Risk Management and Threat Modeling Flashcards
Risk Management?
A detailed process of identifying potential factors that could damage or disclose data, evaluating them in light of data value and countermeasure cost, and implementing cost-effective solutions to mitigate or reduce risk.
Primary Goal of risk managment?
To reduce risk to an acceptable level, acknowledging that a totally risk-free environment is impossible.
Asset?
Anything valuable within an environment needing protection.
Asset Valuation?
Assigning a dollar value to an asset.
Threat?
Potential occurrences causing undesirable outcomes.
Vulnerability?
Weakness in an asset or lack of safeguard
Exposure?
Susceptibility to asset loss due to threats.
Risk?
Likelihood of a threat exploiting a vulnerability to harm an asset.
Risk formula?
Risk = Threat * Vulnerability
Safeguard/Countermeasure?
Measures to reduce vulnerability or protect against threats.
Attack?
Exploitation of a vulnerability by a threat agent.
Breach?
Successful bypass of security mechanisms by a threat agent
Risk Assessment/Analysis?
Quantitative Risk Analysis
Qualitative Risk Analysis
Quantitative Risk Analysis?
Produces concrete probability percentages and dollar figures for risk levels, potential loss, cost of countermeasures, and value of safeguards.
Qualitative Risk Analysis?
Scenario-based, ranking threats on a scale rather than exact dollar figures.
Quantitative Risk Analysis Steps?
Assign Asset Value (AV)
Calculate Exposure Factor (EF)
Calculate Single Loss Expectancy (SLE) = SLE=AV×EF
Assess Annualized Rate of Occurrence (ARO)
Derive Annualized Loss Expectancy (ALE): ALE=SLE×ARO
Perform Cost/Benefit Analysis of Countermeasures
Risk Treatment?
Risk Reduction/Mitigation: Actions to lessen risk probability/consequences.
Risk Retention/Acceptance: Accepting the cost of a risk.
Risk Avoidance: Avoiding situations leading to risk exposure.
Risk Transfer/Sharing: Sharing risk burden with another party.
Attributes of Adversary Modeling and Security Analysis?
-Objectives: Identifying target assets requiring protection.
-Methods: Anticipated attack techniques.
-Capabilities: Resources, skills, knowledge, and opportunities of attackers.
-Funding Level: Influences attacker determination and methods.
-Outsider vs. Insider Attacks: Distinguishes between attacks from outside entities and those with internal access.
Adversary Groups?
Foreign Intelligence
Cyber-terrorists
Industrial Espionage Agents
Organized Crime
Lesser Criminals and Crackers
Malicious Insiders
Non-malicious Employees
Security Evaluation Techniques?
-Penetration Testing: External review to verify product/system security.
-Vulnerability Assessment: Identifying design-related vulnerabilities and overlooked threats early in product lifecycle.
Threat Modeling?
Threat Modeling
Purpose: Identifies threats, threat agents, and attack vectors for the target system.
Approaches:
-Diagram-driven: Visual representation of system components and data flows.
-Attack Trees: Hierarchical diagrams showing ways to achieve attack goals.
-Checklists: Fixed lists of known attacks from past experiences, useful but potentially tedious.
STRIDE Model?
Spoofing: Impersonation attacks.
Tampering: Unauthorized alterations.
Repudiation: Denying responsibility for actions.
Information Disclosure: Unauthorized data release.
Denial of Service (DoS): Impacting service availability.
Escalation of Privilege: Gaining unauthorized access levels.
