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new grip draft 6



I am including a new version of the GRIP document.  It includes a reworked
description of the activities of an IRT, supplied by Don Stikvoort.  I made
no other changes (please see section 3.5).

I am submitting it directly to internet drafts now, so that it we'll have
as much time as possible to think it over before the IETF meeting.

It is my opinion that this document is ready to advance.  Please send your
comments to the list. 

Erik

Internet Engineering Task Force                          Nevil Brownlee
INTERNET-DRAFT                               The University of Auckland
Valid for six months                                       Erik Guttman
                                                       Sun Microsystems
                                                              July 1997


              Expectations for Security Incident Response

                 <draft-ietf-grip-framework-irt-06.txt>


Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet Draft.  Internet Drafts are working
   documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its Areas,
   and its Working Groups.  Note that other groups may also distribute 
   working documents as Internet Drafts.  This Internet Draft is a 
   product of the GRIP Working Group of the IETF.

   Internet Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six 
   months.  Internet Drafts may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by 
   other documents at any time.  It is not appropriate to use Internet 
   Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as a 
   'working draft' or 'work in progress.'

   To learn the current status of any Internet Draft, please check the
   '1id-abstracts.txt' listing contained in the Internet Drafts shadow
   directories on ftp.is.co.za (Africa), nic.nordu.net (Europe),
   munnari.oz.au (Pacific Rim), ds.internic.net (US East Coast), or
   ftp.isi.edu (US West Coast).


Abstract

   The purpose of this document is to express the general Internet
   community's expectations of Security Incident Response Teams (SIRTs). 
   It is not possible to define a set of requirements that would be
   appropriate for all teams, but it is possible and helpful to list 
   and describe the general set of topics and issues which are of 
   concern and interest to constituent communities.

   SIRT constituents have a legitimate need and right to fully 
   understand the policies and procedures of "their" Security Incident 
   Response Team.  One way to support this understanding is to supply 
   detailed information which users may consider, in the form of a 
   formal template completed by the SIRT.  An outline of such a 
   template and a filled in example are provided.







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Table of Contents

   1 Introduction                                                      1

   2 Scope.............................................................3
     2.1 Publishing SIRT Policies and Procedures ......................3
     2.2 Relationships between different SIRTs ........................5
     2.3 Establishing Secure Communications ...........................5

   3 Information, Policies and Procedures..............................7
     3.1 Obtaining the Document........................................8
     3.2 Contact Information ..........................................9
     3.3 Charter .....................................................10
         3.3.1 Mission Statement......................................10
         3.3.2 Constituency...........................................10
         3.3.3 Sponsoring Organization / Affiliation..................11
         3.3.4 Authority..............................................11
     3.4 Policies ....................................................11
         3.4.1 Types of Incidents and Level of Support................11
         3.4.2 Co-operation, Interaction and Disclosure of
               Information............................................12
         3.4.3 Communication and Authentication.......................14
     3.5 Services ....................................................14
         3.5.1 Incident Response .....................................15
               3.5.1.1 Incident Triate ...............................15
               3.5.1.2 Incident Coordination .........................15
               3.5.1.3 Incident Cure .................................15
         3.5.2 Proactive Activities ..................................16
     3.6 Incident Reporting Forms ....................................16
     3.7 Disclaimers .................................................17
   
   Appendix A: Glossary of Terms                                      17

   Appendix B: Related Material                                       19

   Appendix C: Known Security Incident Response Teams                 20

   Appendix D: Outline for SIRT Template                              21

   Appendix E: Example - 'filled-in' Template for a SIRT              22

   4 Acknowlegments                                                   34

   5 References                                                       34

   6 Security Considerations                                          34

   7 Authors' Addresses                                               35





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1 Introduction

   The GRIP Working Group was formed to create a document that describes
   the community's expectations of security incident response teams
   (SIRTs).  Although the need for such a document originated in the
   general Internet community, the expectations expressed should also
   closely match those of more restricted communities.




   In the past there have been misunderstandings regarding what to 
   expect from SIRTs.  The goal of this document is to provide a 
   framework for presenting the important subjects (related to incident 
   response) that are of concern to the community.

   Before continuing, it is important to clearly understand what is 
   meant by the term "Security Incident Response Team."  For the 
   purposes of this document, a SIRT is a team that performs, 
   coordinates, and supports the response to security incidents that 
   involve sites within a defined constituency (see Appendix A for a 
   more complete definition).  Any group calling itself a SIRT for a 
   specific constituency must therefore react to reported security 
   incidents, and to threats to "their" constituency in ways which the 
   specific community agrees to be in its general interest.

   Since it is vital that each member of a constituent community be
   able to understand what is reasonable to expect of their team, a SIRT
   should make it clear who belongs to their constituency and define the
   services the team offers to the community. Additionally, each SIRT
   should publish its policies and operating procedures.  Similarly, 
   these same constituents need to know what is expected of them in 
   order for them to receive the services of their team.  This requires 
   that the team also publish how and where to report incidents.

   This document details a template which will be used by SIRTs to
   communicate this information to their constituents.  The constituents
   should certainly expect a SIRT to provide the services they describe 
   in the completed template.

   It must be emphasised that without active participation from users, 
   the effectiveness of the SIRT's services can be greatly diminished.  
   This is particularly the case with reporting.  At a minimum, users 
   need to know that they should report security incidents, and know how 
   and to where they should report them.

   Many computer security incidents originate outside local community
   boundaries and affect inside sites, others originate inside the local
   community and affect hosts or users on the outside.  Often, 
   therefore, the handling of security incidents will involve multiple 
   sites and potentially multiple SIRTs.  Resolving these incidents will 
 

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   require cooperation between individual sites and SIRTs, and between 
   SIRTs.

   Constituent communities need to know exactly how their SIRT will be
   working with other SIRTs and organizations outside their 
   constituency, and what information will be shared.

   The rest of this document describes the set of topics and issues that
   SIRTs need to elaborate for their constituents. However, there is no
   attempt to specify the "correct" answer to any one topic area.  
   Rather, each topic is discussed in terms of what that topic means.
   For example, five types of policy statements are listed (representing
   those policies of interest to the community), but the content of any
   one of them will necessarily be specific to a given team.

   Chapter two provides an overview of three major areas:  the 
   publishing of information by a response team, the definition of the 
   response team's relationship to other response teams, and the need 
   for secure communications.  Chapter three describes in detail all the 
   types of information that the community needs to know about their 
   response team.

   For ease of use by the community, these topics are condensed into an 
   outline template found in Appendix D.  This template can be used
   by constituents to elicit information from their SIRT.

   It is the working group's sincere hope that through clarification 
   of the topics in this document, understanding between the community 
   and its SIRTs will be increased.


2 Scope

   The interactions between an incident response team and its 
   constituent community response team require first that the community 
   understand the policies and procedures of the response team.  Second, 
   since many response teams collaborate to handle incidents, the 
   community must also understand the relationship between their 
   response team and other teams.  Finally, many interactions will take 
   advantage of existing public infrastructures, so the community needs 
   to know how those communications will be protected. Each of these 
   subjects will be described in more detail in the following three 
   sections.


2.1 Publishing SIRT Policies and Procedures

   Each user who has access to a Security Incident Response Team should
   know as much as possible about the services of and interactions with 
   this team long before he or she actually needs them.



