Cybersecurity’s Human Factor_ Lessons From the Pentagon

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    David M. Upton, Chritopher Kirchho , JameA. (and) Winnefeld Jr.,

    Cerecurit’ Human Factor:

    Leon from the Pentagon

    The vat majorit of companie are more expoed to cerattack

    than the have to e. To cloe the gap in their ecurit, CO can

    take a cue from the U.. militar. Once a vulnerale IT colou, it

    i ecoming an adroit operator of well-defended network. Toda

    the militar can detect and remed intruion within hour, if not

    minute. From eptemer 2014 to June 2015 alone, it repelled

    more than 30 million known maliciou attack at the oundarie

    of it network. Of the mall numer that did get through, fewer

    than 0.1% compromied tem in an wa. Given the

    ophitication of the militar’ ceradverarie, that record i a

    ignicant feat.

    hr.org

    David M. Upton i the American tandardCompanie Profeor of Operation Managementat Oxford Univerit’aïd uine chool.

    https://getpocket.com/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhbr.org%2F2015%2F09%2Fcybersecuritys-human-factor-lessons-from-the-pentagon

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    One ke leon of the militar’ experience i that while technical

    upgrade are important, minimizing human error i even more

    crucial. Mitake network adminitrator and uer—failure to

    patch vulnerailitie in legac tem, micongured etting,

    violation of tandard procedure—open the door to the

    overwhelming majorit of ucceful attack.

    The militar’ approach to addreing thi dimenion of ecurit

    owe much to Admiral Hman Rickover, the “Father of the

    Nuclear Nav.” In it more than 60 ear of exitence, the nuclear-

    propulion program that he helped launch han’t uered a ingle

    accident. Rickover focued intenel on the human factor, eeing

    to it that propulion-plant operator aoard nuclear-powered

    veel were rigoroul trained to avoid mitake and to detect and

    correct anomalie efore the cacaded into eriou malfunction.

    The U.. Department of Defene ha een teadil adopting

    protocol imilar to Rickover’ in it ght to thwart attack on it

    IT tem. Two of thi article’ author, and Winnefeld and

    Chritopher Kirchho, were deepl involved in thoe eort. The

    article’ purpoe i to hare the department’ approach o that

    uine leader can appl it in their own organization.

    The Danger from Within

    Rik management Magazine Article

    The igget threat to our cerecurit ma e an emploee

    or a vendor.

    https://hbr.org/2014/09/the-danger-from-within

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    Like the Defene Department, companie are under contant

    omardment from all tpe of ource: nation-tate, criminal

    ndicate, cervandal, intruder hired uncrupulou

    competitor, digruntled inider. Thieve have tolen or

    compromied the credit-card or peronal information of hundred

    of million of cutomer, including thoe of on, Target, Home

    Depot, Neiman Marcu, JPMorgan Chae, and Anthem. The’ve

    managed to teal proprietar information on oil and ga depoit

    from energ companie at the ver moment geological urve

    were completed. The’ve wiped negotiation trategie o internal

    corporate network in the run-up to major deal, and weapon

    tem data from defene contractor. And over the pat three

    ear intruion into critical U.. infratructure—tem that

    control operation in the chemical, electrical, water, and tranport

    ector—have increaed 17-fold. It’ little wonder, then, that the

    U.. government ha made improving cerecurit in oth pulic

    and private ector a national priorit. ut, a the recent hacking

    of the federal government’ Oce of Peronnel Management

    undercore, it i alo a monumental challenge.

    The Militar’ Cerjourne

    ack in 2009, the Defene Department, like man companie

    toda, wa addled with a vat arra of diparate IT tem and

    ecurit approache. ach of it three militar ranche, four

    uniformed ervice, and nine unied comatant command had

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    long functioned a it own prot-and-lo center, with utantial

    dicretion over it IT invetment. Altogether, the department

    compried 7 million device operating acro 15,000 network

    enclave, all run dierent tem adminitrator, who

    congured their part of the network to dierent tandard. It wa

    not a recipe for ecurit or ecienc.

