SACM Working Group H. Birkholz
Internet-Draft Fraunhofer SIT
Intended status: Informational J. Lu
Expires: September 14, 2017 Oracle Corporation
J. Strassner
Huawei Technologies
N. Cam-Winget
Cisco Systems
March 13, 2017
Security Automation and Continuous Monitoring (SACM) Terminology
draft-ietf-sacm-terminology-12
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.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on September 14, 2017.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Terms and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6. Change Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7. Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Appendix A. The Attic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
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 the output of a SACM component in
the form of a statement (including metadata about the data source
and data origin, e.g. time stamps). While the validity of an
assertion cannot be verified without, for example, an additional
attestation protocol, an assertion (and therfore a statement,
respectivly) can be accompanied by evidence of the validity of its
metadata provided by a SACM component.
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."
An assessment is a specifc workflow that incorporates the SACM
tasks discovery, collection and evaluation. A prominent instance
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
of the assessment workflow is illustrated in the Vulnerability
Assessement Scenario [I-D.ietf-sacm-vuln-scenario].
Asset: Defined in [RFC4949] as "a system resource that is (a)
required to be protected by an information system's security
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 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)." In the context of SACM,
attributes are "atomic" information elements and an equivalent to
attribute-value-pairs. Attributes can be components of Subjects.
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.
Capability: In [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-terminology] a capability "defines a
set of features that are available from a managed entity.
Examples of "managed entities" are NSFs and Controllers, where NSF
Capabilities and Controller Capabilities define functionality of
an NSF and a Controller that may, but do not have to, be used,
respectively. All Capabilities are announced through the
Registration Interface."
In the context of SACM, the extent of a SACM component's ability
is enabled by the functions it is composed of. Capabilities are
announced by a SACM component via the SACM component registration
task and can be discovered by or negotiated with other SACM
components. For example, the capability of a SACM Provider may be
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
to provide endpoint management data, or only a subset of that
data.
The SACM Vulnerability Assessment Scenario
[I-D.ietf-sacm-vuln-scenario] defines the terms Endpoint
Management Capabilities, Vulnerability Management Capabilities,
and Vulnerability Assessment Capabilities, which illustrate
specific sets of SACM capabilities, which are required to conduct
workflows illustrated by the scenario definition.
Collection Result: Information about a target endpoint that is
produced by a collector conducting a collection task. A
collection result is composed as one or more content-elements.
Collection Task: The task by which endpoint attributes and/or
corresponding attribute values about a target endpoint are
collected. The collection tasks are targeted at specific target
endpoints and therefore are targeted tasks.
There are three types of frequency collection tasks can be
conducted with:
ad-hoc, e.g. triggered by a specific event or a query
scheduled, e.g. in regular intervals, such as every minute or
weekly
continuously, e.g. a network behavior observation
There are three types of collection methods, each requiring an
appropriate set of functions to be included in the SACM component
conducting the collection task:
Self-Reporting: A SACM component located on the target endpoint
itself conducts the collection task.
Remote-Acquisition: 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.
Behavior-Observation: 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
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
collector provides acquired information in the form of collection
results via a set of registered capabilities that can be
discovered by other SACM components.
A collector can be distributed across multiple endpoints, e.g.
across a target endpoint and a SACM component. The separate parts
of the collector can communicate with a specialized protocol, such
as PA-TNC [RFC5792]. At least one part of a distributed collector
has to take on the role of a provider of information by providing
SACM interfaces to propagate capabilities and to provide SACM
content in the form of collection results.
Configuration: A non-volatile subset of the endpoint attributes of a
(target) endpoint that is intended to be uneffected by a normal
reboot-cylce. Configuration is a type of imperative guidance that
is stored in files (files dedicated to contain configuration and/
or files that are software components), directly on block devices,
or on specific hardware components that can be accessed via
corresponding software components. Modification of configuration
can be conducted manually or automatically via management (plane)
interfaces that support management protocols, such as SNMP or WMI.
A change of configuration can occur during both run-time and down-
time of an endpoint. It is common practive to scheduled a change
of configuration during or directly after the completion of a
boot-cycle via corresponding software components located on the
target endpoint itself.
Exmaples: The static association of an IP address and a MAC
address in a DHCP server configuration, a directory-path that
identifies a log-file directory, a registry entry.
