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White PapersThe white papers shown here represent the kind of information IT professionals turn to the SSIF for - an introduction to storage security concepts, how to develop processes such as audit logging, and step-by-step checklists to implement initiatives like data encryption. Check back often as we update our white paper library. If you have a suggestion for a white paper, email ssif-info@snia.org. Introduction to Storage Security This paper discusses the challenge of implementing data protection and data security measures to meet a wide range of requirements that are not limited to regulatory compliance. Today, storage infrastructure (disk, arrays, IP and SAN fabrics, NAS and tape) is highly vulnerable to attack because of the gap between known security techniques and their level of implementation. Security and audit professionals daily face the process of securing the application, compute and network environment; however, storage security has often slipped under their radar because of the pace of technology change. Storage managers and administrators may be confronting these issues and technologies for the first time. This whitepaper starts from the basics: identifying key business drivers for data security, describing threats and attacks, summarizing security concepts and relationships and describing storage security. It concludes with recommended storage security best practices to help close the gaps.
Authors include: Eric A. Hibbard,
CISSP, ISSAP, ISSMP
Experts agree that audit log management is a critical element of any organizations’s risk management strategy. Audit log data (or just log data) can provide a complete record of access, activity, and configuration changes for applications, servers, and network devices. It can be used to alert management and administrators to unusual or suspicious network and system behavior. Additionally, log data can provide auditors with information required to validate security policy enforcement and proper segregation of duties. Lastly, IT staff can mine log data during rootcause analysis following a security incident; this is particularly important for the recovery and/or damage cleanup as well as the remediation activities. Considering all of these potential uses, audit log management not only assists in achieving corporate compliance, but also reduces the risk of legal exposure from security breaches and costly network downtime. This whitepaper discusses log management from a storage security perspective and provides specific information as it relates to storage resources and networks.
Authors include: Eric A. Hibbard,
CISSP, ISSAP, ISSMP
Larry Hofer
Encryption of Data At-rest (a Step-by-Step Checklist) Over the past several years, companies along with their customers and consumers have been sujected to the headaches associated with data compromises or exposures. Whether through malicious attacks against computer systems or inadequate data handling procedures, the financial toll for all parties involved has been significant. With cyber crime surpassing the profitability of trafficking in illegal drugs, governments have been obliged to force public disclosure as well as to levy penalties for some of these data indiscretions.
This document outlines the fifth security initiative - data encryption, the last line of defense when other methods have been proven inadequate to protect sensitive data. It is presented as a set of steps that organizations can use as a basis to implement their own encryption approach for securing data-at-rest. Each step is further expanded to include several checklist items. The outlined steps offer a comprehensive view of the elements that should be addressed.
This is the first in a series of step-by-step checklists for securing storage.
Author: Eric A. Hibbard,
CISSP, ISSAP, ISSMP
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