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   A clear statement of the policies and procedures of a SIRT helps the
   constituent understand how best to report incidents and what support 
   to expect afterwards.  Will the SIRT assist in resolving the 
   incident?   Will it provide help in avoiding incidents in the 
   future?  Clear expectations, particularly of the limitations of the 
   services provided by a SIRT, will make interaction with it more 
   efficient and effective.

   There are different kinds of response teams: some have very broad 
   constituencies (e.g., CERT Coordination Center and the Internet),
   others have more bounded constituencies (e.g., DFN-CERT, CIAC),
   and still others have very restricted constituencies (e.g.,
   commercial response teams, corporate response teams).  Regardless 
   of the type of response team, the constituency supported by it
   must be knowledgeable about the team's policies and procedures.  
   Therefore, it is mandatory that response teams publish such 
   information to their constituency.

   A SIRT should communicate all necessary information about its 
   policies and services in a form suitable to the needs of its
   constituency.  It is important to understand that not all policies 
   and procedures need be publicly available.  For example, it is not 
   necessary to understand the internal operation of a team in order to 
   interact with it, as when reporting an incident or receiving guidance 
   on how to analyze or secure one's systems.

   In the past, some teams supplied a kind of Operational Framework,
   others provided a Frequently Asked Questions list (FAQ), while still
   others wrote papers for distribution at user conferences or sent
   newsletters.

   We recommend that each SIRT publish its guidelines and procedures on 
   its own information server (e.g. a World Wide Web server).  This 
   would allow constituents to easily access it, though the problem 
   remains of how a constituent can find "his" or "her" team; people 
   within the constituency have to discover that there is a SIRT "at 
   their disposal."  

   It is foreseen that completed SIRT templates will soon become 
   searchable by modern search engines,  which will aid in distributing 
   information about the existence of SIRTs and basic information 
   required to approach them.

   It would be very useful to have a central repository containing all 
   the completed SIRT templates.  No such repository exists at the time 
   of writing, though this might change in the future.

   Regardless of the source from which the information is retrieved,
   the user of the template must check its authenticity.  It is highly
   recommended that such vital documents be protected by digital
   signatures.  These will allow the user to verify that the template


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   was indeed published by the SIRT and that it has not been tampered 
   with. This document assumes the reader is familiar with the proper 
   use of digital signatures to determine whether a document is 
   authentic.


2.2 Relationships between different SIRTs

   In some cases a SIRT may be able to operate effectively on its own
   and in close cooperation with its constituency.  But with today's
   international networks it is much more likely that most of the
   incidents handled by a SIRT will involve parties external to its
   constituency.  Therefore the team will need to interact with other
   SIRTs and sites outside its constituency.

   The constituent community should understand the nature and extent of 
   this collaboration, as very sensitive information about individual 
   constituents may be disclosed in the process.

   Inter-SIRT interactions could include asking other teams for advice,
   disseminating knowledge of problems, and working cooperatively to 
   resolve a security incident affecting one or more of the SIRTs'
   constituencies.

   In establishing relationships to support such interactions, SIRTs
   must decide what kinds of agreements can exist between them so as to
   share yet safeguard information, whether this relationship can be
   disclosed, and if so to whom.

   Note that there is a difference between a peering agreement, where 
   the SIRTs involved agree to work together and share information, and 
   simple co-operation, where a SIRT (or any other organization) simply 
   contacts another SIRT and asks for help or advice.

   Although the establishment of such relationships is very important 
   and affects the ability of a SIRT to support its constituency, it is 
   up to the teams involved to decide about the details.  It is beyond 
   the scope of this document to make recommendations for this process.  
   However, the same set of information used to set expectations for a  
   user community regarding sharing of information will help other 
   parties to understand the objectives and services of a specific 
   SIRT, supporting a first contact.


2.3 Establishing Secure Communications

   Once one party has decided to share information with another party, 
   or two parties have agreed to share information or work together - as
   required for the coordination of security incident response - all
   parties involved need secure communications channels. (In this 
   context, "secure" refers to the protected transmission of information 


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   shared between different parties, and not to the appropriate use of 
   the information by the parties.)

   The goals of secure communication are:

      - Confidentiality:
        Can somebody else access the content of the communication?

      - Integrity:
        Can somebody else manipulate the content of the communication?

      - Authenticity:
        Am I communicating with the "right" person?

   It is very easy to send forged e-mail, and not hard to establish a
   (false) identity by telephone.    Cryptographic techniques, for 
   example Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) or Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM)  
   can provide effective ways of securing e-mail.  With the correct 
   equipment it is also possible to secure telephone communication.   
   But before using such mechanisms, both parties need the "right" 
   infrastructure, which is to say preparation in advance.  The 
   most important preparation is ensuring the authenticity of the 
   cryptographic keys used in secure communication:

   - Public keys (for techniques like PGP and PEM):
     Because they are accessible through the Internet, public keys must 
     be authenticated before use.  While PGP relies on a "Web of Trust" 
     (where users sign the keys of other users), PEM relies on a
     hierarchy (where certification authorities sign the keys of users).

   - Secret keys (for techniques like DES and PGP/conventional
     encryption):  Because these must be known to both sender and 
     receiver, secret keys must be exchanged before the communication 
     via a secure channel.

   Communication is critical to all aspects of incident response.  A 
   team can best support the use of the above-mentioned techniques by 
   gathering all relevant information, in a consistent way.  Specific 
   requirements (such as calling a specific number to check the 
   authenticity of keys) should be clear from the start.  SIRT templates 
   provide a standardized vehicle for delivering this information.

   It is beyond the scope of this document to address the technical
   and administrative problems of secure communications.  The point is
   that response teams must support and use a method to secure the
   communications between themselves and their constituents (or other
   response teams).  Whatever the mechanism is, the level of protection
   it provides must be acceptable to the constituent community.





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3 Information, Policies and Procedures

   In chapter 2 it was mentioned that the policies and procedures of a
   response team need to be published to their constituent community.
   In this chapter we will list all the types of information that the
   community needs to receive from its response team.  How this
   information is communicated to a community will differ from team to
   team, as will the specific information content.  The intent here is
   to clearly describe the various kinds of information that a
   constituent community expects from its response team.

   To make it easier to understand the issues and topics relevant to the
   interaction of constituents with "their" SIRT, we suggest that a SIRT
   publish all information, policies, and procedures addressing its
   constituency as a document, following the template given in Appendix 
   D.  The template structure arranges items, making it easy to supply
   specific information; in Appendix E we provide an example of a 
   filled-out template for the fictitious XYZ University.  While
   no recommendations are made as to what a SIRT should adopt for its
   policy or procedures, different possibilities are outlined to give 
   some examples.  The most important thing is that a SIRT have a policy 
   and that that those who interact with the SIRT be able to obtain and 
   understand it.

   As always, not every aspect for every environment and/or team can
   be covered.  This outline should be seen as a suggestion.  Each team
   should feel free to include whatever they think is necessary to
   support its constituency.

























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3.1 Obtaining the Document
 
   Details of a SIRT change with time, so the completed template must
   indicate when it was last changed.  Additionally, information should 
   be provided concerning how to find out about future updates.  Without
   this, it is inevitable that misunderstandings and misconceptions will
   arise over time; an outdated document can do more harm than good.

   - Date of last update           This should be sufficient to allow
                                   anyone interested to evaluate the
                                   currency of the template.