Configuration Drift: The discrepancy of a target endpoint's endpoint
attributes representing the actual composition of a target
endpoint (is-state) and its intended composition (should-state) in
the scope of a valid target endpoint composition (could-state) due
to continuous alteration of a target endpoint's composition over
time. Configuration drift exists for both hardware components and
software components. Typically, the frequency and scale of
configuration drift of software components is significantly higher
than the configuration drift of hardware components.
Consumer: A consumer is a SACM role that is assigned to a SACM
component that contains functions to receive information from
other SACM components.
Content Element: Content elements constitute the payload data (SACM
content) transfered via statement Subjects emitted by providers of
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
information. Every content element Subject includes a specific
content Subject and a corresponding content metadata Subject.
Content Metadata: Data about content Subjects. Every content-
element includes a content metadata Subject. The Subject can
include any information element that can annotate the content
transefered. Examples include time stamps or data provenance
Subjects.
Control Plane: Typically used as a term in the context of routing,
e.g. [RFC6192]. In the context of SACM, the control plane is an
architectural component providing common control functions to all
SACM components, including authentication, authorization,
(capability) discovery or negotiation, registration and
subscription. The control plane orchestrates the flow on the data
plane according to imperative guidance (i.e. configuration)
received via the management plane. SACM components with
interfaces to the control plane have knowledge of the capabilities
of other SACM components within a SACM domain.
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.
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 In Motion: Data that is being transported via a network; also
referred to as "Data in Transit" or "Data in Flight". Data in
motion requires a data model to transfer the data using a specific
encoding. Typically, data in motion is serialized (marshalling)
into a transport encoding by a provider of information and
deserialized (unmarshalling) by a consumer of information. The
termination points of provider of information and consumer of
information data is transferred between are interfaces. In regard
to data in motion, the interpretation of the roles consumer of
information and provider of information depends on the
corresponding OSI layer (e.g. on layer2: between interfaces
connected to a broadcast domain, on layer4: between interfaces
that maintain a TCP connection). In the context of SACM, consumer
of information and provider of information are SACM components.
The SACM architecture and corresponding models focus on data in
motion.
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
Data At Rest: Data that is stored in a repository. Data at rest
requires a data model to encode the data to be stored. In the
context of SACM, data at rest located on a SACM component can be
provided to other SACM components via discoverable capabilities.
In the context of SACM, data models for data at rest are out of
scope.
Data Integrity: Defined in [RFC4949] as "the property that data has
not been changed, destroyed, or lost in an unauthorized or
accidental manner."
Data Origin: One or more properties (i.e. endpoint attributes) 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) and made it available to
a SACM domaini via a SACM statement. Data Origin can be expressed
by an endpoint label information element (e.g. to be used as
metadata in statement).
Data Plane (fix statement): Typically used as a term in the context
of routing (and used as a synonym for forwarding plane, e.g.
[RFC6192]). In the context of SACM, the data plane is an
architectural component providing operational functions to enable
a SACM component to provide and consume SACM statements and
therefore SACM content (the "payload"). The data plane is used to
conduct distributed SACM tasks by transporting SACM content using
transporting encodings and corresponding operations defined by
SACM data models.
Data Provenance: A historical record of the sources, origins and
evolution of data that is influenced by inputs, entities,
functions and processes. In the context of SACM, data provenance
is expressed as metadata that identifies SACM statements and
corresponding content elements a new statement is created from.
In a downstream process, this references can cascade, creating a
data provenance tree that enables SACM components to trace back
the original data sources involved in the creation of SACM
statements and take into account their characteristics and
trustworthiness.
Data Source: One or more properties (i.e. endpoint attributes) that
enable a SACM component to identify - and potentially characterize
- a (target) endpoint that is claimed to be the original source of
endpoint attributes in a SACM statement. Data Source can be
expressed as metadata by an endpoint label information element or
a corresponding subject of identifying endpoint attributes.
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
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.
Physical endpoints are always composites that are composed of
hardware components and software components. Virtual endpoints
are composed entirely of software components and rely on software
components that provide functions equivalent to hardware
components.
