Best practices for protecting critical data and systems Information Assurance Handbook: Effective Computer Security and Risk Management Strategies discusses the tools and techniques required to prevent, detect, contain, correct, and recover from security breaches and other information assurance failures. This practical resource explains how to integrate information assurance into your enterprise planning in a non-technical manner. It leads you through building an IT strategy and offers an organizational approach to identifying, implementing, and controlling information assurance initiatives for small businesses and global enterprises alike. Common threats and vulnerabilities are described and applicable controls based on risk profiles are provided. Practical information assurance application examples are presented for select industries, including healthcare, retail, and industrial control systems. Chapter-ending critical thinking exercises reinforce the material covered. An extensive list of scholarly works and international government standards is also provided in this detailed guide. Comprehensive coverage includes: Basic information assurance principles and concepts Information assurance management system Current practices, regulations, and plans Impact of organizational structure Asset management Risk management and mitigation Human resource assurance Advantages of certification, accreditation, and assurance Information assurance in system development and acquisition Physical and environmental security controls Information assurance awareness, training, and education Access control Information security monitoring tools and methods Information assurance measurements and metrics Incident handling and computer forensics Business continuity management Backup and restoration Cloud computing and outsourcing strategies Information assurance big data concerns

Learn how to deploy information assurance risk management strategies that align with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s recommendations. This book will show you how to implement information assurance risk management strategies within your organization. Aimed at system administrators and cybersecurity practitioners, author Bradley Fowler first walks you through how to assess known risks in your organization, understand why using a risk mitigation security strategy control profile is essential, and how to create one for your organization. You will then learn how to develop a risk factor table, outlining descriptions for each risk factor within your organization and which software applications you’ll need to rely on for daily business communication and operations. You will also see how to assess and categorize the level of risk within each technology tool, as well as the impact of an information security breach on the organization. As you progress through the book, you'll review privacy issues relating to your organization, develop and manage a privacy compliance risk profile, and develop and manage a privacy compliance control profile. Additionally, you will gain insight into creating a privacy compliance risk mitigation strategy that helps protect your organization even as security threats evolve. Take the first step to safeguarding your company’s highly valuable information assets today! What You'll Learn Understand what information assurance is and how it relates to risk management strategies Assess, develop, implement, and manage risk management strategies for corporate information systems, technology, and cloud environments Develop and utilize information usage profiles and risk factor tables Understand the value of data encryption and usage of private and public key exchange for information assurance and security Who This Book Is For Information system and cloud architects responsible for developing, implementing, and managing corporate information systems and cloud environments.

Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable, an ApressOpen title, describes the changing risk environment and why a fresh approach to information security is needed. Because almost every aspect of an enterprise is now dependent on technology, the focus of IT security must shift from locking down assets to enabling the business while managing and surviving risk. This compact book discusses business risk from a broader perspective, including privacy and regulatory considerations. It describes the increasing number of threats and vulnerabilities, but also offers strategies for developing solutions. These include discussions of how enterprises can take advantage of new and emerging technologies—such as social media and the huge proliferation of Internet-enabled devices—while minimizing risk. With ApressOpen, content is freely available through multiple online distribution channels and electronic formats with the goal of disseminating professionally edited and technically reviewed content to the worldwide community. Here are some of the responses from reviewers of this exceptional work: “Managing Risk and Information Security is a perceptive, balanced, and often thought-provoking exploration of evolving information risk and security challenges within a business context. Harkins clearly connects the needed, but often-overlooked linkage and dialog between the business and technical worlds and offers actionable strategies. The book contains eye-opening security insights that are easily understood, even by the curious layman.” Fred Wettling, Bechtel Fellow, IS&T Ethics & Compliance Officer, Bechtel “As disruptive technology innovations and escalating cyber threats continue to create enormous information security challenges, Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable provides a much-needed perspective. This book compels information security professionals to think differently about concepts of risk management in order to be more effective. The specific and practical guidance offers a fast-track formula for developing information security strategies which are lock-step with business priorities.” Laura Robinson, Principal, Robinson Insight Chair, Security for Business Innovation Council (SBIC) Program Director, Executive Security Action Forum (ESAF) “The mandate of the information security function is being completely rewritten. Unfortunately most heads of security haven’t picked up on the change, impeding their companies’ agility and ability to innovate. This book makes the case for why security needs to change, and shows how to get started. It will be regarded as marking the turning point in information security for years to come.” Dr. Jeremy Bergsman, Practice Manager, CEB “The world we are responsible to protect is changing dramatically and at an accelerating pace. Technology is pervasive in virtually every aspect of our lives. Clouds, virtualization and mobile are redefining computing – and they are just the beginning of what is to come. Your security perimeter is defined by wherever your information and people happen to be. We are attacked by professional adversaries who are better funded than we will ever be. We in the information security profession must change as dramatically as the environment we protect. We need new skills and new strategies to do our jobs effectively. We literally need to change the way we think. Written by one of the best in the business, Managing Risk and Information Security challenges traditional security theory with clear examples of the need for change. It also provides expert advice on how to dramatically increase the success of your security strategy and methods – from dealing with the misperception of risk to how to become a Z-shaped CISO. Managing Risk and Information Security is the ultimate treatise on how to deliver effective security to the world we live in for the next 10 years. It is absolute must reading for anyone in our profession – and should be on the desk of every CISO in the world.” Dave Cullinane, CISSP CEO Security Starfish, LLC “In this overview, Malcolm Harkins delivers an insightful survey of the trends, threats, and tactics shaping information risk and security. From regulatory compliance to psychology to the changing threat context, this work provides a compelling introduction to an important topic and trains helpful attention on the effects of changing technology and management practices.” Dr. Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar Professor, Stanford Law School Co-Director, Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University “Malcolm Harkins gets it. In his new book Malcolm outlines the major forces changing the information security risk landscape from a big picture perspective, and then goes on to offer effective methods of managing that risk from a practitioner's viewpoint. The combination makes this book unique and a must read for anyone interested in IT risk." Dennis Devlin AVP, Information Security and Compliance, The George Washington University “Managing Risk and Information Security is the first-to-read, must-read book on information security for C-Suite executives. It is accessible, understandable and actionable. No sky-is-falling scare tactics, no techno-babble – just straight talk about a critically important subject. There is no better primer on the economics, ergonomics and psycho-behaviourals of security than this.” Thornton May, Futurist, Executive Director & Dean, IT Leadership Academy “Managing Risk and Information Security is a wake-up call for information security executives and a ray of light for business leaders. It equips organizations with the knowledge required to transform their security programs from a “culture of no” to one focused on agility, value and competitiveness. Unlike other publications, Malcolm provides clear and immediately applicable solutions to optimally balance the frequently opposing needs of risk reduction and business growth. This book should be required reading for anyone currently serving in, or seeking to achieve, the role of Chief Information Security Officer.” Jamil Farshchi, Senior Business Leader of Strategic Planning and Initiatives, VISA “For too many years, business and security – either real or imagined – were at odds. In Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable, you get what you expect – real life practical ways to break logjams, have security actually enable business, and marries security architecture and business architecture. Why this book? It's written by a practitioner, and not just any practitioner, one of the leading minds in Security today.” John Stewart, Chief Security Officer, Cisco “This book is an invaluable guide to help security professionals address risk in new ways in this alarmingly fast changing environment. Packed with examples which makes it a pleasure to read, the book captures practical ways a forward thinking CISO can turn information security into a competitive advantage for their business. This book provides a new framework for managing risk in an entertaining and thought provoking way. This will change the way security professionals work with their business leaders, and help get products to market faster. The 6 irrefutable laws of information security should be on a stone plaque on the desk of every security professional.” Steven Proctor, VP, Audit & Risk Management, Flextronics

