Chuvakin's blog

As far as awesomeness is concerned  [and I am a big student of it :-)], this is full of it. BrightTalk Log Management Summit promises to be as awesome as logging events go... Here is an agenda:

WHEN: Thursday, August 19, 2010, attend live online throughout the day or afterward on-demand

HOW: Register Now: http://www.brighttalk.com/r/vbf

TOPICS AND PRESENTERS:

• “Log Standards & Future Trends” by Dr. Anton Chuvakin, Principal, Security Warrior Consulting
• “Leveraging Logs, Information and Events” by Derek Brink, VP & Research Fellow for IT Security, Aberdeen Group
• “Log Visualization in the Cloud” by Raffael Marty, Chief Logger, SecViz.org <– how come they don’t mention Loggly here?
• “The Integration Lifecycle: Loving Long Logging Lifecycles” by Andrew Hay, CISSP, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Security Practice, The 451 Group <- high chance for an awesomeness boost from Andrew!
• “Best Practice and Approaches for Log Management” by Ritesh Singhai, Senior Security Engineer, SecureWorks
• “Delivering Value from SIEM” by Chris Burtenshaw, Information & Technology Risk Manager, Deloitte

Enjoy! And “see” you there on August 19th.

Possibly related posts:

• Brief Log Management Class
• SANS Log Management Class in California?
• FINALLY! SANS SEC434 "The" Log Management Class (2-day version!) in Northern California on Sep 9-10, 2010

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

Given the amount of attention my previous security career post gathered (“A Myth ….”), it is time for a new one. Some of it is inspired by Source Boston 2010 mentoring panel, a gift that just keeps on giving (BTW, I signed up as a mentor with that new project, InfoSecMentors).

So, let’s talk about security skills that you can prove, skills that you need for a job and skills that will pass HR filters. It shocks me – to put it mildly – that these three are often completely different – and not even overlapping.

Which ones do you need to develop? Should you spend time writing papers, hacking code or reading up on 10 domains of “see-bee-kay”? Should you get good at something that will not be immediately obvious to everybody (like reversing malware) or spent time doing something visible (like writing papers about malware without having first-hand knowledge of how it works)? Should you choose sexy esoteric area of security, get really good at it – and then notice that nobody wants to hire you for that – with the possible exception of a Russian crime syndicate? :-)

While it is extremely tempting to bark “All of them!” and stop right there, the reality seems more complex to me, as it almost always is.

• Skills that help pass HR filters (and especially certifications like “see-sssss-ph”) sure seem important as you won’t even have a chance to get to using your other skills aka be hired – unless you are a master-ninja-networker! By the way, buzzword - loading your resume is not about skills - it is about a socially acceptable form of lying: TCP/IP, UDP, ICMP, BGP, IDS, IPS, W3C, CIFS, WAF, DLP, GRC, SIEM, NAC, IAM, SNMP, SMTP, POP3, HTTP, NASL, IPv6 … ASS :-)
• Skills that will help you do the job obviously vary depending on what job you have in mind. For most entry- and mid-level security roles, these skills are technical (sorry, Mssrs Security Policy Writers). From log analysis to IPS tuning to firewall management to web application scanning, the range is broad and you need to choose.  You can pick an area and then go really deep; however, it is worthwhile to try not to pick “typewriter repair” as an area of specialization :-) Fortunately, since none of the security problems we ever faced have been solved yet, choosing wrong is very hard. If you are still lost, pick application security or pentesting. These are not going away – EVER!
• Skills that are easy to prove - typically via a multiple choice test - is another interesting set: some technical skills (such as knowledge about what is in TCP/IP header) are easy to test, while others (such as an ability to do web app penetration testing) are extremely hard to validate. I guess social engineering is an ultimate “unprovable” skill, while knowledge about how to configure a Cisco router is easier to prove. BTW, I’ve met some “Cisco Gear Master Magicians” whose skills bordered on divine – they can literally get that box to do anything.

And if I were to give some advice on this that I wish I received when I started in security, I’d say focus your energies like this:

1. Put most of you energy in developing skills that will be most useful at work – work you do at your current job or the one you dream about (aka your next job :-)) As I said above, it is more likely that these skills are technical.
2. However, balance the time you spent practicing technical skills that are simply fun for you with the ones that are easy to prove to potential employees. Let’s call them “visible skills.”
3. Severely limit the time you spent on developing skills just to pass HR filters – instead get better at networking! Darn, even Twitter skills are better than practicing your daily laps in alphabet soup like the mess above.

