Risk-based model for security policy management

Abstract

A security policy management solution (such as a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) system) is augmented to enable a user to model and visualize how changes in a security policy may impact (positively or negatively) the effectiveness of a policy configuration as well as the risk associated with its deployment. This technique enables a user (e.g., a security policy administrator) to evolve enterprise information technology (IT) security policies and, in particular, to generate and display “what-if” scenarios by which the user can determine trade-offs between, on the one hand, the effectiveness of a proposed change to a policy, and on the other hand, the risk associated with the proposed change.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Technical Field[0002]This disclosure relates generally to security policy management for information technology (IT) systems.[0003]2. Background of the Related Art[0004]Information security is the process of providing a set of controls to manage risk with an end goal of demonstrating compliance with a set of regulations. Security policies specify how a set of controls operate and therefore to what extent risk may be capable of being managed. The specific values for attributes in a schema of any security policy can be modified, and such modifications may change the probability of both positive impact (effectiveness at managing risk) and negative impact (unhappy users, loss of productivity) on the environment which the policy is intended to protect.[0005]For example, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) systems are well-known in the prior art and operate generally to identify, monitor use of, and to control user operations on, sensitive information within an ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]The techniques herein augment a security policy management solution (such as a DLP system) to enable a user to model and visualize how changes in a security policy may impact (positively or negatively) the effectiveness of a policy configuration as well as the risk associated with its deployment. As used herein, a “policy” may ref...

Problems solved by technology

The specific values for attributes in a schema of any security policy can be modified, and such modifications may change the probability of both positive impact (effectiveness at managing risk) and negative impact (unhappy users, loss of productivity) on the environment which the policy is intended to protect.

Nevertheless, security policy management as a technology domain typically does not express policy explicitly in a way that recognizes the original purpose of risk management.

In this regard, most commercial policy management systems do not provide policy versioning; moreover, in those systems that do, p...

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