485-Security Metrics-Andrew Jaquith-Security-2007
Barack
2023/10/21
"Security Metrics", first published in 2007. It is a comprehensive best-practice guide for defining, creating, and using security metrics in your enterprise. It demonstrates how to establish effective metrics based on the unique requirements of your business. You'll discover how to quantify hard-to-measure safety activities, compile and analyze all relevant data, identify strengths and weaknesses, develop cost-effective improvement priorities, and provide compelling information to senior management.
Andrew Jaquith studied at Yale University. He has served as Project Manager, Program Manager, Technical Advisor, and other positions. He has worked at FedEx Corporation, Symantec Corporation, Yankee Group, Forrester Research, SilverSky, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, Apperian, Inc., Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co., QOMPLX, Panaseer, Covington & Burling LLP, SecurityScorecard and other companies.
In the field of security, risk management is a core topic. However, the concept of risk is often not intuitive. If we implement security measures properly, we can minimize potential risks. In such situations, people tend to feel that the risks are low. But if we are negligent in risk management, once a loss occurs, the consequences will be very serious. At that time, the cost of making up for the loss far exceeds the investment in preventing the risk. This is similar to health management. Efforts to prevent diseases are always more sensible and cost-effective than dealing with diseases that have already occurred. However, human nature is often short-sighted and more concerned with immediate interests than the long-term future. We are often unwilling to invest time and energy in prevention before risks are revealed and even tend to procrastinate when danger actually comes. Therefore, the first step in risk management may be to build awareness of risks. Only with this awareness can we take targeted action to manage risk. Without this awareness, our actions will become blind, which is equivalent to handing over our destiny to an unknown future. This is definitely not a wise move.
The author summarizes the previous understanding of risk management and summarizes that people usually divide risk management into four stages: problem identification ( Detection ), reporting (Report), problem prioritization (Prioritization), and corrective measures ( Mitigation). At first, this may seem like a perfect step-by-step process, but the author believes that in practice, the process often goes awry. Specifically, the initial stage is Discover, followed by Panic. In the third stage, people start to feel worried in front of their boss (Twitch in front of the boss ), and in the last stage, they often choose to use the simplest and crudest method to cover up the problem ( Fix the bare minimum), hoping that the problem will disappear on its own. During graduate school, students will begin to learn how to do scientific research. The research process is quite similar to the above ideas. The first step is to conduct a literature survey to understand how others in the current field understand and solve specific problems. The second step is to point out the loopholes in the existing solutions. This stage is similar to the "break first, then build" principle in writing, that is, first point out the shortcomings of the existing solutions and then propose your own solutions. The third step is to build a solution to a problem. This process is actually also suitable for assessing the depth of a person's understanding of something. To understand whether a person understands a certain field, you can examine whether he can discover the current problems in the field.
The article puts forward a point of view that the core of security lies in process management, that is, "security processes". The process should be quantifiable, executable, and have cyclical characteristics in daily operations, which also form some performance indicators. From the author's perspective, managing safety is largely about the management of these numbers, key performance indicators (KPIs), and important data reflecting production activities. This line of thinking is consistent with today’s emphasis on data-driven decision-making, which uses objective, measurable indicators to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of actions. Taking job hunting as an example, if we wanted to evaluate the quality of our job search process, a good metric might be how many interview invitations we received or how many job applications we completed. This is closely related to the theme of the book "Security Metrics". "Metrics" are about numbers. Although the real world is not directly represented by numbers, we need to abstract the numbers, understand the meaning of the data, and explore the reasons for the changes in the data, and the possible impact of the data on the future.
After the general discussion of risk management, the next thing we need to consider is how to measure it and how to find some indicators (Metrics), that is, standardized indicators to measure it. An important principle of modern science is to quantify the issues discussed, because only after quantification can we make calculations and predictions. In this way, the originally abstract concept can be concreted and turned into a tool that can be operated by ordinary people. These indicators are actually the essence that we abstract from the appearance. Just like a system or a person, they are multi-faceted and three-dimensional. Although they can be described in endless words, in real life, we often use some limited descriptors to define a person, such as extrovert, introvert, self-motivated, happy-go-lucky, etc. These descriptors are actually based on self-evident indicators such as personality and behavioral style. There may be multiple approaches to selecting indicators, and everyone's perspective may be different. Further, we need to discuss how to measure the effectiveness of an indicator. When considering this issue, a theory MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) may be helpful to us, that is, subclasses should be mutually exclusive and generally complete. Taking personality as an example, if we choose personality as an indicator, then under the personality dimension, there may be subcategories such as gentleness, irritability, calmness, and radicalness. There may be no clear boundaries between these different subtypes, and it would be difficult to enumerate all possible personality types. Therefore, such indicators may not be perfect, although they are commonly used in our daily lives.
After the preliminary preparation work is completed, the next step is to start solving the problem. For most science and engineering students, this process can basically be divided into four stages. The first is to "formulate a hypothesis about the phenomenon", which means making certain assumptions about the current situation. As Sun Tzu said in "The Art of War", "Know yourself and the enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles." It emphasizes the need to understand yourself and your opponent's situation before taking action. We need to be clear about the resources we have, our strengths and weaknesses, and we also need to understand the characteristics of the environment or opponents. The second step is "Design tests to support or disprove the hypothesis". After we have a certain prediction about ourselves and the environment, we must start to verify our ideas. For example, if the employment situation is predicted to be poor this year, you can try to submit some resumes. After a week to a month, we can have a very intuitive feeling and judge whether our prediction is accurate. The third step is to "Rigorously conduct and measure the results of each test". This involves how to accurately measure results. We can use the various indicators (Metrics) mentioned earlier to measure. For example, if we submitted 100 resumes and received only one interview invitation, it would be obvious that our assumption was correct. The final step is "Draw conclusions based on the evidence". Based on the data and evidence obtained, we can draw some conclusions. For example, the efficiency of directly submitting resumes is very low, and it may be necessary to try internal referrals. Then, we go back to step one, reframe a hypothesis, and test it. This cycle continues, gradually approaching the solution of the problem. In the final analysis, the core of Research lies in "Re", which means never giving up and continuing to search.