    That ear, recognizing oth the opportunitie of greater

    coherenc and the need to tem the rie in harmful incident,

    Roert Gate, then the ecretar of defene, created the U.. Cer

    Command. It rought network operation acro the entire .mil

    domain under the authorit of one four-tar ocer. The

    department imultaneoul egan to conolidate it prawling

    network, collaping the 15,000 tem into a ingle unied

    architecture called the Joint Information nvironment. The work

    ha een paintaking, ut oon hip, umarine, atellite,

    pacecraft, plane, vehicle, weapon tem, and ever unit in

    the militar will e linked in a common command-and-control

    tructure encompaing ever communication device. What once

    wa a jumle of more than 100,000 network adminitrator with

    dierent chain of command, tandard, and protocol i evolving

    toward a tightl run cadre of elite network defender.

     At the ame time, the U.. Cer Command ha een upgrading

    the militar’ technolog. ophiticated enor, analtic, and

    conolidated “ecurit tack”—uite of equipment that perform a

    variet of function, including ig data analtic—are giving

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    network adminitrator greater viiilit than ever efore. The

    can now quickl detect anomalie, determine if the poe a threat,

    and alter the network’ conguration in repone.

    The U.. Department of Defene experience 41M can, proe,

    and attack a month.

    The interconnection of formerl eparate network doe

    introduce new rik (a, that malware might pread acro

    tem, or that a vulnerailit in one tem would allow

    omeone to teal data from another). ut thee are greatl

    outweighed the advantage: central monitoring, tandardized

    defene, ea updating, and intant reconguration in the event

    of an attack. (Claied network are diconnected from

    unclaied network, of coure.)

    However, unied architecture and tate-of-the-art technolog are

    onl part of the anwer. In nearl all penetration on the .mil

    network, people have een the weak link. The Ilamic tate rie

    took control of the U.. Central Command’ Twitter feed in 2015

    exploiting an individual account that had not een updated to

    dual-factor authentication, a aic meaure requiring uer to

    verif their identit paword plu a token numer generator

    or encrpted chip. In 2013 a foreign nation went on a four-month

    pree inide the U.. Nav’ unclaied network exploiting a

    ecurit aw in a pulic-facing weite that the nav’ IT expert

    knew aout—ut failed to x. The mot eriou reach of a

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    claied network occurred in 2008, when, in a violation of 

    protocol, a memer of the Central Command at a Middle atern

    ae inerted a thum drive loaded with malware directl into a

    ecure dektop machine.

    While the recent intruion how that ecurit toda i no

    mean perfect, the human and technical performance of the

    militar’ network adminitrator and uer i far tronger a

    numer of meaure than it wa in 2009. One enchmark i the

    reult of command’ cerecurit inpection, whoe numer

    have increaed from 91 in 2011 to an expected 285 in 2015. ven

    though the grading criteria have ecome more tringent, the

    percentage of command that received a paing grade—proving

    themelve “cer-read”—ha rien from 79% in 2011 to over 96%

    thi ear.

    Companie need to addre the rik of human error too. Hacker

    penetrated JPMorgan Chae exploiting a erver whoe ecurit

    etting hadn’t een updated to dual-factor authentication. The

    exltration of 80 million peronal record from the health inurer

     Anthem, in Decemer 2014, wa almot certainl the reult of a

    “pear phihing” e-mail that compromied the credential of a

    numer of tem adminitrator. Thee incident undercore the

    fact that error occur among oth IT profeional and the roader

    workforce. Multiple tudie how that the lion’ hare of attack

    can e prevented impl patching known vulnerailitie and

    enuring that ecurit conguration are correctl et.