To figure out that point, I once asked my wise mentor “Why do you still run /bin/bash, awk around and install Fedora, after you wrote three books, sold a company, gave a dozen keynote speeches and run a profitable consulting business for many years?” He – wisely, of course – said: “So that I can be a sysadmin if shit hits the fan.” This line is still stuck in my head after many years!!

Otherwise, you risk being of those types who respond to an ad for “firewall admin, must have CISSP” and end up crashing the network, which is kinda sad. For example, for many years I’ve had this bizarre unconscious skepticism towards people whose main skill is to write security policy. Writing this post cleared my head as to why: a well-written security policy does EXACTLY nothing for security … unless it is implemented.

Finally, some folks reading this will say – “screw the skills, I just want to be an expensive loudmouth for hire.” OK. There are indeed a few who rose to such noble occupation… First, you have to slave away for many years doing something else – and then hope that eventually people will want to pay to listen to your rants. Second, you can join Gartner, still slave away for a few years – and then maybe people will pay for your “loudmouthery.” In both cases, you’d still need some “+5” to Luck :-) And then maybe you can be “a mercenary loudmouth.”

But this is likely a subject of another post.

Possibly related posts:

• A Myth of An Expert Generalist
• Source Boston 2010 Conference Notes
• All posts labeled “career”

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

It will happen! My SANS SEC434 Log Management Class will be taught in in Northern California on Sep 9-10, 2010 in its never-before-seen extended 2-day version (with loads of cool hands-on log mangling exercises). The announcement follows below:

Log Management In-Depth: Compliance, Security, Forensics, and Troubleshooting
Thursday, September 9, 2010 - Friday, September 10, 2010

“This first-ever dedicated log management class for IT and security managers will cover system, network, and security logs and their management at an organization. We will start with the basics, like making sure that logs exist, and then go on to touch upon everything from managing log storage, to analysis techniques, to log forensics and regulatory issues related to logging.

In the beginning, we will cover various log types and provide configuration guidance, describe a phased approach to implementing a company-wide log management program, and go into specific tasks that IT and security managers need to be focusing on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis in regards to log monitoring.

A unique and comprehensive section that covers the hot topic of using logs for regulatory compliance, such as PCI DSS, will also be presented. Everybody knows that logs are essential for resolving compliance challenges; this class will teach you what you need to concentrate on and how to make your log management compliance-friendly.

The class will also touch upon various uses of logs for incident response, forensics, and operational monitoring. Common logging mistakes, learned from many years of working with logs, will also be explained.”

Class Location:

UC Davis
Room 1065, Kemper Hall, UC Davis
1 Shields Ave
Davis, CA
Web site: www.ucdavis.edu

The price is actually VERY reasonable.

Sign up … NOW! I mean it!! :-)

Possibly related posts:

• SANS Log Management Class in California?

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

• PCI Security: Q&A with Anton Chuvakin, PCI Compliance Expert, PART 2 « VPN Haus

As a favor to another friend, I am posting this fun SIEM field job here:

“TECHNOLOGY SALES SPECIALIST (PRESALES), Security Products

We are seeking an exceptional individual to serve as a presales technical expert in the sale of Novell Security Management products to a variety of clients throughout the US and Canada.”

“You will be the technology expert in the sales effort as a Novell sales team works with a variety of companies in positioning Novell ISM products.  While you are part of the sales team, your efforts will still be dedicated to technical tasks up to 75% of your time.”

Full details.

Possibly related posts:

• SIEM-related Product Management Job: Atlanta, GA

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

• PCI Security: Q&A with Anton Chuvakin, PCI Compliance Expert « VPN Haus

Some of you remember the project started at SANS Log Management Summit 2006 called “SANS Top 5 Essential Log Reports.” You can still grab the old document here [PDF]. Recently, I volunteered to create a 2010 version of SANS Top 5 Log Reports.
With help from others [to be credited when the project is complete, but definitely with help from somebody named MJR :-)] and some research into past efforts, I have identified the report types and specific examples below as candidates for a new Top 7 Essential Log Reports list – and now I need your help!
Initially, I wanted people to vote for 5 out of the 7 candidates, but let’s do it differently: just comment on the list below (blog comments, your own blogs – please post a li here, email, twitter, etc) or suggest your own most useful, most popular log reports or even report categories. There is no reason why we can’t have Top 7 or Top N>7 useful log reports :-)

