Security Automation Essentials: Streamlined Enterprise Security Management & Monitoring with SCAP

Security Automation Essentials: Streamlined Enterprise Security Management & Monitoring with SCAP

by Greg Witte, Melanie Cook, Matt Kerr, Shane Shaffer
Released July 2012
Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill
ISBN: 9780071772525

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Book description

Master the latest digital security automation technologies

Achieve a unified view of security across your IT infrastructure using the cutting-edge techniques contained in this authoritative volume. Security Automation Essentials: Streamlined Enterprise Security Management & Monitoring with SCAP lays out comprehensive technical, administrative, and operational strategies for security management. Discover how to define baseline requirements, automatically confirm patches and updates, identify vulnerabilities, write customized auditing content, and evaluate compliance across your enterprise. Throughout, the authors provide detailed case studies and tips on selecting appropriate security components.

  • Understand SCAP (Security Content Automation Protocol) technologies and standards
  • Track compliance using benchmarks and scoring systems
  • Build machine-readable configuration checks using XCCDF, OVAL, and OCIL
  • Perform vulnerability assessments and find misconfiguration
  • Maximize product interoperability through the use of standard enumeration
  • Assess and monitor residual risk using CVSS values
  • Use SCAP editors and XML to create and debug automated checks
  • Accurately assess threats using software assurance automation

Table of contents

  1. Cover 
  2. About the Author
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents at a Glance
  5. Contents 
  6. Foreword
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Introduction
  9. Part I Security Automation Essentials
    1. Chapter 1 The Security Management Problem
      1. Security Management Challenges
        1. The Number and Variety of Systems and Software to Secure
        2. The Need for Continuous Security Management
        3. The Need for a Comprehensive Picture of Enterprise Security
        4. The Need for Standardization in Security
        5. Security Requirements from Regulations and Other Sources
      2. The Security Automation Solution
      3. Security Automation Basics
        1. Knowledge About Individual Security Elements
        2. Using Checklists to Achieve Compliance
      4. The Evolution of Security Automation Technologies and Standards
        1. Enumeration Standards
        2. Language Standards
        3. Risk Measurement Standards
    2. Chapter 2 What Is SCAP?
      1. The History of SCAP
      2. The Parts of SCAP
        1. Component Specifications
        2. How the SCAP Component Specifications Fit Together
      3. The SCAP Protocol
        1. SCAP Content
      4. The Value of SCAP
        1. Inventorying Installed Software
        2. Identifying Security Issues
        3. Monitoring the Security State
        4. Security Measures and Metrics
        5. Quantifying Risk
        6. Fostering Common Terminology
  10. Part II Using SCAP
    1. Chapter 3 SCAP Checklist and Check Languages
      1. Extensible Checklist Configuration Description Format
        1. Data Model and Syntax
        2. Benchmark
        3. Items
        4. Profile
        5. TestResult
      2. Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language
        1. Data Model
        2. Generator
        3. Definition
        4. Test
        5. Object
        6. State
        7. Variables
        8. OVAL Results
      3. Open Checklist Interactive Language
        1. OCIL Data Model
        2. Questions
        3. Question_Test_Action Elements
        4. Questionnaires
        5. Putting It All Together
    2. Chapter 4 Asset Management
      1. Asset Identification
        1. Literal and Synthetic Identifiers
        2. Correlation
        3. AI Elements
        4. Helper Elements
      2. Asset Reporting Format
        1. Relationship Terms
        2. ARF Example
      3. Assessment Summary Results
        1. System-Ident Model
    3. Chapter 5 Enumerations
      1. Automation Enumerations and Their Purposes
      2. Enumerations Included in SCAP
      3. Common Configuration Enumeration
        1. CCE History
        2. The Purpose of CCE
        3. CCE Entries
        4. CCE Submission Process
        5. CCE and the National Vulnerability Database
      4. Common Platform Enumeration
        1. The New CPE 2.3 Stack
      5. Common Vulnerability and Exposures
        1. The Birth of CVE
        2. CVE Editorial Board
        3. CVE Identifiers
        4. Common Vulnerability Scoring System
      6. Other Related Enumerations and Expressions
        1. Common Weakness Enumeration
        2. Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
        3. Common Malware Enumeration
        4. Common Event Expression
        5. Distributed Audit Service
        6. Common Remediation Enumeration
    4. Chapter 6 SCAP Vulnerability Measurement
      1. Common Vulnerability Scoring System
        1. CVSS History
        2. CVSS Use Cases
      2. Vulnerability Characteristics
      3. CVSS Scoring
        1. Base Scoring
        2. Temporal Scores
        3. Environmental Scores
        4. Base, Temporal, Environmental Vectors
        5. CVSS Equations
        6. Your Mileage May Vary
      4. Common Vulnerability Reporting Framework (CVRF)
      5. Common Misuse Scoring System (CMSS)
      6. Common Configuration Scoring System
      7. Vulnerability Management in the Enterprise
  11. Part III Putting It All Together
    1. Chapter 7 Building Automated Security Content
      1. Working with Files
        1. XML Editors
      2. Content Maintenance Tools
        1. Enhanced SCAP Editor (eSCAPe)
        2. The eSCAPe Wizards
        3. Opening and Navigating an SCAP Data Stream
        4. Example: Creating Malware SCAP Content
        5. Example: Creating Content to Check for Malicious File
        6. Using the Regex Validator Tool
        7. Using the Merge OVAL Documents Tool
      3. Some Useful Tips for Creating Content
        1. Explain Yourself
        2. Make Sure It Works
        3. Version Your Artifacts
        4. Reuse of Artifacts
        5. Content Correctness
        6. Least Version Principle
        7. Design for People
        8. Follow the Rules of the Road
        9. Minimize Extension Depth
        10. Granularity
        11. Customization
        12. Performance
        13. Regular Expressions
    2. Chapter 8 Putting Security Automation to Work in the Enterprise
      1. How Organizations Are Using Security Automation
        1. Automated Hardware and Software Inventory
        2. Security Configuration Management (SCM)
        3. OpenSCAP Security Automation Software in Linux Distributions
        4. Use of Security Automation to Track Management and Operational Security
        5. Security Automation to Discover Malicious Software
        6. Continuous Monitoring by Integrating Security Systems
        7. Device Health Monitoring
      2. Building a Healthy and Resilient Cyber Ecosystem
    3. Chapter 9 Conclusion
      1. The Road Ahead
  12. Appendix XCCDF, OVAL, OCIL, and Supporting Enumerations Usage
  13. Index

Product information

  • Title: Security Automation Essentials: Streamlined Enterprise Security Management & Monitoring with SCAP
  • Author(s): Greg Witte, Melanie Cook, Matt Kerr, Shane Shaffer
  • Release date: July 2012
  • Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill
  • ISBN: 9780071772525