Cyber Resilience: Defence-In-Depth Principles

  • 1h 23m
  • Alan Calder
  • IT Governance
  • 2023

Technology and vast quantities of data play a considerable role in everyday life, both personal and professional.

For the foreseeable future (and perhaps beyond), the growth and prominence of data in business shows no signs of slowing down, even if the technology in question will likely change in ways perhaps unimaginable today. Naturally, all this innovation brings huge opportunities and benefits to organisations and people alike. However, these come at more than just a financial cost.

In the world as we know it, you can be attacked both physically and virtually. For today’s organisations, which rely so heavily on technology – particularly the Internet – to do business, the latter attack is the far more threatening of the two. The cyber threat landscape is complex and constantly changing. For every vulnerability fixed, another pops up, ripe for exploitation. Worse, when a vulnerability is identified, a tool that can exploit it is often developed and used within hours – faster than the time it normally takes for the vendor to release a patch, and certainly quicker than the time many organisations take to install that patch.

This book has been divided into two parts:

  • Part 1: Security principles.
  • Part 2: Reference controls.

Part 1 is designed to give you a concise but solid grounding in the principles of good security, covering key terms, risk management, different aspects of security, defence in depth, implementation tips, and more. This part is best read from beginning to end.

Part 2 is intended as a useful reference, discussing a wide range of good-practice controls (in alphabetical order) you may want to consider implementing. Each control is discussed at a high level, focusing on the broader principles, concepts and points to consider, rather than specific solutions. Each control has also been written as a stand-alone chapter, so you can just read the controls that interest you, in an order that suits you.

Together, the book will give you a good understanding of the fundamentals of cyber security and resilience, without tying them to specific standards, frameworks or solutions, and provide an excellent starting point for any cyber resilience implementation project.

About the Author

Alan Calder is the Group CEO of GRC International Group PLC, the AIM-listed company that owns IT Governance Ltd. Alan is an acknowledged international cyber security guru, and a leading author on information security and IT governance issues. He has been involved in the development of a wide range of information security management training courses that have been accredited by IBITGQ (International Board for IT Governance Qualifications). Alan has consulted for clients across the globe and is a regular media commentator and speaker.

In this Book

  • Introduction
  • The Cyber Threat Landscape
  • Legal and Contractual Requirements
  • Key Terms and Concepts
  • Managing the Risks
  • Three Security Pillars
  • Layers of Defence in Depth
  • Mapping the Layers Against the Part 2 Reference Controls
  • Implementation Tips
  • Asset Management
  • Board-Level Commitment and Involvement
  • Business Continuity Management
  • Configuration and Patch Management
  • Continual Improvement Process
  • Encryption
  • External Certification/Validation
  • Identity and Access Control
  • Incident Response Management
  • Internal Audits
  • Malware Protection
  • Network and Communications Security
  • Physical and Environmental Security
  • Security Monitoring
  • Security Policies
  • Staff Training and Awareness
  • Supply Chain Security
  • System Security
  • Vulnerability Scanning and Penetration Testing
  • GRC International Group PLC Resources
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