CISSP Concepts Guide

Version 1.0

By: Muhammad Waleed Khaliq

Version v1.0 CISSP Concepts Guide by: M. Waleed Khaliq

Disclaimer
This guide in designed to provide conceptual & relevant knowledge to the readers. The information
is collected from different sources while I was preparing for the exam. The agenda behind this
guide is to provide precise information and knowledge to reader. This guide is covering extensive
amount of information which is usually asked in the exam.

References used in this guide:

1. Sybex CISSP 9th Edition

2. Luke Ahmed SNT
3. Thor Peterson
4. SANS CISSP MGT414
5. Memory Palace by Prashant Mohan
6. Exam Cram
7. Parbh Nair

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Contents
Domain 1: Security and Risk management ...................................................................................... 3

Domain 2: Asset Security .................................................................................................................. 41

Domain 3: Security Architecture and Engineering ................................................................... 50

Domain 4: Communications And Network Security ................................................................... 117

Domain 5: Identity and Access Management ............................................................................. 176

Domain 6: Security Assessment and Testing ............................................................................. 203

Domain 7: Security Operations....................................................................................................... 220

Domain 8: Software Development Security ................................................................................ 254

Terminologies.............................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

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Domain 1: Security and Risk management

The (ISC)2® code of ethics canons
1. Protect society, the commonwealth, and the infrastructure
2. Act honorably, honestly, justly, responsibly, and legally
3. Provide diligent and competent service to principals
4. Advance and protect the profession

Computer Ethics:
1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people’s computer work.
3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people’s computer files.
4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
6. Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.
7. Thou shalt not use other people’s computer resources without authorization or proper
compensation.
8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output.
9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or the
system you are designing.
10. Thou shalt always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect for your
fellow humans.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – Computer Society

The more important points of the IEEE Code of Ethics are summarized as follows:
1. Uphold high standards of integrity, responsible behavior, and ethical conduct in professional
activities
2. Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public
3. Avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest
4. Avoid unlawful conduct
5. Treat all persons fairly and with respect
6. Ensure the code is upheld by colleagues and coworkers

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Confidentiality is the concept of the measures used to ensure the protection of the secrecy of
data, objects, or resources.
• Encryption for data at rest (whole disk, database encryption)
• Encryption for data in transit (IPSec, TLS, PPTP, SSH)
• Access control (physical and technical)

Sensitivity refers to the quality of information, which could cause harm or damage if disclosed.

Discretion is an act of decision where an operator can influence or control disclosure in order to
minimize harm or damage.

Criticality The level to which information is mission critical is its measure of criticality. The higher
the level of criticality, the more likely the need to maintain the confidentiality of the information.

Concealment is the act of hiding or preventing disclosure. Often concealment is viewed as a means
of cover, obfuscation, or distraction. A related concept to concealment is security through
obscurity, which is the concept of attempting to gain protection through hiding, silence, or secrecy.

Secrecy is the act of keeping something a secret or preventing the disclosure of information.

Privacy refers to keeping information confidential that is personally identifiable or that might
cause harm, embarrassment, or disgrace to someone if revealed.

Seclusion involves storing something in an out-of-the-way location, likely with strict access
controls.

Isolation is the act of keeping something separated from others.

Integrity is the concept of protecting the reliability and correctness of data. Integrity protection
prevents unauthorized alterations of data. Like Hashing (data integrity), Configuration management
(system integrity), Change control (process integrity), Access control (physical and technical),
Software digital signing, Transmission cyclic redundancy check (CRC) functions

■ Accuracy: Being correct and precise

■ Truthfulness: Being a true reflection of reality
■ Validity: Being factually or logically sound
■ Accountability: Being responsible or obligated for actions and results
■ Responsibility: Being in charge or having control over something or someone
■ Completeness: Having all necessary components or parts
■ Comprehensiveness: Being complete in scope; the full inclusion of all needed elements

Availability means authorized subjects are granted timely and uninterrupted access to objects:

• Redundant array of independent disks (RAID)

• Clustering
• Load balancing
• Redundant data and power lines
• Software and data backups

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• Disk shadowing
• Co-location and offsite facilities
• Rollback functions
• Failover configurations

Authenticity is the security concept that data is authentic or genuine and originates from its
alleged source.

Nonrepudiation ensures that the subject of an activity or who caused an event cannot deny that the
event occurred. Nonrepudiation prevents a subject from claiming not to have sent a message, not to
have performed an action, or not to have been the cause of an event.

IAAA
• Identification is claiming to be an identity when attempting to access a secured area or
system.
• Authentication is proving that you are that claimed identity.
• Authorization is defining the permissions (i.e., allow/grant and/or deny) of a resource and
object access for a specific identity or subject.
• Auditing is recording a log of the events and activities related to the system and subjects.
• Accounting (aka accountability) is reviewing log files to check for compliance and violations
in order to hold subjects accountable for their actions, especially violations of
organizational security policy.

Identity Assurance refers to the level of confidence a system can have in a user’s identity (that
they are who they claim to be).
• Identity Assurance Level 1 (IAL1) – self assertion. There is no confidence, except that
the user has asserted their identity. For example, our website would be considered IAL1
because you (the user) can enter a fictitious name during the registration process and the
self-assertion is accepted.
• Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2) – proof is required. Unlike the previous level, you have
to verify your claimed identity somehow. This can be achieved by providing a scanned image

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of a government document such as a driver’s license, or verifying your address by entering a

code into the system that was mailed to your address.
• Identity Assurance Level 3 (IAL3) – requires in-person verification. A visit to the front
counter, presenting your photo ID to the clerk, and filling out paperwork that is then
queried against government or public databases. Additional supporting documents are
typically required.

Authenticator Assurance Levels (AAL). This is the level of confidence that the user controls the
authenticators (such as passwords, etc.).
• AAL1 – provides some confidence. A password for example. Can be one or two-factor
authentication.
• AAL2 – provides high confidence. Minimum of two factors must be provided.
• AAL3 – provides very high confidence. Two factors are required, with the added
requirement of a cryptographic key and a physical device (a single device can provide
both). When combined with a username/password combination this provides the highest
level of confidence in the authentication.

Federation Assurance Level (FAL). This refers to the level of confidence in federated
assertions.
• Credential – a binding that exists between authenticator and subscriber via identifier.
• Credential Service Provider – the entity that collects and manages the credential.
• Sponsorship – authorized entity “sponsors” a credential with a credential service provider.
• Enrollment – a sponsored user/claimant enrolls for the credentials, includes identity
proofing.
• Credential production – as the term implies, the credentials are created, including cards,
cryptographic keys, digital certificates, etc.
• Issuance – disclosing or granting access to the credentials.
• Credential lifecycle management – activities including re-issuance, revocation, re-
enrollment, expiration, suspension, reinstatement, etc.

Defense in Depth, also known as layered security, is the use of multiple controls in a series.

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Data hiding is exactly what it sounds like: preventing data from being discovered or accessed by a
subject by positioning the data in a logical storage compartment that is not accessible or seen by
the subject.

Security through obscurity is the idea of not informing a subject about an object being present
and thus hoping that the subject will not discover the object. In other words, in security through
obscurity the subject could access the data if they find it.

Lexical obfuscation deals with renaming classes, fields, and methods, replacing them with new
identifiers that lack intuitive meaning. For example, you could replace "salary" simply with the
letter "a." Lexical obfuscators can reduce the size of an application. However, care must be taken
when lexical obfuscators are implemented because all instances of a name must be replaced with
the new identifier. Some standard class names cannot be obfuscated.

Data obfuscation deals with modifying data and data structures in order to hide what the data is
used for or what the structures do. Variable modification, array splitting, and bit shifting can all be
used to perform data obfuscation.

Control flow obfuscation deals with making an application harder to understand or to decompile.
This can be implemented by separating related structures and operations, grouping unrelated
structures and operations, inserting unused or irrelevant code, and creating parallel code.
Security boundary is the line of intersection between any two areas, subnets, or environments that
have different security requirements or needs. A security boundary exists between a high-security
area and a low-security one, such as between a LAN and the internet.

Security governance is the collection of practices related to supporting, evaluating, defining, and
directing the security efforts of an organization. Optimally, security governance is performed by a
board of directors, but smaller organizations may simply have the chief executive officer (CEO) or
chief information security officer (CISO) perform the activities of security governance.

Third-party governance is the system of external entity oversight that may be mandated by law,
regulation, industry standards, contractual obligation, or licensing requirements. The actual method
of governance may vary, but it generally involves an outside investigator or auditor.

Documentation review is the process of reading the exchanged materials and verifying them
against standards and expectations. The documentation review is typically performed before any
on-site inspection takes place.

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Security function is the aspect of operating a business that focuses on the task of evaluating and
improving security over time. To manage the security function, an organization must implement
proper and sufficient security governance. Security must be measurable, provide a clear benefit,
and have one or more metrics that can be recorded and analyzed.