   - Distribution list             Mailing lists are a convenient
                                   mechanism to distribute up-to-date
                                   information to a large number of
                                   users.  A team can decide to use its
                                   own or an already existing list to
                                   notify users whenever the document
                                   changes.  The list might normally
                                   cover the constituency and any other
                                   groups the SIRT has frequent
                                   interactions with.

                                   Digital signatures should be used
                                   for update messages sent by a SIRT.

   - Location of the document      The location where a current version
                                   of the document is accessible
                                   through a team's online information
                                   services.  Constituents can then
                                   easily learn more about the team and
                                   check for recent updates.

                                   This online version should also be
                                   accompanied by a digital signature.


















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3.2 Contact Information

   Full details of how to contact the SIRT should be listed here, 
   although this might be very different for different teams; for 
   example, some might choose not to publicize the names of their team 
   members. No further clarification is given when the meaning of the 
   item can be assumed.

   - Name of the SIRT

   - Mailing Address

   - Time zone                     This is useful for coordinating
                                   incidents which cross time zones.

   - Telephone number

   - Facsimile number

   - Other telecommunication       Some teams might provide secure
                                   voice communication (e.g. STU III).
   - Electronic mail address

   - Public keys and encryption    The use of specific techniques
                                   depends on the ability of the
                                   communication partners to have
                                   access to programs, keys and so on.
                                   Relevant information should be
                                   given to enable users to determine
                                   if and how they can make use of
                                   encrypted communication while
                                   interacting with the SIRT.
   - Team members

   - Operating Hours               The operating hours and holiday
                                   schedule should be provided here.
                                   Is there a 24 hour hotline?

   - Additional Contact Info       Is there any specific customer 
                                   contact info?  
                                  
   More detailed contact information can be provided.  This might
   include different contacts for different services, or might be a 
   list of online information services.  If specific procedures for 
   access to some services exist (for example addresses for mailing 
   list requests), these should be explained here.







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3.3 Charter

   Every SIRT must have a charter which specifies what it is to do, and
   the authority under which it will do it.  The charter should include
   at least the following items:

   - Mission statement
   - Constituency
   - Sponsorship / affiliation
   - Authority


3.3.1 Mission Statement

   The mission statement should focus on the team's core activities,
   already stated in the definition of a SIRT.  In order to be 
   considered a Security Incident Response Team, the team must support 
   the reporting of incidents and support its constituency by dealing 
   with incidents.

   The goals and purposes of a team are especially important, and 
   require clear, unambiguous definition.


3.3.2 Constituency

   A SIRT's constituency can be determined in any of several ways.  For 
   example it could be a company's employees or its paid subscribers, 
   or it could be defined in terms of a technological focus, such as 
   the users of a particular operating system.

   The definition of the constituency should create a perimeter around 
   the group to whom the team will provide service.  The policy section 
   of the document (see below) should explain how requests from outside 
   this perimeter will be handled.

   If a SIRT decides not to disclose its constituency, it should
   explain the reasoning behind this decision. For example, for-fee
   SIRTs will not list their clients but will declare that they provide
   a service to a large group of customers that are kept confidential
   because of the clients' contracts.

   Constituencies might overlap, as when an ISP provides a SIRT which
   delivers services to customer sites that also have SIRTs.  The
   Authority section of the SIRT's description (see below) should 
   make such relationships clear.







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3.3.3 Sponsoring Organization / Affiliation

   The sponsoring organization, which authorizes the actions of the 
   SIRT, should be given next.   Knowing this will help the users to 
   understand the background and set-up of the SIRT, and it is vital 
   information for building trust between a constituent and a SIRT.


3.3.4 Authority

   This section will vary greatly from one SIRT to another, based on
   the relationship between the team and its constituency.   While an
   organizational SIRT will be given its authority by the management
   of the organization, a community SIRT will be supported and chosen 
   by the community, usually in a advisory role.

   A SIRT may or may not have the authority to intervene in the 
   operation of all of the systems within its perimeter.  It should 
   identify the scope of its control as distinct from the perimeter of 
   its constituency.  If other SIRTs operate hierarchically within its 
   perimeter, this should be mentioned here, and the related SIRTs 
   identified.

   Disclosure of a team's authority may expose it to claims of
   liability.  Every team should seek legal advice on these matters.
   (See section 3.7 for more on liability.)


3.4 Policies

   It is critical that Incident Response Teams define their policies.
   The following sections discuss communication of these policies to
   the constituent community.


3.4.1 Types of Incidents and Level of Support

   The types of incident which the team is able to address, and the
   level of support which the team will offer when responding to each
   type of incident, should be summarized here in list form.  The 
   Services section (see below) provides the opportunity to give more
   detailed descriptions, and to address non-incident-related topics.

   The level of support may change depending on factors such as the 
   team's workload and the completeness of the information available.  
   Such factors should be outlined and their impact should be 
   explained.  As a list of known types of incidents will be incomplete 
   with regard to possible or future incidents, a SIRT should also give 
   some background on the "default" support for incident types not 
   otherwise mentioned.  



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   The team should state whether it will act on information it receives
   about vulnerabilities which create opportunities for future 
   incidents.  A commitment to act on such information on behalf of its 
   constituency is regarded as an optional proactive service policy 
   rather than a core service requirement for a SIRT.


3.4.2 Co-operation, Interaction and Disclosure of Information

   This section should make explicit which related groups the SIRT 
   routinely interacts with.  Such interactions are not necessarily
   related to the security incident response provided, but are used to 
   facilitate better cooperation on technical topics or services.  By 
   no means need details about cooperation agreements be given out; the 
   main objective of this section is to give the constituency a basic 
   understanding of what kind of interactions are established and what 
   their purpose is.

   The reporting and disclosure policy should make clear who will be 
   the recipients of a SIRT's report in each circumstance.  It should 
   also note whether the team will expect to operate through another 
   SIRT or directly with a member of another constituency over matters 
   specifically concerning that member.

   Important examples of related groups a SIRT will interact with are
   listed below.  

   Incident Response Teams:
      A SIRT will often need to interact with other SIRTs. For example
      a SIRT within a large company may need to report incidents to a
      national SIRT, and a national SIRT may need to report incidents
      to national SIRTs in other countries to deal with all sites
      involved in a large-scale attack.

      Collaboration between SIRTs may lead to disclosure of
      information.  The following are examples of such disclosure,
      but are not intended to be an exhaustive list:

       - Reporting incidents within the constituency to other teams.  
         If this is done, site-related information may become public 
         knowledge, accessible to everyone, in particular the press.

       - Handling incidents occurring within the constituency, but
         reported from outside it (which implies that some information 
         has already been disclosed off-site).

       - Reporting observations from within the constituency indicating
         suspected or confirmed incidents outside it.

       - Acting on reports of incidents occurring outside the
         constituency.


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       - Passing information about vulnerabilities to vendors, to
         partner SIRTs or directly to affected sites lying within or
         outside the constituency.

       - Feedback to parties reporting incidents or vulnerabilities.

       - The provision of contact information relating to members of 
         the constituency, members of other constituencies, other
         SIRTs, or law-enforcement agencies.

   Vendors:
      Larger vendors have their own SIRTs, but smaller vendors may not.
      In such cases a SIRT will need to work directly with a vendor to
      suggest improvements or modifications, to analyse the technical
      problem or to test provided solutions.

