Any organization with valuable data has been or will be attacked, probably successfully, at some point and with some damage. And, don't all digitally connected organizations have at least some data that can be considered "valuable"?

Cyber security is a big, messy, multivariate, multidimensional arena. A reasonable "defense-in-depth" requires many technologies; smart, highly skilled people; and deep and broad analysis, all of which must come together into some sort of functioning whole, which is often termed a security architecture. Secrets of a Cyber Security Architect is about security architecture in practice. Expert security architects have dozens of tricks of their trade in their kips. In this book, author Brook S. E. Schoenfield shares his tips and tricks, as well as myriad tried and true bits of wisdom that his colleagues have shared with him.

Creating and implementing a cyber security architecture can be hard, complex, and certainly frustrating work. This book is written to ease this pain and show how to express security requirements in ways that make the requirements more palatable and, thus, get them accomplished. It also explains how to surmount individual, team, and organizational resistance. The book covers:

• What security architecture is and the areas of expertise a security architect needs in practice
• The relationship between attack methods and the art of building cyber defenses
• Why to use attacks and how to derive a set of mitigations and defenses
• Approaches, tricks, and manipulations proven successful for practicing security architecture
• Starting, maturing, and running effective security architecture programs
• Secrets of the trade for the practicing security architecture
• Tricks to surmount typical problems

Filled with practical insight, Secrets of a Cyber Security Architect is the desk reference every security architect needs to thwart the constant threats and dangers confronting every digitally connected organization.

Brook S.E. Schoenfield is Intel Security Group's Master Principal Architect for Product Security. He provides technical leadership for all aspects of product security across an Intel Security Group division's broad product portfolio. Previously, he was Autodesk Inc.'s Enterprise Security Architect, leading technical IT security strategy. As Cisco Systems' Senior Security Architect, he was the technical lead for SaaS product security for the enterprise. Mr. Schoenfield has been a speaker at conferences including RSA, Software Professionals, SANS What Works Summits, and many others, presenting in his areas of expertise: SaaS security, software security, information security risk, web security, Service Oriented Architectures, and identity management. He has been published by CRC Press, SANS Institute, Cisco, and IEEE.

This book is filled with techniques, tips, and tricks that secure software architects and developers can apply directly. From assessing the sensitivity of data in a system through actually getting requirements implemented, this book offers readers practical, how-to advice in small, focused and directly applicable gems of insight, knowledge, and wisdom from secure software principal architect Brook S.E. Schoenfield. The book is organized by applicability of topics that include getting security architecture started, helping architects be effective, working with partner teams, assessing systems, driving security requirements to completion, and programmatic hints.

Introduction. What Is This Thing Called "Security Architecture"?. What Is Security Assessment. Architecture Risk Assessment. Threat Modeling. ATASM. Background knowledge: The Three S's. Architecture. Threats. Attack Surfaces. Mitigations. Requirements. Security Architecture Programs. Secure Development Lifecycle. Tips and Tricks. Relationships Are (Almost) Everything. Know the Policies and Standards. Start With Context. Work Holistically. Assessment is Fractal and Recursive . Don't Get Sidetracked By Presenting Problems. The Early Requirement Gets the Worm. Break the Kill Chain to Mitigate. Probability Can Be Reduced To Booleans. Becoming Part of a Team. We Are Not Cops. Playing a Long Game. Conflict Builds Trust. Give Risks to Decision Makers. Making Friends with Exceptions. Interjections and Release Scheduling. What to Do When Brought in Late. Transparency!. Post Threat Models. The Rule of the Most Sensitive. External to Internal? Build a mini-DMZ. Peer Review Rules. When Policies Make Sense, When They Don't. Working with Eyeball-to-Eyeball Security. Measuring Success. Measuring Architect Performance.