NEW PROPOSED Top 7 Essential Log ReportsTop Log Report Candidate 1. Authentication and Authorization Reports
a. Login Failures and Successes
b. Attempts to gain unauthorized access through existing accounts
c. Privileged account access (success, failure)
d. VPN Authentication and other remote access (success, failure)
e. Please add more reports you find useful!
Top Log Report Candidate 2. Change Reports
a. Addition/Changes/Deletions to Users, Groups and Services
b. Change to configurations
c. Application installs and Updates
d. Please add more reports you find useful!
Top Log Report Candidate 3. Network Activity Reports [used to be called “Suspicious or Unauthorized Network Traffic Patterns” in the old Top 5 list]
a. Top Internal Systems Connecting Through Firewall // Summary of Outbound Connections
b. Network Services Transiting A Firewall
c. Top Largest File Transfers Through the Firewall
d. Internal Systems Using Many Different Protocols/Ports
e. Top Internal Systems With NIDS Alerts
f. Proxy Report on File Uploads
g. Please add more reports you find useful!
Top Log Report Candidate 4. Resource Access Reports
a. File
i. Failed File or Resource Access Attempts
b. Database
i. Top Database Users
ii. Summary of Query Types
iii. SELECT Data Volume
iv. All Users Executing INSERT/DELETE Commands
v. Database Backups
c. Email
i. Top Internal Email Addresses by Volume of Messages
ii. Top Attachment Types with Sizes
iii. Top Internal Systems Sending Spam // Top Internal Systems Sending Email NOT Through Mail Server
c. Please add more reports you find useful!
Top Log Report Candidate 5. Malware Activity Reports
a. Top systems with anti-malware events
b. Detect-only events from anti-malware tools (“leave-alones”)
c. Anti-virus protection failures by type
d. Internal malware connections (all sources)
e. Please add more reports you find useful!
Top Log Report Candidate 6. “Various FAIL”
a. Critical Errors
b. Backup failures
c. Capacity / Limit Exhaustion
d. System and Application Starts, Shutdowns and Restarts
e. Please add more reports you find useful!
Top Log Report Candidate 7. Analytic Reports  [Mostly Using “Never Before Seen” (NBS) aka “NEW Type/Object” Analysis]
a. NEW (NBS) IDS/IPS Alert Types
b. NEW (NBS) Log Entry Types
c. NEW (NBS) Users Authentication Success
d. NEW (NBS) Internal Systems Connecting Through Firewall
e. NEW (NBS) Ports Accessed
f. NEW (NBS) HTTP Request Types
g. NEW (NBS) Query Types on Database
h. Please add more NBS or other analytic reports you find useful!

So, please help this project by commenting via whatever means!!!

BTW, I think I perused all the previous efforts to distill log reports (such as this one), but feel free to point me to such things as well.

Finally, if you are a SIEM or log management vendor, please consider supporting the resulting reports in your products – after they are finalized by the community and released by SANS.

Possibly related posts:

• Simple Log Review Checklist

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

I just came back from Amsterdam where I presented my keynote "Security Chasm" at Hack In The Box 2010 conference European debut. Both the keynote and the entire conference were a lot of fun - but then again WTH do expect from an event in Amsterdam? Below are my notes from the event.

It is worthwhile to note that I was the first speaker of the first day, which put some extra responsibility onto my shoulders. The main theme of my speech was that we have essentially two "securities" - one where people do paper risk assessments, "align strategy" and “enable business” and another where people actually deal with consequences of intrusions and other burning technical issues. You can read some notes from the audience here (and here) and live tweeting here.

Next I went to Fyodor Yarochkin presentation on Russian cybercrime called “From Russia with Love 2.0.” While lots of people speak about Russian cybercrime, Fyodor’s take was interesting and new (at least to me). First, did you know that most Russian malicious hackers face no ethical challenges - they think of what they do simply as "making money online?" For example, Fyodor reported that people were asking on one of the forums "Is it legal to Google for card numbers and then use them?" :-)  Along the same line, he does not think many of them are “professionals” - but simply people making some money on the side off “stupid rich foreigners” [A.C. – we are talking about you, dear merchants ignoring PCI DSS… :-)].  Despite all that, he did describe a lot of interesting bits of criminal infrastructure such as eBay-like site for selling stolen Skype accounts with online feedbacks (for assuring stolen account reliability, ya know) and “conversion services” for transferring money, say from WebMoney to PayPal.

