SACM Working Group H. Birkholz
Internet-Draft Fraunhofer SIT
Intended status: Informational October 14, 2015
Expires: April 16, 2016
Secure Automation and Continuous Monitoring (SACM) Terminology
draft-ietf-sacm-terminology-08
Abstract
This memo documents terminology used in the documents produced by
SACM (Security Automation and Continuous Monitoring).
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on April 16, 2016.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Terms and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6. Change Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7. Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Appendix A. The Attic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1. Introduction
Our goal with this document is to improve our agreement on the
terminology used in documents produced by the IETF Working Group for
Security Automation and Continuous Monitoring. Agreeing on
terminology should help reach consensus on which problems we're
trying to solve, and propose solutions and decide which ones to use.
2. Terms and Definitions
This section describes terms that have been defined by other RFC's
and defines new ones. The predefined terms will reference the RFC
and where appropriate will be annotated with the specific context by
which the term is used in SACM.
Assertion: Defined by the ITU in [X.1252] as "a statement made by an
entity without accompanying evidence of its validity". In the
context of SACM, an assertion is a collection result that includes
metadata about the data source (and optionally a timestamp
indicating the point in time the assertion was created at). The
validity of an assertion cannot be verified.
Assessment: Defined in [RFC5209] as "the process of collecting
posture for a set of capabilities on the endpoint (e.g., host-
based firewall) such that the appropriate validators may evaluate
the posture against compliance policy."
Within SACM the use of the term is expanded to support other uses
of collected posture (e.g. reporting, network enforcement,
vulnerability detection, license management). The phrase "set of
capabilities on the endpoint" includes: hardware and software
installed on the endpoint."
Asset: Defined in [RFC4949] as "a system resource that is (a)
required to be protected by an information system's security
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policy, (b) intended to be protected by a countermeasure, or (c)
required for a system's mission". In the scope of SACM, an asset
can be composed of other assets. Examples of Assets include:
Endpoints, Software, Guidance, or X.509 public key certificates.
An asset is not necessarily owned by an organization.
Asset Characterization: Asset characterization is the process of
defining attributes that describe properties of an identified
asset.
Asset Management: The process by which assets are provisioned,
updated, maintained and deprecated.
Attribute: Defined in [RFC5209] as "data element including any
requisite meta-data describing an observed, expected, or the
operational status of an endpoint feature (e.g., anti-virus
software is currently in use)." If not indicated otherwise,
attributes in SACM are represented and processed as attribute
value pairs, and the terms attribute and endpoint attribute are
synonyms.
Authentication: Defined in [RFC4949] as "the process of verifying a
claim that a system entity or system resource has a certain
attribute value."
Authorization: Defined in [RFC4949] as "an approval that is granted
to a system entity to access a system resource."
Broker: A broker is a specific controller type that contains control
plane functions to provide and/or connect services on behalf of
other SACM components via interfaces on the control plane. A
broker may provide, for example, authorization services and find,
upon request, SACM components providing requested services.
Building Block: For SACM, a building block is a unit of
functionality that is used to compose SACM components. It
contains SACM functions and may apply to one or more use cases.
The functions of a building block can have interfaces on the data
plane, the control plane, or on the management plane.
Capability: The extent of an SACM component's ability enabled by the
functions (bundled into building blocks) it is composed of.
Capabilities are propagated by a SACM component and can be
discovered by or negotiated with other SACM components. For
example, the capability of a SACM Provider may be to provide
endpoint management data, or only a subset of that data.
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Collection Result: Information about a target endpoint that is
produced by a collector conducting a collection task. A
collection result is composed of one or more endpoint attributes.
Collection Task: The task by which endpoint attributes and/or
corresponding attribute values about a target endpoint are
collected. There are three types of collection tasks, each
requiring an appropriate set of functions to be included in the
SACM component conducting the collection task:
Self-Reported: A SACM component located on the target endpoint
itself conducts the collection task.
Remote: A SACM component located on an Endpoint different from the
target endpoint conducts the collection task via interfaces
available on the target endpoint, e.g. SNMP/NETCONF or WMI.