Alignment of Security Function to Business Strategy, Goals, Mission, and Objectives

Security management planning ensures proper creation, implementation, and enforcement of a
security policy. Security management planning aligns the security functions to the strategy, goals,
mission, and objectives of the organization. This includes designing and implementing security based
on business cases, budget restrictions, or scarcity of resources. One of the most effective ways to
tackle security management planning is to use a top-down approach. Upper, or senior, management is
responsible for initiating and defining policies for the organization. Security policies provide
direction for all levels of the organization’s hierarchy. It is the responsibility of middle
management to flesh out the security policy into standards, baselines, guidelines, and procedures.
The operational managers or security professionals must then implement the configurations
prescribed in the security management documentation. Finally, the end users must comply with all
the security policies of the organization.

Strategic Plan is a long-term plan that is stable. It defines the organization’s security purpose. It
defines the security function and aligns it to the goals, mission, and objectives of the organization.
It’s useful for about five years, if it is maintained and updated annually. A strategic plan should
include a risk assessment.

Tactical Plan is a midterm plan developed to provide more details on accomplishing the goals set
forth in the strategic plan or can be crafted ad hoc based on unpredicted events. A tactical plan is
typically useful for about a year.

Operational Plan is a short-term, highly detailed plan based on the strategic and tactical plans. It
is valid or useful only for a short time. Operational plans must be updated often (such as monthly or
quarterly) to retain compliance with tactical plans.

Evaluating a third party for your security integration, consider the following processes:
• On-Site Assessment Visit the site of the organization to interview personnel and observe their
operating habits.

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• Document Exchange and Review Investigate the means by which datasets and documentation
are exchanged as well as the formal processes by which they perform assessments and reviews.
• Process/Policy Review Request copies of their security policies, processes/procedures, and
documentation of incidents and responses for review.
• Third-Party Audit Having an independent third-party auditor, as defined by the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), can provide an unbiased review of an entity’s
security infrastructure, based on Service Organization Control (SOC) reports.

Organizational Roles and Responsibilities

Senior Manager The organizational owner (senior manager) role is assigned to the person who is
ultimately responsible for the security maintained by an organization and who should be most
concerned about the protection of its assets. The senior manager must sign off on all security
policy issues.

Security Professional The security professional, information security (InfoSec) officer, or

computer incident response team (CIRT) role is assigned to a trained and experienced network,
systems, and security engineer who is responsible for following the directives mandated by senior
management. The security professional has the functional responsibility for security, including
writing the security policy and implementing it.

Asset Owner The asset owner role is assigned to the person who is responsible for classifying
information for placement and protection within the security solution.

Custodian The custodian role is assigned to the user who is responsible for the tasks of
implementing the prescribed protection defined by the security policy and senior management.

Auditor An auditor is responsible for reviewing and verifying that the security policy is properly
implemented, and the derived security solutions are adequate.

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Due diligence is establishing a plan, policy, and process to protect the interests of an organization.
Due care is practicing the individual activities that maintain the due diligence effort.

For example:
Due diligence is developing a formalized security structure containing a security policy, standards,
baselines, guidelines, and procedures.
Due care is the continued application of this security structure onto the IT infrastructure of an
organization.
Due Diligence is about knowing and Due care is about doing.
TIP
Security control frameworks prescribe formalized sets of controls, or security measures, an
organization should implement to protect its assets and reduce risk.

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Security policy is a document that defines the scope of security needed by the organization and
discusses the assets that require protection and the extent to which security solutions should go to
provide the necessary protection. The security policy is an overview or generalization of an
organization’s security needs. It defines the strategic security objectives, vision, and goals and
outlines the security framework of an organization. The security policy is used to assign
responsibilities, define roles, specify audit requirements, outline enforcement processes, indicate
compliance requirements, and define acceptable risk levels.

Standards define compulsory requirements for the homogenous use of hardware, software,
technology, and security controls.

Baseline defines a minimum level of security that every system throughout the organization must
meet.

Guideline offers recommendations on how standards and baselines are implemented and serves as an
operational guide for both security professionals and users.

Procedure or standard operating procedure (SOP) is a detailed, step-by-step how-to document

that describes the exact actions necessary to implement a specific security mechanism, control, or
solution.

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• Policy: Passwords must be changed every 90 days

• Standard: Administrators must use Windows Server 2012 R2 as the base operating system
• Procedures: Follow these step-by-step instructions to build the server
• Baseline: The specific settings for Windows Server 2012 R2 should match those in the CIS
Security Benchmark
• Guidelines: To create a strong password, use the first letter of every word in a sentence

Threat modeling is the security process where potential threats are identified, categorized, and
analyzed. Threat modeling can be performed as a proactive measure during design and development
or as a reactive measure once a product has been deployed. In either case, the process identifies
the potential harm, the probability of occurrence, the priority of concern, and the means to
eradicate or reduce the threat.

NIST Threat Modeling process consists of the following steps :

• Identify assets: Identify the assets (e.g., data, systems, networks, people) that need to be
protected.
• Identify threats: Identify the threats (e.g., malware, unauthorized access, natural disasters)
that could potentially impact the assets .
• Evaluate likelihood: Assess the likelihood of each threat occurring.
• Evaluate impact: Assess the potential impact of each threat on the assets .
• Prioritize risks: Prioritize the risks based on the likelihood and impact of each threat .
• Develop countermeasures: Develop and implement countermeasures to mitigate the identified
risks .
• Test and validate: Test and validate the effectiveness of the countermeasures .

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Defensive approach to threat modeling takes place during the early stages of systems
development, specifically during initial design and specifications establishment.

STRIDE is an acronym standing for the following:

■ Spoofing: An attack with the goal of gaining access to a target system through the use of a
falsified identity. When an attacker spoofs their identity as a valid or authorized entity, they are
often able to bypass filters and blockades against unauthorized access.
■ Tampering: Any action resulting in unauthorized changes or manipulation of data, whether in
transit or in storage.
■ Repudiation: The ability of a user or attacker to deny having performed an action or activity by
maintaining plausible deniability. Repudiation attacks can also result in innocent third parties being
blamed for security violations.
■ Information disclosure: The revelation or distribution of private, confidential, or controlled
information to external or unauthorized entities.
■ Denial of service (DoS): An attack that attempts to prevent authorized use of a resource. This
can be done through flaw exploitation, connection overloading, or traffic flooding.
■ Elevation of privilege: An attack where a limited user account is transformed into an account
with greater privileges, powers, and access.

PASTA (Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis) focus on developing countermeasure
based on asset value.
Stage I: Definition of the Objectives (DO) for the Analysis of Risks
Stage II: Definition of the Technical Scope (DTS)
Stage III: Application Decomposition and Analysis (ADA)
Stage IV: Threat Analysis (TA)
Stage V: Weakness and Vulnerability Analysis (WVA)
Stage VI: Attack Modeling & Simulation (AMS)
Stage VII: Risk Analysis & Management (RAM)

Reduction analysis is also known as decomposing the application, system, or environment.

• Trust Boundaries Any location where the level of trust or security changes
• Dataflow Paths The movement of data between locations
• Input Points Locations where external input is received
• Privileged Operations Any activity that requires greater privileges than of a standard user
account or process, typically required to make system changes or alter security
• Details about Security Stance and Approach the declaration of the security policy,
security foundations, and security assumptions.

Visual, Agile, and Simple Threat (VAST) is a threat modeling concept that integrates threat and
risk management into an Agile programming environment on a scalable basis.

Disaster, Reproducibility, Exploitability, Affected Users, and Discoverability (DREAD) rating

system is designed to provide a flexible rating solution that is based on the answers to five main
questions about each threat:
• Damage Potential How severe is the damage likely to be if the threat is realized?
• Reproducibility How complicated is it for attackers to reproduce the exploit?
• Exploitability How hard is it to perform the attack?
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• Affected Users How many users are likely to be affected by the attack (as a percentage)?
• Discoverability How hard is it for an attacker to discover the weakness?

TRIKE is an open-source threat modeling methodology that is used when security auditing from a
risk management perspective. TRIKE threat modeling is a fusion of two models namely –
requirement Model and Implementations Model. The purposes of TRIKE are:
• To ensure that the risk this system entails to each asset is acceptable to all stakeholders
• To be able to communicate its effects to the stakeholders
• Empower stakeholders to understand and reduce the risks to them and other stakeholders
implied by their actions within their domains

Irius Risk Another automated threat modeling application which can be integrated into the
build/test/deploy process of a software development life cycle. It comes with pre-defined threat
modeling templates, NIST/ISO/OWASP compliance reports, extensive diagram components, as well
as work flow management. For access control, it even comes with RBAC with fine grained
permissions.

SecuriCAD A more modern threat modeling software with the ability to proactively (while
considering business function) detect cyber threats and risks to the enterprise architecture. The
advantage of SecuriCAD is its holistic assessment of the organization.

MyAppSecurity This is an automated threat modeling software with the ability to scale and secure
software development life cycles. It is also a non-bias risk transfer in the sense that a third-party
app will perform thread modeling without any sense or allegiance to the organization, they would be
neutral in their investigation.

Supply chain risk management (SCRM) is the means to ensure that all of the vendors or links in
the supply chain are reliable, trustworthy, reputable organizations that disclose their practices and
security requirements to their business partners. When evaluating 3rd parties in the chain, consider:
• On-Site Assessment. Visit organization, interview personnel, and observe their operating
habits.
• Document Exchange and Review. Investigate dataset and doc exchange, review processes
• Process/Policy Review. Request copies of their security policies, processes, or procedures.
• Third-party Audit. Having an independent auditor provide an unbiased review of an entity’s
security infrastructure

Acquisition can be any purchase made through an external party, and with this partnership your
organization’s security principles should extend to these external parties. They could be a provider
of hardware, software, office supply, or consulting, but no matter what you must be sure your
security is not adversely affected from these outside channels. This is why with any acquisition
there should be an effort to conduct an on-site assessment, a document exchange and review,
and/or a process review of the third-party.

