Consolidated Electronics Group Inc (CEG) is an industry leader in aviation parts. Recently there has been a spike in network attack activity, which is possibly linked to recent lay-offs and company restructuring. Two of the recent attacks appear to be breaches of the server which stores the plans for a prototype aviation switchboard of a revolutionary new design. Management has tasked the network administrator with creating an incident response plan that deals with incident investigation, incident prevention, and a communication plan.
Investigation and Prevention
It is best to prevent security incidents from occurring in the first place – therefore prevention should be a top priority for the IT staff at CEG. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommends five main categories of incident prevention; risk assessments, host security, network security, malware prevention, and user awareness training (Cichonski P., Grance T., Millar T., & Scarfone K., 2012 p.24). Risks of the various types of possible security incidents should be identified and prioritized based on likelihood and potential harm. Risk assessment should be periodic and ongoing. Host security is achieved by hardening each host on the network. Host hardening includes keeping current on the latest software patches, enabling and monitoring audit logs, and assigning permissions based on a system of least privilege. Network security is primarily concerned with securing the perimeter of the network to prevent unauthorized intrusion. This includes the use of firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), securing VPN, and blocking unnecessary ports. All hosts on the network must run and regularly update malware protection software. And all employees should...
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...would be best to not have a security incident happen at all, which is why details have been laid out for the prevention of such occurrences. Yet despite the best security policies, planning, and implementation, incidents will still occur, therefore CEG must have plans in place to respond. Training and planning for network security must be an ongoing routine, in order to keep pace with new threats and the evolution of existing threats.
References
Cichonski P., Grance T., Millar T., & Scarfone K. (2012). Computer Security Incident Handling Guide. Retrieved February 15, 2014 from http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-61rev2/SP800-61rev2.pdf
Durfee, C. (2009). Crisis Communications: Planning for a Data Security Breach. Retrieved February 15, 2014 from http://www.drj.com/2009-articles/specials/crisis-communications-a-planning-for-a-data-security-breach.html
Whitman, M., & Mattord, H. (2010). Management of information security. (3rd ed., p. 6). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
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Ulmer, RR, Sellnow, TL & Seeger, MW 2007, Effective crisis communication, Thousand Oakes: Sage Publications.
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National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2012, March/April). Basing Cybersecurity Training on User Perceptions. (IEEE Report 1540-7993/12). (pp. 40-49). Retrieved from University of Maryland University College IEEE Computer Society website: http://www.computer.org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/portal/web/csdl
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