Coding Resources

This isn't for everyone, but for those with the intelligence, work ethic, proclivity...

There's a LOT of money to be made here. 

There's a fascinating website, www.leetcode.com, which has a list of coding problems you can explore. Consistently hitting medium problems successfully? Let me know if you'd like a job. This is where really good money starts. 

Specific to cloud computing, a slightly different route that is also profitable, is www.acloudguru.com.

Specific to *learning* how to code, and what programming language to learn... C, C#, python, JavaScript, Java, SQL, no SQL. Right now I hear a lot about “R” for statistical modeling and graphical programming. It’s used a lot in data analysis. I know that there’s a huge shortage of people with this expertise because it’s hard, but reach out if you excel at solving these kinds of problems!  

There are a ton of free and low-cost resources online! Two really popular websites for learning how to code include www.codecademy.com and www.freecodecamp.org. 

Choose to become a mentor. Pass along your experiences.

It's important that we all do our best to share our experiences, and perhaps, help others make solid decisions that impact their careers and growth. These stories make up the tapestry of our experiences, but sometimes, it's a gift to someone else. 

So let's say that you have made the decision to become a mentor. Here is an example of how to break the ice. Purposefully, with intent, enter into that initial dialogue so that you can make it the best possible experience for both you and the mentee.

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Here are some ideas to start a dialogue with your mentee:

• Share personal details like your role at VMware, any hobbies, interests, or other fun facts about yourself. Ask your mentee to share the same with you.
• [Chris] Industry Standards Technical Manager, Office of the CTO; kids, family, friends, learning, church; Texas, US Navy submarines, Nuclear Engineering, McCombs MBA, 20 years information security with concurrent 10 years graduate teaching and 13 books. I've learned how little I know and how to ask others for help.
• You can find out more about me here: Chris Davis | LinkedIn | Cloud Audit Controls
   
• Get to know your mentee by asking questions about their career and how they got started at VMware.
• [Chris] I came to VMware by way of VCE, left for Amazon, Oracle, startup, came back.
   
• Share your career goals and aspirations with your mentee, and the steps you’ve been taking to achieve them.
• [Chris] I’ve achieved far more than I ever set out to achieve. Why? It's not because I'm the smartest. 100% believe in yourself. Determination. Extreme ownership. Accept imperfection. Accept failure. We will discuss these. 
   
• If relevant, ask your mentee for insight into their current work projects. They may have questions and an outside opinion may be helpful.
• [Chris] I have several opinions. Not all of them will be helpful! 20% will be wrong. 60% will be solid. 20% will be nuggets. You’ll have to have the discernment to determine which opinions follow into which category for you. We will discuss this as well.
   
• Share about recent books or podcasts you’ve enjoyed. If they also read or listen, set up a meeting to exchange thoughts (like an informal book club!).
• [Chris] I regularly read and listen to podcasts. I have several current favorites.
   
• Discuss tips and tricks for working from home. Your new hire may not be used to working in a virtual environment. Openly discuss any pain points and if relevant, provide recommendations.
• [Chris] Choose to arrive at the beginning of the day with intent and a plan. Otherwise, by default, you choose to invite failure as an option and you choose to accept that.

Desired Outcomes

1. 
   

Expectations

1. 
   

Plan of Actions and Milestones

1. 
   

Highlight Reel: CISA Database of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Tags: CISA, known exploited vulnerabilities, US National Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, VMware, penetration testing, vulnerability testing

Relevance:

• The list is continuously updated with vulnerabilities if they have known, and actively used exploits.  
• One of many indicators of priority importance - as a function of risk.
• Listing contains excellent metadata.
• There are 644 entries for all vulnerabilities.

OK, so why does this matter? Because every company seems to struggle with how to prioritize. Sure, there's a lot to get done. But how do I prioritize what to fix? What to build? Where to focus? Perhaps you have an interesting project to track vulnerabilities. Another dimension that can be added to provide intelligence or meaningful input into priority ranking includes indicators of whether an exploit is being used by a population of attackers.

Sources & Links:

• Website: Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA
• Static Links – Continuously Updated:

• Download CSV version
• Download JSON version
• Related:
• Download JSON schema
• Subscribe to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog Update Bulletin
• Background on known exploited vulnerabilities

Discussion on XDR and the SOC

 Tags: SOC, XDR, Gartner, Ponemon Institute

Sources:

• XDR: A Blessing for SOC Teams, or Another Fad? (opencybersecurityalliance.org)
• 5 observations about XDR | CSO Online
• [Gartner Report] Innovation Insight for Extended Detection and Response (fireeye.com)
• [Solution Page] What is Extended Detection and Response (XDR)? | Mandiant | FireEye
• [ESG eBook] The Impact of XDR in the Modern SOC
• [Ponemon Institute Second Annual Study] Economics Of The SOC 2021

Relevance: What is XDR going to be when it matures? EDR… XDR… It's not quite the same thing. XDR is starting to gain traction as a beloved moniker. How do we shape the industry and VMware's story? The following is a representative, but not exhaustive, list of potential future XDR vendors from Gartner’s Innovation Insight: Cisco, Fortinet, Fidelis Cybersecurity, McAfee, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, Trend Micro, FireEye, Rapid7, and Sophos. How does VMware fit into this narrative?

