NASA cyber program bears fruit

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/1014/mgt-nasa-10-14-02.asp

By Megan Lisagor 
Oct. 14, 2002

NASA has demonstrated that using a scanning and remediation program
can turn the tide against hackers, according to a recent report.

The SANS Institute released its NASA case study to coincide with the
Oct. 2 release of the top 20 security vulnerabilities in the Unix and
Microsoft Corp. Windows environments.

In fact, the idea for the top 20 list came from NASA's efforts to tame
the cyber beast, according to Alan Paller, research director at the
institute. Although the space agency outsources its more than 80,000
desktop computers, which are spread among several facilities, it
maintains responsibility for their security.

In 1999, NASA identified the 50 most serious flaws plaguing its
computers in response to an increasing number of attacks. Then using
available funds, the agency bought and deployed a standard suite of
scanning tools agencywide. Beginning in fiscal 2000, all
network-connected computers were tested for the top 50 flaws and
system owners were challenged to fix any problems.

"We had to market this within NASA," said Dave Nelson, a senior
official in the chief information officer's office. "As the network
has become more important, it's not possible for individual
organizations to work in isolation."

To bring the entire agency on board, then-CIO Lee Holcomb set a
target: Each center would decrease the ratio of
vulnerabilities-to-computers from 1-to-1 to 1-to-4. "It got into a
spirit of competition," Nelson said.

That spirit was the key, because people were given the opportunity to
succeed, Paller said. "They never used it as a 'gotcha.' They gave
them at least a full quarter to fix" a problem.

NASA tracks progress quarterly and, in fiscal 2002, began updating the
list just as regularly. In addition to scanning for security problems,
the agency relies on intrusion detection and other measures.

"We've seen that this general approach works," Nelson said. "The cost
is acceptable. Other agencies are picking it up."

NASA spends $2 million to $3 million a year on the program, or about
$30 per computer annually.

"The need for large-scale contracting is nonexistent," Paller said.  
"This was less than 3 percent of their security budget, and all of us
can find 3 percent."

The cost is almost entirely in labor, so looking ahead, NASA wants to
move to better management tools and use the General Services
Administration's patching service when it becomes available, Nelson
said. The agency is also trying to incorporate artificial intelligence
that better identifies intrusion patterns.

It has already reduced the number of system compromises and the ratio
of vulnerabilities-to-computers to about 1-to-10, Nelson said. Now "we
can jump on an emergency very quickly," he said.

Despite making progress, NASA must stay up-to-date on the latest
vulnerabilities, according to Bill Wall, chief security engineer with
Harris Corp.'s STAT network security group.

"In my mind [updating the list] bi-weekly is the best schedule," said
Wall, who worked as chief of computer security at the agency's Ames
Research Center in California for six years. "NASA's always a likely
target."

Experts responded similarly to the top 20 list, calling it a good
place for organizations to start as part of a larger cybersecurity
strategy.

The institute announced the list with the FBI's National
Infrastructure Protection Center, the Federal Computer Incident
Response Center and the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. The
group plans to offer free weekly or monthly updates to the list.



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