Security Assessment: Case Studies for Implementing the NSA IAM Review
There are two things that are extremely frustrating in working on audits and risk and security assessments. One is that too many people in online discussion fora and ListServs want templates handed to them free so they can resell them or tell their boss about the great work that they did. The second has been the absence of, in the technical book arena, any reference book that focuses more on the business process side of conducting security assessments. Security Assessment - Case Studies for Implementing The NSA IAM (Greg Miles, Russ Rogers et al, Syngress Press, 2004, 429 Pages, US.95 List/US.07 Amazon) fills both of these holes, but not without incurring a penalty stroke for "grounding the club" in a hazard.
IAM stands for Information Security (INFOSEC) Assessment Methodology and NSA stands for the National Security Agency. These are two things you learn right up front from the authors as the explain how this methodology came to be a the result of the need to do more in a time of budget cuts and its evolution into a broad methodology that can be used by any group in the public or private sector. From this start and background, the authors successfully walk the reader through the "soft skill" side of the security assessment process. What makes this book different than others is that there is little to no discussion of tools used in the assessment. What it does focus on is how to identify assessment needs (for the customer) and opportunities (for the consulting firm). The authors approach security assessments from a holistic project approach, taking the reader through issues and steps with contract preparation/execution, skills identification, team makeup, preplanning, identification of high risk areas, conducting the assessment, delivering the end product, and closing the project out.
For the most part, the authors excel in laying this out in simple terms and provide a number of case studies from their experience. However, as I mentioned at the beginning, I am assessing a penalty stroke in my rating because their discussion of performing security assessment work under government contracts is far too simplistic, is not wholly accurate in their discussion of contract types, and does not even address the issue of all of the additional reporting and cost accounting standards that a vendor will have to accept when doing government work. They also fail to mention how large the universe is of competitors for this work and how difficult it can be to crack this marketplace. They also fail to address legal issues associated with the scope creep in government work, with no discussion of important terms such as "constructive changes", "unauthorized commitments", "change orders", etc. They talk about "colors of money" in the government without even explaining what the term means. Granted, the book could have easily quadrupled in size to address all of this information, but they should have at least included references to sources to provide further insight into these important areas. Oh, and incidentally, the color of money under government contracts is, for the most part, transparent to contractors.
Aside from this penalty stroke, and I am harder on it because I was a Contracting Officer in the Federal Government for a number of years, the book provides an excellent roadmap to groups and/or individuals seeking a security assessment roadmap.
Who Should Read This Book?
Aside from the people who post on the internet looking for solutions to be handed to them, this book would satisfy the needs of a wide variety of users. Practitioners will gain information and insight not provided in typical training classes. Customers would gain a good overview of the process and what to expect as the process goes on. Managers need to read this book so that they do not, as the authors point out often happens, try to turn this methodology into a business process. And finally, Sales staff need to read this book so that they understand what they are trying to sell and that it is not a one size fits all commodity (kudos to the authors for putting this in writing, but it is not enough to recover the penalty stroke).
Scorecard
Birdie on an short par 5 playing downwind (penalty stroke can be a killer).
Security Assessment: Case Studies for Implementing the NSA IAM Overview
Other security books focus on an application, a methodology, or an act like hacking. This book is the only book that provides security analysis checklists and templates and shows how to prepare to do an audit, do the audit, and do the follow up all based on NSA guidelines.
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Customer Reviews
Good Resource For Implementing NSA IAM - Tony Bradley - Houston, TX
The authors' have a wealth of experience in information security and with the IAM framework. They convey this experience through case studies derived from real-world scenarios to provide examples that illustrate the IAM in action.
Security Assessment demonstrates how to apply the NSA IAM to commercial and government organizations alike to determine the relative security of their network. The authors' provide tips and advise readers of pitfalls to watch out for as they guide you through performing an IAM security assessment.
The book is both informative and at times entertaining as it walks through sample scenarios. It also provides some templates and sample deliverables that readers can use.
The authors' knowledge and experience is evident throughout, however parts of the book are slightly confusing or hard to follow. Sometimes it seemed as if extra words were added in just to stretch the chapter out without providing any benefit in terms of relaying information. But, overall I think that network or security administrators and particularly those tasked with actually following the NSA IAM will benefit greatly from reading this book.
(...)
The IAM from a real world perspective - -
Whether you are currently performing IAM assessments, or if you or your organization wants to begin using the IAM, this book is an excellent reference.
As any assessor knows, there is no such thing as two identical assessments. That said, the authors provide a cross section of examples that illustrate many different situations that you will see on site.
The authors of this book are THE authorities on the IAM and the information they present will help new assessors build a foundation for using the IAM while at the same time providing information that is essential for a practicing assessor to add to his arsenal.
Overall an outstanding book.
Disappointed... - Ryan M. Ferris - Bellingham, WA
This book disappointed me with it's lack of content and diffused focus. Pages of boorish, made up examples with irrelevant details did not provide the necessary information needed to understand and implement the very abstract IA-CMM v 3.0.
I would wish that I had spent this amount of money on something with more real world examples that was written in a more concise and pregnant style. I would have appreciated software templates sold with the book as well. Some parts of the book are incomprehensible. I find this on P.197:
"Warning:
It would be a very good idea to define the term system in this section. May people reading this document for the first time may not comphrehend the deifference between calling a server a system and calling a collection of servers or networks a system. This lack of comprehension can sometimes lead to seriuos confusion and misunderstanding. A brief heading at the beginning of this section can go a long way to alleviating any issues before they arise."
I have no idea what this paragraph meant to say. Unfortunately, this was not the only time I experienced a lack of clarity and concision while reading this book. As a personal note, I found that having the URL www.syngress.com listed at the bottom of every chapter page was an unprofessional and distractive advertising technique. Are even books now to be invaded by SPAM?
I hope to see more concise and focused material with less abstract examples published on implementing the IA CMM v. 3.0.
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