Implementing and Auditing the Critical Security Controls - In-Depth

Cybersecurity attacks are increasing and evolving so rapidly that it is more difficult than ever to prevent and defend against them. Does your organization have an effective method in place to detect, thwart, and monitor external and internal threats to prevent security breaches? This course helps you master specific, proven techniques and tools needed to implement and audit the Critical Security Controls as documented by the Center for Internet Security (CIS).

As threats evolve, an organization's security should too. To enable your organization to stay on top of this ever-changing threat scenario, SANS has designed a comprehensive course on how to implement the Critical Security Controls, a prioritized, risk-based approach to security. Designed by private and public sector experts from around the world, the Controls are the best way to block known attacks and mitigate damage from successful attacks. They have been adopted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, state governments, universities, and numerous private firms.

The Controls are specific guidelines that CISOs, CIOs, IGs, systems administrators, and information security personnel can use to manage and measure the effectiveness of their defenses. They are designed to complement existing standards, frameworks, and compliance schemes by prioritizing the most critical threat and highest payoff defenses, while providing a common baseline for action against risks that we all face.

The Controls are an effective security framework because they are based on actual attacks launched regularly against networks. Priority is given to Controls that (1) mitigate known attacks (2) address a wide variety of attacks, and (3) identify and stop attackers early in the compromise cycle.

The British government's Center for the Protection of National Infrastructure describes the Controls as the "baseline of high-priority information security measures and controls that can be applied across an organization in order to improve its cyber defense."

SANS' in-depth, hands-on training will teach you how to master the specific techniques and tools needed to implement and audit the Critical Controls. It will help security practitioners understand not only how to stop a threat, but why the threat exists, and how to ensure that security measures deployed today will be effective against the next generation of threats.

The course shows security professionals how to implement the controls in an existing network through cost-effective automation. For auditors, CIOs, and risk officers, the course is the best way to understand how you will measure whether the Controls are effectively implemented.