Divestiture risks include data remanence on previously used computer systems (needs proper
sanitization), risks from disgruntled ex-employee (needs strong hiring/termination policies)

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Risk Management

Risk management is a detailed process of identifying factors that could damage or disclose assets,
evaluating those factors in light of asset value and countermeasure cost, and implementing cost-
effective solutions for mitigating or reducing risk. The overall process of risk management is used
to develop and implement information security strategies that support the mission of the
organization.

Risk assessment or risk analysis is the examination of an environment for risks, evaluating each
threat event as to its likelihood of occurring and the severity of the damage it would cause if it did
occur, and assessing the cost of various countermeasures for each risk.

Risk response involves evaluating countermeasures, safeguards, and security controls using a
cost/benefit analysis; adjusting findings based on other conditions, concerns, priorities, and
resources; and providing a proposal of response options in a report to senior management.

Risk awareness is the effort to increase the knowledge of risks within an organization. This
includes understanding the value of assets, inventorying the existing threats that can harm those
assets, and the responses selected and implemented to address the identified risk.

Risk Terminology and Concepts

Risk is the possibility or likelihood that a threat will exploit a vulnerability to cause harm to an
asset and the severity of damage that could result.

risk = threat * vulnerability

or
risk = probability of harm * severity of harm
Risk appetite is the total amount of risk that an organization is willing to shoulder in aggregate
across all assets.

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Risk capacity is the level of risk an organization can shoulder.

Risk tolerance is the amount or level of risk that an organization will accept per individual asset-
threat pair.

Risk limit is the maximum level of risk above the risk target that will be tolerated before further
risk management actions are taken.

Risk Mitigation or Reducing risk, is the implementation of safeguards, security controls, and
countermeasures to reduce and/or eliminate vulnerabilities or block threats. Deploying encryption
and using firewalls are common examples of risk mitigation or reduction.

Risk Assignment Assigning risk or transferring risk is the placement of the responsibility of loss
due to a risk onto another entity or organization. Purchasing cybersecurity or traditional insurance
and outsourcing are common forms of assigning or transferring risk.

Risk Deterrence is the process of implementing deterrents to would-be violators of security and
policy. The goal is to convince a threat agent not to attack. Some examples include implementing
auditing, security cameras, and warning banners.

Risk Avoidance is the process of selecting alternate options or activities that have less associated
risk than the default, common, expedient, or cheap option. For example, is to locate a business in
Arizona instead of Florida to avoid hurricanes.

Risk Acceptance Accepting risk, or acceptance of risk, is the result after a cost/benefit analysis
shows countermeasure costs would outweigh the possible cost of loss due to a risk. It also means
that management has agreed to accept the consequences and the loss if the risk is realized.

Risk Rejection An unacceptable possible response to risk is to reject risk or ignore risk. Denying
that a risk exists and hoping that it will never be realized are not valid or prudent due care/due
diligence responses to risk. Rejecting or ignoring risk may be considered negligence in court.

Inherent risk is the level of natural, native, or default risk that exists in an environment, system,
or product prior to any risk management efforts being performed.

Total risk is the amount of risk an organization would face if no safeguards were implemented.
A conceptual formula for total risk is as follows:

threats * vulnerabilities * asset value = total risk

The difference between total risk and residual risk is known as the controls gap.
Controls gap is the amount of risk that is reduced by implementing safeguards. A conceptual
formula for residual risk is as follows:
total risk – controls gap = residual risk
Asset An asset is anything used in a business process or task. If an organization relies on a person,
place, or thing, whether tangible or intangible, then it is an asset.

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Asset Valuation is value assigned to an asset based on a number of factors, including importance to
the organization, use in critical process, actual cost, and nonmonetary expenses/costs (such as time,
attention, productivity, and research and development).

Threat agents or threat actors intentionally exploit vulnerabilities. Threat agents are usually
people, but they could also be programs, hardware, or systems. Threat agents wield threats in order
to cause harm to targets.

Threat events are accidental occurrences and intentional exploitations of vulnerabilities. They can
also be natural or person-made. Threat events include fire, earthquake, flood, system failure, human
error (due to a lack of training or ignorance), and power outage.

Threat vector or attack vector is the path or means by which an attack or attacker can gain
access to a target in order to cause harm. Threat vectors can include email, web surfing, external
drives, Wi-Fi networks, physical access, mobile devices, cloud, social media, supply chain, removable
media, and commercial software.

Loss Potential is what should be lost if the threat agent is successful in exploiting the vulnerability.

Delayed Loss is the amount of loss that can occur over time.

Vulnerability The weakness in an asset or the absence or the weakness of a safeguard or

countermeasure is a vulnerability. In other words, a vulnerability is a flaw, loophole, oversight,
error, limitation, frailty, or susceptibility that enables a threat to cause harm.

Exposure is being susceptible to asset loss because of a threat; there is the possibility that a
vulnerability can or will be exploited by a threat agent or event.

Safeguard, security control, protection mechanism, or countermeasure is anything that removes or

reduces a vulnerability or protects against one or more specific threats. This concept is also known
as a risk response.

Attack is the intentional attempted exploitation of a vulnerability by a threat agent to cause

damage, loss, or disclosure of assets.

Breach, intrusion, or penetration is the occurrence of a security mechanism being bypassed or

thwarted by a threat agent. A breach is a successful attack.

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Qualitative risk analysis is more scenario based than it is calculator based. Rather than assigning
exact dollar figures to possible losses, you rank threats on a relative scale to evaluate their risks,
costs, and effects.

Delphi technique is simply an anonymous feedback-and-response process used to enable a group to

reach an anonymous consensus. Its primary purpose is to elicit honest and uninfluenced responses
from all participants.

Quantitative Risk Analysis method results in concrete probability indications or a numeric

indication of relative risk potential. That means the end result is a report that has dollar figures
for levels of risk, potential loss, cost of countermeasures, and value of safeguards.

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Exposure factor (EF) represents the percentage of loss that an organization would experience if a
specific asset were violated by a realized risk. The EF can also be called the loss potential.

Single-loss expectancy (SLE) is the potential loss associated with a single realized threat against a
specific asset.

SLE = asset value (AV) * exposure factor (EF)

or more simply: SLE = AV * EF

Annualized rate of occurrence (ARO) is the expected frequency with which a specific threat or
risk will occur (that is, become realized) within a single year.

Annualized loss expectancy (ALE) is the possible yearly loss of all instances of a specific realized
threat against a specific asset.
ALE = single loss expectancy (SLE) * annualized rate of occurrence (ARO)
or
ALE = asset value (AV) * exposure factor (EF) * annualized rate of occurrence (ARO)
or more simply:

ALE = SLE * ARO

or
ALE = AV * EF * ARO

Quantitative Risk Analysis Activity

1. Determine the AV. Let’s say that the Web Application has a value of $60,000.
2. Calculate the EF. Let’s assume it is 0.85 (85%).
3. Calculate the SLE by multiplying the AV by the EF, which is SLE of $51,000.
4. Determine the ARO. Let’s assume it’s 0.75 (meaning there’s a 75% chance of malicious activity
occurring in any given year).
5. Calculate the ALE: $51,000 (SLE) X 0.75 (ARO) = $38,250 (ALE).
6. Compare the ALE to the cost of each of the software solutions you’re considering. If the
mitigation increases ALE ($38,250), the solution is not a worthwhile investment.

AV = $60,000
EF = 85% (85/100=0.85)
AV x EF = SLE (60,000 x 0.85=51,000)

SLE = $51,000
ARO = 75% (75/100=0.75)
SLE x ARO = ALE (38,250 x 0.75=38,250)
ALE= $38,250
Asset AV EF SLE ARO ALE

Web Application $60,000 85% (0.85) $51,000 75% (0.75) $38,250

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Countermeasure Selection and Implementation

■ The cost of the countermeasure should be less than the value of the asset.
■ The cost of the countermeasure should be less than the benefit of the countermeasure.
■ The result of the applied countermeasure should make the cost of an attack greater for the
perpetrator than the derived benefit from an attack.
■ The countermeasure should provide a solution to a real and identified problem. (Don’t install
countermeasures just because they are available, are advertised, or sound appealing.)
■ The benefit of the countermeasure should not be dependent on its secrecy. Any viable
countermeasure can withstand public disclosure and scrutiny and thus maintain protection even
when known.
■ The benefit of the countermeasure should be testable and verifiable.
■ The countermeasure should provide consistent and uniform protection across all users, systems,
protocols, and so on.
■ The countermeasure should have few or no dependencies to reduce cascade failures.
■ The countermeasure should require minimal human intervention after initial deployment and
configuration.
■ The countermeasure should be tamperproof.
■ The countermeasure should have overrides accessible to privileged operators only.
■ The countermeasure should provide fail-safe and/or fail-secure options.