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 attributes are
information elements that describe an endpoint characteristic of a
target endpoint. Endpoint Attributes typically constitute
Attributes that can be bundled into Subject (e.g. information
about a specific network interface can be represented via a set of
multiple AVP).
Endpoint Characteristic: The state, configuration and composition an
endpoint is in, including observerable behavior, e.g. sys-calls,
log-files, or PDU emission on a network.
Endpoint Characterization: The task by which a profile is composed
out of endpoint attributes that describe the desired or expected
posture of a type or class of target endpoints or even an
individual target endpoint. The result of this task is an
endpoint profile that is required as declarative guidance for the
tasks of endpoint classification or posture assessment.
Endpoint Classification: The task by which a discovered target
endpoint is classified. Endpoint classification requires
declarative guidance in the form of an endpoint profile, discovery
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 8]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
results and potentially collection results. Types, classes or the
characteristics of an individual target endpoint are defined via
endpoint profiles.
Endpoint Label: In a SACM domain, every endpoint can be identified
by an endpoint label. There are two prominent uses of endpoint
labels in a SACM domain: to identify SACM components and to
identify Target Endpoints. Both endpoint labels can be used in
SACM content or in content metadata:
SACM Components are identified by: SACM component label / Data
Origin
Target Endpoints are identified by: TE label / Data Source
An endpoint label is expressed as 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 provides the
appropriate function as a capability.
Endpoint Management Capabilities: An enterprise IT department's
ability to manage endpoint identity, endpoint information, and
associated metadata on an ongoing basis.
Evaluation Task: The task by which endpoint attributes are
evaluated.
Evaluation Result: The resulting value from having evaluated a set
of posture attributes.
Event: The change of a target endpoint characteristics at a specific
point in time. In the context of SACM, an event is a statement
(and therefore data in motion) that includes the new target
endpoint characteristics and optional also the past ones,
annotated with corresponding metedata (most prominently, the
collection time of the data that constitutes the observation of
the event regarding te target endpoint).
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.
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 9]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
Expected Endpoint State: The required state of an endpoint that is
to be compared against. Sets of expected endpoint states are
transported as declarative guidance in target endpoint profiles
via the management plane. This, for example, can be a policy, but
also a recorded past state. An expected state is represented can
be represented via an Attribute or an Subject that represents a
set of multiple attribute value pairs.
SACM Function: A behavioral aspect or capacity of a particular 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.
Guidance: Input instructions to processes, such as automated device
management or remediation, and SACM tasks, such as collection or
evaluation. Guidance influences the behavior of a SACM component
and is considered content of the management plane. In the context
of SACM, guidance is machine-readable and can be manually or
automatically generated or provided. Typically, the tasks that
provide guidance to SACM components have a low-frequency and tend
to be be sporadic.
There are two types of guidance:
Declarative Guidance: defines the configuration or state an
endpoint is supposed to be in--without providing specific actions
or methods to produce that desired state. Examples include Target
Endpoint Profiles or network topology based requirements.
Imperative Guidance: prescribes specific actions to be conducted
or methods to be used in order to achieve an outcome. Examples
include a targeted Collection Task or the IP-Address of a SACM
Component that provides a registration function.
Hardware Component: Hardware components are the distinguishable
physical components that compose an endpoint. The composition of
an endpoint can be changed over time by adding or removing
hardware components. In essence, every physical endpoint is
potentially a composite of multiple hardware components, typically
resulting in a hierarchical composition of hardware components.
The composition of hardware components is based on interconnects
provided by specific hardware types (e.g. mainboard is a hardware
type that provides local busses as an interconnect). In general,
a hardware component can be distinguished by its serial number.
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 10]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
Occasionally, hardware components are refered to as power sucking
aliens.
Hardware Inventory: The list of hardware components that compose a
specific endpoint representing its hardware configuration.
Hardware Type: Hardware types define specific and distinguishable
categories of hardware components that can be part of endpoints,
e.g. CPU or 802.11p interface. Typically, hardware types can be
distinguished by their vendor assigned names, names of standards
used, or a model name.
Information Element: A representation of information about physical
and virtual "objects of interests". Information elements are the
building blocks that constitute the SACM information model. In
the context of SACM, an information element that expresses a
single value with a specific name is referred to as an Attribute
(analogous to an attribute-value-pair). A set of attributes that
is bundled into a more complex composite information element is
referred to as a Subject. Every information element in the SACM
information model has a unique name. Endpoint attributes or time
stamps, for example, are represented as information elements in
the SACM information model.
