4. CERT
A Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT)
is a service organization that is responsible for receiving,
reviewing, and responding to computer security incident
reports and activity.
Their services are usually performed for a defined
constituency that could be a parent entity such as a
corporation, governmental, or educational organization;
a region or country; a research network; or a paid client.
(CERT/CC)
5. CERT - Benefits
Centralized coordination for IT security issues within
the organization.
Specialized handling of and response to IT incidents.
Dealing with legal issues and preserving evidence in
the event of a lawsuit.
Keeping track of developments in the security field.
Stimulating cooperation within the constituency on IT
security (awareness building).
6. CERT - Types
Academic Sector CSIRT
Commercial CSIRT
Governmental Sector CSIRT
Internal CSIRT
Military Sector CSIRT
National CSIRT
Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) Sector
CSIRT
Vendor CSIRT
11. Trust Building
Team – Team
Association
Inter - Association
Personal relationships.
Certification - Trusted Introducer.
Agreements:
Code of Conduct.
Memoranda of Understanding.
SLAs.
Adherence to standards.
12. Association - FIRST
Mission:
FIRST is an international confederation of trusted computer incident
response teams who cooperatively handle computer security
incidents and promote incident prevention programs.
FIRST members develop and share technical information, tools,
methodologies, processes and best practices
FIRST encourages and promotes the development of quality
security products, policies & services
FIRST develops and promulgates best computer security practices
FIRST promotes the creation and expansion of Incident Response
teams and membership from organizations from around the world
FIRST members use their combined knowledge, skills and
experience to promote a safer and more secure global electronic
environment.
13. Certification - Trust
A way to evidence the organization's stance on security;
A part of a contract to ensure commitment by one of the
parties to security management;
A mechanism to ensure mutual understanding of the
services obtained from a provider.
Trust relationships with Third Parties, like Partners,
Customers and Suppliers.
14. CERT Certification
What is certification good for?
It is a driver for implementation of better IS
practices.
16. Certification - Challenges
Challenges
Certification doesn’t guarantee performance.
Performance depends on the budget, the capability
and the commitment of those involved in running it.
Certification only guarantees that the cause of faults
is not poor process design.
Poor performers and bogus certifications lower the
reputation of the certification and damage the
reputation of all certificate holders.
22. Certification - Challenges
Challenges:
Some threats fall out of the scope of information
security:
– Human error;
– Incompetence;
– Fraud;
– Corruption.
24. Certification - Summary
Certification doesn’t guarantee
performance.
Bad performers damage the
reputation of all certificate holders.
25. Accreditation
Accreditation Entity Accreditation Entity
Certification Entity
Final User
26. Trusted Introducer (TERENA)
The Trusted Introducer (TI) is a trust broker for
European CERTs with three levels:
Listed – any team identified within the scope of
TI
Accreditation Candidate – a team which received
and accepted invitation for Accreditation process
Accredited – a team which successfully
completed accreditation / verification process
27. Certification – Challenges
Certification is not enough!
Accreditation is necessary:
Verification of personnel's competence.
Verification of team's procedures and policies
Verification of financial stability and
sustainability.
Verification of basic operational factors, such
as reachability or response times.
28. Sources
CMU/SEI Handbook for Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs)
ENISA’s CERT in Europe v1.4
ENISA’s CERT cooperation and its further facilitation by relevant stakeholders.
ENISA’s Information Security Certification Schemes Workshop 2006 Minutes, materials
and Report.
ENISA’s Inventory of CERT activities in Europe.
ENISA www.enisa.europa.eu/cert%5Finventory/index_inventory.htm
EA 7/03 Guidelines for the Accreditation of Bodies Operating Certification/Registration of
Information Security Management Systems.
FIRST - www.first.com
ISM3 v2.00
ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Information technology — Security techniques — Information
security management systems — Requirements
Information Security Management Maturity Model v2.00
ISO/IEC 19011:2002 Guidelines for quality and/or environmental management systems
auditing
Terena’s Trusted Introducer Service (TI)
Terena’s TF-CSIRT.
Terena’s A Trusted CSIRT Introducer in Europe.
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31. Trusted Introducer (TERENA)
An invitation to start the accreditation process can be sent to a "Listed" team
upon its request or e.g. by recommendation of an already "Accredited" CERT.
The process of accreditation requires the team to declare its support for a
number of criteria and provide a standardized set of information about itself.
This data is then kept and maintained by the TI to ensure it is correct and up to
date. Gaining the "Accredited" level results in access to numerous services,
e.g. a database of in-depth operational contacts of all accredited teams, the TI
mailing lists open to accredited CERTs only, PGP key signing, etc. The
services of the TI are provided by an independent contractor appointed by
TERENA and supervised by TI Review Board consisting of 5 members: a
TERENA representative, three members elected by accredited teams and the
chair of TERENA TF-CSIRT ex officio.
Editor's Notes
The first major outbreak of a worm in the global IT infrastructure occurred in the late 1980s. The worm was named Morris2 and it spread swiftly, effectively infecting a great number of IT systems around the world. This incident acted as a wake-up call: suddenly people got aware of a strong need for cooperation and coordination between system administrators and IT managers in order to deal with cases like this. Due to the fact that time was a critical factor, a more organised and structural approach on handling IT security incidents had to be established. And so a few days after the “Morris-incident” the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) established the first CSIRT: the CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC3), located at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). This model was soon adopted within Europe, and 1992 the Dutch Academic provider SURFnet launched the first CSIRT in Europe, named SURFnet-CERT4. Many teams followed and at present ENISAs Inventory of CERT activities in Europe5 lists more than 100 known teams located in Europe.
As Louis Pasteur put it in a lecture in the University of Lille, “in the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind”. Likewise, governments, companies and individuals need to be prepared to observe, detect and respond to all kinds of unpredictable technical threats and incidents. This need led to the proliferation of CERTs that must share information and coordinate for reasons of efficiency, preventing duplication of efforts, and avoiding sending out incoherent or even contradictory warnings and alerts.
The EuroCERT was funded by TERENA with money collected from voluntaries wishing to participate and contribute to the project. Since TERENA was established for research and academic networks, all participants came from this area. It was expected however that commercial ISPs would join by the end of the pilot. The pilot did not work as well as expected. One of the problems was that with different set of services delivered by each team, it was very hard to define the scope of work for EuroCERT that would satisfy the needs of all sponsors without overlapping with work that others are already doing for their own constituencies. Other problems were caused by the need of acceptance of submission to an external authority, e.g. giving up direct personal links. The fact that Europe if a multinational and multicultural structure and that work of a CERT team within national research network would be coordinated with international EuroCERT which was an international entity did not make things any easier. The EuroCERT services, and thus the project SIRCE itself ended in September 1999, two months before the scheduled date, due to lack of interest and funding.