to have appropriate controls on the information
they are responsible for safeguarding, they must properly safeguard used media. An
often rich source of illicit information collection is either through dumpster diving for
improperly disposed hard copy media, acquisition of improperly sanitized electronic
media or through keyboard and laboratory reconstruction of media sanitized in a
manner not commensurate with the confidentiality of its information. Media flows in
and out of organizational control through recycle bins in paper form, out to vendors for
equipment repairs and hot swapped into other systems in response to emergencies.
This potential vulnerability can be mitigated through proper understanding of where
information is located, what that information is and how to protect it.
The following are some examples of electronic storage media covered by this procedure.
Electronic (or soft copy) media are the bits and bytes contained in hard drives, random
access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), disks, memory devices, phones,
mobile computing devices, networking equipment and many others. This is not a
complete list. Other types can exist that may include older and newer/future versions,
which are also covered by the statute and this procedure. For a complete list of media
types (electronic and non-electronic) a full copy of the standard can be found at:
http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-88r1 .
Users of these procedures should categorize the information to be disposed of, assess
the nature of the medium on which it is recorded, assess the risk to confidentiality and
determine the future plans for the media. Then use the information in the Sanitization
Methods description(s) to decide on the appropriate method for sanitization. The
http://www.cru-inc.com/products/wiebetech/wiebetech_drive_erazer_ultra/
http://www.cru-inc.com/products/wiebetech/wiebetech_drive_erazer_ultra/
http://www.cru-inc.com/products/wiebetech/wiebetech_drive_erazer_ultra/
http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-88r1
Information Security Policies,
Procedures, Guidelines
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selected method should be assessed as to cost, environmental impact, etc., and a
decision should be made that best mitigates the risk(s) of unauthorized disclosure.
Information Security Policies,
Procedures, Guidelines
Revised December 2017 Page 87 of 94
APPENDIX E SECTION 4. REMOVABLE MEDIA: ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY
This policy must be followed to safeguard both personal and State information and
applies to all State employees and anyone using State computer systems, including
other State agency staff, contract staff and vendors. All State entities must take
measures to ensure that encryption procedures are consistently implemented. The use
of third party tools to enforce this policy is one approved alternative; the use of Windows
technologies, such as Active Directory Group Policy and native Windows encryption
utilities, is another option. This policy represents a minimum standard. Agencies are free
to use stricter standards deemed appropriate.
1. USB ports are essential for most personal computers and are universally allowed to
support the connection of keyboards and mice. USB ports can also be used for
approved peripheral devices.
2. The following Removable Media Devices must be “State owned assets” and
controlled through an authorized approval process: flash drives, external hard
drives, memory sticks, audio/video devices (tablets, iPods, MP3 players or similar
hybrid devices), smartphones, cell phones or cell phone hybrids, micro drives and
non-standard PDAs. The controls that apply to connecting devices by USB also apply
to other methods of connecting these devices and failure to comply with such controls
will also violate this policy. Examples of other connection methods include but are
not limited to: Bluetooth, Infrared, Firewire, Serial/Parallel ports, Optical
(CD/DVD/Blu-ray), eSATA, or SCSI.
3. The level of encryption on any Removable Media Device is required to be tailored to
confidentiality requirements for the data on the device. A data classification
process compliant with FIPS 1991 is required before deciding on the level of
encryption for a media device. The security personnel affiliated with the agency along
with the agency leadership will be responsible for the execution and accuracy of the
data classification. After the data on the device is classified, the following apply:
a. Data that is not determined to be sensitive data, as defined below, is allowed
to reside on an unencrypted device. The Office of the Director of Compliance must
be informed at servicedesk@omes.ok.gov prior to any use of a non-encrypted
device and if the Director of Compliance disapproves of any use of such non-
encrypted device, the device will not be used until encrypted. The possibility of
the presence of sensitive data will mandate the use of an encrypted device.
b. When used in this policy, “sensitive data” is defined as any data that includes
Personal Identity Information (Pll), information deemed confidential by the nature
of the agency’s business, or information regulated by federal, state, and local
regulations. Personal identity information includes social security numbers, tax
identification numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, personal
health information (PHI) and drivers’ license numbers. Current and former State
employee personal contact information, such as home telephone numbers and
addresses and information related to electronic communication devices are
considered sensitive information by State statute. If any external regulations
apply to the data on the device, the device owners are required to comply with
the stricter regulation applicable to the data.
mailto:servicedesk@omes.ok.gov
Information Security Policies,
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c. An agency may request a temporary exemption from compliance with this policy
by submitting a written request to the Office of the Director of Compliance setting
forth the reasons for the requested exemption and the Director of Compliance shall
deliver a written approval or denial of such request to the agency.