Administrative controls are the policies and procedures defined by an organization’s security policy
and other regulations or requirements. They are sometimes referred to as management controls,
managerial controls, or procedural controls.

Technical controls or logical controls involves the hardware or software mechanisms used to
manage access and provide protection for IT resources and systems. Examples of logical or
technical controls include authentication methods (such as passwords, smartcards, and biometrics),
encryption, constrained interfaces, access control lists, protocols, firewalls, routers, intrusion
detection systems (IDSs), and clipping levels.

Physical controls are security mechanisms focused on providing protection to the facility and real-
world objects. Examples of physical controls include guards, fences, motion detectors, locked doors,

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sealed windows, lights (8 feet high with 2 feet candle power), cable protection, laptop locks, badges,
swipe cards, guard dogs, video cameras, access control vestibules, and alarms.

Preventive control (aka preventative control) is deployed to thwart or stop unwanted or

unauthorized activity from occurring. Examples of preventive controls include fences, locks,
authentication, access control vestibules, alarm systems, separation of duties, job rotation, data
loss prevention (DLP), penetration testing, access control methods, encryption, auditing, security
policies, security-awareness training, antimalware software, firewalls, and intrusion prevention
systems (IPSs).

Deterrent control is deployed to discourage security policy violations. Deterrent and preventive
controls are similar, but deterrent controls often depend on individuals being convinced not to take
an unwanted action. Some examples include policies, security awareness training, locks, fences,
security badges, guards, access control vestibules, and security cameras.

Fences:
3-4 feet deters casual trespasser
6-7 feet too hard to climb easily
8 feet (w/ barbed wire) will deter intruders

Lights: 8 feet high with 2 feet candle power

Gates Type:
• Class I – residential gate
• Class II – commercial gate (Garage)
• Class III – industrial gate (Loading dock, Factory)
• Class IV – restricted access (Prison, Airport)

Mantraps
• Physical preventive control
• Entrance path protected by two doors
• Intruder confined between doors

Motion detectors, sensors, and alarms

1. Motion detection systems: Sonic (audible sound waves), Ultrasonic (high-frequency sound waves),
Microwave (radio waves)
2. Photometric: uses a Passive Infrared Sensor (PIR) to detect motion
3. Acoustical-seismic detection system (audio): Microphone type device that detects sounds that
exceed the ambient noise level of the protected area
4. Proximity: Uses an electronic field that senses the presence of an object or individual.

Detective control is deployed to discover or detect unwanted or unauthorized activity. Detective

controls operate after the fact and can discover the activity only after it has occurred. Examples
of detective controls include security guards, motion detectors, recording and reviewing of events
captured by security cameras or CCTV, job rotation, mandatory vacations, audit trails, honeypots or
honeynets, intrusion detection systems (IDSs), violation reports, supervision and review of users,
and incident investigations.
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Compensation control They can be any controls used in addition to, or in place of, another control.
They can be a means to improve the effectiveness of a primary control or as the alternate or
failover option in the event of a primary control failure. For example, if a preventive control fails to
stop the deletion of a file, a backup can be a compensation control, allowing for restoration of that
file.

Corrective control modifies the environment to return systems to normal after an unwanted or
unauthorized activity has occurred. Examples, antimalware solutions that can remove or quarantine
a virus, backup and restore plans to ensure that lost data can be restored, and intrusion prevention
systems (IPSs) that can modify the environment to stop an attack in progress.

Scoping involves determining applicable portions of a standard that will be followed. For example, an
organization that does not use wireless networks will declare wireless security controls out of
scope.

Tailoring customizes a standard for an organization, tailoring process begins with scoping, and then
adds compensating controls and parameters (security configuration settings) Example compensating
control: Internal firewall used to segment a legacy system.

Recovery controls A recovery control attempts to repair or restore resources, functions, and
capabilities after a security policy violation. Examples of recovery controls include backups and
restores, fault-tolerant drive systems, system imaging, server clustering, antimalware software,
and database or virtual machine shadowing.

Directive control is deployed to direct, confine, or control the actions of subjects to force or
encourage compliance with security policies. Examples of directive controls include security policy
requirements or criteria, posted notifications, guidance from a security guard, escape route exit
signs, monitoring, supervision, and procedures.

Security control assessment (SCA) The testing or evaluation of security controls to determine the
extent to which the controls are implemented correctly, operating as intended, and producing the
desired outcome with respect to meeting the security requirements for an information system or
organization.
1. Map Your Assets.
2. Identify Security Threats & Vulnerabilities.
3. Determine & Prioritize Risks.
4. Analyze & Develop Security Controls.
5. Document Results From Risk Assessment Report.
6. Create A Remediation Plan To Reduce Risks.
7. Implement Recommendations.
8. Evaluate Effectiveness & Repeat.

Monitoring and Measurement: Security controls should provide benefits that can be monitored and
measured. If a security control’s benefits cannot be quantified, evaluated, or compared, then it
does not actually provide any security. Measuring the effectiveness of a countermeasure is not
always an absolute value.

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Risk reporting is a key task to perform at the conclusion of a risk analysis. Risk reporting involves
the production of a risk report and a presentation of that report to the interested/ relevant
parties. A risk report should be accurate, timely, comprehensive of the entire organization, clear
and precise to support decision making, and updated on a regular basis.

Risk register or risk log is a document that inventories all the identified risks to an organization or
system or within an individual project. A risk register is used to record and track the activities of
risk management, including the following:
■ Identifying risks
■ Evaluating the severity of and prioritizing those risks
■ Prescribing responses to reduce or eliminate the risks
■ Tracking the progress of risk mitigation

Risk matrix or risk heat map is a form of risk assessment that is performed on a basic graph or
chart. It is sometimes labeled as a qualitative risk assessment.

Enterprise risk management (ERM) program can be evaluated using the Risk Maturity Model
(RMM). An RMM assess the key indicators and activities of a mature, sustainable, and repeatable
risk management process.

Risk framework is a guideline or recipe for how risk is to be assessed, resolved, and monitored.

NIST RMF The Risk Management Framework, developed by the National Institute of Standards
and Technology, is composed of three interrelated NIST Special Publications (SPs): 800-39, 800-
37, and 800-30.
• Prepare
• Categorize
• Select
• Implement
• Assess
• Authorize
• Monitor

ISO/IEC 27005 Focused on risk treatment, this joint International Organization for
Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission framework is best used in conjunction
with ISO/IEC 27000 series standards.

Threat Agent Risk Assessment (TARA) is a threat-based methodology to help identify, assess,
prioritize, and control cybersecurity risks. It is a practical method to determine the most critical
exposures while taking into consideration mitigation controls and accepted levels of risk. It is
intended to augment formal risk methodologies to include important aspects of attackers, resulting
in a much improved picture of risk.

OCTAVE The Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation framework,
developed at Carnegie Mellon University, is focused on risk assessment.

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FAIR The FAIR Institute’s Factor Analysis of Information Risk framework focuses on more
precisely measuring the probabilities of incidents and their impacts.

Security Program:
ISO/IEC 27000 series This is a series of international standards on how to develop and maintain
an information security management system (ISMS), developed by ISO and IEC.
The ISO/IEC 2700x series includes a number of different standards, including :
• ISO/IEC 27001: This standard provides a framework for establishing, implementing,
maintaining, and continually improving an information security management system (ISMS)
• ISO/IEC 27002: This standard provides guidelines for implementing and maintaining
information security controls .
• ISO/IEC 27003: This standard provides guidance on the implementation of an ISMS based
on ISO/IEC 27001 .
• ISO/IEC 27004: This standard provides guidance on how to measure the effectiveness of
an ISMS.
• ISO/IEC 27005: This standard provides guidance on how to manage information security
risks.
• ISO/IEC 27018: Code of practice for protection of personally identifiable information
(PII) in public clouds acting as PII processors

NIST SP800-53 is a security and privacy control standard which provides a set of recommended
security controls that organizations can use to protect their information systems and data from
cyber threats .
• Access Control
• Awareness and Training
• Auditing and Accountability
• Certification, Accreditation, and Security Assessment
• Configuration Management
• Contingency Planning
• Identification and Authentication
• Incident Response
• Maintenance
• Media Protection
• Physical and Environmental Protection
• Planning
• Personnel Security
• Risk Assessment
• Security Assessment and Testing
• System and Communications Protection
• System and Information Integrity

NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) Driven by the need to secure government systems, NIST
developed this widely used and comprehensive framework for risk-driven information security.
• Identify
• Protect
• Detect

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• Respond
• Recover
Important NIST Special publications include:
• NIST 800-37 (Risk Management)
• NIST 800-53 (Recommended Security Controls)
• NIST 800-34 (Contingency Planning)
• NIST 800-115 (Security Testing and Assessment)
• NIST 800-18 (Guide for Developing Security Plans for Federal Information Systems)

Enterprise Architecture:
DoDAF The U.S. Department of Defense Architecture Framework was developed to ensure
interoperability of systems to meet military mission goals.

MODAF Used mainly in military support missions developed by the British Ministry of Defense.

Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture is a matrix-based methodology that enables the
viewing of an architecture from six different perspectives. The Zachman Framework for Enterprise
Architecture is a formal methodology for organizing enterprise architectural information, such as
design documents and specifications. The framework matrix contains six columns that consist of
the communication questions Why, How, What, Who, Where, and When. The rows of the matrix
consist of the following six "perspectives" of a solution: Contextual or planner's view, Conceptual or
owner's view, Logical or designer's view, Physical or builder's view, As Built or subcontractor's view,
and Functioning or actual system view.