The speaker also mentioned that the rumors of Russian political hackers are “greatly exaggerated” - by far the most are in it for the money (and, yes, you can hire some to further your political goals like blowing away Twitter for $80/day, but it doesn’t make them “political hackers”).  Another curious resource he highlighted was a complete tutorial for “making money online” - where to start if you are a complete amateur, barely know computers, but want to make money. Another fun bit was that he described how much DoS costs have fallen…

Now, the other part of his presentation was a description of his research tool for automatic intelligence gathering and analysis, complete with text mining, jargon conversion and language translation.

Another worthwhile speech that I would like to highlight was the second keynote by Mark Curphey - who “left” security a while back. It was so visual and hard to summarize that I probably won't do it justice here - just check his deck. It was about his “10 Crazy Ideas to Improve Security” such as “#2 stop human pattern matching” (ha, I wish we knew how to do that :-)) and “#3 community statistical analysis for security.” Audience comments are here.

Also, I went to the presentation by the author of Maltego analysis tool.  I have long been curious about the capabilities of this tool, and it seems like v3 will come with even more magic such as “named entity recognition ” (NER) which allows the tool to extract names of people and countries out of the analysis. And it might tell you who wins the 2010 FIFA World Cup … and be wrong about it :-)

As far as fun hallway conversation is concerned, I had a couple of very fun chats: one with Rop Gonggrijp about climate change and geopolitics and one with Mark Curphey on using agile for security (and security in agile software development)

Finally, presentation materials can be found here.  Videos are promised to be posted soon! Enjoy!

BTW, if you’d like to invite me to speak at your conference, please do so, but keep in kind that flying around and speaking does not pay the bills :-)

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

Blogs are "stateless" and people often pay attention only to what they see today. Thus a lot of useful security reading material gets lost.  These monthly round-ups is my way of reminding people about interesting blog content. If you are “too busy to read the blogs,” at least read these.

So, here is my next monthly "Security Warrior" blog round-up of top 5 popular posts/topics.

1. By a HUGE margin again, the #1 post this month is “Simple Log Review Checklist Released!” Grab our log review checklist here, if you have not done so already. It is perfect to hand out to junior sysadmins who are just starting up with logs. Another similar resource is in the works… If you are a vendor, you can also use it to market your logging awesomeness :-) - but you have  to keep the attribution to the authors.
2. “How Do I Get The Best SIEM?”, a companion to “On Choosing SIEM“, went to the top like lighting last month and stayed there this month. If you are thinking of getting a SIEM or a log management tool, check them out and also look at related resources at the end of these posts.
3. Next up are my notes from University PCI DSS workshop where I delivered a keynote: “My Best PCI DSS Presentation EVER!” (the infamous “compliance kitten” quotes comes from here)
4. “How PCI Leads to DLP?” discusses the linkage between PCI DSS compliance and Data Leak/Loss Prevention/Protection (DLP) tools. And, no, PCI DSS won’t mandate DLP soon – but it doesn’t mean that you should not look at it for various PCI-related reasons.
5. “The Myth of SIEM as “An Analyst-in-the-box” or How NOT to Pick a SIEM-II?” and ““I Want to Buy Correlation” or How NOT to Pick a SIEM?” stay at the top – it seems like smaller organizations are looking at deploying SIEM and log management and there is a lot of interest in simple guidance on this.

Also, below I am thanking my top 5 referrers this month (those who are people, not organizations). So, thanks a lot to the following people whose blogs sent the most visitors to my blog:

1. Michał Wiczyński
2. Raffael Marty
3. Dancho Danchev
4. Richard Beitlich
5. Cédric Blancher

See you in July; also see my annual “Top Posts” - 2007, 2008,  2009!

Possibly related posts / past monthly popular blog round-ups:

• Monthly Blog Round-Up – May 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – April 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – March 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – February 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – January 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – December 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – November 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – October 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – September 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – August 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – July 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – June 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – May 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – April 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – March 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – February 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - January 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - December 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - November 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - October 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - September 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - August 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - July 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - June 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - May 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - April 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - March 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - February 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - January 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - December 2007
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - November 2007
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - October 2007
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - September 2007
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - August 2007

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

• IBM To Acquire Privately Held BigFix For Undisclosed Terms - Quick Facts

This post is not just an announcement; it contains a BIG question to my readers, mostly in California and around.

