...HIPAA Security Standards: Guidance on Risk Analysis Introduction The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for issuing annual guidance on the provisions in the HIPAA Security Rule.1 (45 C.F.R. §§ 164.302 – 318.) This series of guidances will assist organizations2 in identifying and implementing the most effective and appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to secure electronic protected health information (e-PHI). The guidance materials will be developed with input from stakeholders and the public, and will be updated as appropriate. We begin the series with the risk analysis requirement in § 164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A). Conducting a risk analysis is the first step in identifying and implementing safeguards that comply with and carry out the standards and implementation specifications in the Security Rule. Therefore, a risk analysis is foundational, and must be understood in detail before OCR can issue meaningful guidance that specifically addresses safeguards and technologies that will best protect electronic health information. The guidance is not intended to provide a one-size-fits-all blueprint for compliance with the risk analysis requirement. Rather, it clarifies the expectations of the Department for organizations working to meet these requirements.3 An organization should determine the most appropriate way to achieve compliance, taking into account the characteristics of the organization and its environment. We note that some of...
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...net/risk/ Abstract. We measure and compare the performance of the vulnerability handling and patch development process of Microsoft and Apple to better understand the security ecosystem. We introduce the 0-day patch rate as a new metric; being the number of patches a vendor is able to release at the day of the public disclosure of a new vulnerability. Using this measure we can directly compare the security performance of Microsoft and Apple over the last 6 years. We find global and vendor specific trends and measure the effectiveness of the patch development process of two major software vendors over a long period. For both vendors we find that major software development projects (such as a new OS release or Service Pack) consumes resources at the cost of patch development. Our data does not support the common belief that software from Apple is inherently more secure than software from Microsoft. While the average number of unpatched vulnerabilities has stabilized for Microsoft, Apple has bypassed Microsoft and shows an increasing trend. We provided an insight into the vulnerability lifecycle and trends in the insecurity scene based on empirical data and analysis. To properly plan, assess, and justify vulnerability management knowledge of the vulnerability ecosystem is important. Keywords: security, 0-day patch, vulnerability lifecycle, vulnerability ecosystem 1 Introduction The constant discovery of new vulnerabilities and exploits drives the security risks we are exposed to. Even...
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...either be caused from the inside threats or outside threats. The most common risks that are present in retail organizations are fires, internal and external thefts, and burglaries. Threats and vulnerabilities are managed and determined by security officials on a daily basis to ensure proper protocols are being upheld when risks present themselves. Retail Threat and Risk Assessment The determination of threats and risks that affect all organizations, not just specific organizations, must first be made by using a threat and vulnerability assessment and risk analysis. “The first step in a risk management program is a threat assessment. A threat assessment considers the full spectrum of threats for any given facility/location. The assessment should examine supporting information to evaluate the likelihood of occurrence for each threat” (National Institute of Building Sciences, 2012). The threats and vulnerabilities within the organization are discovered and then a risk analysis is used to determine which risks are most likely to be present within an organization. “In a systematic approach to the identification of threats, such as the one recommended in this text, the primary purpose of vulnerability identification or threat (exposure) determination is to make the task of risk analysis more manageable by establishing a base from which to proceed” (Broder & Tucker, "Chapter 2, Risk Identification," 2012). Natural, technological, and...
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...White Paper IT Security Risk Management By Mark Gerschefske Risk Analysis How do you predict the total cost of a threat? Is it only the cost to restore the comprised system and lost productivity? Or does it include lost revenue, customer confidence, and trust of investors? This paper provides an overview of the risk management process and its benefits. Risk management is a much talked about, but little understood area of the IT Security industry. While risk management has been practiced by other industries for hundreds of years, little historical data exists to support qualitative analysis in the IT environment.1 The industry approach has been to buy technology without really understanding the potential underlying risks. To further complicate matters, new government regulations create additional pressure to ensure sensitive data is protected from compromise and disclosure. Processes need to be developed that not only identify the sensitive data, but also identify the level of risk posed due to noncompliance of corporate security policies. Verizon has developed security procedures based on industry standards that evaluate and mitigate areas deemed not compliant to internal security policies and standards. Through the use of quantitative analysis, Verizon is able to determine areas that present the greatest risk, which allows for identification and prioritization of security investments. Risk Mitigation Process The Risk Mitigation Process (RMP) is a part of risk management...