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TOGAF The Open Group Architecture Framework is a model and methodology for the development
of enterprise architectures. helps businesses define and organize requirements before a project
starts, keeping the process moving quickly with few errors. TOGAF 10 brings a stronger focus to
organizations using the agile methodology, making it easier to apply the framework to an
organization’s specific needs.

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SABSA The Sherwood Applied Business Security Architecture model and methodology for the
development of information security enterprise architectures was developed by the SABSA
Institute.

COBIT
The main focus of COBIT is illustrated with a process-based model subdivided into four specific
domains, including:
• Planning & Organization.
• Delivering and Support.
• Acquiring & Implementation.
• Monitoring & Evaluating.

COBIT Principles
• Principle 1: Meeting Stakeholder Needs
• Principle 2: Covering the Enterprise End-to-End
• Principle 3: Applying a Single, Integrated Framework
• Principle 4: Enabling a Holistic Approach
• Principle 5: Separating Governance from Management

CSA (Cloud Security Alliance): security guidance for critical areas of focus in cloud computing
Cloud Architecture
1: Cloud Computing Architectural Framework
Governing in the Cloud
2: Governance and Enterprise Risk Management
3: Legal Issues: Contracts and Electronic Discovery
4: Compliance and Audit Management
5: Information Management and Data Security
6: Interoperability and Portability Section
Operating in the Cloud
7: Traditional Security, Business Continuity, and Disaster Recovery
8: Data Center Operations
9: Incident Response
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10: Application Security

11: Encryption and Key Management
12: Identity, Entitlement, and Access Management
13: Virtualization
14: Security as a Service2

COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework Set of internal corporate controls to help reduce
the risk of financial fraud developed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) of the
Treadway Commission

Social engineering is a form of attack that exploits human nature and human behavior.
People are a weak link in security because they can make mistakes, be fooled into causing harm, or
intentionally violate company security. Social Engineering Principles.
• Authority is an effective technique because most people are likely to respond to authority
with obedience.
• Intimidation can sometimes be seen as a derivative of the authority principle.
• Consensus or social proof is the act of taking advantage of a person’s natural tendency to
mimic what others are doing or are perceived as having done in the past.
• Scarcity is a technique used to convince someone that an object has a higher value based on
the object’s scarcity.
• Familiarity or liking as a social engineering principle attempts to exploit a person’s native
trust in that which is familiar.
• Trust as a social engineering principle involves an attacker working to develop a relationship
with a victim.
• Urgency often dovetails with scarcity, because the need to act quickly increases as scarcity
indicates a greater risk of missing out.
Eliciting information is the activity of gathering or collecting information from systems or people.
In the context of social engineering, it is used as a research method in order to craft a more
effective pretext. A pretext is a false statement crafted to sound believable in order to convince
you to act or respond in favor of the attacker.

Prepending is the adding of a term, expression, or phrase to the beginning or header of some other
communication.

Phishing is a form of social engineering attack focused on stealing credentials or identity

information from any potential target.
A drive-by download is a type of malware that installs itself without the user’s knowledge when the
TIP user visits a website. Drive-by downloads take advantage of vulnerabilities in browsers or plug-ins.

Spear phishing is a more targeted form of phishing where the message is crafted and directed
specifically to a group of individuals.

Whaling is a form of spear phishing that targets specific high-value individuals (by title, by
industry, from media coverage, and so forth), such as the CEO or other C-level executives,
administrators, or high-net-worth clients.

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Smishing or Short Message Service (SMS) phishing or smishing (Spam over instant messaging
[SPIM]) is a social engineering attack that occurs over or through standard text messaging
services.

Vishing (i.e., voiced-based phishing) or SpIT (Spam over Internet Telephony) is phishing done over
any telephony or voice communication system.

Spam is any type of email that is undesired and/or unsolicited. But spam is not just unwanted
advertisements; it can also include malicious content and attack vectors as well. Spam is often used
as the carrier of social engineering attacks.

Spoofed email is a message that has a fake or falsified source address. DMARC is used to filter
spoofed messages.
Shoulder surfing is often a physical world or in-person form of social engineering. Shoulder surfing
occurs when someone is able to watch a user’s keyboard or view their display.

Invoice scams are social engineering attacks that often attempt to steal funds from an
organization or individuals through the presentation of a false invoice, often followed by strong
inducements to pay.

Hoax is a form of social engineering designed to convince targets to perform an action that will
cause problems or reduce their IT security.

Impersonation is the act of taking on the identity of someone else. This can take place in person,
over the phone, through email, by logging into someone’s account, or through any other means of
communication. Impersonation can also be known as masquerading, spoofing, and even identity
fraud.

Tailgating occurs when an unauthorized entity gains access to a facility under the authorization of
a valid worker but without their knowledge.

Piggybacking occurs when an unauthorized entity gains access to a facility under the authorization
of a valid worker by tricking the victim into providing consent.

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Scareware This involves using fear or urgency to trick the victim into taking an action that
compromises their security, such as installing malware or paying a ransom.

Baiting is when the attacker drops USB sticks, optical discs, or even wallets in a location that a
worker is likely to encounter it.

Pretexting This involves creating a fake scenario or pretext in order to obtain sensitive information
from the victim.

Dumpster diving is the act of digging through trash, discarded equipment, or abandoned locations in
order to obtain information about a target organization or individual.

Phreakers – hackers who commit crimes against phone companies

Identity fraud and identity theft are terms that are often used interchangeably.

Typo squatting is a practice employed to capture and redirect traffic when a user mistypes the
domain name or IP address of an intended resource. This is a social engineering attack that takes
advantage of a person’s potential to mistype a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or address.

URL hijacking can also refer to the practice of displaying a link or advertisement that looks like
that of a well-known product, service, or site but, when clicked, redirects the user to an alternate
location, service, or product.

Clickjacking is a means to redirect a user’s click or selection on a web page to an alternate often
malicious target instead of the intended and desired location.

Influence campaigns are social engineering attacks that attempt to guide, adjust, or change public
opinion. Influence campaigns are linked to the distribution of disinformation, propaganda, false
information, “fake news,” and even the activity of doxing.

Hybrid warfare or nonlinear warfare Nations no longer limit their attacks against their real or
perceived enemies using traditional, kinetic weaponry. Now they combine classical military strategy
with modern capabilities, including social engineering, digital influence campaigns, psychological
warfare efforts, political tactics, and cyberwarfare capabilities.

Social media has become a weapon in the hands of nation-states as they wage elements of hybrid
warfare against their targets.

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Awareness is prerequisite to security training. The goal of creating awareness is to bring security
to the forefront and make it a recognized entity for users. Awareness establishes a common
baseline or foundation of security understanding across the entire organization and focuses on key
or basic topics and issues related to security that all employees must understand. Awareness is not
exclusively created through a classroom type of presentation but also through the work
environment reminders such as posters, newsletter articles, and screen savers.

Training is teaching employees to perform their work tasks and to comply with the security policy.
Training is typically hosted by an organization and is targeted to groups of employees with similar
job functions.

Education is a detailed endeavor in which students and users learn much more than they actually
need to know to perform their work tasks.

Business continuity planning (BCP) involves assessing the risks to organizational processes and
creating policies, plans, and procedures to minimize the impact those risks might have on the
organization if they were to occur. BCP is used to maintain the continuous operation of a business in
the event of an emergency. The goal of BCP planners is to implement a combination of policies,
procedures, and processes such that a potentially disruptive event has as little impact on the
business as possible. BCP focuses on maintaining business operations with reduced or restricted
infrastructure capabilities or resources. As long as the continuity of the organization’s ability to
perform its mission-critical work tasks is maintained, BCP can be used to manage and restore the
environment. Business continuity Plans (BCP) activities are typically strategically focused at a high
level and center themselves on business processes and operations. How to continue overall business.
BCP process has four main steps:
• Project scope and planning
• Business impact analysis
• Continuity planning
• Approval and implementation

Disaster recovery plans (DRP) tend to be more tactical and describe technical activities such as
recovery sites, backups, and fault tolerance.

Disaster recovery plan tests:

• Read-through
• Structured walk-through (table top exercise)
• Simulation test
• Parallel test
• Full interruption test

Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) is the plan for continuing to do the business until IT
infrastructure can be restored.

Occupant Emergency Plan (OEP): It outlines first-response procedures for occupants of a facility
in the event of a threat or incident to the health and safety of the personnel, the environment, or
property.

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Information System /IT Contingency Plan (ISCP): It provides established procedures for the
assessment and recovery of a system following a system disruption. Provides key information
needed for system recovery, including roles and responsibilities, inventory info, assessment
procedures, detailed recovery procedures, and testing of a system. Steps of IT Contingency
Planning Process:
1. Develop the contingency planning policy statement
2. Conduct the business impact analysis (BIA)
3. Identify preventive controls
4. Develop recovery strategies
5. Develop an IT contingency plan
6. Plan testing, training, and exercises
7. Plan maintenance

Cyber Incident Response Plan: Provide strategies to detect, respond to, and limit consequences of
malicious cyber incident.