As you know, I have authored a SANS Log Management Class (SEC434) which is almost out of beta and near production stage, after a few years of tuning and trial runs. We are thinking of teaching it in California during the second week of August 2010. Via this blog post, I wanted to get some quick feedback from my readers about how many might want to sign up for it. So, please just leave a comment here if you’d like to attend!

Also, I wanted to check whether anybody’s employer (a log management or SIEM vendor perhaps…) would be willing to provide a venue to teach a class. We just need a room with a projector, nothing fancy. In exchange for that, SANS will give you some free attendance seats for the class. So, drop me an email, DM or something, if you’d like to take this opportunity.

The updated information on the class follows below:

“This first-ever dedicated log management class teaches system, network, and security logs, their analysis and management and covers the complete lifecycle of dealing with logs: the whys, hows and whats.

You will learn how to enable logging and then how to deal with the resulting data deluge by managing data retention, analyzing data using search, filtering and correlation as well as how to apply what you learned to key business and security problems. The class also teaches applications of logging to forensics, incident response and regulatory compliance.

In the beginning, you will learn what to do with various log types and provide brief configuration guidance for common information systems. Next, you will learn a phased approach to implementing a company-wide log management program, and go into specific log-related tasks that needs to be done on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis in regards to log review and monitoring.

Everyone is looking for a path through the PCI DSS and other regulatory compliance maze and that is what you will learn in the next section of the course. Logs are essential for resolving compliance challenges; this class will teach you what you need to concentrate on and how to make your log management compliance-friendly. And people who are already using log management for compliance will learn how to expand the benefits of you log management tools beyond compliance.

You will learn to leverage logs for critical tasks related to incident response, forensics, and operational monitoring. Logs provide one of the key information sources while responding to an incident and this class will teach you how to utilize various log types in the frenzy of an incident investigation.

Finally, the class author, Dr. Anton Chuvakin, probably has more experience in the application of logs to IT and IT security than anyone else in the industry. This means he and the other instructors chosen to teach this course have made a lot of mistakes along the way. You can save yourself a lot of pain and your organization a lot of money by learning about the common mistakes people make working with logs.”

P.S. Response to comments might be delayed, I am away from my computers.

Possibly related posts:

• Brief Log Management Class
• SANS Log Management Survey 2010 is Out!
• Two New Logging Resources Published

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

This year, Workshop on the Analysis of System Logs (WASL) is reborn as SLAML. Please consider submitting a short paper (no need to do a full academic write-up!). The deadline is July 11.

“Join us in Vancouver, BC, Canada, October 2–3, 2010, for the Workshop on Managing Systems via Log Analysis and Machine Learning Techniques. Modern large-scale systems are challenging to manage. Fortunately, as these systems generate massive amounts of performance and diagnostic data, there is an opportunity to make system administration and development simpler via automated techniques to extract actionable information from the data. SLAML '10 workshop addresses this problem in two thrusts: (i) the analysis of raw system data logs and (ii) the application of machine learning to systems problems. The large overlap in these topics should promote a rich interchange of ideas between the areas.

SLAML '10 combines the Workshop on the Analysis of System Logs (WASL) and the Workshop on Tackling Computer Systems Problems with Machine Learning Techniques (SysML)."

The part related to logs is:

“Log Analysis: It is well known that raw system logs are an abundant source of information for the analysis and diagnosis of system problems and prediction of future system events. However, a lack of organization and semantic consistency between system data from various software and hardware vendors means that most of this information content is wasted. Current approaches to extracting information from the raw system data capture only a fraction of the information available and do not scale to the large systems common in business and supercomputing environments. It is thus a significant research challenge to determine how to better process and combine information from these data sources.”

The topics sought are:

“Topics include but are not limited to:

• Reports on publicly available sources of sample system logs
• Prediction of malfunction or misuse based on system data
• Statistical analysis of system logs
• Applications of Natural-Language Processing (NLP) to system data
• Techniques for system log analysis, comparison, standardization, compression, anonymization, and visualization
• Applications of log analysis to system administration problems
• Use of machine learning techniques to address reliability, performance, power management, security, fault diagnosis, scheduling, or manageability issues
• Challenges of scale in applying machine learning to large systems
• Integration of machine learning into real-world systems and processes
• Evaluating the quality of learned models, including assessing the confidence/reliability of models and comparisons between different methods”

Please submit to advance the state of log analysis research! Past workshop information is here (2008, 2009).