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...VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT WHITEPAPER Automating Vulnerability Assessment This paper describes how enterprises can more effectively assess and manage network vulnerabilities and reduce costs related to meeting regulatory requirements. Automated Vulnerability Assessment / Vulnerability Management (VA/VM) solutions are supplementing and in some cases replacing manual penetration testing with an overall improvement in network security without increasing costs. New advances have eliminated the high management overhead and false positive rate issues that plagued open source and early market VA/VM entries. This whitepaper discusses: Speed of change in networks, equipment and applications plus the speed of exploit deployment is revealing weakness in corporate policies specifying relatively infrequent manual penetration testing. Perimeter defences (anti-virus, firewall and IPS/IDS) are vital, but can be bypassed by determined effort to reach and exploit known vulnerabilities that reside just inside the fence. The introduction of an automated network scanning mechanism and consolidated reporting to identify and track mitigation of known vulnerabilities is establishing a higher overall security level often using already existing budget and manpower. Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 3 The Challenges of Network Security Assessments .......
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...Job Analysis Paper The purpose of job analysis is the studying and evaluating what a job entails; describing precisely the skills needed and the qualifications to fulfill the job position accurately. Job analysis is when most personnel functions because the methods of any job need to be precise. This paper will be discussing the job analysis for the challenging career of a behavior interventionist/teacher aide. This paper will also evaluate the reliability and validity of being a behavior interventionist. We will also be evaluating different performance appraisal methods that might be applied to being a behavior interventionist. Also, this paper will explain the various different benefits and vulnerabilities of each performance appraisal method talked about previously. In any job position, the duties of that position should be clearly stated. Therefore, after this information gets handed over to the employee, the job consultant would then need to observe a person in the current position. This evaluation helps determine the requirements and skills needed to perform the job better. Also in consideration with the fact that jobs are continuously changing as time passes job analysts must take note of any drastic changes to keep up with the requirements and actualized job duties. It means that the person in charge of doing the analysis should also be very familiar with that job and the position duties. The job of a behavior interventionist is very important in the education field...
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...Job Analysis Paper PSY/435 Job Analysis Paper Job Analysis of Probation Officers This paper will provide some insight on the functional job analysis for a probation officer, it will discuss how a functional job analysis can be used within this organization, it will go on to evaluate the reliability and validity of a functional job analysis, this paper will also evaluate different performance appraisal methods and how they might be applied to a probation officer, this paper will conclude by explaining the various benefits and vulnerabilities of each performance appraisal method concerning the job of a probation officer. Probation Officer: Functional Job Analysis The selection method for probation officials utilizing the functional job evaluation is very important. The functional job evaluation consists of observation and selection interviews; it assists to set recommendations for the job outline. Rapport shared with probation/parole and a functional job evaluation is the least complicated. The job requirements for a probation officer candidate should satisfy the requirements. At the least a bachelor’s qualification in social work, criminal justice, psychology, or a relevant study is needed for certification (Education Portal. 2011). Nevertheless, much more information by way of functional job evaluation assists to decide eligibility needs to work for the Department of Corrections. In the state of Delaware I/O psychiatrists have evolved physical, psychological, medical...
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...Oral health status and the likelihood of rising dental caries precisely associate with the child’s vulnerability. Oral diseases are mostly seen in vulnerable populations. Social groups with augmented susceptibility to adverse health effects are defined as vulnerable populations. (Flaskerud & Winslow 1998). Children are a vulnerable population as they usually have restricted power, intellect, schooling, means, power and capacity to provide self care that enhances their possibility for reduced health effect. Children depend on their parents and caregivers to look after them and make available the largest part of their fundamental needs Hence, a child’s state of health relies on their parent’s capacity to care for them, which is ultimately affected by the parent’s own present state of vulnerability. An obvious understanding of the concept of vulnerability associated with oral health in the initial childhood is an essential step in comprehending this multi-factoral situation. This paper will discuss about Rodger’s evolutionary method of concept analysis used to offer an examination of vulnerability linked with oral health near the beginning of childhood, the steps in Rodger’s process of concept analysis and the results. Rodger’s Evolutionary Method Rodgers first published her evolutionary method for concept analysis in 1989 (Rodgers, 1989). Concept analysis is a method to simplify the meanings of terms and to characterize terms so that authors and readers communicate a collective...