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. The purpose of
the SACM information model is to ensure interoperability between
SACM data models (that are used as transport encoding) and to
provide a standardized set of information elements for
communication between SACM components.
Interaction Model: The definition of specific sequences regarding
the exchange of messages (data in motion), including, for exmaple,
conditional branching, thresholds and timers. An interaction
model, for example, can be used to define operations, such as
registration or discovery, on the control plane. A composition of
data models for data in motion and a corresponding interaction
model is a protocol.
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).
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 11]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
Management Plane: An architectural component providing common
functions to steer the behavior of SACM components, e.g. its
behavior on the control plane. Prominent examples include:
modification of the configuration of a SACM component or updating
a target endpoint profile that resides on an evaluator. In
essence, guidance is transported via the management plane.
Typically, a SACM component can fulfill its purpose without
continuous input from the management plane. In contrast, without
continuous availability of control plane functions a typical SACM
component could not function properly. In general, interaction on
the management plane is less frequent and less regular than on the
control plane. Input via the management plane can be manual (e.g.
via a CLI), or can be automated via management plane functions
that are part of other SACM components.
Metadata: Data about data. In the SACM information model, data is
referred to as Content. Metadata about the content is referred to
as Content-Metadata, respectively. Content and Content-Metadata
are combined into Subjects called Content-Elements in the SACM
information model. Some information elements defined by the SACM
information model can be part of the Content or the Content-
Metadata. Therefore, if an information element is considered data
or data about data depends on which kind of Subject it is
associated with. The SACM information model also defines metadata
about the data origin via the Subject Statement-Metadata. Typical
examples of metadata are time stamps, data origin or data source.
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.
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 network interfaces. Network interfaces can be physical or
virtual. Network 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
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 12]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
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 virtual (mesh) 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.
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 consume, store and provide 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
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 13]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
of more than one specific repository type (i.e. configuration
baseline repository, assessment results repository, etc.)
SACM Component: A component is defined in
[I-D.ietf-i2nsf-terminology] as "an encapsulation of software that
communicates using Interfaces. A Component may be implemented by
hardware and/or Software, and be represented using a set of
classes. In general, a Component encapsulates a set of data
structures as well as a set of algorithms that implement the
functions that it provides."
In the context of SACM, a set of SACM functions composes a SACM
component. A SACM component conducts SACM tasks, acting on
control plane, data plane and/or management plane via
corresponding SACM interfaces. 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 functions
and can contain data plane and management plane functions. 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 functions
that provide information would only take on the role of a
provider.
SACM Component Discovery: The task of brokering appropriate SACM
components according to their capabilities or roles on reques.
Input: Query
Output: a list of SACM components including metadata
SACM Component Label: A specific endpoint label that is used to
identify a SACM component. In content-metadata, this label is
called data origin.
SACM Content: The payload provided by SACM components to the SACM
domain on the data plane. SACM content includes the SACM data
models.
SACM Domain: Endpoints that include a SACM component compose a SACM
domain. (To be revised, additional definition content TBD,
possible dependencies to SACM architecture)
SACM Interface: An interface is defined in
[I-D.ietf-i2nsf-terminology] as "A set of operations one object
knows it can invoke on, and expose to, another object. This
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 14]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
decouples the implementation of the operation from its
specification. An interface is a subset of all operations that a
given object implements. The same object may have multiple types
of interfaces to serve different purposes."
In the context of SACM, SACM Funktions provide SACM Interfaces on
the management, control, or data plane. Operations a SACM
Interface provides are based on corresponding data model defined
by SACM. SACM Interfaces are used for communication between SACM
components.
SACM Role: A role is defined in [I-D.ietf-i2nsf-terminology] as "an
abstraction of a Component that models context-specific views and
responsibilities of an object as separate role objects that can be
statically or dynamically attached to (and removed from) the
object that the role object describes. This provides three
important benefits. First, it enables different behavior to be
supported by the same Component for different contexts. Second,
it enables the behavior of a Component to be adjusted dynamically
(i.e., at runtime, in response)to changes in context, by using one
or more Roles to define the behavior desired for each context.
