Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education Wins 2012 National Cybersecurity Innovation Award

The innovation:  Effectively eliminating targeted intrusion by removing the primary vulnerability to advanced persistent threat attacks using existing technologies.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The SANS Institute today announced that the Australian Government's Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research & Tertiary Education (DIISRTE) has won a 2012 U.S. National Cybersecurity Innovation Award for effectively eliminating targeted intrusions known as advanced persistent threat attacks using existing technologies.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121107/DC08272)

A year ago, White House Cyber Advisor Howard Schmidt presented a 2011 National Cybersecurity Innovation Award to the Australian Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) for its identification of four key cybersecurity controls that, when implemented fully, can reduce an organization's threat exposure by over 85%. This was a major discovery and well deserving of recognition. However, a core question remained: does it really work at scale without causing performance problems or having other negative effects that might give organizations reason to delay implementation?

Now that question has been answered and the actual benefit verified. This proof eliminates any reasons why a government agency funded with public money, or any other enterprise that is serious about cybersecurity, should delay implementing DSD's Top 4 Mitigation Strategies, especially given the "how to" guides available at www.dsd.gov.au/infosec/top35mitigationstrategies.htm.

Over the past two years, DIISRTE finished the job the DSD had started by discovering and documenting the first-ever practical operationalization of DSD's Top 4 Mitigation Strategies. The crux of DIISRTE's innovation is a method for leveraging and repurposing existing security resources and technologies.

In particular, DIISRTE showed how to use Microsoft's suite of management software and Symantec's Endpoint Protection (SEP) software in the service of DSD's Top 4 Mitigation Strategies. In fact, through proper configuration of existing technologies, DIISRTE was able to automate the Top 4 Mitigation Strategies as well as 7 of the 35 Strategies also identified as important.

Leveraging its current software to meet requirements was only a piece of the solution. DIISRTE also cultivated change within its IT organization by providing training, ensuring that administrators were granted only the permissions needed, and disabling rights that were not required. DIISRTE is currently  writing a Practical User's Guide for partner organizations that goes beyond technical documentation and outlines the practical steps to replicate DIISRTE's successes, and has already assisted numerous partner organizations implement the top four mitigation strategies.

DIISRTE's approach to implementing DSD's Top 4 Mitigation Strategies has been a road map not only for other Australian organizations, but also for organizations across the globe that are replicating the initiative, and in so doing drastically reducing their vulnerability to targeted attack without any significant investment in new security tools.

About the National Cybersecurity Innovation Awards

The annual U.S. National Cybersecurity Innovation Awards recognize initiatives by companies and government agencies that contribute to significant cyber risk reduction, have not been deployed effectively before in a similar fashion, can be scaled quickly to serve large numbers of people, and should be supported and adopted quickly by many other organizations. Nominators include senior U.S. government officials involved with cybersecurity as well as leaders from major cybersecurity Information Sharing and Analysis Centers.  Corporations and individuals may also nominate innovations.   For the 2012 awards, more than 30 nominations were received and nine were selected. The panel of judges for the 2012 awards is described below.

Sameer Bhalotra served as White House Senior Director for Cybersecurity, leading the national identity management and continuous monitoring initiatives.  He also served as the principal cybersecurity staffer for the Senate Intelligence Committee, which oversees the cyber budgets of the National Security Agency and the other intelligence agencies.  

Tony Sager's stellar career at the National Security Agency spanned 34 years. He headed the Systems & Network Attack Center, oversaw all Red and Blue Team projects, created and headed security product evaluation teams, helped guide the agency's top talent development programs, served as founding director of the Vulnerability Analysis & Operations Group (comprised of 700 of the NSA's top technical cybersecurity specialists), and was the Chief Operating Officer for the Information Assurance Directorate.

Asheem Chandna is the dean of venture capitalists in the cybersecurity field. As a partner at Greylock since 2003, he has helped create and grow multiple security technology businesses to market-leading positions, and successfully merged several into larger companies.  He also serves on the panel of judges for the Wall Street Journal Global Technology Innovation Awards.

Alan Paller is Director of Research at the SANS Institute, where he oversees an international search for people and organizations that have identified important ways to reduce the risk posed by cyber threats. He also oversees the Internet Storm Center and the annual initiative to determine the seven most dangerous new attack vectors.  He co-chairs the DHS Task Force on Cyberskills and the FCC Working Group on Cybersecurity Best Practices in the telecommunications industry.

SOURCE SANS Institute