   Law-enforcement agencies:
      These include the police and other investigative agencies.  SIRTs
      and users of the template should be sensitive to local laws and
      regulations, which may vary considerably in different countries.
      A SIRT might advise on technical details of attacks or seek 
      advice on the legal implications of an incident. Local laws and
      regulations may include specific reporting and confidentiality
      requirements.

   Press:
      A SIRT may be approached by the press for information and comment
      from time to time.  

      An explicit policy concerning disclosure to the press can be 
      helpful, particularly in clarifying the expectations of a SIRT's
      constituency.  The press policy will have to clarify the same
      topics as above more specifically, as the constituency will
      usually be very sensitive to press contacts.

   Other:
      This might include research activities or the relation to the
      sponsoring organization.

   The default status of any and all security-related information which 
   a team receives will usually be 'confidential,' but rigid adherence 
   to this makes the team to appear to be an informational 'black
   hole,' which may reduce the likelihood of the team's obtaining 
   cooperation from clients and from other organizations.  The SIRT's 
   template should define what information it will report or disclose, 
   to whom, and when.

   Different teams are likely to be subject to different legal 
   restraints requiring or limiting disclosure, especially if they work 
   in different jurisdictions.  In addition, they may have reporting 
   requirements imposed by their sponsoring organization.  Each team's 


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   template should specify any such constraints, both to clarify users' 
   expectations and to inform other teams.

   Conflicts of interest, particularly in commercial matters, may also
   restrain disclosure by a team; this document does not recommend on
   how such conflicts should be addressed.

   A team will normally collect statistics.  If statistical information 
   is distributed, the template's reporting and disclosure policy 
   should say so, and should describe how to obtain such statistics.


3.4.3 Communication and Authentication

   Methods of secure and verifiable communication should be established.
   This is necessary for communication between SIRTs and between a SIRT
   and its constituents.  The template should include public keys or
   pointers to them, including key fingerprints, together with 
   guidelines on how to use this information to check authenticity and 
   how to deal with corrupted information (for example where to report 
   this fact).

   At the moment it is recommended that as a minimum every SIRT have 
   (if possible), a PGP key available.  A team may also 
   make other mechanisms available (for example PEM, MOSS, S/MIME), 
   according to its needs and the needs of its constituents.   Note 
   however, that SIRTs and users should be sensitive to local laws and 
   regulations.  Some countries do not allow strong encryption, or 
   enforce specific policies on the use of encryption technology.  In 
   addition to encrypting sensitive information whenever possible, 
   correspondence should include digital signatures.  (Please note that 
   in most countries, the protection of authenticity by using digital 
   signatures is not affected by existing encryption regulations.)

   For communication via telephone or facsimile a SIRT may keep secret
   authentication data for parties with whom they may deal, such as an
   agreed password or phrase.  Obviously, such secret keys must not be
   published, though their existence may be.

3.5 Services

   Services provided by a SIRT can be roughly divided into two
   categories: real-time activities directly related to the main task of
   incident response, and non-real-time proactive activities, supportive
   of the incident response task. The second category and part of the
   first category consist of services which are optional in the sense
   that not all SIRTs will offer them.   






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3.5.1 Incident Response

   Incident response usually includes assessing incoming reports about 
   incidents ("Incident Triage") and following up on these with other
   SIRTs, ISPs and sites ("Incident Coordination"). A third range of 
   services, helping a local site to recover from an incident ("Incident 
   Cure"), is comprised of typically optional services, which not all
   SIRTs will offer.


3.5.1.1 Incident Triage

   Incident triage usually includes:

   - Report assessment             Interpreting incoming incident
                                   reports, prioritizing them,and
                                   relating them to ongoing incidents
                                   and trends.      

   - Verification                  Help in determining whether an
                                   incident has really occurred, and
                                   its scope.


3.5.1.2 Incident Coordination

   Incident Coordination normally includes:

   - Information categorization    Categorization the incident related
                                   information (logfiles, contact
                                   information, etc.) with respect to
                                   the information disclosure policy.

   - Coordination                  Notification of other involved
                                   parties on a need-to-know basis, as
                                   per the information disclosure
                                   policy.


3.5.1.3 Incident Cure

   Usually additional or optional, incident cure services include:

   - Technical Assistance          This may include analysis of
                                   compromised systems.

   - Eradication                   Elimination of the cause of a
                                   security incident (the vulnerability
                                   exploited), and its effects (for
                                   example, continuing access to the
                                   system by an intruder).


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   - Recovery                      Aid in restoring affected systems
                                   and services to their status before
                                   the security incident.


3.5.2. Proactive Activities

   Usually additional or optional, proactive services might include:

   - Information provision         This might include an archive of
                                   known vulnerabilities, patches or
                                   resolutions of past problems, or
                                   advisory mailing lists.

   - Security Tools                This may include tools for auditing
                                   a Site's security.

   - Education and training        

   - Product evaluation

   - Site security auditing and consulting


3.6 Incident Reporting Forms

   The use of reporting forms makes it simpler for both users and
   teams to deal with incidents.  The constituent can prepare answers to
   various important questions before he or she actually contacts the 
   team, and can therefore come well prepared.  The team gets all the 
   necessary information at once with the first report and can proceed 
   efficiently.

   Depending on the objectives and services of a particular SIRT, 
   multiple forms may be used, for example a reporting form for a new 
   vulnerability may be very different from the form used for reporting 
   incidents.

   It is most efficient to provide forms through the online information
   services of the team.  The exact pointers to them should be given in
   the SIRT description document, together with statements about
   appropriate use, and guidelines for when and how to use the forms.  
   If separate e-mail addresses are supported for form-based reporting, 
   they should be listed here again.

   One example of such a form is the Incident Reporting Form provided by
   the CERT Coordination Center:

   - ftp://info.cert.org/incident_reporting_form




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3.7 Disclaimers

   Although the SIRT description document does not constitute a 
   contract, liability may conceivably result from its descriptions of 
   services and purposes.  The inclusion of a disclaimer at the end of 
   the template is therefore recommended and should warn the user about 
   possible limitations.

   In situations where the original version of a document must be
   translated into another language, the translation should carry a
   disclaimer and a pointer to the original.  For example:

      Although we tried to carefully translate the original
      document from German into English, we can not be certain
      that both documents express the same thoughts in the same
      level of detail and correctness.  In all cases, where there
      is a difference between both versions, the German version
      will prevail.

   The use of and protection by disclaimers is affected by local laws 
   and regulations, of which each SIRT should be aware. If in doubt
   the SIRT should check the disclaimer with a lawyer.


Appendix A: Glossary of Terms

   This glossary defines terms used in describing security incidents and
   Security Incident Response Teams.  Only a limited list is included.
   For more definitions please refer to other sources, for example to 
   the Internet User's Glossary [RFC 1983].

   Constituency:
      Implicit in the purpose of a Security Incident Response Team is
      the existence of a constituency.  This is the group of users,
      sites, networks or organizations served by the team.  The team
      must be recognized by its constituency in order to be effective.
 
   Security Incident:
      For the purpose of this document, this term is a synonym of
      Computer Security Incident: any adverse event which compromises 
      some aspect of computer or network security.
 
      The definition of an incident may vary between organizations, but
      at least the following categories are generally applicable:

       - Loss of confidentiality of information.
       - Compromise of integrity of information.
       - Denial of service.
       - Misuse of service, systems or information.
       - Damage to systems.