Third, it decouples the Roles of a Component from the Applications
that use that Component."
In the context of SACM, 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 SACM functions and
corresponding SACM interfaces the SACM component is composed of.
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.
Software Package: A generic software package (e.g. a text editor).
Software Component: A software package installed on an endpoint,
including a unique serial number if present (e.g. a text editor
associated with a unique license key).
Software Instance: A running instance of the software component
(e.g. on a multi-user system, one logged-in user has one instance
of a text editor running and another logged-in user has another
instance of the same text editor running, or on a single-user
system, a user could have multiple independent instances of the
same text editor running).
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 15]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
State: A volatile subset endpoint attributes of a (target) endpoint
that is affected by a reboot-cycle. Local state is created by the
interaction of components with other components via the control
plane, via processing data plane payload, or via the functional
properties of local hardware and software components. Dynamic
configuration (e.g. IP address distributed dynamically via an
address distribution and management services, such as DHCP) is
considered state that is the result of the interaction with
another component that provides configuration via the control
plane (e.g. provided by a DHCP server with a specific
configuration).
Exmaples: The static association of an IP address and a MAC
address in a DHCP server configuration, a directory-path that
identifies a log-file directory, a registry entry.
Statement: A statement is a subject defined in the SACM information
model.
When a statement is used to provide content to a SACM domain, it
is a top-level subject that bundles Content Elements into one
subject and includes metadata about the data origin.
Subject: A composite information element. Like Attributes, subjects
have a name and are composed of attributes and/or other subjects.
Every IE that is part of a subject can have a quantitiy associated
with it (e.g. zero-one, none-unbounded). The content IE of a
subject can be an unordered or an ordered list.
Supplicant: A SACM component seeking to be authenticated via the
control plane for the purpose of participating in a SACM domain.
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).
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 16]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
A target endpoint is similar to a device that is a Target of
Evaluation (TOE) as defined in Common Criteria.
Target Endpoint Characterization Record: A set of endpoint
attributes about a target endpoint that was encountered in a SACM
domain, which are associated with a target endpoint by being
included in the corresponding record. A characterization record
is intended to be a representation of an endpoint. It cannot be
assured that a record distinctly represents a single target
endpoint unless a set of one or more endpoint attributes that
compose a unique set of identifying endpoint attributes are
included in the record. Otherwise, the set of identifying
attributes included in a record can match more than one target
endpoints, which are - in consequence - indistinguishable to a
SACM domain until more qualifying endpoint attributes can be
acquired and added to the record. A characterization record is
maintained over time in order to assert that acquired endpoint
attributes are either about an endpoint that was encountered
before or an endpoint that has not been encountered before in a
SACM domain. A characterization record can include, for example,
acquired configuration, state or observed behavior of a specific
target endpoint. Multiple and even conflicting instances of this
information can be included in a characterization record by using
timestamps and/or data origins to differentiate them. The
endpoint attributes included in a characterization record can be
used to re-identify a distinct target endpoint over time. Classes
or profiles can be associated with a characterization record via
the Classification Task in order to guide collection, evaluation
or remediation tasks.
Target Endpoint Characterization Task: An ongoing task of
continuously adding acquired endpoint attributes to a
corresponding record. The TE characterization task manages the
representation of encountered target endpoints in the SACM domain
in the form of characterization records. For example, the output
of a target endpoint discovery task or a collection task can be
processed by the characterization task and added to the record.
The TE characterization Task also manages these representations of
target endpoints encountered in the SACM domain by splitting or
merging the corresponding records as new or more refined endpoint
attributes become available.
Input: discovered target endpoint attributes, endpoint attribute
collection, existing characterization records
Output: target endpoint characterization records
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 17]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
Target Endpoint Classification Task: The task of associating a class
from an extensible list of classes with an endpoint
characterization record. TE classes function as imperative and
declarative guidance for collection, evaluation, remediation and
security posture assessment in general.