Crisis management steps in to cover crises of all forms. These may include more common place
disasters, such as a facility fire, or more extraordinary events, such as a global pandemic.
Organizations may also activate their crisis management programs for events with little impact on
technology, such as a public relations disaster. Crisis management is a science and an art form. If
your training budget permits, investing in crisis training for your key employees is a good idea. This
ensures that at least some of your employees know how to handle emergency situations properly and
can provide all-important “on-the- scene” leadership to panic-stricken coworkers.

Risk Analysis
Main components of risk analysis include:
• Threat identification/assessment
• Vulnerability identification/assessment
• Impact assessment
• Approaches to risk mitigation

Business Impact Analysis, or BIA, identifies the organization’s critical business processes, as well
as the systems, information, and other assets that support those processes. The goal is to
determine which processes the business must absolutely maintain to carry out its mission and
minimize financial consequences. A BIA helps prioritize assets for recovery should the organization
lose them if it suffers an incident, such as a natural disaster, a major attack, or other catastrophe.
The BIA directly informs risk management processes, because the inventory of business processes
and supporting assets helps determine which security controls must be implemented in the
infrastructure to protect those assets, thus lowering the risk of losing them.

Quantitative Impact Assessment Involves the use of numbers and formulas to reach a decision.
This type of data often expresses options in terms of the dollar value to the business.

Qualitative Impact Assessment Takes non-numerical factors, such as reputation,

investor/customer confidence, workforce stability, and other concerns, into account. This type of
data often results in categories of prioritization (such as high, medium, and low).

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Quantitative measure that the team must develop is the maximum tolerable downtime
TIP (MTD), sometimes also known as maximum tolerable outage (MTO)

The primary goal of the BIA is to determine the MTD, which describes the total time a system can
be inoperable before an organization is severely impacted. MTD is comprised of two metrics: the
Recovery Time Objective (RTO), and the Work Recovery Time (WRT).

MTD (Max tolerable downtime) The amount of time we can be without the asset that is unavailable
before we must declare a disaster and initiate our disaster recovery plan. Other acronyms are:
• Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD)
• Maximum Allowable Downtime (MAD)
• Maximum Acceptable Outage (MAO)
• Maximum Tolerable Period of Disruption (MTPOD)

Recovery time objective (RTO) for each business function is the amount of time in which you think
you can feasibly recover the function in the event of a disruption. The RTO describes the maximum
time allowed to recover business or IT systems.

Recovery point objective (RPO): The RPO is the amount of data loss or system inaccessibility
(measured in time) that an organization can withstand. It is the maximum length of time permitted
that data can be restored from, which may or may not mean data loss.

Work Recovery Time (WRT) determines the maximum tolerable amount of time it takes to verify
systems and data protection. It is related to verification, so requires checking databases, logs, apps
and services to ensure they are available and operating correctly.

MTD = RTO + WRT

BRP (Business Resumption Plan) the plan to move from the disaster recovery site back to your
business environment or back to normal operations.

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Mean time between failures: MTBF quantifies how long a new or repaired system will run before
failing. It is typically generated by a component vendor and is largely applicable to hardware as
opposed to applications and software.

Mean time to repair (MTTR) is the average time it takes to repair a system. It includes both the
repair time and any testing time. The clock doesn’t stop on this metric until the system is fully
functional again.

Categories of disruption
• Non-Disaster disruption in service from device malfunction or user error.
• Disaster entire facility unusable for a day or longer.
• Catastrophe major disruption that destroys the facility altogether. Requires a short term
and long-term solution.

BCP Documentation
Continuity Planning Goals to ensure the continuous operation of the business in the face of an
emergency situation.

Statement of Importance Reflects the criticality of the BCP to the organization’s continued
viability. It takes the form of a letter to the organization’s employees stating the reason of
developing the BCP efforts.

Statement of Priorities Flows directly from the identify priorities phase of the BIA. It should
include a statement that they were developed as part of the BCP process to avoid turf battle
between competing organizations.

Statement of Organizational Responsibility Comes from a senior-level executive and can be

incorporated into the same letter as the statement of importance. It basically echoes the
sentiment that “business continuity is everyone’s responsibility!”

Statement of Urgency and Timing Expresses the criticality of implementing the BCP and outlines
the implementation timetable.

Vital Records Program This document states where critical business records will be stored and the
procedures for making and storing backup copies of those records. The biggest challenge in
implementing a vital records program is often identifying the vital records in the first place! Once
found you can then be used use to inform the rest of the BCP efforts

Emergency Response Guidelines These guidelines should include the following:

- Immediate response procedures (security and safety procedures, fire suppression procedures)

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- A list of the individuals who should be notified of the incident (executives, BCP team members,
etc.) Secondary response procedures that first responders should take while waiting for the BCP
team to assemble; should be easily accessible to everyone in the organization.

Intellectual Property (IP) is a type of property created by human intellect. It consists of ideas,
inventions, and expressions that are uniquely created by a person and can be protected from
unauthorized use by others. Examples are song lyrics, inventions, logos, and secret recipes. Four
types of IP laws: trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, and patents.

Trade Secret is something that is proprietary to a company and important for its survival and
profitability. An example of a trade secret is the formula used for a soft drink, such as Coke or
Pepsi.

Copyright© law protects the right of the creator of an original work to control the public
distribution, reproduction, display, and adaptation of that original work. The law covers many
categories of work: pictorial, graphic, musical, dramatic, literary, pantomime, motion picture,
sculptural, sound recording, and architectural. Validity is for 70 years.

Trademark™ is slightly different from a copyright in that it is used to protect a word, name,
symbol, sound, shape, color, or combination of these. The reason a company would trademark one of
these, or a combination, is that it represents the company (brand identity) to a group of people or
to the world. Logo is form of trademark. Validity is for 10 years.

Patent are given to individuals or organizations to grant them legal ownership of and enable them to
exclude others from using or copying, the invention covered by the patent. The invention must be
novel, useful, and not obvious—which means, for example, that a company could not patent air.
Validity is for 20 years.

TIP A patent is the strongest form of intellectual property protection.

Trademark attacks
• Counterfeiting – products intended to be mistakenly associated with brand
• Dilution – widespread use of brand name as stand-in for product (e.g. Kleenex, Xerox, etc.)

Copyright attacks
• Piracy – unauthorized use or reproduction of material

Patent attacks primarily involve infringement upon the reserved rights of the patent holder
(knowingly or unknowingly)

Trade secrets
• Economic/industrial espionage often targets trade secrets to blunt competitive advantage or
benefit from the fruit of another organization's efforts without like effort.

Licensing. 4 types you should know are contractual, shrink-wrap, click-through, and cloud services.
• Contractual license agreements use a written contract between the software vendor and
the customer.
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• Shrink-wrap license agreements is a clause stating that you acknowledge agreement to the
terms of the contract simply by breaking the shrink-wrap seal on the package.
• Click-through license agreements the contract terms are either written on the software
box or included in the software documentation or during the installation (when you clicking
‘I accept these terms’).
• Cloud services license agreements it does not require any form of written agreement,
rather it simply flashes legal terms on the screen for review. In some cases, they may
simply provide a link to legal terms and a check box for users to confirm that they read and
agree to the terms.

Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) Common framework for the conduct of
computer-related business transactions (contain provisions that address s/w licensing). It requires
that manufacturers provide software users with the option to reject the terms of the license
agreement.

Software Categories
There are five categories of software licensing.
• Freeware is software that is publicly available free of charge and can be used, copied,
studied, modified, and redistributed without restriction.
• Shareware, or trialware, is used by vendors to market their software. Users obtain a free,
trial version of the software. Once the user tries out the program, the user is asked to
purchase a copy of it.
• Commercial software is, quite simply, software that is sold for or serves commercial
purposes.
• Crippleware is sometimes used to describe software products whose functions have been
limited (or "crippled") with the sole purpose of encouraging or requiring the user to pay for
those functions (either by paying a one-time fee or an ongoing subscription fee).
• Academic software is software that is provided for academic purposes at a reduced cost.
It can be open source, freeware, or commercial software.

Defining Sensitive Data

• Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is any information that can identify an individual.
• Protected health information (PHI) is any health-related information that can be related
to a specific person.
• Data classification identifies the value of the data to the organization and is critical to
protect data confidentiality and integrity.
• Computer Export Controls. US companies can’t export to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan,
and Syria.
• Encryption Export Controls. Dept of Commerce details limitations on export of encryption
products outside the US.
• Privacy (US). The basis for privacy rights is in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution.
• Privacy (EU). General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is not a US law, but very likely to
be mentioned.

Types Of Laws
• Criminal Law. contains prohibitions against acts such as murder, assault, robbery, and arson.
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• Civil Law (AKA Tort law). include contract disputes, real estate transactions, employment,
estate, and probate.
• Administrative Law. Government agencies have some leeway to enact administrative law.

Legal and Regulatory (LAWS)

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted by the EU in April 2016 and became
enforceable in May 2018. It protects the personal data and privacy of EU citizens. The GDPR
defines three relevant entities:
• Data subject the individual to whom the data pertains
• Data controller Any organization that collects data on EU residents
• Data processor Any organization that processes data for a data controller
The 7 data protection principles of GDPR are:
• Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency
• Purpose limitation
• Data minimization
• Accuracy
• Storage limitations
• Integrity and confidentiality
• Accountability
In the case of a personal data breach, the controller shall inform supervisory authority with in 72
hours after having become aware of it.