Security Risk Management is the definitive guide for building or running an information security risk management program. This book teaches practical techniques that will be used on a daily basis, while also explaining the fundamentals so students understand the rationale behind these practices. It explains how to perform risk assessments for new IT projects, how to efficiently manage daily risk activities, and how to qualify the current risk level for presentation to executive level management. While other books focus entirely on risk analysis methods, this is the first comprehensive text for managing security risks. This book will help you to break free from the so-called best practices argument by articulating risk exposures in business terms. It includes case studies to provide hands-on experience using risk assessment tools to calculate the costs and benefits of any security investment. It explores each phase of the risk management lifecycle, focusing on policies and assessment processes that should be used to properly assess and mitigate risk. It also presents a roadmap for designing and implementing a security risk management program. This book will be a valuable resource for CISOs, security managers, IT managers, security consultants, IT auditors, security analysts, and students enrolled in information security/assurance college programs. Named a 2011 Best Governance and ISMS Book by InfoSec Reviews Includes case studies to provide hands-on experience using risk assessment tools to calculate the costs and benefits of any security investment Explores each phase of the risk management lifecycle, focusing on policies and assessment processes that should be used to properly assess and mitigate risk Presents a roadmap for designing and implementing a security risk management program

Describing OCTAVE (Operationally Critical Threat, Asset and Vulnerability Evaluation), a method of evaluating information security risk, this text should be of interest to risk managers.

This second edition provides a comprehensive overview of the SSCP Risk, Response, and Recovery Domain in addition to providing a thorough overview of risk management and its implications on IT infrastructures and compliance. Written by industry experts, and using a wealth of examples and exercises, this book incorporates hands-on activities to walk the reader through the fundamentals of risk management, strategies and approaches for mitigating risk, and the anatomy of how to create a plan that reduces risk. It provides a modern and comprehensive view of information security policies and frameworks; examines the technical knowledge and software skills required for policy implementation; explores the creation of an effective IT security policy framework; discusses the latest governance, regulatory mandates, business drives, legal considerations, and much more. --

In order to protect company's information assets such as sensitive customer records, health care records, etc., the security practitioner first needs to find out: what needs protected, what risks those assets are exposed to, what controls are in place to offset those risks, and where to focus attention for risk treatment. This is the true value and purpose of information security risk assessments. Effective risk assessments are meant to provide a defendable analysis of residual risk associated with your key assets so that risk treatment options can be explored. Information Security Risk Assessment Toolkit gives you the tools and skills to get a quick, reliable, and thorough risk assessment for key stakeholders. Based on authors' experiences of real-world assessments, reports, and presentations Focuses on implementing a process, rather than theory, that allows you to derive a quick and valuable assessment Includes a companion web site with spreadsheets you can utilize to create and maintain the risk assessment