Input: endpoint characterization records (without classification),
guidance (how to classify a record)
Output: endpoint characterization records (with classification)
Target Endpoint Discovery Task: The ongoing task of detecting
previously unknown interaction of a potential target endpoint in
the SACM domain. TE Discovery is not directly targeted at a
specific target endpoint and therefore an un-targeted task. SACM
Components conducting the discovery task as a part of their
function are typically distributed and located, for example, on
infrastructure components or collect from those remotely via
appropriate interfaces. Examples of infrastructure components
that are of interest to the discovery task include routers,
switches, VM hosting or VM managing components, AAA servers, or
servers handling dynamic address distribution.
Input: endpoint attributes acquired via local or remote interfaces
Output: endpoint attributes including metadata such as data source
or data origin
Target Endpoint Identifier: The target endpoint discovery task and
the collection tasks can result in a set of identifying endpoint
attributes added to a corresponding Characterization Record. This
subset of the endpoint attributes included in the record is used
as a target endpoint identifier, by which a specific target
endpoint can be referenced. 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 target endpoint label
that is unique in a SACM domain.
Target Endpoint Label: A specific endpoint label that refers to a
target endpoint identifier used to identify a specific target
endpoint (also referred to as TE label). In content-metadata,
this label is called data source.
Target Endpoint Profile: A bundle of expected or desired
configurations and states (typically a composition of endpoint
attribute value pairs) that can be associated with a target
endpoint. The corresponding task by which the association with a
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 18]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
target endpoint takes places is the endpoint classification. The
task by which an endpoint profile is created is the endpoint
characterization. A type or class of target endpoints is defined
within a target endpoint profile, e.g. printer, smartphone, or an
office PC.
SACM Task: A SACM task is conducted by one or more SACM functions
that reside on a SACM component (e.g. a collection task or
endpoint characterization). A SACM task can be triggered by other
operations or functions (e.g. a query from another SACM component
or an unsolicited push on the data plane due to an ongoing
subscription). A task is part of a SACM process chain. A task
starts at a given point in time and ends in a deterministic state.
With the exception of a collection task, a SACM task consumes SACM
statements provided by other SACM components. The output of a
task is a result that can be provided (e.g. published) on the data
plane. There following tasks are defined by SACM:
Target Endpoint Discovery
Target Endpoint Characterization
Target Endpoint Classification
Collection
Evaluation [TBD]
Information Sharing [TBD]
SACM Component Discovery
SACM Component Authentication [TBD]
SACM Component Authorization [TBD]
SACM Component Registration [TBD]
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
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, for example, an endpoint attribute is created or updated by
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 19]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
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.
Vulnerability Assessment: The process of determining whether a set
of endpoints is vulnerable according to the information contained
in the vulnerability description information.
Vulnerability Description Information: Information pertaining to the
existence of a flaw or flaws in software, hardware, and/or
firmware, which could potentially have an adverse impact on
enterprise IT functionality and/or security. Vulnerability
description information should contain enough information to
support vulnerability detection.
Vulnerability Detection Data: A type of imperative guidance
extracted or derived from vulnerability description information
that describes the specific mechanisms of vulnerability detection
that is used by an enterprise's vulnerability management
capabilities to determine if a vulnerability is present on an
endpoint.
Vulnerability Management Capabilities: An enterprise IT department's
ability to manage endpoint vulnerabilities and associated metadata
on an ongoing basis by ingesting vulnerability description
information and vulnerability detection data, and performing
vulnerability assessments.
Vulnerability assessment capabilities: An enterprise IT department's
ability to determine whether a set of endpoints is vulnerable
according to the information contained in the vulnerability
description information.
Workflow:
A workflow is a modular composiion of tasks. A workflow can contain
loops, conditionals, multiple starting points and multiple endpoints.
The most promiminant workflow in SACM is the assessment workflow.
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 20]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
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.
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".
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 21]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
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.
o Relabeled 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.
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 22]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
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 Relabeled Function to SACM Function.
Changes from version 08 to version 09:
o Updated author list.
o Added Data Plane, Endpoint Characterization, Endpoint
Classification, Guidance, Interaction Model, Software Component,
Software Instance, Software Package, Statement, Target Endpoint
Profile, SACM Task.
o Removed Building Block.
o Major updates to Control Plane, Endpoint Attribute, Expected
Endpoint State, Information Model, Management Plane.
o Minor updates to Attribute, Capabilities, SACM Function, SACM
Component, Collection Task.
o Moved Asset Characterization to The Attic.