4. All removable devices identified by the preceding section 3b must include a data
encryption algorithm and a strong password, both of which must be implemented
so they cannot be removed by anyone other than an authorized administrator.
Only encryption alternatives for Removable Media Devices from the approved
list below and provided through statewide contract, or other approved purchasing
method, are approved for use. If data resides on an unapproved Removable Media
Device, the data must be migrated to an approved device or an authorized
designated network location.
5. If any Removable Media Device is lost, stolen or accidentally destroyed, the incident
must be reported to agency management and to the Office of Management and
Enterprise Services (“OMES”) service desk electronically at
servicedesk@omes.ok.gov or by telephone at 866-521-2444 or 405-521-2444 within
48 hours. Any misplacement of a device for at least 48 hours is also required to be
reported to the OMES service desk. OMES must inform the Governor’s Office
within 24 hours after a report is made to the OMES service desk of any incident
described in this section.
6. This policy must be enforced using “active policies”, such as Microsoft Active
Directory “group policies”, on the Windows platforms involved (servers,
desktops, directories, etc.), or an equivalent methodology on other operating
systems.
7. Violations of this policy, including abuse of administrator privileges, may be cause for
criminal, civil, or disciplinary action including the possibility of termination.
SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION ALTERNATIVES (MOBILE COMPUTING AND REMOVABLE MEDIA)
1. Symantec Endpoint Encryption 8.0
2. McAfee Endpoint Encryption (for Removable Media)
3. Sophos SafeGuard RemovableMedia
4. Checkpoint Media Encryption
5. LANDesk Endpoint Security (CREDANT Mobile Guardian)
6. TrueCrypt (Note: This is an open source solution that does not offer any local or
remote administration software and should not be considered for medium to large
organizations, unless the organization has an administration tool that is or can be
customized to be compatible with devices on which this product is used.)
7. BitLocker-to-Go (Note: With Windows 7, BitLocker Drive Encryption helps protect
sensitive data from being accessed by unauthorized users who come into
possession of lost, stolen, or improperly decommissioned computers. BitLocker-to-
Go extends BitLocker data protection to USB storage devices, enabling the devices
to be restricted with a passphrase. In addition to having control over passphrase
length and complexity, IT administrators can set a (AD Global) policy that requires
users to apply BitLocker protection to removable drives before being able to write to
the drives.
mailto:servicedesk@omes.ok.gov
Information Security Policies,
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Revised December 2017 Page 89 of 94
HARDWARE ENCRYPTION ALTERNATIVES (USB FLASH DRIVES—OTHERS MAY BE
ADDED IF APPROVED) – CURRENT APPROVED AND VETTED LIST OF DEVICES
1. IronKey: https://www.ironkey.com/enterprise now appears to be an http, not https
(which does not come up)
2. Kanguru Defender: https://www.kanguru.com/index,php/flash-drives/secure-storage
3. McAfee USB Standard Encrypted Hard Drive Non-Bio
http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/encrypted-usb.aspx (for those who already have
McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator)
4. Kingston DataTraveler Locker: http://www.kingston.com/ukroot/flash/dt Locker.asp
Note 1: The Dell contract has provisions for ordering hardware encrypted disk drives directly
from Dell. However, the disk drives are not manageable from the administrative tools
provided by most software encryption vendors. Question: Is Dell still the contract?
Note 2: (Vulnerabilities may exist in devices currently in use):
A. There is a known flaw in the (built-in or onboard) software encryption process that
impacts several major vendors of software encrypted USB flash drives (and some
hardware encrypted devices). These vendors have a vulnerability flaw that can be
exploited by those with knowledge of the weakness. A flaw was identified in the way
the authentication works from the software to the drive itself. The worst part is that
multiple vendors used the SAME KEY, and these drives actually passed low-level
government certification. The vendors identified so far include:
• Kingston
• Verbatim
• SanDisk
For more information, see http://www.darkreading.com/risk/secure-
usb-flaw-exposed/d/d-id/1132694
B. Hardware encrypted devices are inherently more secure (for organizations that must
use such devices for sensitive or confidential information) because hardware
encryption is less vulnerable to software modifications that can be used to break or
circumvent the encryption algorithms, is designed to erase the contents after some
number of failed attempts at password guessing and typically performs better (faster
read/write times) for organizations that use such devices extensively or for large
amounts of data storage and transfer.