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    The clear leon here i that people matter a much a, if not more

    than, technolog. (Technolog, in fact, can create a fale ene of 

    ecurit.) Cerdefender need to create “high-reliailit

    organization”— uilding an exceptional culture of high

    performance that conitentl minimize rik. “We have to get

    eond focuing on jut the tech piece here,” Admiral Mike

    Roger, who overee the U.. Cer Command, ha aid. “It’

    aout etho. It’ aout culture. [It’ aout] how ou man, train,

    and equip our organization, how ou tructure it, the operational

    concept that ou appl.”

    The High-Reliailit Organization

    The concept of a high-reliailit organization, or HRO, rt

    emerged in enterprie where the conequence of a ingle error

    can e catatrophic. Take airline, the air-trac-control tem,pace ight, nuclear power plant, wildre ghting, and high-

    peed rail. Within thee highl technical operation, the

    interaction of tem, utem, human operator, and the

    external environment frequentl give rie to deviation that mut

    e corrected efore the ecome diatrou prolem. Thee

    organization are a far cr from continuoul improving “lean”

    factorie. Their operator and uer don’t have the luxur of 

    learning from their mitake.

    The annual gloal cot of cercrime againt conumer i $113.

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    afel operating technolog that i inherentl rik in a

    dangerou, complex environment take more than inveting in the

    et engineering and material. High-reliailit organization

    poe a deep awarene of their own vulnerailitie, are

    profoundl committed to proven operational principle and high

    tandard, clearl articulate accountailit, and vigilantl proe for

    ource of failure.

    The U.. Nav’ nuclear-propulion program i argual the HRO

    with the longet track record. Running a nuclear reactor on a

    umarine deep in the ocean, out of communication with an

    technical aitance for long period of time, i no mall feat.

     Admiral Rickover drove a trict culture of excellence into each

    level of the organization. (o devoted wa he to enuring that onl

    Michael er Photo : Michael er

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    people who could handle uch a culture entered the program that,

    during hi 30 ear at it helm, he peronall interviewed ever

    ocer appling to join it—a practice that ever one of hi

    ucceor ha continued.)

     At the heart of that culture are ix interconnected principle,

    which help the nav weed out and contain the impact of human

    error.

    1. Integrit. thi we mean a deepl internalized ideal that lead people,

    without exception, to eliminate “in of commiion” (delierate

    departure from protocol) and own up immediatel to mitake.

    The nuclear nav inculcate it in people from da one, making it

    clear there are no econd chance for lape. Worker thu are not

    onl unlikel to take hortcut ut alo highl likel to notif

    upervior of an error right awa, o the can e corrected

    quickl and don’t neceitate length invetigation later—after a

    prolem ha occurred. Operator of propulion plant faithfull

    report ever anomal that rie aove a low threhold of 

    erioune to the program’ central technical headquarter.

    Commanding ocer of veel are held full accountale for the

    health of their program, including honet in reporting.

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    2. Depth of knowledge.

    If people thoroughl undertand all apect of a tem—including

    the wa it’ engineered, it vulnerailitie, and the procedure

    required to operate it—the’ll more readil recognize when

    omething i wrong and handle an anomal more eectivel. In

    the nuclear nav, operator are rigoroul trained efore the ever

    put their hand on a real propulion plant and are cloel

    upervied until the’re procient. Thereafter, the undergo

    periodic monitoring, hundred of hour of additional training, and

    drill and teting. hip captain are expected to regularl monitorthe training and report on crew procienc quarterl.

    3. Procedural compliance.

    On nuclear veel, worker are required to know—or know

    where to nd—proper operational procedure and to follow themto the letter. The’re alo expected to recognize when a ituation

    ha ecliped exiting written procedure and new one are called

    for.

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    ee Your Compan Through the e of a Hacker

    ecurit & privac Digital Article

    Turning the map around on cerecurit.