Observed: A SACM component located on an Endpoint different from
the target endpoint observes network traffic related to the target
endpoint and conducts the collection task via interpretation of
that network traffic.
Collector: A piece of software that acquires information about one
or more target endpoints by conducting collection tasks. A
collector provides acquired information to SACM components in the
form of collection results. A SACM component that consumes
collection results may take on the role of a provider and publish
the collection results in a SACM domain. (TBD: A collector may
not be a SACM component and therefore not part of a SACM domain).
Consumer: A consumer is a SACM role that is assigned to a SACM
component that contains functions to receive information from
other SACM components.
Control Plane: An architectural component providing common control
functions to all SACM components, including authentication,
authorization, capability discovery or negotiation. The control
plane orchestrates the flow on the data plane according to
guidance and/or input from the management plane.
Controller: A controller is a SACM role that is assigned to a SACM
component containing control plane functions that manage and
facilitate information sharing or execute on security functions.
There are three types of SACM controllers: Broker, Proxy, and
Repository. Depending on its type, a controller can also contain
functions that have interfaces on the data plane.
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Data Confidentiality: Defined in [RFC4949] as "the property that
data is not disclosed to system entities unless they have been
authorized to know the data."
Data Integrity: Defined in [RFC4949] as "the property that data has
not been changed, destroyed, or lost in an unauthorized or
accidental manner."
Data Source: One or more properties that enable a SACM component to
identify an (target) endpoint that is claimed to be the original
source of received data.
Data Origin: One or more properties that enable a SACM component to
identify the SACM component that initially acquired or produced
data about a (target) endpoint (e.g. via collection from a data
source).
Data Provenance: A historical record of the sources, origins and
evolution of data that is influenced by inputs, entities,
functions and processes.
Endpoint: Defined in [RFC5209] as "any computing device that can be
connected to a network. Such devices normally are associated with
a particular link layer address before joining the network and
potentially an IP address once on the network. This includes:
laptops, desktops, servers, cell phones, or any device that may
have an IP address."
To further clarify the [RFC5209] definition, an endpoint is any
physical or virtual device that may have a network address. Note
that, network infrastructure devices (e.g. switches, routers,
firewalls), which fit the definition, are also considered to be
endpoints within this document.
The SACM architecture differentiates two essential categories of
endpoints: Endpoints whose security posture is intended to be
assessed (target endpoints) and endpoints that are specifically
excluded from endpoint posture assessment (excluded endpoints).
Based on the definition of an asset, an endpoint is a type of
asset.
Endpoint Attribute: In the context of SACM, endpoint attribute is a
synonym for the term attribute. Endpoint Attributes are typically
represented as AVP.
Evaluation Task: The task by which endpoint attributes are
evaluated.
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Evaluation Result: The resulting value from having evaluated a set
of posture attributes.
Excluded Endpoint: A specific designation, which is assigned to an
endpoint that is not supposed to be the subject of a collection
task (and therefore is not a target endpoint). Typically but not
necessarily, endpoints that contain a SACM component (and are
therefore part of the SACM domain) are designated as excluded
endpoints. Target endpoints that contain a SACM component cannot
be designated as excluded endpoints and are part of the SACM
domain.
Expected Endpoint State: The required state of an endpoint that is
to be compared against. This, for example, can be a policy or a
recorded past state. A state is represented via a single or an
associated set of attribute value pairs.
SACM Function: A behavioral aspect or capacity of a particular
building block that is part of a SACM component, which belies that
SACM component's purpose. For example, a SACM function with
interfaces on the control plane can provide a brokering function
to other SACM components. Via data plane interfaces, a function
can act as a provider and/or as a consumer of information. SACM
functions can be propagated as the capabilities of a SACM
component and can be discovered by or negotiated with other SACM
components.
Information Model: An information model is an abstract
representation of data, their properties, relationships between
data and the operations that can be performed on the data. While
there is some overlap with a data model, [RFC3444] distinguishes
an information model as being protocol and implementation neutral
whereas a data model would provide such details.
