chain is a means to ensure a more robust and successful security strategy in organizations of all sizes. A supply chain is the concept that most computers, devices, networks, systems, and even cloud services are not built by a single entity. In fact, most of the companies we know of as computer and equipment manufacturers generally perform the final assembly rather than manufacture all the individual components. Often the CPU, memory, drive controllers, hard drives, SSDs, and video cards are created by other third-party vendors. Even these commodity vendors are unlikely to have mined their own metals or processed the oil for plastics or etched the silicon of their chips. Thus, any finished system has a long and complex history, known as its supply chain, that enabled it to come into existence.
Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is the means to ensure that all of the vendors or links in the supply chain are reliable, trustworthy, reputable organizations that disclose their practices and security requirements to their business partners (although not necessarily to the public). Each link in the chain should be responsible and accountable to the next link in the chain. Each handoff is properly organized, documented, managed, and audited. The goal of a secure supply chain is to ensure that the finished product is of sufficient quality, meets performance and operational goals, and provides stated security mechanisms, and that at no point in the process was any element counterfeited or subjected to unauthorized or malicious manipulation or sabotage.
When evaluating organizational risk, consider external factors that can affect the organization, especially related to company stability and resource availability. The supply chain can be a threat vector, where materials, software, hardware, or data is being obtained from a supposedly trusted source but the supply chain behind that source could have been compromised and the asset poisoned or modified.
An organization's supply chain should be assessed to determine what risks it places on the organization. Is the organization operating on a just-in-time basis where materials are delivered just before or just as they are needed by manufacturing? If there is any delay in delivery, is there any surplus or buffer of materials that can be used to maintain production while the supply chain operations are reconstituted?
Most organizations rely on products manufactured by other entities. Most of those products are produced as part of a long and complex supply chain. Attacks on that supply chain could result in flawed or less reliable products or could allow for remote access or listening mechanisms to be embedded into otherwise functioning equipment.
Supply chain attacks present a risk that can be challenging to address. An organization may elect to inspect all equipment in order to reduce the chance of modified devices going into production networks. However, with miniaturization, it may be nearly impossible to discover an extra chip placed on a device's mainboard. Also, the manipulation may be through firmware or software instead of hardware. Organizations can choose to source products from trusted and reputable vendors, or maybe even attempt to use vendors who manufacture most of their products domestically.
In many cases, ongoing security monitoring, management, and assessment may be required. This could be an industry best practice or a regulation. Such assessment and monitoring of a supply chain may be performed by the primary or end-of-chain organization or may require the use of external auditors. When engaging third-party assessment and monitoring services, keep in mind that each element of the supply chain entity needs to show security-mindedness in their business operations. If an organization is unable to manage their own operations on a secure basis, how can they provide reliable security management functions to the supply chain?
When possible, establish minimum security requirements for each entity in a supply chain. The security requirements for new hardware, software, or services should always meet or exceed the security expected in the final product. This often requires a detailed review of SLAs, contracts, and actual performance. This is to ensure that security is a prescribed component of the contracted services. When a supply chain component provider is crafting software or providing a service (such as a cloud provider), then a service-level requirement (SLR) may need to be defined. An SLR is a statement of the expectations of service and performance from the product or service of a vendor. Often, an SLR is provided by the customer/client prior to the establishment of the SLA (which should incorporate the elements of the SLR if the vendor expects the customer to sign the agreement).
Summary
Security governance, management concepts, and principles are inherent elements in a security policy and in solution deployment. They define the basic parameters needed for a secure environment. They also define the goals and objectives that both policy designers and system implementers must achieve in order to create a secure solution.
The primary goals and objectives of security are contained within the CIA Triad: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Confidentiality is the principle that objects are not disclosed to unauthorized subjects. Integrity is the principle that objects retain their veracity and are intentionally modified only by authorized subjects. Availability is the principle that authorized subjects are granted timely and uninterrupted access to objects.
Other security-related concepts and principles that should be considered and addressed when designing a security policy and deploying a security solution are identification, authentication, authorization, auditing, nonrepudiation, defense in depth, abstraction, data hiding, and encryption.
Security roles determine who is responsible for the security of an organization's assets. Common roles include senior management, security professionals, asset owner, custodian, user, and auditor.
A formalized security policy structure consists of policies, standards, baselines, guidelines, and procedures. These individual documents are elements essential to the design and implementation of security in any environment. To be effective, the approach to security management must be a top-down approach.
Threat modeling is the security process where potential threats are identified, categorized, and analyzed. Threat modeling can be performed as a proactive measure during design and development or as a reactive measure once a product has been deployed. In either case, the process identifies the potential harm, the probability of occurrence, the priority of concern, and the means to eradicate or reduce the threat.
Integrating cybersecurity risk management with supply chain, acquisition strategies, and business practices is a means to ensure a more robust and successful security strategy in organizations of all sizes. When purchases are made without security considerations, the risks inherent in those products remain throughout their deployment life span.
Exam Essentials
Understand the CIA Triad elements of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Confidentiality is the principle that objects are not disclosed to unauthorized subjects. Integrity is the principle that objects retain their veracity and are intentionally modified only by authorized subjects. Availability is the principle that authorized subjects are granted timely and uninterrupted access to objects.
Know the elements of AAA services. AAA is composed of identification, authentication, authorization, auditing, and accountability.
Be able to explain how identification works. Identification is the process by which a subject professes an identity and accountability is initiated. A subject must provide an identity to a system to start the process of authentication, authorization, and accountability.
Understand the process of authentication. Authentication is the process of verifying or testing that a claimed identity is valid. Authentication requires information from the subject that must exactly correspond to the identity indicated.
Know how authorization fits into a security plan. Once a subject is authenticated,
