Re: NASA experience

["Curt Purdy" <purdy () tecman com>]

> From my experience working at NASA (moffet field as an intern one
> summer) was that their IT department (in my building) was good at what
> they did but had a pretty restrictive security policy (which is a good
> thing i guess).  So i would rate them as excellent although too
> restrictive.
> --
> Jason Freidman <jason.full-disclosure () compnski com>


Since a primary tenant of all good security policies is the principle of
least privilage that baisically states that no-one should have more access
than the absolute minimum necessary to do their job.  Of course no-one
really does this that I have seen.  But a good yard-stick of your security
policy and implementation is if everyone complains it is too strict.

As long as you have the support of managment, this is when I feel most
comfortable.  It looks like NASA is doing it right, which I have always
heard.  Being ahead of the curve, 4 years ago they instituted a comprehenive
vullnerability assessment and patching and remediation program that turned
the hostile penetration rate from over 20% to less than 1% in a year.

Curt Purdy CISSP, GSEC, MCSE+I, CNE, CCDA
Information Security Engineer
DP Solutions

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If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, you will be hacked.
What's more, you deserve to be hacked.
-- White House cybersecurity adviser Richard Clarke

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