Internal Collector: Internal Collector: a collector that runs on a
target endpoint to acquire information from that target endpoint.
(TBD: An internal collector is not a SACM component and therefore
not part of a SACM domain).
Management Plane: An architectural component providing common
functions to all SACM participants, including [TBD].
Network Address: Network addresses are layer specific and follow
layer specific address schemes. Each interface of a specific
layer can be associated with one or more addresses appropriate for
that layer. There is no guarantee that an address is globally
unique. In general, there is a scope to an address in which it is
intended to be unique.
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Examples include: physical Ethernet port with a MAC address, layer
2 VLAN interface with a MAC address, layer 3 interface with
multiple IPv6 addresses, layer 3 tunnel ingress or egress with an
IPv4 address.
Network Interface: An endpoint is connected to a network via one or
more interfaces. Interfaces can be physical or virtual.
Interfaces of an endpoint can operate on different layers, most
prominently what is now commonly called layer 2 and 3. Within a
layer, interfaces can be nested. On layer 2, a root interface is
typically associated with a physical interface port and nested
interfaces are virtual interfaces. In the case of a virtual
endpoint, a root interface can be a virtual interface. Virtual
layer 2 interfaces of one or more endpoints can also constitute an
aggregated group of links that act as one. On layer 3, nested
interfaces typically constitute virtual tunnels or networks.
Examples include: physical Ethernet port, layer 2 VLAN interface,
a MC-LAG setup, layer 3 Point-to-Point tunnel ingress or egress.
Posture: Defined in [RFC5209] as "configuration and/or status of
hardware or software on an endpoint as it pertains to an
organization's security policy."
This term is used within the scope of SACM to represent the
configuration and state information that is collected from a
target endpoint in the form of endpoint attributes (e.g. software/
hardware inventory, configuration settings, dynamically assigned
addresses). This information may constitute one or more posture
attributes.
Posture Attributes: Defined in [RFC5209] as "attributes describing
the configuration or status (posture) of a feature of the
endpoint. A Posture Attribute represents a single property of an
observed state. For example, a Posture Attribute might describe
the version of the operating system installed on the system."
Within this document this term represents a specific assertion
about endpoint configuration or state (e.g. configuration setting,
installed software, hardware) represented via endpoint attributes.
The phrase "features of the endpoint" highlighted above refers to
installed software or software components.
Provider: A provider is a SACM role that is assigned to a SACM
component that contains functions to provide information to other
SACM components.
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Proxy: A proxy is a specific controller type that provides data
plane and control plane functions, information, or services on
behalf of another component, which is not directly participating
in the SACM architecture.
Repository: A repository is a specific controller type that contains
functions to store information of a particular kind - typically
data transported on the data plane, but potentially also data and
metadata from the control and management plane. A single
repository may provide the functions of more than one specific
repository type (i.e. configuration baseline repository,
assessment results repository, etc.)
SACM Role: SACM roles are associated with SACM components and are
defined by the set of functions and interfaces a SACM component
includes. There are three SACM roles: provider, consumer, and
controller. The roles associated with a SACM component are
determined by the purpose of the functions and corresponding
interfaces the SACM component is composed of.
SACM Component: A composition of building blocks that contain SACM
functions (acting on control plane, data plane or management
plane). SACM defines a set of standard components (e.g. a
collector, a broker, or a data store). A SACM component contains
at least a basic set of control plane building blocks and can
contain data plane and management plane building blocks. A SACM
component residing on an endpoint assigns one or more SACM roles
to the corresponding endpoint due to the SACM functions it is
composed of. A SACM component "resides on" an endpoint and an
endpoint "contains" a SACM component, correspondingly. For
example, a SACM component that is composed solely of building
blocks that provide information is a provider.
SACM Component Discovery: The function by which a SACM component
(e.g. by role, capabilities, or data provided/consumed) can be
discovered.