European Union Laws Pertaining to Data Breaches Global organizations that move data across
other country boundaries must be aware of and follow the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of
Personal Data. OECD Guidelines contains the following principles:
• Collection Limitation Principle limits personal data collection to legal means and requires the
individual's permission.
• Data Quality Principle requires that the integrity of the personal data be intact and
maintained.
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• Purpose Specification Principle requires the disclosure of and adherence to the purpose for
collecting the personal information.
• Use Limitation Principle requires that the information not be disclosed to other parties
without the individual's permission.
• Security Safeguards Principle requires the reasonable protection of data against
modification by or disclosure to unauthorized individuals.
• Openness Principle requires that the information collection policy be open and available for
scrutiny.
• Individual Participation Principle requires that an entity allow individuals to inquire about
whether the entity is storing the individual's personal information. In addition, it enables
the individual to challenge and update the content of the personal information.
• Accountability Principle requires that the entity adhere to the other principles.

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The first major piece of US cybercrime-specific
legislation.
• Outlawed the creation of any type of malicious code
• Covered interstate commerce rather than just “federal interest” computer systems.
• Imprisonment of offenders, regardless of whether they actually intended to cause damage.
• Provided legal authority for the victims of computer crime to pursue civil action.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines. provided punishment guidelines to help federal judges interpret
computer crime laws.
Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Required a formal infosec operations
for federal gov’t.
• Periodic risk assessment.
• Cost-effective policies and procedures that is risk-based.
• Adequate information security for networks, facilities, information systems, etc...
• Security awareness and training.
• Periodic testing of policies effectiveness.
• Security incident response program.
• Plans for continuity of operations.

Copyright and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Covers literary, musical, and dramatic works.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) makes a series of demands on websites that
cater to children or knowingly collect information from children.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) Any illegal interception of electronic communication
(email and voicemail monitoring) is a crime in the eye of this law, along with the unauthorized access
to stored e-data.

Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) Amended ECPA, it requires all
communications carriers to make wiretaps possible for law enforcement with an appropriate court
order, regardless of the technology in use.

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Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act 1998 This act makes identity theft a crime
against the person whose identity was stolen and provides severe criminal penalties (up to a 15-year
prison term and/or a $250,000 fine)

Transborder Data Flow (TDF) is the movement of machine-readable data across a political
boundary such a country’s border. This data is generated or acquired in one country but may be
stored and processed in other countries as a result of TDFs. In a modern, connected world, this
happens all the time. For example, just imagine all the places your personal data will go when you
make an airline reservation to travel overseas, especially if you have a layover along the way.
Transborder data flows are sometimes called cross-border data flows.

Privacy Shield Framework (EU-US) is a framework that allows companies to self-certify that they
adhere to a set of privacy principles when transferring personal data from the European Union (EU)
to the United States (US).

Privacy Issues & Laws: Countries often define their privacy laws in relation to several other
issues, such as national security, data sovereignty, and transborder data flow. Some countries have
specific laws and regulations that are enacted to protect personal privacy, such as:
• European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
• New Zealand’s Privacy Act of 1993
• Brazil’s Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD)
• Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA)

GDPR, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) requirements:

• Names
• Addresses
• Financial information
• Login IDs
• Biometric identifiers
• Video footage
• Geographic location data
• Customer loyalty histories
• Social media

US Privacy Act of 1974

• Covers federal government collection, use, and transmission of citizen data
• Also allows citizens to gain access to most data held about them

Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Fair Information Practice Principles (basis for OECD)define
what type of information can be collected, how individuals may interact with their collected data,
and general privacy safeguards associated with the data:
• Notice/Awareness
• Choice/Consent
• Access/Participation
• Integrity/Security
• Enforcement/Redress
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Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is a framework that helps organizations

improve their cybersecurity practices. It is used by the DoD to assess the cybersecurity
capabilities of its contractors and ensure that they are following best practices to protect
sensitive information.
• Level 1 (Basic Cyber Hygiene)
• Level 2 (Intermediate Cyber Hygiene)
• Level 3 (Good Cyber Hygiene)
• Level 4 (Proactive)
• Level 5 (Advanced/Progressive)

PCI DSS Requirements

Build and Maintain a Secure Network
1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters
Protect Cardholder Data
3. Protect stored cardholder data
4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public network
Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program
5. Protect all systems against malware and regularly update antivirus software or programs
6. Develop and maintain secure systems and application
Implement Strong Access Control Measure
7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business on a need-to-know basis
8. Identify and authenticate access to system components
9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data
Regularly Monitor and Test Networks
10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
11. Regularly test security systems and processes
Maintain an Information Security Policy
12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security for all personnel

Wassenaar Arrangement promotes “international security and stability” by regulating exchanges of

conventional weapons such as guns, bombs, torpedoes, grenades, and mines; dual-use goods; and
technologies. In 2013, the agreement was revised to address cyber weapons, including malicious
software, command-and-control software, and Internet surveillance software.

International Traffic In Arms (ITAR): Regulates the sale, distribution, and manufacturing of
defense-related items.

Export Administration Regulations (EAR): Regulates dual-use items not covered by ITAR, but still
applies to some defense-related items.

California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) gives consumers more control over the personal
information that businesses collect about them and the CCPA regulations provide guidance on how
to implement the law.

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Domain 2: Asset Security

Confidential or proprietary label typically refers to the highest level of classified data. In this
context, a data breach would cause exceptionally grave damage to the mission of the organization.
As an example, attackers have repeatedly attacked Sony, stealing more than 100 terabytes of data,
including full-length versions of unreleased movies.

Private label refers to data that should stay private within the organization but that doesn’t meet
the definition of confidential or proprietary data. In this context, a data breach would cause
serious damage to the mission of the organization. Many organizations label PII and PHI data as
private.

Sensitive data is similar to confidential data. In this context, a data breach would cause damage to
the mission of the organization. As an example, IT personnel within an organization might have
extensive data about the internal network, including the layout, devices, operating systems,
software, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and more.

Public data is similar to unclassified data. It includes information posted in websites, brochures, or
any other public source. Although an organization doesn’t protect the confidentiality of public data,
it does take steps to protect its integrity.

Digital rights management (DRM) methods attempt to provide copyright protection for
copyrighted works. The purpose is to prevent the unauthorized use, modification, and distribution
of copyrighted works such as intellectual property.

Data States
• Data at rest (sometimes called data on storage) is any data stored on media such as system
hard drives, solid-state drives (SSDs), external USB drives, storage area networks (SANs),
and backup tapes. Strong symmetric encryption protects data at rest.
• Data in Transit (sometimes called data in motion or being communicated) is any data
transmitted over a network. This includes data transmitted over an internal network using
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wired or wireless methods and data transmitted over public networks such as the internet.
A combination of symmetric and asymmetric encryption protects data in transit.
• Data in use (also known as data being processed) refers to data in memory or temporary
storage buffers while an application is using it. Applications often decrypt encrypted data
before placing it in memory.

Data loss prevention (DLP) systems attempt to detect and block data exfiltration attempts. These
systems have the capability of scanning unencrypted data looking for keywords and data patterns.
For example, imagine that your organization uses data classifications of Confidential, Proprietary,
Private, and Sensitive. A DLP system can scan files for these words and detect them.

Network-Based DLP A network-based DLP scans all outgoing data looking for specific data.
Administrators place it on the edge of the network to scan all data leaving the organization. If a
user sends out a file containing restricted data, the DLP system will detect it and prevent it from
leaving the organization.

Endpoint-Based DLP an endpoint-based DLP can scan files stored on a system as well as files sent
to external devices, such as printers. For example, an organization’s endpoint-based DLP can
prevent users from copying sensitive data to USB flash drives or sending sensitive data to a
printer.

Encryption of sensitive data provides an additional layer of protection and should be considered for any
data at rest. If data is encrypted, it becomes much more difficult for an attacker to access it, even if it is
TIP
stolen.

Sanitization can refer to the destruction of media or using a trusted method to purge classified
data from the media without destroying it. This includes removing or destroying data on nonvolatile
memory, internal hard drives, and solid-state drives (SSDs). It also includes removing all CDs/DVDs
and Universal Serial Bus (USB) drives.

Data remanence is the data that remains on media after the data was supposedly erased. It
typically refers to data on a hard drive as residual magnetic flux or slack space. If media includes
any type of private and sensitive data, it is important to eliminate data remanence.

Slack space is the unused space within a disk cluster.

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Common Data Destruction Methods

Erasing media is simply performing a delete operation against a file, a selection of files, or the
entire media. In most cases, the deletion or removal process removes only the directory or catalog
link to the data.

Clearing or overwriting, is a process of preparing media for reuse and ensuring that the cleared
data cannot be recovered using traditional recovery tools. When media is cleared, unclassified data
is written over all addressable locations on the media.

Purging is a more intense form of clearing that prepares media for reuse in less secure
environments. A purging process will repeat the clearing process multiple times and may combine it
with another method, such as degaussing, to completely remove the data.

