Requirement
Monitor system security alerts and advisories and take action in response.
Assessment Objectives
- Response actions to system security alerts and advisories are identified
- System security alerts and advisories are monitored
- Actions in response to system security alerts and advisories are taken
Potential Assessment Methods and Objects [NIST SP 800-171A]
Examine
- System and information integrity policy
- Procedures addressing security alerts, advisories, and directives
- System security plan
- Records of security alerts and advisories
- Other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Personnel with security alert and advisory responsibilities
- Personnel implementing, operating, maintaining, and using the system
- Personnel, organizational elements, and external organizations to whom alerts, advisories, and directives are to be disseminated
- System or network administrators
- Personnel with information security responsibilities
Test
- Organizational processes for defining, receiving, generating, disseminating, and complying with security alerts, advisories, and directives
- Mechanisms supporting or implementing definition, receipt, generation, and dissemination of security alerts, advisories, and directives
- Mechanisms supporting or implementing security directives
Discussion [NIST SP 800-171 REV. 2]
There are many publicly available sources of system security alerts and advisories. The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) generates security alerts and advisories to maintain situational awareness across the federal government and in nonfederal organizations. Software vendors, subscription services, and relevant industry information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs) may also provide security alerts and advisories. Examples of response actions include notifying relevant external organizations, for example, external mission/business partners, supply chain partners, external service providers, and peer or supporting organizations. NIST SP 800-161 provides guidance on supply chain risk management.
Further Discussion
Solicit and receive security alerts, advisories, and directives from reputable external organizations. Identify sources relevant to the industry and technology used by your company. Methods to receive alerts and advisories may include: signing up for email distributions; subscribing to RSS feeds; and attending meetings. Review alerts and advisories for applicability as they are received. The frequency of the reviews should be based on the frequency of the alerts and advisories to ensure you have the most up-to-date information. External alerts and advisories may prompt you to generate internal security alerts, advisories, or directives, and share these with all personnel with a need-to-know. The individuals should assess the risk related to a given alert and act to respond as appropriate. Sometimes it may require a configuration update. Other times, the information may also require adjusting system architecture in order to thwart a threat described in an advisory.
Examples
Example 1
You monitor security advisories each week. You review the alert emails and online subscription service alerts to determine which ones apply [b]. You create a list of the applicable alerts and research what steps you need to take to address them. Next, you generate a plan that you review with your change management group so that the work can be scheduled [c].
Potential Assessment Considerations
- Are the responses to system security alerts and advisories identified in relation to the assessed severity of potential flaws (e.g., communicating with responsible personnel, initiating vulnerability scans, initiating system flaw remediation activities) [a]?
- Are system security alerts and advisories addressed (e.g., assessing potential severity or likelihood, communicating with responsible personnel, initiating vulnerability scans, initiating system flaw remediation activities) [a,c]?
References
- NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 3.14.3