    One of the wa the nuclear nav maximize compliance i

    through it extenive tem of inpection. For intance, ever

    warhip periodicall undergoe tough Operational Reactor

    afeguard xamination, which involve written tet, interview,

    and oervation of da-to-da operation and of repone to

    imulated emergencie. In addition, an inpector from the Naval

    Reactor regional oce ma walk aoard antime a hip i in port,

    without advance notice, to oerve ongoing power-plant

    operation and maintenance. The hip’ commanding ocer i

    reponile for an dicrepancie the inpector ma nd.

    4. Forceful ackup.

    https://hbr.org/2015/03/see-your-company-through-the-eyes-of-a-hacker

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    When a nuclear-propulion plant i operating, the ailor who

    actuall control it—even thoe who are highl experienced—are

    alwa cloel monitored enior peronnel. An action that

    preent a high rik to the tem ha to e performed two

    people, not jut one. And ever memer of the crew—even the

    mot junior peron—i empowered to top a proce when a

    prolem arie.

    5. A quetioning attitude.

    Thi i not ea to cultivate in an organization, epeciall one

    with a formal rank tructure in which immediate compliance with

    order i the norm. However, uch a mindet i invaluale: If 

    people are trained to liten to their internal alarm ell, earch for

    the caue, and then take corrective action, the chance that the’ll

    foretall prolem rie dramaticall. Operator with quetioning

    attitude doule- and triple-check work, remain alert for

    anomalie, and are never atied with a le-than-thorough

    anwer. impl aking wh the hourl reading on one ocure

    intrument out of a hundred are changing in an anormal wa or

    wh a network i exhiiting a certain ehavior can prevent cotl

    damage to the entire tem.

    6. Formalit in communication.

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    To minimize the poiilit that intruction are given or received

    incorrectl at critical moment, operator on nuclear veel

    communicate in a precried manner. Thoe giving order or

    intruction mut tate them clearl, and the recipient mut

    repeat them ack veratim. Formalit alo mean etalihing an

    atmophere of appropriate gravit eliminating the mall talk

    and peronal familiarit that can lead to inattention, fault

    aumption, kipped tep, or other error.

    Cerecurit reache caued human mitake nearl alwa

    involve the violation of one or more of thee ix principle. Here’

    a ample of ome the Defene Department uncovered during

    routine teting exercie:

     A polite headquarter ta ocer held the door for another

    ocer, who wa reall an intruder carring a fake

    identication card. Once inide, the intruder could have

    intalled malware on the organization’ network. Principle

    violated: procedural compliance and a quetioning attitude.

     A tem adminitrator, urng the we from hi elevated

    account, which had fewer automatic retriction, downloaded

    a popular video clip that wa “viral” in more wa than one.

    Principle violated: integrit and procedural compliance.

     A ta ocer clicked on a link in an e-mail promiing

    dicount for online purchae, which wa actuall an

    attempt the teter to plant a phihing ack door on her

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    worktation. Principle violated: a quetioning attitude, depth

    of knowledge, and procedural compliance.

     A new network adminitrator intalled an update without

    reading the implementation guide and with no uperviion. A a reult, previou ecurit upgrade were “unpatched.”

    Principle violated: depth of knowledge, procedural

    compliance, and forceful ackup.

     A network help dek reet a connection in an oce without

    invetigating wh the connection had een deactivated in the

    rt place—even though the reaon might have een anautomated hutdown to prevent the connection of an

    unauthorized computer or uer. Principle violated:

    procedural compliance and a quetioning attitude.

    Creating a High-Reliailit IT OrganizationTo e ure, ever organization i dierent. o leader need to

    account for two factor in deigning the approach and timetale

    for turning their companie into cerecure HRO. One i the

    tpe of uine and it degree of vulnerailit to attack.

    (Financial ervice, manufacturing, utilit, and large retail

    uinee are epeciall at rik.) Another i the nature of the

    workforce. A creative workforce made up predominantl of 

    Millennial accutomed to working from home with online-

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    collaoration tool preent a dierent challenge from ale or

    manufacturing emploee accutomed to tructured etting with

    lot of rule.

