Security Architecture
What are the considerations for Security Architecture within a cybersecurity program?
Security Architecture encompasses the technical processes and methods of how security controls are designed and implemented in an organization's environment. The definition of security architecture is:
The design artifacts that describe how the security controls (= security countermeasures) are positioned, and how they relate to the overall IT Architecture. These controls serve the purpose to maintain the system’s quality attributes, among them confidentiality, integrity, availability, accountability and assurance. - https://www.opensecurityarchitecture.org/cms/definitions/it-security-architecture
Security Architecture Frameworks
Security Architecture frameworks are available to assist in the development of policies, practices, and processes for designing and implementing enterprise Information technology (IT) architecture. There are various considerations to selecting and implementing a framework, such as the organizations business and technology objectives which can often include compliance requirements. Fundamentally, the adoption of a security architecture framework shares a common goal which is to ensure the organizations IT environment is safe from cyber threats.
The below table lists some of the more commonly adopted frameworks available.
| Framework | Description |
|---|---|
Provides high-level standards and policies for designing, planning, implementing, and governing an enterprise IT architecture. | |
A business risk and requirement driven methodology for developing enterprise IT architecture. | |
Developed by the Open Group who also maintain the TOGAF, O-ESA details best practice methods for implementing and designing a security focused IT architecture. | |
OSA, unlike the aforementioned frameworks, focuses less on the process of designing and implementing a security architecture program and provides ‘visual patterns’ which are network diagrams of specific security control implementations. |
Security Architecture Technical Components
Security Architecture includes several core technical components that are managed through the design and implementation phases of security architecture and later managed and utilized by various other roles within a security team. Security Architecture has evolved over-time from being focused heavily on the network protection of on-premises infrastructure, to the rapidly expanding focus on host and resource-based security as network boundaries become less defined.
The goal of effective Security Architecture has often been expressed using the well know cybersecurity model of ensuring the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) of Information technology (IT) systems. A new concept developed by Sonuil Yu, is the Distributed, Immutable, and Ephemeral (DIE) triad that shift the focus onto impact reduction.
Host Security
Application Security
Network Security
Data Security
User Security
Cloud Security
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