Security Risk Assessment Introduction For Employees

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You are employed with Government Security Consultants, a subsidiary of Largo Corporation. As a member of an IT security consultant team, your responsibility is to ensure the security of assets and provide a secure environment for customers, partners, and employees. Your team plays a key role in defining, implementing, and maintaining the organization’s IT security strategy.

The Bureau of Research and Intelligence (BRI), a government agency supporting U.S. diplomats, is tasked with gathering and analyzing information. Recently, BRI has experienced several security breaches, as reported by media outlets like The New York Times. Consequently, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a comprehensive security controls review, uncovering numerous vulnerabilities. The agency’s leadership has contracted your company to perform an IT security risk assessment to identify security gaps, prioritize corrective actions, and optimize resource allocation. Your final report will summarize findings and recommend measures to improve BRI’s security posture, aimed at convincing agency leadership to implement these recommendations.

Paper For Above instruction

The importance of cybersecurity within government agencies cannot be overstated, especially for organizations like the Bureau of Research and Intelligence (BRI), whose functions are critical to national security and diplomatic efforts. Conducting a comprehensive security risk assessment (SRA) is essential to identify vulnerabilities, evaluate risks, and develop targeted mitigation strategies. This paper explores the steps involved in performing an effective SRA based on NIST guidelines and applies them to the specific context of BRI’s security challenges.

Introduction

BRI’s role in providing intelligence for U.S. diplomats involves handling sensitive information that, if compromised, could gravely impact diplomatic relations and national security. Recent media reports revealed security lapses, including network breaches by nation-state actors, mishandling of classified data, and inadequate security controls. These incidents underscore the need for a thorough risk assessment that informs strategic security investments. An effective SRA process, aligned with NIST Special Publication 800-30 Revision 1, ensures systematic identification of threats, vulnerabilities, and risks, enabling informed decision-making for security enhancements.

Step 1: Establishing the Risk Assessment Scope and Purpose

The initial phase of an SRA involves clearly defining its purpose and scope. For BRI, the primary goal is to protect sensitive intelligence data and maintain operational integrity against evolving threats. The scope covers technical infrastructure, physical security, personnel, and operational processes, including remote working arrangements such as teleworking and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Assumptions include the premise that threat actors are continuously attempting to infiltrate BRI’s systems, and constraints involve limited resources due to budget restrictions. The assessment adopts a risk model integrating qualitative and quantitative analyses, using likelihood and impact scales to evaluate risks comprehensively.

Step 2: Threat Identification and Vulnerability Analysis

Threat sources identified include nation-states, cybercriminals, disgruntled insiders, and accidental insiders. Specific threat events encompass network intrusions, data exfiltration, malware infections, insider disclosures, and physical breaches. Vulnerabilities in BRI’s infrastructure include weak password policies, unencrypted data at rest, improper database configurations, outdated patch management, and insecure physical access controls. Foreseeable conditions like unused user accounts and inadequate security awareness exacerbate these vulnerabilities. Recognizing these threats and vulnerabilities facilitates a critical understanding of where controls need strengthening to mitigate potential risks effectively.

Step 3: Likelihood and Impact Assessment

Likelihood estimations consider threat capability, system vulnerabilities, and existing controls. For example, the ability of nation-states to carry out persistent cyber-attacks suggests a high likelihood of intrusion. The potential impact of such intrusions can be severe, including exposure of confidential intelligence, diplomatic fallout, and operational disruptions. Impact analysis uses categories such as minor, moderate, significant, or catastrophic to assess consequences ranging from operational inconvenience to national security compromise. Combining likelihood and impact assessments enables the determination of overall risk levels, guiding priority-setting for controls.

Step 4: Risk Evaluation and Prioritization

Using risk matrices, threats are categorized based on their likelihood and impact scores. Cases like unauthorized access to classified data and breaches caused by malware are rated as high risks requiring immediate remediation. Singular events like theft of a classified laptop are also prioritized due to their potential to cause grave damage. BRI’s current controls are inadequately addressing these risks, as evident from the documented deficiencies. These evaluations inform a prioritized list of vulnerabilities that need urgent attention, influencing the design of security controls.

Step 5: Security Controls and Program Development

To mitigate identified risks, BRI needs a suite of security controls aligned with NIST SP 800-53 framework, including access controls, encryption, audit logging, intrusion detection, and physical security enhancements. Additional programs include security awareness training to educate personnel about social engineering and insider threats, privacy safeguards to protect sensitive data, and business continuity/disaster recovery plans to ensure operational resilience. Justifying investments in these controls involves emphasizing potential cost savings by preventing breaches, safeguarding national security, and maintaining diplomatic trust. Implementing multi-layered security measures will significantly reduce BRI’s residual risk levels.

Conclusion

The comprehensive security risk assessment underscores critical vulnerabilities in BRI’s infrastructure, processes, and personnel security. By systematically applying NIST guidelines, the assessment identified high-priority risks and recommended targeted controls and programs. Implementing these measures will enhance BRI’s resilience against evolving threats, protect sensitive intelligence, and ensure compliance with federal security standards. The final step involves communicating findings effectively to senior management to facilitate informed decision-making and resource allocation, ensuring BRI’s strategic security objectives are achieved.

References

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