    It’ eaier to create a rule-ound culture for network

    adminitrator and cerecurit peronnel than it i for an entire

    workforce. Yet the latter i certainl poile, even if a compan

    ha a huge numer of emploee and an etalihed culture.

    Witne the man companie that have uccefull changed their

    culture and operating approache to increae qualit, afet, and

    equal opportunit.

    Whatever the dnamic of their organization, leader can

    implement a numer of meaure to emed the ix principle in

    emploee’ everda routine.

    Take charge.

     A recent urve Oxford Univerit and the UK’ Centre for the

    Protection of the National Infratructure found that concern for

    cerecurit wa ignicantl lower among manager inide the

    C-uite than among manager outide it. uch hortightedne at

    the top i a eriou prolem, given the nancial conequence of 

    cerattack. In a 2014 tud the Ponemon Intitute, the

    average annualized cot of cercrime incurred a enchmark

    ample of U.. companie wa $12.7 million, a 96% increae in ve

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    ear. Meanwhile, the time it took to reolve a cerattack had

    increaed 33%, on average, and the average cot incurred to

    reolve a ingle attack totaled more than $1.6 million.

    The realit i that if CO don’t take cerecurit threat

    erioul, their organization won’t either. You can et that Gregg

    teinhafel, who wa outed from Target in 2014 after

    cercriminal tole it cutomer’ information, wihe he had.

    Over the pat 3 ear, intruion into critical U.. infratructure

    have increaed 17x.

    Chief executive know that conolidating their jumle of network

    tem, a the Defene Department ha done, i important. ut

    man are not moving fat enough—undoutedl ecaue thi tak

    can e maive and expenive. In addition to accelerating that

    eort, the mut marhal their entire leaderhip team—technical

    and line management, and human reource—to make people,

    principle, and IT tem work together. Repeatedl emphaizing

    the importance of ecurit iue i ke. And CO hould reit

    lanket aurance from CIO who claim the’re alread

    emracing high-reliailit practice and a all that’ needed i an

    increae in the ecurit udget or the newet ecurit tool.

    CO hould ak themelve and their leaderhip team tough

    quetion aout whether the’re doing everthing poile to

    uild and utain an HRO culture. Are network adminitrator

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    making ure that ecurit function in tem are turned on and

    up-to-date? How are pot audit on ehavior conducted, and what

    happen if a ignicant lape i found? What tandardized training

    program for the ehavioral and technical apect of cerecurit

    are in place, and how frequentl are thoe program refrehed?

     Are the mot important cerecurit tak, including the

    manipulation of etting that might expoe the tem, conducted

    formall, with the right kind of ackup? In eence, CO mut

    contantl ak what integrit, depth of knowledge, procedural

    compliance, forceful ackup, a quetioning attitude, and formalit

    mean in their organization. Meanwhile, oard of director, in

    their overight role, hould ak whether management i

    adequatel taking into account the human dimenion of 

    cerdefene. (And indeed man are eginning to do thi.)

    Make everone accountale.Militar commander are now held reponile for good

    tewardhip of information technolog—and o i everone all the

    wa down the rank. The Defene Department and the U.. Cer

    Command are etalihing a reporting tem that allow unit to

    track their ecurit violation and anomalie on a imple

    corecard. efore, information aout who committed an error and

    it erioune wa known onl to tem adminitrator, if it wa

    tracked at all. oon enior commander will e ale to monitor

    unit’ performance in near real time, and that performance will e

    viile to people at much higher level.