P.S. This is posted by a scheduler; response to comments may be delayed since I might be away from computers.

Possibly related posts:

• Free Log Data For Research – Update
• Workshop on the Analysis of System Logs (WASL) 2009 CFP
• Workshop on the Analysis of System Logs (WASL) 2010 CFP Out!

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

Securosis folks are starting off a new data security survey “focused on evaluating perceived effectiveness of various controls, as well as some other incident data.” In other words, they are starting The Holy Grail of Security Surveys: how/why what we do works or fails. It only takes about 10-20 minutes to complete – but can provide hugely useful data.

Please participate!

The survey is available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/datasec2010

If asked for a code, enter "SecurosisAwesome"

Enjoy!

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

By now, it is increasingly obvious that PCI DSS does not (and likely will not) mandate the use of Data Leak Prevention (DLP) technology now or in the near future. This applies to both discovery and monitoring/enforcement aspects of DLP. However, I am hearing that the percentage of DLP deployments driven by PCI DSS compliance is rising. What’s the story with that?
While a certain percentage of such deployments  simply point “in the general direction of PCI” to get budget (huh…nothing wrong with that :-)), I’d like to comment on the fact that DLP often makes a decent compensating control for many PCI DSS requirements.

First, unless you read the PCI book already, read Branden’s chapter on the Art of Compensating Control (this paper [PDF] has some of the same coverage).
So, here is where I have seen DLP boxes used as compensating controls (warning: evidence of QSA actually accepting it was not available in all cases, so use this advice at your own risk)

• Stored data encryption (Requirement 3.4 “Render PAN, at minimum, unreadable anywhere it is stored”): DLP was used to compensate for the lack of STORED data encryption. The thinking was that if the data cannot leave the storage (…via the network), DLP was satisfying the same intent as encryption in the original requirement.  Would I agree that “it goes above and beyond” the original? Good question :-)
• Access control (Requirement 7.1 “Limit access to system components and cardholder data to only those individuals whose job requires such access.”): DLP was used to reduce the chance of PANs falling into the wrong hands and thus satisfying the spirit of this requirement.
• Monitoring access to data (Requirement 10.2 “Implement automated audit trails for all system components to reconstruct the following events:  […] All individual accesses to cardholder data”): while logging is a common choice here, DLP was used to make sure that all network access to cardholder data is recorded. The reason for choosing DLP over logging was due to the fact that the company didn’t know how to configure logging, but knew how to buy a DLP box :-)

Others examples of auxiliary use of DLP for PCI DSS included verifying that Requirement 4.1 (“Use strong cryptography and
security protocols such as SSL/TLS or IPSEC to safeguard sensitive cardholder data during transmission over open, public networks”) is indeed being followed. In this case, DLP served as a glorified PAN sniffer.
On top of this, the discovery components of DLP tools are often used for scoping. See some fierce debate on this issue, referenced from here. To summarize, the use of DLP and standalone data discovery tools for PCI scoping is certainly not mandatory, but very helpful. On top of this, one can use a DLP system to make sure that scope does not explode when people pull card data from the payment environment to development, QA, etc, etc.
Finally, I see the fact that PCI-motivated use of DLP tools is growing as something positive. To me it says that people are following the spirit of DSS and not simply its letter (of course, one can also say that they are reaching for a DLP box as an easy way out). Indeed, despite everything that was said above, deleting cardholder data is still a better way to make sure it does not get stolen or “lost”…
(also, as a disclosure, I serve on an advisory board of a DLP company, nexTier Networks that has a product called Compliance Enforcer)
Possibly related posts:

• On DLP, PCI and QSAs
• Fun Views on DLP
• DLP Works – If You Know What “Works” Mean!
• A Few More Words on DLP and Compliance
• So, CAN We Have DLP?
• In Passing on DLP
• All posts labeled DLP

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

Given that I spent this entire week getting back into a SIEM-building game [don’t ask :-)], a few thoughts on the state of Security Information and Event Management have dawned on me.

Some security technologies – like network firewalls - are getting pretty darn close to being commoditized and differences between products are ever-so-close to being wiped out.