Pushing this further – welcome to the intersection of XDR and the SOC.

From Gartner Innovation Insight report:

The three primary requirements of an XDR system are:

1.      Centralization of normalized data, but primarily focusing on the XDR vendors’ ecosystem only.

2.      Correlation of security data and alerts into incidents.

3.      A centralized incident response capability that can change the state of individual security products as part of incident response or security policy setting.

Extended Detection and Response Conceptual Architecture:

This was insightful from the Ponemon Institute research report on SOCs:

Systems Security Engineering: A Primer

 Tags: advanced persistent threat; assurance; controls; cyber resiliency; cyber resiliency approaches; cyber resiliency design principles; cyber resiliency engineering framework; cyber resiliency goals; cyber resiliency objectives; cyber resiliency techniques; risk management strategy; system life cycle; systems security engineering; trustworthiness

Sources:

• Systems Security Engineering (SSE) Project | CSRC (nist.gov)
• SP 800-160 Vol. 1, Systems Security Engineering: Trustworthy Secure Systems | CSRC (nist.gov)
• SP 800-160 Vol. 2 Rev. 1, Developing Cyber-Resilient Systems: SSE Approach | CSRC (nist.gov)

Discussion: Where can you go to learn how to engineer and develop secure systems?

Take a look at the newly released SP 800-160 Vol. 2 Rev. 1 to learn more about cyber-resilience. Specifically, cyber resiliency engineering “intends to architect, design, develop, implement, maintain, and sustain the trustworthiness of systems with the capability to anticipate, withstand, recover from, and adapt to adverse conditions, stresses, attacks, or compromises that use or are enabled by cyber resources.”

Know a smart architect or developer interested in strengthening their knowledge of security principles?

Have them read each of the sections below one week apart and test them over the content.

• D.3 CYBER RESILIENCY TECHNIQUES....................................................................................................... 89
• Basic concepts… e.g. ANALYTIC MONITORING
• D.4 CYBER RESILIENCY IMPLEMENTATION APPROACHES....................................................................... 92
• Expanded concepts briefly covered in D3… e.g. ANALYTIC MONITORING extrapolates into [1] MONITORING AND DAMAGE ASSESSMENT, [2] SENSOR FUSION AND ANALYSIS, and [3] FORENSIC AND BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS
• D.5 CYBER RESILIENCY DESIGN PRINCIPLES .......................................................................................... 109
• Covers specific strategic design principles

Resume Help! 185 Action Verbs

Phenomenal job whoever put this together. I found this here:

185 Action Verbs That'll Make Your Resume Shine | The Muse

Here's the list so that I can refer others to this... How often are you asked for help? Here's a great way to spruce up the old resume. Express yourself well. Tell the story. Don't bore me. There's a balance of too little and too much. Grammar-check and spell-check everything. Check your spacing, fonts, and use of bolding/italics/color to make sure you are consistent everywhere.

Your resume has to stand by itself without you there to explain away easy to fix mistakes. The last position we had for our team had 450 resumes submitted within days. I'm ruthless with reviews. You have time to work on your resume. It should be awesome. You can tell a difference between someone who cares and someone who doesn't.

Action Verbs 1-12: You Led a Project

If you were in charge of a project or initiative from start to finish, skip “led” and instead try:

1. Chaired

2. Controlled

3. Coordinated

4. Executed

5. Headed

6. Operated

7. Orchestrated

8. Organized

9. Oversaw

10. Planned

11. Produced

12. Programmed

Action Verbs 13-33: You Envisioned and Brought a Project to Life

And if you actually developed, created, or introduced that project into your company? Try:

13. Administered

14. Built

15. Charted

16. Created

17. Designed

18. Developed

19. Devised

20. Founded

21. Engineered

22. Established

23. Formalized

24. Formed

25. Formulated

26. Implemented

27. Incorporated

28. Initiated

29. Instituted

30. Introduced

31. Launched

32. Pioneered

33. Spearheaded

Action Verbs 34-42: You Saved the Company Time or Money

Hiring managers love candidates who’ve helped a team operate more efficiently or cost-effectively. To show just how much you saved, try:

34. Conserved

35. Consolidated

36. Decreased

37. Deducted

38. Diagnosed

39. Lessened

40. Reconciled

41. Reduced

42. Yielded

Action Verbs 43-61: You Increased Efficiency, Sales, Revenue, or Customer Satisfaction

Along similar lines, if you can show that your work boosted the company’s numbers in some way, you’re bound to impress. In these cases, consider:

43. Accelerated

44. Achieved

45. Advanced

46. Amplified

47. Boosted

48. Capitalized

49. Delivered

50. Enhanced

51. Expanded

52. Expedited

53. Furthered

54. Gained

55. Generated

56. Improved

57. Lifted

58. Maximized

59. Outpaced

60. Stimulated

61. Sustained

Action Verbs 62-87: You Changed or Improved Something

So, you brought your department’s invoicing system out of the Stone Age and onto the interwebs? Talk about the amazing changes you made at your office with these words:

62. Centralized

63. Clarified

64. Converted

65. Customized

66. Influenced

67. Integrated

68. Merged

69. Modified

70. Overhauled

71. Redesigned

72. Refined

73. Refocused

74. Rehabilitated

75. Remodeled

76. Reorganized

77. Replaced

78. Restructured

79. Revamped

80. Revitalized

81. Simplified

82. Standardized

83. Streamlined

84. Strengthened

85. Updated

86. Upgraded

87. Transformed

Action Verbs 88-107: You Managed a Team

Instead of reciting your management duties, like “Led a team…” or “Managed employees…” show what an inspirational leader you were with terms like:

88. Aligned

89. Cultivated

90. Directed

91. Enabled

92. Facilitated

93. Fostered

94. Guided

95. Hired

96. Inspired

97. Mentored

98. Mobilized

99. Motivated

100. Recruited

101. Regulated

102. Shaped

103. Supervised

104. Taught

105. Trained

106. Unified

107. United

Action Verbs 108-113: You Brought in Partners, Funding, or Resources

Were you “responsible for” a great new partner, sponsor, or source of funding? Try:

108. Acquired

109. Forged

110. Navigated

111. Negotiated

112. Partnered

113. Secured

Action Verbs 114-122: You Supported Customers

Because manning the phones or answering questions really means you’re advising customers and meeting their needs, use:

114. Advised

115. Advocated

116. Arbitrated

117. Coached

118. Consulted

119. Educated

120. Fielded

121. Informed

122. Resolved

Action Verbs 123-142: You Were a Research Machine

Did your job include research, analysis, or fact-finding? Mix up your verbiage with these words:

123. Analyzed

124. Assembled

125. Assessed

126. Audited

127. Calculated

128. Discovered

129. Evaluated

130. Examined

131. Explored

132. Forecasted

133. Identified

134. Interpreted

135. Investigated

136. Mapped

137. Measured

138. Qualified

139. Quantified

140. Surveyed

141. Tested

142. Tracked

Action Verbs 143-161: You Wrote or Communicated

Was writing, speaking, lobbying, or otherwise communicating part of your gig? You can explain just how compelling you were with words like:

143. Authored

144. Briefed

145. Campaigned

146. Co-authored

147. Composed

148. Conveyed

149. Convinced

150. Corresponded

151. Counseled

152. Critiqued

153. Defined

154. Documented

155. Edited

156. Illustrated

157. Lobbied

158. Persuaded

159. Promoted

160. Publicized

161. Reviewed

Action Verbs 162-173: You Oversaw or Regulated

Whether you enforced protocol or managed your department’s requests, describe what you really did, better, with these words:

162. Authorized

163. Blocked

164. Delegated

165. Dispatched

166. Enforced

167. Ensured

168. Inspected

169. Itemized

170. Monitored

171. Screened

172. Scrutinized

173. Verified

Action Verbs 174-185: You Achieved Something

Did you hit your goals? Win a coveted department award? Don’t forget to include that on your resume, with words like:

174. Attained

175. Awarded

176. Completed

177. Demonstrated

178. Earned

179. Exceeded

180. Outperformed

181. Reached

182. Showcased

183. Succeeded

184. Surpassed

185. Targeted

[Comment Period] Draft SP 800-53A Revision 5

 Tags: NIST, Draft SP 800-53A Revision 5, Comment Period, assessment objectives, determination statements, assessment methods, assessment objects

Source: SP 800-53A Rev. 5 (Draft), Assessing Security and Privacy Controls in Info Sys and Orgs | CSRC (nist.gov)

Control assessments are not about checklists, simple pass/fail results, or generating paperwork to pass inspections or audits. The testing and evaluation of controls in a system or organization to determine the extent to which the controls are implemented correctly, operating as intended, and producing the desired outcome are critical to managing and measuring risk. Additionally, control assessment results serve as an indication of the quality of the risk management processes, help identify security and privacy strengths and weaknesses within systems, and provide a road map to identifying, prioritizing, and correcting identified deficiencies. 