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    Are You a Certhreat to Your Organization?

    ecurit & Privac Aement

    The goal i to make network ecurit a much of an everdapriorit for troop a keeping their rie clean and operational.

    ver memer of an armed ervice mut know and compl with

    the aic rule of network hgiene, including thoe meant to

    prevent uer from introducing potentiall tainted hardware,

    downloading unauthorized oftware, acceing a weite that

    could compromie network, or falling pre to phihing e-mail.When a rule i roken, and epeciall if it’ a matter of integrit,

    commander are expected to dicipline the oender. And if a

    climate of complacenc i found in a unit, the commander will e

    judged accordingl.

    Companie hould do likewie. While the ame meaure aren’t

    alwa availale to them, all manager—from the CO on down—

    hould e reponile for enuring their report follow

    cerafet practice. Manager hould undertand that the,

    along with the emploee in quetion, will e held accountale.

     All memer of the organization ought to recognize the are

    reponile for thing the can control. Thi i not the norm in

    man companie.

    Intitute uniform tandard and centrall

    managed training and certication.

    https://hbr.org/web/assessment/2014/08/are-you-a-cyberthreat-to-your-organization

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    The U.. Cer Command ha developed tandard to enure that

    anone operating or uing a militar network i certied to do o,

    meet pecic criteria, and i retrained at appropriate interval.

    Peronnel on dedicated team in charge of defending network

    undergo extenive formal training. For thee cerprofeional

    the Defene Department i moving toward the model etalihed

    the nuclear nav: claroom intruction, elf-tud, and at the

    end of the proce, a formal graded examination. To uild a road

    and deep pipeline of defender, the militar academie require all

    attendee to take cerecurit coure. Two academie oer a

    major degree in ceroperation, and two oer minor degree. All

    ervice now have chool for advanced training and pecic

    career path for cerecurit pecialit. The militar i alo

    incorporating cerecurit into continuing education program

    for all peronnel.

    Relativel few companie, in contrat, have rigorou certraining

    for the rank and le, and thoe that do rarel augment it with

    refreher coure or information eion a new threat arie.

    Merel e-mailing emploee aout new rik doen’t uce. Nor

    doe the common practice of requiring all emploee to take an

    annual coure that involve pending an hour or two reviewing

    digital policie, with a hort quiz after each module.

     Admittedl, more-intenive meaure are time-conuming and a

    ditraction from da-to-da uine, ut the’re imperative for

    companie of all ize. The hould e a rout a program to

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    enforce ethic and afet practice, and companie hould track

    attendance. After all, it take onl one untrained peron to caue a

    reach.

    Couple formalit with forceful ackup.

    In 2014 the U.. militar created a contruct that pelled out in

    great detail it cer-command-and-control tructure, pecifing

    who i in charge of what and at what level ecurit conguration

    are managed and changed in repone to ecurit event. That

    clear framework of reporting and reponiilitie i upported

    with an extra afeguard: When ecurit update on core portion

    of the Defene Department’ network are made or tem

    adminitrator acce area where enitive information i tored,

    a two-peron rule i in eect. oth people mut have their ee on

    the tak and agree that it wa performed correctl. Thi add an

    extra degree of reliailit and dramaticall reduce the rik of 

    lone-wolf inider attack.

    The Department of Defene i conolidating 15,000 network into

    a ingle unied architecture.

    There’ no reaon companie can’t alo do thee thing. Mot large

    rm have alread aggreivel pruned their lit of “privileged”

    tem uer and created procee for retracting the acce right

    of contractor leaving a project and emploee leaving the rm.

    Midize and maller enterprie hould do the ame.

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    One form of ackup can e provided inexpenive, ea-to-

    intall oftware that either warn emploee when the’re

    tranferring or downloading enitive information or prevent

    them from doing it and then monitor their action. Regularl

    reminding emploee that their adherence to ecurit rule i

    monitored will reinforce a culture of high reliailit.

    Check up on our defene.

    In June 2015 the U.. Cer Command and the Defene

    Department announced weeping operational tet for oth

    network adminitrator and uer. The militar alo i etalihing

    rigorou tandard for cerecurit inpection and tightl

    coordinating the team that conduct them.