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      These are very general categories.  For instance the replacement
      of a system utility program by a Trojan Horse is an example of
      'compromise of integrity,' and a successful password attack is an
      example of 'loss of confidentiality.'  Attacks, even if they
      failed because of proper protection, can be regarded as 
      Incidents.

      Within the definition of an incident the word 'compromised' is
      used.  Sometimes an administrator may only 'suspect' an incident.
      During the response it must be established whether or not an
      incident has really occurred.

   Security Incident Response Team:
      Based on two of the definitions given above, a SIRT is a team
      that coordinates and supports the response to security incidents
      that involve sites within a defined constituency.

      In order to be considered a SIRT, a team must:

       - Provide a (secure) channel for receiving reports about
         suspected incidents.
       - Provide assistance to members of its constituency in
         handling these incidents.
       - Disseminate incident-related information to its
         constituency and to other involved parties.

      Note that we are not referring here to police or other law
      enforcement bodies which may investigate computer-related crime.
      SIRT members, indeed, need not have any powers beyond
      those of ordinary citizens.

   Vendor:
      A 'vendor' is any entity that produces networking or computing
      technology, and is responsible for the technical content of that
      technology.  Examples of 'technology' include hardware (desktop
      computers, routers, switches, etc.), and software (operating
      systems, mail forwarding systems, etc.).

      Note that the supplier of a technology is not necessarily the
      'vendor' of that technology.  As an example, an Internet Service
      Provider (ISP) might supply routers to each of its customers, but
      the 'vendor' is the manufacturer, since the manufacturer, rather
      than the ISP, is the entity responsible for the technical content
      of the router.

   Vulnerability:
      A 'vulnerability' is a characteristic of a piece of technology
      which can be exploited to perpetrate a security incident.  For
      example, if a program unintentionally allowed ordinary users to
      execute arbitrary operating system commands in privileged mode,
      this "feature" would be a vulnerability.


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Appendix B: Related Material

   Important issues in responding to security incidents on a site level
   are contained in [RFC 1244], the Site Security Handbook, produced by
   the Site Security Handbook Working Group (SSH).  This document will
   be updated by the SSH working group and will give recommendations 
   for local policies and procedures, mainly related to the avoidance 
   of security incidents.

   Other documents of interest for the discussion of SIRTs and their
   tasks are available by anonymous FTP. A collection can be found on:

   - ftp://ftp.cert.dfn.de/pub/docs/csir/
     Please refer to file 01-README for further information about
     the content of this directory.

   Some especially interesting documents in relation to this document 
   are as follows:

   - ftp://ftp.nic.surfnet.nl/surfnet/net-security/cert-nl/docs/
     reports/R-92-01
     This report contains the Operational Framework of CERT-NL, the
     SIRT of SURFnet (network provider in the Netherlands).

   - For readers interested in the operation of FIRST (Forum of
     Incident Response and Security Teams) more information is
     collected in Appendix C.

   - http://hightop.nrl.navy.mil/news/incident.html
     This document leads to the NRL Incident Response Manual.

   - http://www.cert.dfn.de/eng/team/kpk/certbib.html
     This document contains an annotated bibliography of available
     material, documents and files about the operation of SIRTs
     with links to many of the referenced items.

   - ftp://info.cert.org/incident_reporting_form
     This Incident Reporting Form is provided by the CERT
     Coordination Center to gather incident information and to avoid
     additional delays caused by the need to request more detailed
     information from the reporting site.

   - http://www.cert.org/cert.faqintro.html
     A collection of frequently asked questions from the CERT
     Coordination Center.








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Appendix C: Known Security Incident Response Teams

   Today, there are many different SIRTs but no single source lists 
   every team. Most of the major and long established teams (the first
   SIRT was founded in 1988) are nowadays members of FIRST, the 
   worldwide Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams.  At the 
   time of writing, more than 55 teams are members (1 in Australia, 13 
   in Europe, all others in North America).  Information about FIRST 
   can be found:

   - http://www.first.org/

   The actual list of members is available also, with the relevant 
   contact information and some additional information provided by the 
   particular teams:

   - http://www.first.org/team-info/

   For SIRTs which want to become members of this forum (please note
   that a team needs a sponsor - a team which is already a full member
   of FIRST - to be introduced), the following files contain more
   information:

   - http://www.first.org/about/op_frame.html
     The Operational Framework of FIRST.

   - http://www.first.org/docs/newmem.html
     Guidelines for teams which want to become members of FIRST.

   Many of the European teams, regardless of whether they are members
   of FIRST or not, are listed by countries on a page maintained by
   the German SIRT:

   - http://www.cert.dfn.de/eng/csir/europe/certs.html

   To learn about existing teams suitable to one's needs it is 
   often helpful to ask either known teams or an Internet Service 
   Provider for the "right" contact.















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Appendix D: Outline for SIRT Template

   This outline summarizes in point form the issues addressed in this
   document, and is the recommended template for a SIRT description
   document.  Its structure is designed to facilitate the communication 
   of a SIRT's policies, procedures, and other relevant information to 
   its constituency and to outside organizations such as other SIRTs.  
   A 'filled-in' example of this template is given as Appendix E.

      1.   Document Information
      1.1  Date of Last Update
      1.2  Distribution List for Notifications
      1.3  Locations where this Document May Be Found
  
      2.   Contact Information
      2.1  Name of the Team
      2.2  Address
      2.3  Time Zone
      2.4  Telephone Number
      2.5  Facsimile Number
      2.6  Other Telecommunication
      2.7  Electronic Mail Address
      2.8  Public Keys and Encryption Information
      2.9  Team Members
      2.10 Other Information
      2.11 Points of Customer Contact

      3.   Charter
      3.1  Mission Statement
      3.2  Constituency
      3.3  Sponsorship and/or Affiliation
      3.4  Authority

      4.   Policies
      4.1  Types of Incidents and Level of Support
      4.2  Co-operation, Interaction and Disclosure of Information
      4.3  Communication and Authentication
  
      5.   Services
      5.1  Incident Response
           5.1.1. Incident Triage
           5.1.2. Incident Coordination
           5.1.3. Incident Cure
      5.2  Proactive Activities

      6.   Incident Reporting Forms

      7.   Disclaimers





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Appendix E: Example - 'filled-in' Template for a SIRT

   Below is an example of a filled-in template for a fictitious SIRT
   called XYZ-SIRT.  This text is for example purposes only, and does 
   not constitute endorsement by the working group or the IETF of any
   particular set of procedures or policies.  While SIRTs are welcome 
   to use any or all of this text if they wish, such use is of course 
   not mandatory, or even appropriate in most cases.

SIRT Description for XYZ-CERT
-----------------------------

   1. About this document

   1.1 Date of Last Update

        This is version 1.01, published 1997/03/31.

   1.2 Distribution List for Notifications

        Notifications of updates are submitted to our mailing list
        <xyz-cert-info@xyz-univ.ca>.  Subscription requests for this
        list should be sent to the Majordomo at 
        <xyz-cert-info-request@xyz-univ.ca>; the body of the message
        should consist of the word "subscribe".  Send the word "help"
        instead if you don't know how to use a Majordomo list manager.
        This mailing list is moderated.

   1.3 Locations where this Document May Be Found

        The current version of this SIRT description document is 
        available from the XYZ-CERT WWW site; its URL is
          http://www.xyz-univ.ca/xyz-cert/english/sirt-descr.txt
        Une version francaise de ce document est igalement disponible:
          http://www.xyz-univ.ca/xyz-cert/francais/sirt-descr.txt
        Please make sure you are using the latest version.