Changes from version 09 to version 10:
o Added Configuration Drift, Data in Motion, Data at Rest, Endpoint
Management Capability, Hardware Component, Hardware Inventory,
Hardware Type, SACM Interface, Target Endpoint Characterization
Record, Target Endpoint Characterization Task, Target Endpoint
Classification Task, Target Endpoint Discovery Task, Vulnerability
Description Information, Vulnerability Detection Data,
Vulnerability Management Capability, Vulnerability Assessment
o Added references to i2nsf definitions in Capability, SACM
Component, SACM Interface, SACM Role.
o Added i2nsf Terminology I-D Reference.
o Major Updates to Endpoint, SACM Task, Target Endpoint Identifier.
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 23]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
o Minor Updates to Guidance, SACM Component Discovery, Target
Endpoint Label, Target Endpoint Profile.
o Relabeled SACM Task
o Removed Target Endpoint Discovery
Changes from version 10 to version 11:
o Added Content Element, Content Metadata, Endpoint Label,
Information Element, Metadata, SACM Component Label, Workflow.
o Major Updates to Assessment, Capability, Collector, Endpoint
Management Capabilities, Guidance, Vulnerability Assessment
Capabilities, Vulnerability Detection Data, Vulnerability
Assessment Capabilities.
o Minor updates to Collection Result, Control Plane, Data in Motion,
Data at Rest, Data Origin, Network Interface, Statement, Target
Endpoint Label.
o Relabeled Endpoint Management Capability, Vulnerability Management
Capability, Vulnerability Assessment.
Changes from verion 11 to version 12:
o Added Configuration, Endpoint Characteristic, Event, SACM Content,
State, Subject.
o Major Updates to Asserition, Data in Motion, Data Provenance, Data
Source, Interaction Model.
o Minor Updates to Attribute, Control Plane, Data Origin, Data
Provenance, Expected Endpoint State, Guidance, Target Endpoint
Classification Task, Vulnerability Detection Data.
7. Contributors
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 24]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
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
David Harrington
Effective Software
50 Harding Rd
Portsmouth, NH 03801
USA
Email: ietfdbh@comcast.net
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
8. Informative References
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 25]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
[I-D.ietf-i2nsf-terminology]
Hares, S., Strassner, J., Lopez, D., Xia, L., and H.
Birkholz, "Interface to Network Security Functions (I2NSF)
Terminology", draft-ietf-i2nsf-terminology-03 (work in
progress), March 2017.
[I-D.ietf-sacm-vuln-scenario]
Coffin, C., Cheikes, B., Schmidt, C., Haynes, D.,
Fitzgerald-McKay, J., and D. Waltermire, "SACM
Vulnerability Assessment Scenario", draft-ietf-sacm-vuln-
scenario-02 (work in progress), September 2016.
[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>.
[RFC5792] Sangster, P. and K. Narayan, "PA-TNC: A Posture Attribute
(PA) Protocol Compatible with Trusted Network Connect
(TNC)", RFC 5792, DOI 10.17487/RFC5792, March 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5792>.
[RFC6192] Dugal, D., Pignataro, C., and R. Dunn, "Protecting the
Router Control Plane", RFC 6192, DOI 10.17487/RFC6192,
March 2011, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6192>.
[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 Characterization: Asset characterization is the process of
defining attributes that describe properties of an identified
asset.
Asset Targeting: Asset targeting is the use of asset identification
and categorization information to drive human-directed, automated
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 26]
Internet-Draft SACM Terminology March 2017
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.
Authors' Addresses
Henk Birkholz
Fraunhofer SIT
Rheinstrasse 75
Darmstadt 64295
Germany
Email: henk.birkholz@sit.fraunhofer.de
Jarrett Lu
Oracle Corporation
4180 Network Circle
Santa Clara, CA 95054
USA
Email: jarrett.lu@oracle.com
John Strassner
Huawei Technologies
2330 Central Expressway
Santa Clara, CA 95138
USA
Email: john.sc.strassner@huawei.com
Nancy Cam-Winget
Cisco Systems
3550 Cisco Way
San Jose, CA 95134
USA
Email: ncamwing@cisco.com
Birkholz, et al. Expires September 14, 2017 [Page 27]