SACM Domain: Endpoints that include a SACM component compose a SACM
domain. (To be revised, additional definition content TBD,
possible dependencies to SACM architecture)
Security Automation: The process of which security alerts can be
automated through the use of different tools to monitor, evaluate
and analyze endpoint and network traffic for the purposes of
detecting misconfigurations, misbehaviors or threats.
Statement: The output of a provider, e.g. a report or an assertion
acquired via a collection result from a collector, that includes
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metadata about the data origin and the point in time the statement
was created at. A statement can be accompanied by evidence of the
validity of its metadata.
Supplicant: The entity seeking to be authenticated by the Management
Plane for the purpose of participating in the SACM architecture.
System Resource: Defined in [RFC4949] as "data contained in an
information system; or a service provided by a system; or a system
capacity, such as processing power or communication bandwidth; or
an item of system equipment (i.e., hardware, firmware, software,
or documentation); or a facility that houses system operations and
equipment.
Target Endpoint: A target endpoint is an "endpoint under assessment"
(even if it is not actively under assessment at all times) or
"endpoint of interest". Every endpoint that is not specifically
designated as an excluded endpoint is a target endpoint. A target
endpoint is not part of a SACM domain unless it contains a SACM
component (e.g. a SACM component that publishes collection results
coming from an internal collector).
A target endpoint is similar to a device that is a Target of
Evaluation (TOE) as defined in Common Criteria.
Target Endpoint Discovery: The function by which target endpoints
can be discovered. The output of target endpoint discovery
typically includes identifying endpoint attributes.
Target Endpoint Identifier: The target endpoint discovery process
and collection tasks targeted at target endpoints can result in a
set of identifying endpoint attributes. This set of identifying
endpoint attributes is used as a target endpoint identifier
referring to a specific target endpoint. Depending on the
available identifying attributes this reference can be ambiguous
and is a "best-effort" mechanism. Every distinct set of
identifying endpoint attributes can be associated with a unique
target endpoint label.
Target Endpoint Label: An artificially created id that references a
distinct set of identifying attributes (Target Endpoint
Identifier). A target endpoint label is unique in a SACM domain
and created by a SACM component that contains an appropriate
building block of functions.
Timestamps : Defined in [RFC4949] as "with respect to a data object,
a label or marking in which is recorded the time (time of day or
other instant of elapsed time) at which the label or marking was
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affixed to the data object" and as "with respect to a recorded
network event, a data field in which is recorded the time (time of
day or other instant of elapsed time) at which the event took
place.".
This term is used in SACM to describe a recorded point in time at
which an endpoint attribute is created or updated by a target
endpoint and observed, transmitted or processed by a SACM
component. Timestamps can be created by target endpoints or SACM
components and are associated with endpoint attributes provided or
consumed by SACM components. Outside of the domain of SACM
components the assurance of correctness of time stamps is
typically significantly lower than inside a SACM domain. In
general, it cannot be simply assumed that the source of time a
target endpoint uses is synchronized or trustworthy.
3. IANA Considerations
This memo includes no request to IANA.
4. Security Considerations
This memo documents terminology for security automation. While it is
about security, it does not affect security.
5. Acknowledgements
6. Change Log
Changes from version 00 to version 01:
o Added simple list of terms extracted from UC draft -05. It is
expected that comments will be received on this list of terms as
to whether they should be kept in this document. Those that are
kept will be appropriately defined or cited.
Changes from version 01 to version 02:
o Added Vulnerability, Vulnerability Management, xposure,
Misconfiguration, and Software flaw.
Changes from version 02 to version 03:
o Removed Section 2.1. Cleaned up some editing nits; broke terms
into 2 sections (predefined and newly defined terms). Added some
of the relevant terms per the proposed list discussed in the IETF
89 meeting.
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Changes from version 03 to version 04:
o TODO
Changes from version 04 to version 05:
o TODO
Changes from version 05 to version 06:
o Updated author information.
o Combined "Pre-defined Terms" with "New Terms and Definitions".
o Removed "Requirements language".
o Removed unused reference to use case draft; resulted in removal of
normative references.
o Removed introductory text from Section 1 indicating that this
document is intended to be temporary.
o Added placeholders for missing change log entries.