The following includes additional clarification and guidance related to recent updates
to the statewide Information Security Policy, Procedures and Guidelines, along with
some examples of questions asked about the new Removable Media Acceptable Use
Procedures.
Encryption Clarification
1. The basic requirement is “to ensure that all removable media is encrypted” and
the restrictions related to the use of “hardware encrypted” USB flash drives
applies to those areas of any organization working with information that must
be kept secure due to legislation and/or regulatory requirements. (See
Additional Guidance below.)
2. As a general rule all other information can be encrypted using software encryption
techniques.
https://www.ironkey.com/enterprise
https://www.kanguru.com/index,php/flash-drives/secure-storage
Information Security Policies,
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3. When using removable media to distribute information to external third parties
(including the public), as long as it is not controlled by a legislative or regulatory
body and has been formally classified as “public access” in terms of the Open
Records Act, encryption is not required.
4. Currently, encryption is required for all notebooks/laptops, netbooks, tablets
(iPads, Xooms, PlayBooks, Motion, etc.) and all forms of Smartphones, flash
drives, external hard drives, memory cards/sticks, audio/video devices (iPods,
MP3 players or similar hybrid devices), cell phones or cell phone hybrids, micro
drives and non-standard PDAs.
Additional Guidance
The following is intended to clarify the new acceptable use procedures:
1. The overarching goal is to encrypt al| removable media used by anyone
accessing state infrastructure;
2. There are two basic options:
a. Hardware encryption is the recommended solution for all users
that work with information controlled by:
i. Statutes (Federal or State Legislation)
1. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
2. Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
3. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Interagency Guidelines
4. National Credit Union Administration
5. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Security Rule
6. Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy
7. State Data Breach and Privacy Laws (HB2245, HB2357,
SB81/HB2332 [E-Media Destruction], A.G. Opinion No. 99-30
[state employee home contact information])
ii. Examples of the above include:
1. Bank accounts and routing codes
2. Tax payer IDs, social security numbers (SSN) and related data
3. Automated Clearing House (ACH) and Electronic Fund
Transfer (EFT) data
4. Drivers license numbers
5. Personal Health Information
6. Law enforcement data, information/documents related
to active criminal proceedings, investigations, evidence,
electronic discovery, and personal identity information
related to undisclosed protection or investigative
assignments
7. State employee home contact information, birth dates
and SSNs
iii. Regulations
1. Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard
2. Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC)
Information Security Policies,
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Revised December 2017 Page 91 of 94
3. Critical Infrastructure Protection Program (CIP)
4. North American Electric Reliability Council
(NERC)
iv. Examples of the above included:
1. Credit card numbers (personal account number [PAN]
and card validation value [CVV or CVV2])
2. Bank account numbers and routing codes, Automated
Clearing House (ACH) and Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)
data
3. “Critical infrastructure” is defined by federal law as “systems
and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the
United States that the incapacity or destruction of such
systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on
security, national economic security, national public health
or safety, or any combination of those matters.”
4. Information relating to the control of or interface with
bulk power systems in North America
b. Software encryption is recommended for all users that work with
information that is not controlled by legislation or regulations.
3. Additional hardware and software encryption alternatives will be considered,
if there is a business justification for their use and they have been tested to
verify they are acceptable and have no known vulnerabilities.
We do not want to impede business processes or increase expenses beyond what is
necessary and prudent to provide appropriate controls that will prevent the loss of
state information and ensure compliance with state and federal legislation and
regulatory requirements.
Additional frequently asked questions may be found on the OMES IS website at
http://www.ok.gov/OSF/faqs.html
The following notation is being included with all new purchases containing removable
media: “Refer to OMES’s Mandatory Encryption Procedures for all state-owned mobile
and removable devices containing electronic media and connecting to state
infrastructure http://www.ok.gov/cio/Policy_and_Standards/.
http://www.ok.gov/cio/Policy_and_Standards/
Information Security Policies,
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Revised December 2017 Page 92 of 94
APPENDIX E, SECTION 5. MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICES: ACCEPTABLE USE
POLICY
This policy refers to the use of mobile computing devices, including but not limited to all
notebooks/laptops, netbooks, tablets (iPads, Xooms, PlayBooks, Motion, etc.) and all
forms of smartphones. This policy must be followed to safeguard both personal and
State information and applies to all state employees and anyone using State computer
systems, including other State agency staff, contract staff and vendors. The only
exception is for visitors making ad hoc use of state-owned public WiFi infrastructure. All
State entities must take measures to ensure these procedures are consistently
implemented. This policy represents a minimum standard. State agencies are free to use
stricter standards deemed appropriate.