   1.4 Authenticating this Document

        Both the English and French versions of this document have
        been signed with the XYZ-CERT's PGP key.  The signatures are
        also on our Web site, under:
          http://www.xyz-univ.ca/xyz-cert/english/sirt-descr.asc
          http://www.xyz-univ.ca/xyz-cert/francais/sirt-descr.asc

   2. Contact Information

   2.1 Name of the Team

        "XYZ-CERT": the XYZ University Computer Emergency Response 
        Team.


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   2.2 Address

        XYZ-CERT
        XYZ University, Computing Services Department
        12345 Rue Principale
        UniversityTown, Quebec
        Canada H0H 0H0

   2.3 Time Zone

        Canada/Eastern (GMT-0500, and GMT-0400 from April to October)

   2.4 Telephone Number

        +1 234 567 7890  (ask for the XYZ-CERT)

   2.5 Facsimile Number

        +1 234 567 7899  (this is *not* a secure fax)

   2.6 Other Telecommunication

        None available.

   2.7 Electronic Mail Address

        <xyz-cert@xyz-univ.ca>  This is a mail alias that relays mail
        to the human(s) on duty for the XYZ-CERT.

   2.8 Public Keys and Other Encryption Information

        The XYZ-CERT has a PGP key, whose KeyID is 12345678 and
        whose fingerprint is
          11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88  88 77 66 55 44 33 22 11.
        The key and its signatures can be found at the usual large
        public keyservers.

	Because PGP is still a relatively new technology at XYZ
	University, this key still has relatively few signatures;
	efforts are underway to increase the number of links to this
	key in the PGP "web of trust".  In the meantime, since most
	fellow universities in Quebec have at least one staff member
	who knows the XYZ-CERT coordinator Zoe Doe, Zoe Doe has
	signed the XYZ-CERT key, and will be happy to confirm its
	fingerprint and that of her own key to those people who know
	her, by telephone or in person.

   2.9 Team Members

        Zoe Doe of Computing Services is the XYZ-CERT coordinator.
        Backup coordinators and other team members, along with their


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        areas of expertise and contact information, are listed in the
        XYZ-CERT web pages, at
          http://www.xyz-univ.ca/xyz-cert/teamlist.html

        Management, liaison and supervision are provided by Steve Tree,
        Assistant Director (Technical Services), Computing Services.

   2.10 Other Information

	General information about the XYZ-CERT, as well as links to
	various recommended security resources, can be found at
	  http://www.xyz-univ.ca/xyz-cert/index.html

   2.11 Points of Customer Contact

        The preferred method for contacting the XYZ-CERT is via
        e-mail at <xyz-cert@xyz-univ.ca>; e-mail sent to this address
        will "biff" the responsible human, or be automatically 
        forwarded to the appropriate backup person, immediately.  If 
        you require urgent assistance, put "urgent" in your subject 
        line.

	If it is not possible (or not advisable for security reasons)
	to use e-mail, the XYZ-CERT can be reached by telephone during
	regular office hours.  Telephone messages are checked less
	often than e-mail.

	The XYZ-CERT's hours of operation are generally restricted to
	regular business hours (09:00-17:00 Monday to Friday except
	holidays).

        If possible, when submitting your report, use the form
        mentioned in section 6.

   3. Charter

   3.1 Mission Statement

        The purpose of the XYZ-CERT is, first, to assist members of XYZ
        University community in implementing proactive measures to 
        reduce the risks of computer security incidents, and second, to 
        assist XYZ community in responding to such incidents when they 
        occur.

   3.2 Constituency

        The XYZ-CERT's constituency is the XYZ University community,
        as defined in the context of the "XYZ University Policy on
        Computing Facilities".  This policy is available at
          http://www-compserv.xyz-univ.ca/policies/pcf.html
        


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        However, please note that, notwithtanding the above, XYZ-CERT
        services will be provided for on-site systems only.

   3.3 Sponsorship and/or Affiliation

        The XYZ-CERT is currently completing the application process
        for membership in FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and 
        Security Teams.  More information about FIRST is available
        from
          http://www.first.org/

   3.4 Authority

	The XYZ-CERT operates under the auspices of, and with authority
	delegated by, the Department of Computing Services of XYZ
	University.  For further information on the mandate and
        authority of the Department of Computing Services, please 
        refer to the XYZ University "Policy on Computing Facilities", 
        available at 
	  http://www-compserv.xyz-univ.ca/policies/pcf.html

        The XYZ-CERT expects to work cooperatively with system
        administrators and users at XYZ University, and, insofar as
        possible, to avoid authoritarian relationships.  However,
        should circumstances warrant it, the XYZ-CERT will appeal to
        Computing Services to exert its authority, direct or indirect,
        as necessary.  All members of the XYZ-CERT are members of the
        CCSA (Committee of Computer Systems Administrators), and have
        all of the powers and responsibilities assigned to Systems
        Administrators by the Policy on Computing Facilities, or are
        members of University management.

        Members of the XYZ University community who wish to appeal the
        actions of the XYZ-CERT should contact the Assistant Director
        (Technical Services), Computing Services.  If this recourse is
        not satisfactory, the matter may be referred to the Director
        of Computing Services (in the case of perceived
        problems with existing policy), or to the the XYZ University
        Office of Rights and Responsibilities (in the case of perceived
        errors in the application of existing policy).

   4. Policies

   4.1 Types of Incidents and Level of Support

        The XYZ-CERT is authorized to address all types of computer
        security incidents which occur, or threaten to occur, at
        XYZ University.

        The level of support given by XYZ-CERT will vary depending on
        the type and severity of the incident or issue, the type of


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        constituent, the size of the user community affected, and the
        XYZ-CERT's resources at the time, though in all cases some
        response will be made within one working day.  Resources will
        be assigned according to the following priorities, listed in
        decreasing order:

          - Threats to the physical safety of human beings.
          - Root or system-level attacks on any Management Information
            System, or any part of the backbone network infrastructure.
          - Root or system-level attacks on any large public service
            machine, either multi-user or dedicated-purpose.
          - Compromise of restricted confidential service accounts or
            software installations, in particular those used for MIS 
            applications containing confidential data, or those used
            for system administration.
          - Denial of service attacks on any of the above three items.
          - Any of the above at other sites, originating from XYZ
            University.
          - Large-scale attacks of any kind, e.g. sniffing attacks,
            IRC "social engineering" attacks, password cracking
            attacks.
          - Threats, harrassment, and other criminal offenses
            involving individual user accounts.
          - Compromise of individual user accounts on multi-user
            systems.
          - Compromise of desktop systems.
          - Forgery and misrepresentation, and other security-related
            violations of local rules and regulations, e.g. netnews
            and e-mail forgery, unauthorized use of IRC bots.
          - Denial of service on individual user accounts, e.g.
            mailbombing.

        Types of incidents other than those mentioned above will be
        prioritized according to their apparent severity and extent.

	Note that no direct support will be given to end users; they
	are expected to contact their system administrator, network
	administrator, or department head for assistance.  The XYZ-CERT
	will support the latter people.

	While the XYZ-CERT understands that there exists great
	variation in the level of system administrator expertise at XYZ
	University, and while the XYZ-CERT will endeavor to present
	information and assistance at a level appropriate to each
	person, the XYZ-CERT cannot train system administrators on the
	fly, and it cannot perform system maintenance on their behalf.
	In most cases, the XYZ-CERT will provide pointers to the
	information needed to implement appropriate measures.