Degaussing creates a strong magnetic field that erases data on some media in a process called
degaussing. hard disk will normally destroy the electronics used to access the data. Degaussing does
not affect optical CDs, DVDs, or SSDs.

Destruction is the final stage in the lifecycle of media and is the most secure method of sanitizing
media. When destroying media, ensure that the media cannot be reused or repaired and that data
cannot be extracted from the destroyed media. Methods of destruction include incineration,

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crushing, shredding, disintegration, and dissolving using caustic or acidic chemicals. Some
organizations remove the platters in highly classified disk drives and destroy them separately.

Record retention involves retaining and maintaining important information as long as it is needed
and destroying it when it is no longer needed.

Cloud access security broker (CASB) is software placed logically between users and cloud-based
resources. CASB would typically include authentication and authorization controls and ensure only
authorized users can access the cloud resources. CASB solutions can also be effective at detecting
shadow IT. CASBs offer a range of security capabilities, including :
• Access controls: CASBs can be used to enforce access controls and ensure that only authorized
users and devices have access to cloud-based resources .
• Data security: CASBs can be used to protect data that is stored on the cloud, including measures
such as data encryption and data loss prevention (DLP) .
• Compliance: CASBs can help organizations meet regulatory and compliance requirements when it
comes to storing and processing data in the cloud .
• Threat detection and response: CASBs can be used to monitor cloud-based resources for potential
threats and vulnerabilities, and to respond to incidents as needed .
CASBs are often used as part of a larger cloud security strategy, along with other security
solutions such as Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Cloud Workload Protection
Platforms (CWPP).

Shadow IT is the use of IT resources (such as cloud services) without the approval of, or even the
knowledge of, the IT department. If the IT department doesn’t know about the usage, it can’t
manage it.

Tokenization is the use of a token, typically a random string of characters, to replace other data.
It is often used with credit card transactions.

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Tokenization is similar to pseudonymization. Pseudonymization uses pseudonyms to represent other data.

Tokenization uses tokens to represent other data. Neither the pseudonym nor the token has any meaning or
value outside the process that creates them and links them to the other data. Pseudonymization is most
useful when releasing a dataset to a third party (such as researchers aggregating data) without releasing any
TIP privacy data to the third party. Tokenization allows a third party (such as a credit card processor) to know the
token and the original data. However, no one else knows both the token and the original data.

Pseudonymization refers to the process of using pseudonyms to represent other data. The GDPR
refers to pseudonymization as replacing data with artificial identifiers. These artificial identifiers
are pseudonyms.

Anonymization is the process of removing all relevant data so that it is theoretically impossible to
identify the original subject or person. If done effectively, the GDPR is no longer relevant for the
anonymized data.

Data Roles
Data owner (sometimes referred to as the organizational owner or senior manager) is the person
who has ultimate organizational responsibility for data. The owner is typically the chief executive
officer (CEO), president, or a department head (DH). Data owners identify the classification of
data and ensure that it is labeled properly.

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Asset owner (or system owner) is the person who owns the asset or system that processes
sensitive data.

Data processor is any system used to process data. The GDPR defines a data processor as “a
natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body, which processes personal data solely
on behalf of the data controller.”

Data controller is the person or entity that controls the processing of the data. The data
controller decides what data to process, why this data should be processed, and how it is processed.

Data Custodians: Data owners often delegate day-to-day tasks to a data custodian. A custodian
helps protect the integrity and security of data by ensuring that it is properly stored and
protected.

User is any person who accesses data via a computing system to accomplish work tasks.

Data subject (not just a subject) as a person who can be identified through an identifier, such as a
name, identification number, or other means. As an example, if a file includes PII on Sally Smith,
Sally Smith is the data subject.

Security Baselines
Low-Impact Baseline Controls in this baseline are recommended if a loss of confidentiality,
integrity, or availability will have a low impact on the organization’s mission.

Moderate-Impact Baseline Controls in this baseline are recommended if a loss of confidentiality,

integrity, or availability will have a moderate impact on the organization’s mission.

High-Impact Baseline Controls in this baseline are recommended if a loss of confidentiality,

integrity, or availability will have a high impact on the organization’s mission.

Privacy Control Baseline This baseline provides an initial baseline for any systems that process PII.
Organizations may combine this baseline with one of the other baselines.

Asset lifecycle The general asset/data lifecycle still applies below:

• Identify/classify – this is where the information is created or collected, and both
value and ownership are determined here.

• Secure – the information is now secured based on its value/classification, typically

articulated as baselines.

• Monitor – the value of the asset should be monitored for changes, as this will have an
impact on protection levels that are applied.
• Recover – as the asset values change, you’ll need the ability to recover from those
changes. Typically this is considered backups, redundancy, restoration activities.

• Dispose – disposal can happen in two ways:

• Archive – long term storage, retention periods apply, owner determines.

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• Defensible Destruction – eliminating and destroying in a controlled, compliant,

and legal method. Entities should have policies for this.
IT asset management lifecycle

• Planning is where you would identify the assets, put a value on them, and put them in the
inventory.
• Assigning the security needs, this is where you would classify and categorize the
assets. This step likely includes assigning the protection levels or baselines if they exist.
• Acquiring the asset(s), whether that’s internally creating the software or purchasing the
hardware.
• Deployment refers to deploying the assets and conducting training for all levels of users
and support functions.
• Managing refers to the ongoing and continuous security assessment of the assets. This
step includes backup and recovery activities.
• Retiring – obviously this step includes disposal.

Data Security Lifecycle:

1. Create – obviously refers to creation or collection of the data. This might also be
where we classify and value the data, and again, try to read between the lines with
some of this stuff, this could be the step where we assign security requirements but
not implement them just yet.

2. Store – where to put the data as it is created/collected. This could be where we

apply the protection levels (note: applying protections is different than “assigning”
them). ISC2 says that the storage step is often done at the same time as the
creation step.

3. Use – processing of the data; using internally. It is typically unencrypted while “in
process”.

4. Share – sending the data outside to third parties; includes selling, publishing, data
exchange agreements, etc. The common body of knowledge talks about having a digital
rights management solution in place to control the flow of data, and a data loss
prevention solution in place to detect information leakage.

5. Archive – long term storage. This is when it’s not regularly used, or basically when
the data leaves active use. This is where things like the age of technology come into
play, along with EOL, EOS, which need to be considered in terms of the data’s
availability. As always, protection levels at this phase depend on classification.

6. Destruction – permanent destruction of the data. The method of disposal depends on

the data’s classification.

Data classification policy defines data classifications, who can access the data, how it should be
used, how it is secured, retention periods, and methods of disposal. Some basic steps in creating
a Record Retention Policy are as follows:

• Understand business needs and regulatory requirements

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• Classify assets or records

• Establish retention periods and destruction methods
• Draft the policy
• Develop training, education, and awareness that discusses the policy
• Audit the policy and procedures
• Review the policy and procedures regularly
• Document the implementation and audit results

Volatile storage

• Power must be supplied for data to persist

• If separated from power, volatile storage will lose data
• Think Registers, SRAM, and DRAM

Non-volatile storage

• Even if power is lost, non-volatile storage will maintain data

• Secondary storage like hard disk drives
• Firmware also classically non-volatile

Sequential access memory/storage

• Storage devices that are read and written to in a sequential order

• Older and slower technology used by magnetic tape

Random access

• Storage devices that allow for jumping to a location and reading or writing of data
• Faster technology that is more complex than sequential access storage

Kiosk service points are remote assets that can process transactions, such as automated teller
machines (ATM), and point of sale devices (at stores for purchasing with credit/debit cards). These
assets typically don’t store transaction information themselves, but rather the applications that
support them.

Pervasive encryption is a consumable approach to enable extensive encryption of data in-flight and
at-rest to substantially simplify encryption and reduce costs associated with protecting data and
achieving compliance mandates.

Enclave is defined as an environment under the control of a single authority with personnel and
physical security measures.

Provisioning is concerned with preparing a user, service, or system for active deployment.
Provisioning ends with the instantiation of the user, service, or system into the operational status.

Security Metrics: Goal of security metrics is to provide meaningful security data, security Metrics
can help an organization begin to understand their threats and vulnerabilities and hopefully, use the
data to make better decisions related to security.

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Continuous Monitoring: Another complementary approach to deriving better-secured organizations

is by leveraging continuous monitoring solutions. Somewhat akin to security metrics, this approach is
to try to ensure assessments are made with continuously updated data. Formal risk analysis is time-
consuming and represents a point in time. Imagine daily vulnerability status reports vs. quarterly
scans.

Security marking reflects applicable laws, directives, policies, regulations, and standards. These
markings enable organizational process–based enforcement of security policies.

Security labeling helps to enable information system–based enforcement of security policies. Each
organization can define the attributes that are needed to support the organization's mission or
business functions. Security labels can be used to control access to information.

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) as they are sometimes called, are legally enforceable
agreements between parties that are used to ensure that certain information will remain
confidential and will not go out.

Non-compete agreements (NCAs) are typically used to prevent the threat of loss of an employee
to a similar company as a means of wage negotiation and to prevent the potential loss of company
skills to a competitor. NCAs are likely to contain a job description and a geographic restriction for
the same reason they contain an expiration date. Without these limitations, a court might consider
the NCA to be unreasonable and therefore unenforceable.

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