1. Mobile computing devices must be encrypted if used on the State infrastructure,
including, but not limited to: connecting the devices to a State-owned Computer,
connecting the devices to the State-owned Network (excepting the state-provided
public WIFI infrastructure) and connecting the devices to a state provided service
(e.g. Exchange, Databases, File Shares). See Removable Media — Acceptable
Use Policies for instructions regarding using these devices as data containers
connected to agency assets.
2. Centrally managed software requires a minimum of the following security settings:
a. State data at rest must be encrypted. If technology allows, a Secure,
encrypted logical container for the State data is acceptable. Otherwise, the
internal storage and the auxiliary storage (where applicable) must be
encrypted. The encryption standards must follow Section 3 of the
Removable Media: Acceptable Use Policy.
b. Password protection of the device and/or the container of State data must
comply with section 2.1 of the State of Oklahoma Information Security
Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines and with the following additions and
deviations from that policy:
i. Minimum 8 (eight) character password for the device or secure
application partition unless other federal or state regulations require
higher complexity;
ii. Device wipe or lockout (which requires manual intervention to
unlock) after 3 (three) unsuccessful authentication attempts; and
iii. Device lockout after 15 minutes, requiring reentry of the password.
c. Remote wiping of the device is required upon the occurrence of any of the
following scenarios:
i. Employee is terminated;
ii. Employee loses control of the device, either by theft, misplacement,
change of ownership or the device is upgraded;
iii. OMES detects a policy or data breach, or malware; or
iv. OMES has any other reason to believe the device is corrupted or not
trustworthy, including but not limited to, tampering with protection or
management mechanisms.
Information Security Policies,
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3. Personal smartphones and tablets may be used for State business provided the
devices have been equipped and configured to meet the following State minimum
security requirements for such devices:
a. Personal devices must meet the agency-owned device requirements for
security set forth in the preceding section 2 of this policy and
b. Personal Devices must follow any regulatory compliance demanded by
current applicable legislation and policy, including this policy. In doing this,
agencies should know that the sensitivity of some data will prohibit the
agency from allowing some or all of its employees to use personal mobile
computing devices for State business.
4. Personal smartphones, tablets and other smart devices may only be used for State
business on a voluntary basis as a privilege for an employee. Prior to use of such
device for State Business, a Bring Your Own Device Agreement (“BYODA”) must
be executed by the employee, the agency for which the employee works and OMES
– IS management. Pursuant to the BYODA, a copy of which is appended to and
incorporated by reference into this policy, the employee is wholly responsible for the
additional risks, responsibilities, and costs that might arise from using smart devices
for State business.
The additional risks and costs will include, without limitation:
a. Exposure to regulations concerning State data, including but not limited to,
Data Destruction legislation2, Records Maintenance Act3, the Open Records
Act4 and Attorney General Opinion 09-12;
b. Exposure to legal proceedings against the agency resulting in temporary or
permanent loss of the mobile computing device;
c. Extra data and/or voice costs associated with the use of personal smart
devices for State business;
d. Risk of rendering the smart device inoperable due to errors in the
management software or interoperability issues with the operating system;
and
e. Loss of personal data resulting from wipe commands.
5. If a mobile computing device is lost, stolen, destroyed, upgraded or a change in
ownership has occurred, it must be reported within 48 hours to management of the
agency for which the employee works and to the Office of Management and
Enterprise Services (“OMES”) service desk electronically at
servicedesk@omes.ok.gov or by telephone at 866-521-2444 or 405-521-2444. Any
misplacement of a device for at least 48 hours is also required to be reported to
the OMES service desk. OMES must inform the Governor’s Office within 24 hours
after a report is made to the OMES service desk of any incident described in this
section.
mailto:servicedesk@omes.ok.gov
Information Security Policies,
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Revised December 2017 Page 94 of 94
6. Violations of this policy, including abuse of administrator privileges, may be cause for
criminal, civil, or disciplinary action including the possibility of termination.
1 FIPS PUB 199: Federal Information Processing Standards Publication “Standards
for Security Categorization of Federal Information and Information Systems”,
February 2004. – http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips199/FIPS-PUB-199-final
2 62O.S. §41.5a-4
3 67O.S. §§201-215
4 51 O.S. §§24A.1 -24A.29
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips199/FIPS-PUB-199-final
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