SIEM, let me tell you, is nowhere near this.  Maybe this also has something to do with the fact that Gartner SIEM MQ 2010 (see this fun commentary from Rocky and his view on SIEM history) contain so many players for so many years. To follow up on this, here is a fun quote from Gartner MQ on SIEM: “There are signs of general convergence on a core set of [SIEM] capabilities.”

Do you know WHEN the above was written? March 2003!

2003! In other words, full 7 (!) years after first SIEM products were built. And also - full 7 (!) years  ago. Look to the right to see how SIEM realm looked back then [yes, Brian, I just reread all SIEM MQs from 2003 to 2010 – just for fun :-)]

Today, in 2010, there is still NO “best SIEM for everybody” and there is NO feature parity even across key capabilities.

Yes, there is a SIEM tool that seems better for large enterprises with unlimited budget. But overall “best SIEM"? Nope.

In fact, I bet that …

If you pick five top SIEM requirements AND 5 “top” SIEM vendors, then at least one of the tools will REALLY SUCK on at least one of the key requirements.

The reality is that after so many years, all – well, most -  SIEM tools actually “run” - but do they always “work?” Let me explain the difference between a software that RUNS from the one that WORKS. “Runs” means that code compiles and, when executed, does not throw an exception. On the other hand, “works” means that it delivers value to its buyer. For example, rule-based correlation runs (well, unless it runs out of memory…oops!), but doesn’t work in many environments (see recent Securosis piece on that). Real-time dashboards run, but aren’t even utilized in many environments. Visualization tools run, but often users cannot get them to work. Risk scoring / statistical correlation runs, but often doesn’t deliver useful results.

And you known, believe it or not, SIEM vendors are NOT the ones to blame for it. Many are honest in saying that “Yes, to succeed,  a SIEM project takes work BY it’s buyer/user.” So, your SIEM likely will WORK, if you WORK on it.

Now, let’s turn this into something practical and useful? What’s a poor SIEM buyer – whether enterprise or mid-market - to do? How to pick the right SIEM?

The only choice I see is the one that won’t surprise my readers: focus on requirements, define your SIEM use cases – and then test the products. Buy the one that WORKS FOR YOU! Some ideas on the selection process can be found here.

Enjoy!

Possibly related posts:

• On Choosing SIEM
• One More Time on SIEM vs Log Management
• The Myth of SIEM as "An Analyst-in-the-box" or How NOT to Pick a SIEM-II?
• Log Management / SIEM Users: "Minimalist" vs "Analyst"
• Two New Logging Resources Published
• Recent SIEM/Log Management Webcast Q&A
• All posts tagged SIEM

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

• FOXNews.com - 10 Bizarre-but-True Ways Your Home Is Susceptible to Hackers

Blogs are "stateless" and people often only pay attention to what they see today. Thus a lot of useful security reading material gets lost.  These monthly round-ups is my way of reminding people about interesting content. If you are “too busy to read the blogs,” at least read these.

So, here is my next monthly "Security Warrior" blog round-up of top 5 popular posts/topics.

1. By a HUGE margin again, the #1 post this month is “Simple Log Review Checklist Released!” Grab our log review checklist here, if you have not done so already. It is perfect to hand out to junior sysadmins who are just starting up with logs. Another similar resource is in the works…
2. Next up are my notes from University PCI DSS workshop where I delivered a keynote: “My Best PCI DSS Presentation EVER!” (the infamous “compliance kitten” quotes comes from here)
3. Everybody loved my whitepaper on SIEM+ log management, released via the post called “Two New Logging Resources Published.” Check out the paper here (registration with Novell required). Just as a  preview, another big research whitepaper on SIEM is in the works….
4. A recent post “On Choosing SIEM“ went to the top like lighting last month and stayed there this month. If you are thinking of getting a SIEM or a log management tool, check it out – please also look at related resources there at the end.
5. Proving that all SIEM/LM vendor product managers read this blog, the post “Log Management / SIEM Users: “Minimalist” vs “Analyst”” is in the Top5 too. It is about two vastly different types of people who buy and [try to] use SIEM and log management tools.
6. Just for a good measure, the item #6 of my Top 5 :-) is “Compliance Mega-Epiphany!”

Also, below I am thanking my top 5 referrers this month (those who are people, not organizations). So, thanks a lot to the following people whose blogs sent the most visitors to my blog:

1. Walt Conway
2. Michał Wiczyński
3. Dancho Danchev
4. Cédric Blancher
5. Kevin  Riggins

See you in May ; also see my annual “Top Posts” - 2007, 2008,  2009!