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...CONCEPT ANALYSIS Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults: Concept Analysis Abstract Aim. This study is to analyse the concept of safeguarding the vulnerable adults and the role of registered nurse. Background. Registered nurse has major responsibilities in caring and safeguarding the vulnerable adult population. Reduction of health inequalities among vulnerable adults are top international healthcare priorities. Vulnerable adults are among most vulnerable of the populations, many people associate vulnerability with old age only, resulting in negative stereotypical views. Understanding the concepts of vulnerability as relates to adults population, examines how and why adults could be vulnerable will help nurse to educates the vulnerable adults about the rights and choices available to them, enabling nurse to safeguarding the vulnerable adults and empower the vulnerable adults to participate fully in the society. Data Sources. Data source include the Nursing Standard, The PubMed, Health & Social Care information Centre (hscic), Department of Health, Action on Elder Abuse, Offices of National Statistics (ONS), electronic databases were used to search for research papers, articles published between 2000-2013. The searching keywords used are ‘Vulnerable’, ‘Abuse’, ‘vulnerability’, ‘safeguarding’. Seventeen papers from variety of disciplines, including nursing, public health, social-care and medicine were reviewed. Method. The concept analysis was done using Rodgers’ evolutionary...
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...Running Head: PERFORM A FORENSICS ANALYSIS OF A NETWORK BREAK-IN Perform a Forensics Analysis of a Network Break-in Tiffany McGarr IT540-02: Management of Information Security Dr. Flick January 10, 2014 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………3 Part One: Screen Shots for OSForensics………………………………………………………………….4&5 Part Two: What servers were compromised?...................................................................................................6 Was network equipment compromised?.............................................................................................................................6&7 What user accounts were employed to gain access?..................................................................7&8 What vulnerabilities were exploited?..............................................................................................8 What can be done to prevent a recurrence?................................................................................8&9 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………...9 References……………………………………………………………………………………….10 Abstract The purpose of this paper was to perform a forensics analysis of a network break-in. In the first part of the paper, six screen shots are inserted from the OSForensics software. In the second part of the paper, it discussed how to go about finding information when you are told there has been a break-in...
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...SUBDOMAIN 426.4 - HACKING Competencies: 426.4.2: Preattack Planning - The graduate evaluates techniques used in footprinting and implements industry best practices to protect against this type of information asset vulnerability. 426.4.3: System Hacking - The graduate evaluates various network system hacking counter-techniques. 426.4.5: Hacking Web Servers - The graduate identifies known web server vulnerabilities and demonstrates industry best practices to protect against this type of threat. 426.4.6: Web Application Vulnerabilities - The graduate identifies common web application vulnerabilities and uses industry best practices to protect against this type of threat. Introduction: Maintaining a proactive approach on security requires that an organization perform its own hacking footprinting to see how much information is available to potential hackers. Some organizations do this using internal staff; however, it is much more common to see organizations hire external security consultants to perform these types of security reviews. This allows a truly unbiased outsider to attempt to gather as much information as possible to formulate an attack. Assume that you have been selected as the security consultant to perform a comprehensive security review for an organization of your choosing. Ensure that the organization that you select has a public website that you can access and at least one web application that you can use for this task. You will review the security...
