Administrators, more technically savvy than their managers, have started to secure the networks in a way they see as appropriate. When management catches up to the notion that security is important, system administrators have already altered the goals and business practices. Although they may be grateful to these people for keeping the network secure, their efforts do not account for all assets and business requirements Finally, someone decides it is time to write a security policy. Management is told of the necessity of the policy document, and they support its development. A manager or administrator is assigned to the task and told to come up with something, and fast! Once security policies are written, they must be treated as living documents. As technology and business requirements change, the policy must be updated to reflect the new environment--at least one review per year. Additionally, policies must include provisions for security awareness and enforcement while not impeding corporate goals. This book serves as a guide to writing and maintaining these all-important security policies.
Scott Barman is currently an information Security and Systems Architecture Analyst for The MITRE Corporation (http://www.mitre.org). He has been involved with information security for almost 20 years, nurturing the evolution of systems and their security requirements for commercial organizations and government agencies. Since the explosion of the Internet and prior to joining MITRE, he had focused on various areas of security and policy development for many organizations in the Washington, D.C. area. The inspiration for this book came from his SANS '99 presentation. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and a Masters of Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon University (http://www.mism.cmu.edu).
The reviewers contributed their considerable hands-on expertise to the entire development process for Writing Information Security Policies. As the book was being written, these dedicated professionals reviewed all the material for technical content, organization, and flow. Their feedback was critical to ensuring that Writing Information Security Policies fits our reader's need for the highest-quality technical information.
David Neilan has been working in the computer/network industry for over 10 years, the last six dealing primarily with network/Internet connectivity and security. From 1991 to 1995, he worked for Intergraph, dealing with graphics systems and networking. From 1995 to 1998, he was with Digital Equipment, working with DEC firewalls and network security. From 1998 to 2000, he was with Online Business Systems, doing LAN/WAN and Internet security. David is currently running a business, Security Technologies, in the network/security realm; he is working with local companies to enable and secure their networks. He is designing network infrastructures to support secure LAN/WAN connectivity for various companies utilizing Microsoft 2000 and Cisco products and the Internet to create secure Virtual Private Networks. David also has been beta testing Microsoft operating systems since Windows For Workgroups, WFW3.11, and has worked part-time as a technical editor on many Microsoft/networking/security books.
Larry Paccone is a Principal National/Systems Security Analyst at Logicon/TASC. As both a technical lead and project manager, he has worked in the Internet and network/systems security arena for more than eight years. He has been the technical lead for several network security projects supporting a government network/systems security research and development laboratory. Prior to that, Larry worked for five years at The Analytical Sciences Corporation (TASC) as a national security analyst assessing conventional military force structures. He has an M.S. in Information Systems, an M.A. in International Relations, and a B.A. in Political Science. He also has completed eight professional certifications in network and systems security, internetworking, wide area networking, Cisco routing/switching, and Windows NT.
