When an IT security configuration checklist (e.g., hardening or lockdown guide) is applied to a system in combination with trained system administrators and a sound and effective security program, a substantial reduction in vulnerability exposure can be achieved. This guide will assist personnel responsible for the administration and security of Windows XP systems. It contains information that can be used to secure local Windows XP workstations, mobile computers, and telecommuter systems more effectively in a variety of environments, including small office, home office and managed enterprise environments. The guidance should only be applied throughout an enterprise by trained and experienced system administrators. Illustrations.

Fed. agencies are facing a set of cybersecurity threats that are the result of increasingly sophisticated methods of attack & the blending of once distinct types of attack into more complex & damaging forms. Examples of these threats include: spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail), phishing (fraudulent messages to obtain personal or sensitive data), & spyware (software that monitors user activity without user knowledge or consent). This report determines: the potential risks to fed. systems from these emerging cybersecurity threats; the fed. agencies' perceptions of risk & their actions to mitigate them, fed. & private-sector actions to address the threats on a nat. level; & governmentwide challenges to protecting fed. systems from these threats. Illus.

Organizations, worldwide, have adopted practical and applied approaches for mitigating risks and managing information security program. Considering complexities of a large-scale, distributed IT environments, security should be proactively planned for and prepared ahead, rather than as used as reactions to changes in the landscape. Strategic and Practical Approaches for Information Security Governance: Technologies and Applied Solutions presents high-quality research papers and practice articles on management and governance issues in the field of information security. The main focus of the book is to provide an organization with insights into practical and applied solutions, frameworks, technologies and practices on technological and organizational factors. The book aims to be a collection of knowledge for professionals, scholars, researchers and academicians working in this field that is fast evolving and growing as an area of information assurance.

Discusses all types of corporate risks and practical means of defending against them. Security is currently identified as a critical area of Information Technology management by a majority of government, commercial, and industrial organizations. Offers an effective risk management program, which is the most critical function of an information security program.

"This book explores the latest empirical research and best real-world practices for preventing, weathering, and recovering from disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis to nuclear disasters and cyber terrorism"--Provided by publisher.

Securing against operational interruptions and the theft of your data is much too important to leave to chance. By planning for the worst, you can ensure your organization is prepared for the unexpected. Enterprise Architecture and Information Assurance: Developing a Secure Foundation explains how to design complex, highly available, and secure enterprise architectures that integrate the most critical aspects of your organization's business processes. Filled with time-tested guidance, the book describes how to document and map the security policies and procedures needed to ensure cost-effective organizational and system security controls across your entire enterprise. It also demonstrates how to evaluate your network and business model to determine if they fit well together. The book’s comprehensive coverage includes: Infrastructure security model components Systems security categorization Business impact analysis Risk management and mitigation Security configuration management Contingency planning Physical security The certification and accreditation process Facilitating the understanding you need to reduce and even mitigate security liabilities, the book provides sample rules of engagement, lists of NIST and FIPS references, and a sample certification statement. Coverage includes network and application vulnerability assessments, intrusion detection, penetration testing, incident response planning, risk mitigation audits/reviews, and business continuity and disaster recovery planning. Reading this book will give you the reasoning behind why security is foremost. By following the procedures it outlines, you will gain an understanding of your infrastructure and what requires further attention.

Examining the importance of aligning computer security (information assurance) with the goals of an organization, this book gives security personnel direction as to how systems should be designed, the process for doing so, and a methodology to follow. By studying this book, readers will acquire the skills necessary to develop a security architecture that serves specific needs. They will come to understand distinctions amongst engineering architecture, solutions architecture, and systems engineering. The book also shows how the Zachman and the Federal Enterprise Architecture models can be used together to achieve the goals of a business or government agency.

Information Security professionals today have to be able to demonstrate their security strategies within clearly demonstrable frameworks, and show how these are driven by their organization's business priorities, derived from sound risk management assessments. This Open Enterprise Security Architecture (O-ESA) Guide provides a valuable reference resource for practising security architects and designers explaining the key security issues, terms, principles, components, and concepts underlying security-related decisions that security architects and designers have to make. In doing so it helps in explaining their security architectures and related decision-making processes to their enterprise architecture colleagues. The description avoids excessively technical presentation of the issues and concepts, so making it also an eminently digestible reference for business managers - enabling them to appreciate, validate, and balance the security architecture viewpoints along with all the other viewpoints involved in creating a comprehensive enterprise IT architecture.