Possibly related posts / past monthly popular blog round-ups:

• Monthly Blog Round-Up – April 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – March 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – February 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – January 2010
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – December 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – November 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – October 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – September 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – August 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – July 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – June 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – May 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – April 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – March 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up – February 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - January 2009
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - December 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - November 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - October 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - September 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - August 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - July 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - June 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - May 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - April 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - March 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - February 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - January 2008
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - December 2007
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - November 2007
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - October 2007
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - September 2007
• Monthly Blog Round-Up - August 2007

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

As a favor to a friend, I am posting this job ad, related to SIEM, log management and MSSP.

This Product Manager role will primarily be responsible for SecureWorks next-generation correlation and analysis offering.

“This is a mid-level position reporting to the Vice President of Product Management. This position involves responsibility for defining new service lines as well as managing existing service lines. It is a highly visible position with enhanced opportunity for career growth.

In this role, you will drive product strategy and planning for your services and will lead the matrix team responsible for delivering these service lines. Your focus will be to work with the VP of Product Management and the Chief Marketing Officer to develop a compelling vision for your service and to execute, measure, and adjust the strategy accordingly. You must have experience in security technologies, enterprise and commercial markets, and ideally managed services. You would use your client input, market knowledge, and experience to define product plans and product requirements for services that will be highly competitive in the market and can be delivered efficiently through our Security Operations Center.”

All details and how to apply here.

So, if you end up getting hired, make sure to remember to buy me a beer :-)

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

A few weeks ago week I did this fun webcast with NitroSecurity (recording) on Log Management and SIEM; here are some belated Q&A we got there:

 

Q1: Is it Security Incident Event Management or Security Information and Event Mgmt?

A1: SIEM stands for Security Information and Event Management. But please shoot whatever market analyst who first mistook ‘information’ for ‘incident’

 

Q2: What is the level of personnel resources are needed to maintain a SIEM?

A2: This is what is known as "one million dollar question” :-) First, it depends on your SIEM “use cases” – essentially on what you plan to accomplish using a SIEM. You can read “SIEM Bloggables” to see some of the high-level usage scenarios. For example, you might acquire and use a SIEM for reviewing compliance reports once a month. In this case, your personnel requirement will probably not exceed a few hours of 1 FTE.  On the other extreme, you might be building a Security Operations Center (SOC) for a global enterprise based on a SIEM. In this case, you might be looking at dozens of people of varying skill levels, from junior analyst to senior SOC managers.

 

Q3: Please explain chain of custody.

A3: Wikipedia’s definition is just fine, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_of_custody. In brief: “Chain of custody (CoC) refers to the chronological documentation or paper trail, showing the seizure, custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of evidence, physical or electronic.”

 

Q4: How long does PCI DSS require logs to be kept?

A4: As per PCI DSS v 1.2.1 Requirement 10.7: “Retain audit trail history [A.C. – i.e. logs] for at least one year, with a minimum of three months immediately available for analysis (for example, online, archived, or restorable from back-up).” A typical SIEM or log management tool can hold 90 days of data with up to 1 year available in file backups.

 

Q5: Does adding context/content sources slow the SIEM down?

A5: It depends on the SIEM. Some of the commercial products are slow even without anything being added to them :-) Others can handle extreme event loads. So, the only way to know for sure is to use it in your environment, with your log data and with your context data (assets, vulnerabilities, user roles, etc).

 

BTW, slides similar to those I used at the webinar are posted at Slideshare and embedded below:

Making Log Data Useful: SIEM and Log Management TogetherView more presentations from Anton Chuvakin.

Enjoy!

Possibly related posts:

• One More Time on SIEM vs Log Management
• The Myth of SIEM as "An Analyst-in-the-box" or How NOT to Pick a SIEM-II?
• On Choosing SIEM
• Two New Logging Resources Published
• Log Management / SIEM Users: "Minimalist" vs "Analyst"
• IANS 3/25 Log Webcast Q&A
• SIEM Bloggables
• On SIEM Complexity
• All SIEM blog posts.

About me: http://www.chuvakin.org

• Symantec Faces Serious Challenges With VeriSign Security Buy
  Both market dynamics and the lack of synergy suggest that the acquisition will not improve Symantec's competitiveness in security. EPIC FAIL! sez Gartner :-)
• Layer 8 Audit instructions.