Information Security Resources

Information Security refers to the processes and methodologies which are designed and implemented to protect print, electronic, or any other form of confidential, private and sensitive information or data from unauthorized access, use, misuse, disclosure, destruction, modification, or disruption. Wikipedia says, "Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction.¹ The terms information security, computer security and information assurance are frequently used interchangeably. These fields are interrelated and share the common goals of protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information; however, there are some subtle differences between them. These differences lie primarily in the approach to the subject, the methodologies used, and the areas of concentration. Information security is concerned with the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data regardless of the form the data may take: electronic, print, or other forms."¹

This document is your guide to SANS paid and free Information Security resources.

SANS Paid Information Security Resources

SECURITY 401: SANS Security Essentials

Chosen by the US Department of Defense in their 8570 instruction,² this is one of SANS flagship offerings.  Maximize your training time and turbo-charge your career in security by learning the full SANS Security Essentials curriculum needed to qualify for the GSEC certification. In this course you will learn the language and underlying theory of computer security. At the same time you will learn the essential, up-to-the-minute knowledge and skills required for effective performance if you are given the responsibility for securing systems and/or organizations. This course meets both of the key promises SANS makes to our students: (1) You will gain up-to-the-minute knowledge you can put into practice immediately upon returning to work; and, (2) You will be taught by the best security instructors in the industry. As always, great teaching sets SANS courses apart, and SANS ensures this by choosing instructors who have ranked highest in a nine-year competition among potential security faculty.

LEGAL 523: Legal Issues in Information Technology and Information Security

This is the most advanced program in network intrusion detection where you will learn practical hands-on intrusion detection methods and traffic analysis from top practitioners/authors in the field. All of the course material is either new or just updated to reflect the latest attack patterns. This series is jam-packed with network traces and analysis tips. The emphasis of this course is on increasing students' understanding of the workings of TCP/IP, methods of network traffic analysis, and one specific network intrusion detection system - Snort. This course is not a comparison or demonstration of multiple NIDS. Instead, the knowledge/information provided here allows students to better understand the qualities that go into a sound NIDS and the "whys" behind them, and thus, to be better equipped to make a wise selection for their site's particular needs.

MANAGEMENT 504: Hacking for Managers

This hands-on course is designed to give managers with IT Security responsibility a complete understanding of how hacker attacks work and how to defend against them. No prerequisite knowledge is expected other than some experience with command line utilities, we supply skilled proctors and a preconfigured laptop with all the tools and operating systems needed for the exercises.

This course is an adaptation of our popular SEC 504 Incident Handling and Hacker Techniques, taught in a way to highlight the management implications and applications of the technology. You will build your hands-on skills through the course and the program will culminate with our hacker workshop where the majority of students will succeed in breaking into target systems and should you struggle, your proctor will be able to give you just the right hint for success; we promise no manager will be left behind.

SANS Security Leadership Essentials For Managers

MANAGEMENT 512 was also selected as an approved 8570 training and certification, this completely updated course is designed to empower advancing managers who want to get up to speed fast on information security issues and terminology.You don't just learn about security, you learn how to manage security. Lecture sections are intense; the most common student comment is that it's like drinking from a fire hose. The diligent manager will learn vital, up-to-date knowledge and skills required to supervise the security component of any information technology project. Additionally, the course has been engineered to incorporate the NIST Special Papers 800 guidance so that it can be particularly useful to US Government managers and supporting contractors.

MANAGEMENT 524: Security Policy & Awareness

This course is designed to offer an individual a comprehensive approach to understanding security awareness and developing security policy. Business needs change, the business environment changes, and critical systems are continually exposed to new and developing vulnerabilities. Security awareness training is an effective business strategy that reduces the overall risk to an organization, therefore minimizing user-related faults and errors that lead to destructive and costly security incidents. Security awareness and policy development and assessment are a never ending process. Being able to design, implement, and manage an effective security awareness program is difficult at best. This program walks trainers and security managers through the architecture and design of a successful security awareness program. It helps the student document and design a clear cut strategy, approach, and implementation plan. The program also focuses on how to write basic security policies that are issue or system specific.

Links to Free SANS Information Security Resources

• Glossary of Information Security Terms
• Essential Security Actions
• The Ten Most Important Security Trends of the Coming Year
• The SANS Security Policy Project
• The SANS Security Laboratory
• SANS invites you to visit the SANS Security Policy Resource page, a consensus research project of the SANS community. The ultimate goal of the project is to offer everything you need for rapid development and implementation of information security policies. You'll find a great set of resources posted here already including policy templates for twenty-four important security requirements.

Here are some papers on Information Security you may want to read:

A Guide to Security Metrics

This guide provides a definition of security metrics, explains their value, discusses the difficulties in generating them, and suggests a methodology for building a security metrics program.

Risk Analysis for HIPAA Compliancy

This paper discusses risk analysis, a required implementation specification under the Security Management Process standard of the Administrative Safeguards portion of the HIPAA Security Rule.

Hacking: The Basics

This paper contains information on the tools and skills a hacker uses to infiltrate computer systems and networks.

An Introduction to Information System Risk Management

This paper explores the issue of risk management with respect to information systems and addresses risk assessment, management methodologies and common tools.

To learn more about the latest threats to Information Security, please visit:

The SANS Internet Storm Center

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_security
2. http://www.giac.org/8570/
3. http://www.giac.org/8570/working.php
4. http://www.sans.org/press/mgt512sp800.php