        The XYZ-CERT is committed to keeping the XYZ University system
        administration community informed of potential vulnerabilities,


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        and where possible, will inform this community of such
        vulnerabilities before they are actively exploited.

   4.2 Co-operation, Interaction and Disclosure of Information

	While there are legal and ethical restrictions on the flow of
	information from XYZ-CERT, many of which are also outlined in
	the XYZ University Policy on Computing Facilities, and all of
	which will be respected, the XYZ-CERT acknowledges its
	indebtedness to, and declares its intention to contribute to,
	the spirit of cooperation that created the Internet.
	Therefore, while appropriate measures will be taken to protect
	the identity of members of our constituency and members of
	neighbouring sites where necessary, the XYZ-CERT will otherwise
	share information freely when this will assist others in
	resolving or preventing security incidents.

        In the paragraphs below, "affected parties" refers to the
        legitimate owners, operators, and users of the relevant
        computing facilities.  It does not refer to unauthorized
        users, including otherwise authorized users making
        unauthorized use of a facility; such intruders may have no
        expectation of confidentiality from the XYZ-CERT.  They may or
        may not have legal rights to confidentiality; such rights will
        of course be respected where they exist.

        Information being considered for release will be classified as
        follows:

          - Private user information is information about particular 
            users, or in some cases, particular applications, which 
            must be considered confidential for legal, contractual, 
            and/or ethical reasons.  

	    Private user information will be not be released in
	    identifiable form outside the XYZ-CERT, except as provided
	    for below.  If the identity of the user is disguised, then
	    the information can be released freely (for example to show
	    a sample .cshrc file as modified by an intruder, or to
	    demonstrate a particular social engineering attack).

          - Intruder information is similar to private user
            information, but concerns intruders. 

            While intruder information, and in particular identifying
            information, will not be released to the public (unless it
            becomes a  matter of public record, for example because
            criminal charges have been laid), it will be exchanged
            freely with system administrators and SIRTs tracking an
            incident.



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          - Private site information is technical information about 
            particular systems or sites.

            It will not be released without the permission of the site
            in question, except as provided for below.

          - Vulnerability information is technical information about 
            vulnerabilities or attacks, including fixes and
            workarounds.

            Vulnerability information will be released freely, though
            every effort will be made to inform the relevant vendor
            before the general public is informed.

          - Embarrassing information includes the statement that an 
            incident has occurred, and information about its extent or 
            severity.  Embarrassing information may concern a site or
            a particular user or group of users.

            Embarrassing information will not be released without the
            permission of the site or users in question, except as
            provided for below.

          - Statistical information is embarrassing information with
            the identifying information stripped off.

            Statistical information will be released at the discretion
            of the Computing Services Department.

          - Contact information explains how to reach system 
            administrators and SIRTs.

            Contact information will be released freely, except where
            the contact person or entity has requested that this not
            be the case, or where XYZ-CERT has reason to believe that
            the dissemination of this information would not be
            appreciated.

        Potential recipients of information from the XYZ-CERT will be
        classified as follows:

	- Because of the nature of their responsibilities and
	  consequent expectations of confidentiality, members of XYZ
	  University management are entitled to receive whatever
	  information is necessary to facilitate the handling of
	  computer security incidents which occur in their
	  jurisdictions.

	- Members of the Office of Rights and Responsibilities are
	  entitled to receive whatever information they request
	  concerning a computer security incident or related matter


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	  which has been referred to them for resolution.  The same is
	  true for the XYZ Security Department, when its assistance in
	  an investigation has been enlisted, or when the investigation
	  has been instigated at its request.

        - System administrators at XYZ University who are members of
          the CCSA are also, by virtue of their responsibilities,
          trusted with confidential information.  However, unless such
          people are also members of XYZ-CERT, they will be given only
          that confidential information which they must have in order
          to assist with an investigation, or in order to secure their
          own systems.

        - Users at XYZ University are entitled to information which
          pertains to the security of their own computer accounts,
          even if this means revealing "intruder information", or
          "embarrasssing information" about another user.  For
          example, if account aaaa is cracked and the intruder attacks
          account bbbb, user bbbb is entitled to know that aaaa was
          cracked, and how the attack on the bbbb account was
          executed.  User bbbb is also entitled, if she or he requests
          it, to information about account aaaa which might enable
          bbbb to investigate the attack.  For example, if bbbb was
          attacked by someone remotely connected to aaaa, bbbb should
          be told the provenance of the connections to aaaa, even
          though this information would ordinarily be considered
          private to aaaa.  Users at XYZ University are entitled to be
          notified if their account is believed to have been
          compromised.

	- The XYZ University community will receive no restricted
	  information, except where the affected parties have given
	  permission for the information to be disseminated.
	  Statistical information may be made available to the general
	  XYZ community.  There is no obligation on the part of the
	  XYZ-CERT to report incidents to the community, though it may
	  choose to do so; in particular, it is likely that the
	  XYZ-CERT will inform all affected parties of the ways in
	  which they were affected, or will encourage the affected site
	  to do so.

	- The public at large will receive no restricted information.
	  In fact, no particular effort will be made to communicate
	  with the public at large, though the XYZ-CERT recognizes
	  that, for all intents and purposes, information made
	  available to the XYZ University community is in effect made
	  available to the community at large, and will tailor the
	  information in consequence.

	- The computer security community will be treated the same way
	  the general public is treated.  While members of XYZ-CERT may


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	  participate in discussions within the computer security
	  community, such as newsgroups, mailing lists (including the
	  full-disclosure list "bugtraq"), and conferences, they will
	  treat such forums as though they were the public at large.
	  While technical issues (including vulnerabilities) may be
	  discussed to any level of detail, any examples taken from
	  XYZ-CERT experience will be disguised to avoid identifying
	  the affected parties.

	- The press will also be considered as part of the general
	  public.  The XYZ-CERT will not interact directly with the
	  Press concerning computer security incidents, except to point
	  them toward information already released to the general
	  public.  If necessary, information will be provided to the
	  XYZ University Public Relations Department, and to the
	  Customer Relations group of the Computing Services
	  Department.  All incident-related queries will be referred to
	  these two bodies.  The above does not affect the ability of
	  members of XYZ-CERT to grant interviews on general computer
	  security topics; in fact, they are encouraged to do to, as a
	  public service to the community.

	- Other sites and SIRTs, when they are partners in the
	  investigation of a computer security incident, will in some
	  cases be trusted with confidential information.  This will
	  happen only if the foreign site's bona fide can be verified,
	  and the information transmitted will be limited to that which
	  is likely to be helpful in resolving the incident.  Such
	  information sharing is most likely to happen in the case of
	  sites well known to XYZ-CERT (for example, several other
	  Quebec universities have informal but well-established
	  working relationships with XYZ University in such mattters).

	  For the purposes of resolving a security incident, otherwise
	  semi-private but relatively harmless user information such as
	  the provenance of connections to user accounts will not be
	  considered highly sensitive, and can be transmitted to a
	  foreign site without excessive precautions.  "Intruder
          information" will be transmitted freely to other system
          administrators and SIRTs.  "Embarrassing information" can be
          transmitted when there is reasonable assurance that it will
          remain confidential, and when it is necessary to resolve an
          incident.