Changes from version 06 to version 07:
o Added Contributors section.
o Updated author list.
o Changed title from "Terminology for Security Assessment" to
"Secure Automation and Continuous Monitoring (SACM) Terminology".
o Changed abbrev from "SACM-Terms" to "SACM Terminology".
o Added appendix The Attic to stash terms for future updates.
o Added Authentication, Authorization, Data Confidentiality, Data
Integrity, Data Origin, Data Provenance, SACM Component, SACM
Component Discovery, Target Endpoint Discovery.
o Major updates to Building Block, Function, SACM Role, Target
Endpoint.
o Minor updates to Broker, Capability, Collection Task, Evaluation
Task, Posture.
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o Relabled Role to SACM Role, Endpoint Target to Target Endpoint,
Endpoint Discovery to Endpoint Identification.
o Moved Asset Targeting, Client, Endpoint Identification to The
Attic.
o Endpoint Attributes added as a TODO.
o Changed the structure of the Change Log.
Changes from version 07 to version 08:
o Added Assertion, Collection Result, Collector, Excluded Endpoint,
Internal Collector, Network Address, Network Interface, SACM
Domain, Statement, Target Endpoint Identifier, Target Endpoint
Label, Timestamp.
o Major updates to Attributes, Broker, Collection Task, Consumer,
Controller, Control Plane, Endpoint Attributes, Expected Endpoint
State, SACM Function, Provider, Proxy, Repository, SACM Role,
Target Endpoint.
o Minor updates to Asset, Building Block, Data Origin, Data Source,
Data Provenance, Endpoint, Management Plane, Posture, Posture
Attribute, SACM Component, SACM Component Discovery, Target
Endpoint Discovery.
o Relabled Function to SACM Function.
7. Contributors
David Waltermire
National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
USA
Email: david.waltermire@nist.gov
Adam W. Montville
Center for Internet Security
31 Tech Valley Drive
East Greenbush, NY 12061
USA
Email: adam.w.montville@gmail.com
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David Harrington
Effective Software
50 Harding Rd
Portsmouth, NH 03801
USA
Email: ietfdbh@comcast.net
Nancy Cam-Winget
Cisco Systems
3550 Cisco Way
San Jose, CA 95134
USA
Email: ncamwing@cisco.com
Jarrett Lu
Oracle Corporation
4180 Network Circle
Santa Clara, CA 95054
USA
Email: jarrett.lu@oracle.com
Brian Ford
Lancope
3650 Brookside Parkway, Suite 500
Alpharetta, GA 30022
USA
Email: bford@lancope.com
Merike Kaeo
Double Shot Security
3518 Fremont Avenue North, Suite 363
Seattle, WA 98103
USA
Email: merike@doubleshotsecurity.com
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8. Informative References
[RFC3444] Pras, A. and J. Schoenwaelder, "On the Difference between
Information Models and Data Models", RFC 3444, DOI
10.17487/RFC3444, January 2003,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3444>.
[RFC4949] Shirey, R., "Internet Security Glossary, Version 2", FYI
36, RFC 4949, DOI 10.17487/RFC4949, August 2007,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4949>.
[RFC5209] Sangster, P., Khosravi, H., Mani, M., Narayan, K., and J.
Tardo, "Network Endpoint Assessment (NEA): Overview and
Requirements", RFC 5209, DOI 10.17487/RFC5209, June 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5209>.
[X.1252] "ITU-T X.1252 (04/2010)", n.d..
Appendix A. The Attic
The following terms are stashed for now and will be updated later:
Asset Targeting: Asset targeting is the use of asset identification
and categorization information to drive human-directed, automated
decision making for data collection and analysis in support of
endpoint posture assessment.
Client: An architectural component receiving services from another
architectural component.
Endpoint Identification (TBD per list; was "Endpoint Discovery"):
The process by which an endpoint can be identified.
Author's Address
Henk Birkholz
Fraunhofer SIT
Rheinstrasse 75
Darmstadt 64295
Germany
Email: henk.birkholz@sit.fraunhofer.de
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