Dr. J started the week with commentary on what we will be attempting to write this month.  One of the things we hope to accomplish this month with our focus on standards is awareness of their existence and how they can assist in solving some of the information security challenges we are faced in our everyday work.  Dr. J also mentioned guest diaries, but as of this writing I am not aware of any guest diaries that have been accepted, so if you’re interested, please drop us a note. 

For CSAM day 4 Dr. J wrote about crypto standards, due to the announcement of the winner for the competition for the new SHA-3.  One key point Dr. J mentions in his article is the  discussion of performance.  The application of cryptography should always be weighed against the risk of exposure and impact to performance.

For CSAM Day 5 Richard Porter wrote on the different groups that publish standards that may be of interest.  The Handler group is a very diverse group of individuals, some who have actually written some of the standards we use today, with much experience implementing these standards.  The task of implementing one of these standards can be daunting, so let us know what we can do to help.  There is tons of great information at each of the links, for example the NIST publications include the ‘800- series’ of Special Publications, which covers Computer Security. 

For CSAM Day 6 Manuel discussed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards.  NERC CIP is an excellent example of a set of non-government standards that are fairly easy to interpret.   "NERC is a non-government organization which has statutory responsibility to regulate bulk power system users, owners, and operators through the adoption and enforcement of standards"   Granted we all are not bulk power system users, owners, etc. however the approach is based on solid practices that can be adapted to many environments, regardless of mission.

The challenge with standards has often been trying to interpret or understand the intent, and fit that material to the world we work in.  The Handlers here at the Internet Storm Center have a very diverse set of experiences, so if you have questions about where to start, what does it mean, etc., we can certainly assist.  Feel free to ask, that’s why we are here :)


tony d0t carothers -gmail