What mechanisms are used to identify deficiencies that would provide attackers with an opportunity to compromise a computer system?
Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer
A. B. C. D.B.
A security gap analysis is a process which measures all security controls in place against typically good business practice, and identifies related weaknesses.
A business impact analysis is less suited to identify security deficiencies.
System performance metrics may indicate security weaknesses, but that is not their primary purpose.
Incident response processes exist for cases where security weaknesses are exploited.
To identify deficiencies that would provide attackers with an opportunity to compromise a computer system, security professionals typically use security gap analyses. A security gap analysis is a systematic approach to identifying security weaknesses in a system. It involves assessing the current state of a system and comparing it to a desired state or standard. By identifying gaps between the current and desired states, security professionals can prioritize remediation efforts to reduce the risk of compromise.
A security gap analysis typically involves the following steps:
Define the scope of the analysis: This involves identifying the system or systems to be analyzed and the desired security standard or benchmark to be used as a reference.
Collect information: This involves gathering information about the system, including its architecture, configuration, policies, procedures, and controls.
Analyze the information: This involves reviewing the information collected to identify gaps between the current state and the desired state. For example, the analysis might reveal that a system is missing critical patches, has weak passwords, or lacks proper access controls.
Prioritize remediation efforts: This involves identifying the most critical gaps and developing a plan to remediate them. This plan might involve implementing new controls, improving existing controls, or updating policies and procedures.
Monitor and reassess: This involves monitoring the system over time to ensure that the remediation efforts are effective and reassessing the system periodically to identify new gaps that may have arisen.
While business impact analyses and system performance metrics can be useful in identifying vulnerabilities, they are not typically used specifically to identify deficiencies that would provide attackers with an opportunity to compromise a computer system. Incident response processes are designed to respond to a security breach after it has occurred, rather than to identify vulnerabilities beforehand.