    Companie hould follow uit here a well. While man large

    rm do ecurit audit, the often focu on network’

    vulnerailit to external attack and pa too little attention to

    emploee’ ehavior. CO hould conider inveting more in

    capailitie for teting operational IT practice and expanding the

    role of the internal audit function to include cerecurit

    technolog, practice, and culture. (xternal conultant alo ma

    provide thi ervice.)

    In addition to cheduled audit, rm hould do random pot-

    check. Thee are highl eective at countering the hortcut and

    compromie that creep into the workplace—like tranferring

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    condential material to an unecured laptop to work on it at

    home, uing pulic cloud ervice to exchange enitive

    information, and haring paword with other emploee. uch

    ehavior i important to dicover—and correct—efore it reult

    in a eriou prolem.

    liminate fear of honet and increae the

    conequence of dihonet.

    Leader mut treat unintentional, occaional error a

    opportunitie to correct the procee that allowed them to occur.

    However, the hould give no econd chance to people who

    intentionall violate tandard and procedure. dward nowden

    wa ale to acce claied information convincing another

    civilian emploee to enter hi paword into nowden’

    worktation. It wa a major reach of protocol for which the

    emploee wa rightfull red. It made man militar leader

    realize that an operational culture that treed integrit, a

    quetioning attitude, forceful ackup, and procedural compliance

    could have created an environment in which nowden would

    have een topped cold. uch a reach of the rule would have

    een unthinkale in the reactor department of a nav veel.

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     At the ame time, emploee hould e encouraged to

    acknowledge their innocent mitake. When nuclear-propulion-

    plant operator dicover a mitake, the’re conditioned to quickl

    Michael er Photo : Michael er

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    reveal it to their upervior. imilarl, a network uer who

    inadvertentl click on a upiciou e-mail or weite hould e

    conditioned to report it without fear of cenure.

    Finall, it hould e ea for everone throughout the

    organization to ak quetion. Propulion-plant operator are

    trained to immediatel conult a upervior when the encounter

    an unfamiliar ituation the aren’t ure how to handle. imilarl,

    enuring that all emploee can readil otain help from a

    hotline or their manager, companie can reduce the temptation to

    gue or hope that a particular action will e afe.

    Ye, we’re calling for a much more formal, regimented approach

    than man companie now emplo. With certhreat poing a

    clear and preent danger to individual companie and,

    extenion, the nation, there i no alternative. Rule and principle

    are needed to plug the man hole in America’ cerdefene.

    Couldn’t companie jut focu on protecting their crown jewel?

    No. Firt, that would mean multiple tandard for cerecurit,

    which would e dicult to manage and, therefore, hazardou.

    econd, the crown jewel often are not what ou think the are.

    (One could argue that the leak of emarraing e-mail wa the

    mot damaging apect of North Korean hacker’ attack on on

    Picture ntertainment.) Finall, hacker often can gain acce to

    https://hbr.org/2015/07/they-burned-the-house-down

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    highl enitive data or tem via a eemingl low-level tem,

    like e-mail. A compan need a common approach to protecting all

    it data.

    Technical Capailit, Human xcellence

    Over the pat decade, network technolog ha evolved from a

    imple utilit that could e taken for granted to an important et

    vulnerale engine of operation, whoe ecurit i a top corporate

    priorit. The oaring numer of cerattack ha made thataundantl clear. Technolog alone can not defend a network.

    Reducing human error i at leat a important, if not more.

    mracing the principle that an iracile admiral implanted in

    the nuclear nav more than 60 ear ago i the wa to do thi.

    uilding and nurturing a culture of high reliailit will require theperonal attention of CO and their oard a well a utantial

    invetment in training and overight. Cerecurit won’t come

    cheap. ut thee invetment mut e made. The ecurit and

    viailit of companie—a well a the economie of the nation in

    which the do uine—depend on it.

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    Michael er