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...book titled ‘Security in Computing’, penetration testing, or pentesting, is a technique used in computer security which an individual, or team of experts purposely tries to hack a computer system. Penetration started as a grey art that was often practiced in an unstructured and undisciplined manner by reformed or semi-reformed hackers. They used their own techniques and either their ‘home grown’ tools, or borrowed and traded ideas with associates. There was little reproducibility or consistency of results or reporting, and as a result the services were hard to integrate into a security program. As this practice evolved it became more structured and tools, techniques, and reporting became more standardized. This evolution was driven by papers, articles, and technical notes that were formally published and informally distributed. In the end a standardized methodology emerged that was largely based on the disciplined approach used by the most successful hackers....
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...Find flaws before the bad guys do. Copyright SANS Institute Author Retains Full Rights This paper is from the SANS Penetration Testing site. Reposting is not permited without express written permission. Interested in learning more? Check out the list of upcoming events offering "Hacker Techniques, Exploits & Incident Handling (SEC504)" at https://pen-testing.sans.org/events/ Key fingerprint = AF19 FA27 2F94 998D FDB5 DE3D F8B5 06E4 A169 4E46 A Management Guide to Penetration Testing David A. Shinberg © SANS Institute 2003, © SA NS In sti tu As part of GIAC practical repository. te 20 03 ,A ut ho rr Version 2.1a eta Practical Assignment ins SANS Hacker Techniques, Exploits, and Incident Handling (GCIH) fu ll r igh ts. Author retains full rights. Key fingerprint = AF19 FA27 2F94 998D FDB5 DE3D F8B5 06E4 A169 4E46 Abstract Penetration tests are an excellent method for determining the strengths and weaknesses of a network consisting of computers and network devices. However, the process of performing a penetration test is complex, and without care can have disastrous effects on the systems being tested. This paper provides guidance, primarily focused around planning and management, on how to conduct a penetration test comprised of five phases – Preparation, Public Information, Planning, Execution and Analysis and Reporting. However, due to the technical and sometimes sensitive nature of penetration testing...
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...Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1939-3555 print / 1939-3547 online DOI: 10.1080/19393550903404902 Information 1939-3547 1939-3555 Security Journal: A Global Perspective, Vol. 19, No. 2, Mar 2010: pp. 0–0 UISS Perspective An Ontological Approach to Computer System Security ABSTRACT Computer system security relies on different aspects of a computer system such as security policies, security mechanisms, threat analysis, and countermeasures. This paper provides an ontological approach to capturing and utilizing the fundamental attributes of those key components to determine the effects of vulnerabilities on a system’s security. Our ontology for vulnerability management (OVM) has been populated with all vulnerabilities in NVD (see http://nvd.nist.gov/scap.cfm) with additional inference rules and knowledge discovery mechanisms so that it may provide a promising pathway to make security automation program (NIST Version 1.0, 2007) more effective and reliable. KEYWORDS analysis system security, common vulnerability exposures, ontology, vulnerability Ju An Wang, Michael M. Guo, and Jairo Camargo School of Computing and Software Engineering, Southern Polytechnic State University, Marietta, Georgia, USA J. A. Wang, M. Approach to Computer An Ontological M. Guo, and J. Camargo System Security 1. INTRODUCTION Secure computer systems ensure that confidentiality, integrity, and availability are guaranteed for users, data, and other computing assets. Moreover, security...
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...hacks are open source and free soft wares. These hacks manipulate the firmware update option on many devices to run and install themselves. Many researchers have found out that breaking into a computer’s encrypted hard drive is very easy with the help of the right tools. A research by Princeton University revealed how low tech hackers access even the most well protected computers (Jordan Robertson 2008). This paper details how encryption was coveted for a long time as a vital shield against hackers, but can be manipulated by altering the operations of the memory chips. This paper outlines just how vulnerable the data we store on our computers and laptops is to possible hacking. Through freezing the Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chip, which is the most frequently used memory chip in personal gadgets. Freezing DRAM makes it retain data for many hours way after the machine loses its power. This data includes the keys used to unlock encryptions. If the memory chip is not frozen the chip can lose its contents in a matter of milliseconds. Hackers can use this vulnerability to steal information which is stored in the memory through rebooting of the compromised machine through the use of a simple program or software which is designed to purposely copy the contents in the memory (Gollmann, Dieter1999). The most vulnerable machines are those left...
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