	- Vendors will be considered as foreign SIRTs for most intents
	  and purposes.  The XYZ-CERT wishes to encourage vendors of
	  all kinds of networking and computer equipment, software, and
	  services to improve the security of their products.  In aid
	  of this, a vulnerability discovered in such a product will be
	  reported to its vendor, along with all technical details
	  needed to identify and fix the problem.  Identifying details


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	  will not be given to the vendor without the permission of the
	  affected parties.

        - Law enforcement officers will receive full cooperation from
          the XYZ-CERT, including any information they require to
          pursue an investigation, in accordance with the Policy on
          Computing Facilities.

   4.3 Communication and Authentication

        In view of the types of information that the XYZ-CERT will
        likely be dealing with, telephones will be considered
        sufficiently secure to be used even unencrypted.  Unencrypted
        e-mail will not be considered particularly secure, but will be
        sufficient for the transmission of low-sensitivity data.  If
        it is necessary to send highly sensitive data by e-mail, PGP
        will be used.  Network file transfers will be considered to
        be similar to e-mail for these purposes: sensitive data should
        be encrypted for transmission.

        Where it is necessary to establish trust, for example before
        relying on information given to the XYZ-CERT, or before
        disclosing confidential information, the identity and bona
        fide of the other party will be ascertained to a reasonable
        degree of trust.  Within XYZ University, and with known
        neighbor sites, referrals from known trusted people will
        suffice to identify someone.  Otherwise, appropriate methods
        will be used, such as a search of FIRST members, the use of
        WHOIS and other Internet registration information, etc, along
        with telephone call-back or e-mail mail-back to ensure that
        the party is not an impostor.  Incoming e-mail whose data must
        be trusted will be checked with the originator personally, or
        by means of digital signatures (PGP in particular is
        supported).



















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   5. Services

   5.1 Incident Response

        XYZ-CERT will assist system administrators in handling the
        technical and organizational aspects of incidents.  In 
        particular, it will provide assistance or advice with respect
        to the following aspects of incident management:
            - Determining the extent of the incident.
            - Determining the initial cause of the incident
              (vulnerability exploited).
            - Facilitating contact with other sites which may be
              involved.
            - Removing the vulnerability.
            - Securing the system from the effects of the incident.
            - Evaluating whether certain actions are likely to reap
              results in proportion to their cost and risk, in 
              particular those actions aimed at an eventual prosecution 
              or disciplinary action: collection of evidence after the
              fact, observation of an incident in progress, setting
              traps for intruders, etc.
            - Collecting evidence where criminal prosecution, or
              University disciplinary action, is contemplated.
            - Facilitating contact with XYZ University Security and/or
              appropriate law enforcement officials, if necessary.
            - Making reports to other SIRTs.
            - Composing announcements to users, if applicable.

        In addition, XYZ-CERT will collect statistics concerning
        incidents which occur within or involve the XYZ University
        community, and will notify the community as necessary to
        assist it in protecting against known attacks.

        To make use of XYZ-CERT's incident response services, please
        send e-mail as per section 2.11 above.  Please remember that
        the amount of assistance available will vary according to
        the parameters described in section 4.1.

   5.2 Proactive Activities

        The XYZ-CERT coordinates and maintains the following
        services to the extent possible depending on its resources:
          - Information services
             - List of departmental security contacts, administrative
               and technical.  These lists will be available to the
               general public, via commonly-available channels such as
               the World Wide Web and/or the Domain Name Service.
             - Mailing lists to inform security contacts of new
               information relevant to their computing environments.
               These lists will be available only to XYZ University
               system administrators.


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             - Repository of vendor-provided and other security-related
               patches for various operating systems.  This repository
               will be available to the general public wherever
               license restrictions allow it, and will be provided via
               commonly-available channels such as the World Wide Web
               and/or ftp.
             - Repository of security tools and documentation for 
               use by sysadmins.  Where possible, precompiled
               ready-to-install versions will be supplied.  These will
               be supplied to the general public via www or ftp as
               above.
             - "Clipping" service for various existing resources, such
               as major mailing lists and newsgroups.  The resulting
               clippings will be made available either on the
               restricted mailing list or on the web site, depending
               on their sensitivity and urgency.
          - Training services
             - Members of the XYZ-CERT will give periodic seminars on
               computer security related topics; these seminars will
               be open to XYZ University system administrators.
          - Auditing services
             - Central file integrity checking service for Unix
               machines, and for any other platforms capable of
               running "tripwire".
             - Security level assignments; machines and subnetworks
               at XYZ University will be audited and assigned a 
               security level.  This security level information will be 
               available to the XYZ University community, to facilitate 
               the setting of appropriate access privileges.  However,
               details of the security analyses will be confidential,
               and available only to the concerned parties.
          - Archiving services
             - Central logging service for machines capable of
               Unix-style remote logging.  Incoming log entries will
               be watched by an automated log analysis program, and
               events or trends indicative of a potential security
               problem will be reported to the affected system
               administrators.
             - Records of security incidents handled will be kept.
               While the records will remain confidential, periodic
               statistical reports will be made available to the XYZ
               University community.

        Detailed descriptions of the above services, along with
        instructions for joining mailing lists, downloading
        information, or participating in certain services such as the
        central logging and file integrity checking services, are
        available on the XYZ-CERT web site, as per section 2.10
        above.




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   6. Incident Reporting Forms

        There are no local forms developed yet for reporting incidents
        to XYZ-CERT. If possible, please make use of the Incident
        Reporting Form of the CERT Coordination Center (Pittsburgh, 
        PA).  The actual version is available from:
           ftp://info.cert.org/incident_reporting_form

   7. Disclaimers

        While every precaution will be taken in the preparation of
        information, notifications and alerts, XYZ-CERT assumes no
        responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages
        resulting from the use of the information contained within.

       
4 Acknowlegements

   The editors gratefully acknowledge the contributed material and
   editorial scrutiny of Anne Bennett.   Thanks also to Don Stikvoort
   for assistance reworking the description of Incident Response Team
   services.


5 References

   [RFC 1244] P. Holbrooks, J. Reynolds / Site Security Handbook. - 
      July 23, 1991. - 101 pages. - FYI 8.

   [RFC 1983] G. Malkin / Internet Users' Glossary. - 
      August 16, 1996. - 62 pages. - FYI 18.


6 Security Considerations

   This document discusses the operation of Security Incident Response 
   Teams, and the teams' interactions with their constituencies and 
   with other organizations.  It is, therefore, not directly concerned 
   with the security of protocols, applications, or network systems 
   themselves.  It is not even concerned with particular responses and 
   reactions to security incidents, but only with the appropriate 
   description of the responses provided by SIRTs.

   Nonetheless, it is vital that the SIRTs themselves operate securely,
   which means that they must establish secure communication channels 
   with other teams, and with members of their constituency.  They must 
   also secure their own systems and infrastructure, to protect the 
   interests of their constituency and to maintain the confidentiality
   of the identity of victims and reporters of security incidents.




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7 Authors' Addresses

    Nevil Brownlee    ITSS Technology Development
    The University of Auckland

    Phone: +64 9 373 7599 x8941
    E-mail: n.brownlee@auckland.ac.nz


    Erik Guttman
    Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Gaisbergstr. 6
    69115 Heidelberg Germany

    Phone: +49 6221 601649
    E-Mail: eguttman@eng.sun.com



This document expires January 20, 1998.

































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