Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Blogs
    • Security Watch

    New Cyber-Sec Institute Cuts on CAG

    By
    Matthew Hines
    -
    August 6, 2009
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      At least one group of experienced government cyber-security policy makers is already throwing a wet blanket on the newly approved Consensus Audit Guidelines, itself a set of IT security best practices developed by a consortium of government agencies and their private sector partners.

      The Cyber Secure Institute, an effort led by former policy makers from the Clinton and Carter administrations that touts itself as “an analysis and advocacy institute dedicated to serving as the voice for effective cyber-security,” issued its critique of the highly touted CAG best practices on Wednesday, painting the list of 20 recommended security controls a nice start but hardly sufficient to meet the lofty goals they seek to address.

      The CAG is aimed at setting forth a list of security practices and controls for federal agencies and their partners to help address the continued issues of electronic infiltration and data leakage that have plagued the U.S. government in recent years — and likely for as long as there have been computers in federal agencies and hackers around to assail them.

      The controls were created by NIST and a long list of three letter agencies, along with influential private sector constituencies such as security training experts SANS Institute.

      “Overall, the Institute sees the NIST recommendations as an important step forward in bringing a more unified, coherent and integrated approach to IT security,” Rob Housman, acting executive director and chairman of CSI, said in a position paper.

      “[The CAG] make important security strides in a number of key areas, however, they also raise a number of serious questions.”

      Among the criticisms that the expert levels at the guidelines is that they do not “apply to vast numbers of Federal IT systems that could have major impacts on the nation and individual Americans if breached,” including critical national health systems. Those systems are only required to meet simpler baseline requirements under CAG and therefore will likely remain under-protected, Houseman said.

      The expert contends that the CAG recommendations also fail to provide “a mechanism for certifying or validating that specific IT systems meet the NIST requirements that they are being deployed to fulfill.”

      The implication is that making rules is a nice gesture, but somewhat pointless if no one moves to ensure that they are being met.

      While some might argue that the introduction of the CAG, as with other freshly minted security mandates like the Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) Data Security Standard, represent a useful step forward and an initial movement toward even stronger policies, Cyber Secure Institute maintains that sophisticated cyber-criminals and foreign intelligence operatives will still easily elude the new controls.

      “The recommendations on their face seem to adopt the current hack and patch approach to cyber-security,” said Houseman. “They do not explicitly require that IT systems be actually secure against the real world threats we face.”

      Better than nothing or woefully insufficient. You make the call.

      Matt Hines has been following the IT industry for over a decade as a reporter and blogger, and has been specifically focused on the security space since 2003, including a previous stint writing for eWeek and contributing to the Security Watch blog. Hines is currently employed as marketing communications manager at Core Security Technologies, a Boston-based maker of security testing software. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Core Security, and neither the company, nor its products and services will be actively discussed in the blog. Please send news, research or tips to SecurityWatchBlog@gmail.com.

      Matthew Hines
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×