 

Draft NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-53A Revision 5, Assessing Security and Privacy Controls in Information Systems and Organizations, provides organizations with a flexible, scalable, and repeatable assessment methodology and assessment procedures that correspond with the controls in NIST SP 800-53, Revision 5. Like previous revisions of SP 800-53A, the generalized assessment procedures provide a framework and starting point to assess the enhanced security requirements and can be tailored to the needs of organizations and assessors. The assessment procedures can be employed in self-assessments or independent third-party assessments.

In addition to the update of the assessment procedures to correspond with the controls in SP 800-53, Revision 5, a new format for assessment procedures in this revision to SP 800-53A is introduced to:

• Improve the efficiency of conducting control assessments,
• Provide better traceability between assessment procedures and controls, and
• Better support the use of automated tools, continuous monitoring, and ongoing authorization programs.

NIST is seeking feedback on the assessment procedures in this publication and in electronic versions (OSCAL, CSV, and plain text), including the assessment objectives, determination statements, and potential assessment methods and objects. We are also interested in the approach taken to incorporate organization-defined parameters into the determination statements for the assessment objectives. To facilitate their review and use by a broad range of stakeholders, the assessment procedures are available for comment and use in PDF format, as well as comma-separated value (CSV), plain text, and Open Security Controls Assessment Language (OSCAL) formats.

 

The comment period is open through October 1, 2021. See the publication details for a copy of the draft and associated files, and instructions for submitting comments. We encourage you to submit comments using the comment template provided.

 

Please submit inquiries and comments to sec-cert@nist.gov.

 

NOTE: A call for patent claims is included on page vii of this draft.  For additional information, see the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) Patent Policy--Inclusion of Patents in ITL Publications.

 

Publication details:

https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-53a/rev-5/draft  

ITL Patent Policy:

https://www.nist.gov/itl/publications-0/itl-patent-policy-inclusion-patents-itl-publications

 

Creating Professional Velocity

The Simple Formula

1. Increase your professional education.
2. Increase your social education.
3. Increases your value.
4. Increases your desirability.
5. Increases your opportunities. 
6. Increases your earning potential.
7. Increases your velocity towards financial goals.
8. Establishes financial freedom to focus on other goals. 

Trade-Offs

1. Time.
2. Energy.
3. Sacrifice.

Considerations

1. Timing of when to invest where. Invest early for greater dividends later.
2. Take care of your physical self to be your best mental self. A strong body reduces mental fatigue and enables a strong mind. 
3. You get to balance your investments. Keeping all of them healthy is work that requires intentionality. Family. Friends. Personal. Professional.
4. Avoid instant gratification. Exercise your patience. Grow that muscle.
5. Coaching, Mentoring, and Counseling. Surround yourself with advocates. 

June 3-4: Register for Security Connect 2021, VMware's annual cybersecurity conference!

Tags: VMware, cybersecurity, conference

Here’s a compiled list of all 59 sessions for VMware’s own annual cybersecurity conference:

Link: Signup Here for VMware’s Security Connect (vmware.com)

Compiled List of all 59 Sessions:

• Achieving Zero Trust on Your Internal Networks [1144]
• Automate Threat Hunting and Incident Response Use Cases with Carbon Black Cloud and SIEM [1147]
• Avoiding Common Public Cloud Misconfigurations [1126]
• Blocking Malware on Encrypted East-West Traffic [1125]
• Build Trust with Anywhere Workspace [1133]
• Choosing Your Developer Toolkit [1146]
• Cloud Native Security in VMware Tanzu [1143]
• Cloud Reputation Approvals: Security Perspective [1139]
• Cloud Workload Protection, Simplified [1131]
• Common Mistakes Seen During Incident Response Engagements [1168]
• CVE Hyperinflation & What It Means For Security Teams [1149]
• Cyber-Physical Security [1105]
• Delivering Intrinsic Security [1108]
• Detection to Proactive Remediation: Operationalizing Cloud Security Posture Management [1130]
• Do I Really Need That Expensive SIEM? [1127]
• eCrime Industrialization: Modern Evolution of Cybercrime [1166]
• Enemy Inside the Gates - 2020 Threat Landscape Key Findings [1170]
• Exposing Vulnerabilities in Kubernetes [1169]
• Global Security Insight 2021 Fireside Chat [1104]
• How to Evolve Your SOC with the MITRE ATT&CK Framework [1115]
• How to Leverage NSX To Detect Advanced Threats Evading the Perimeter [1137]
• How to Prevent Ransomware Attacks​ [1120]
• Implementing Query Packs Via Audit and Remediation APIs [1150]
• Improving Endpoint Security Efficacy with VMware Carbon Black [1129]
• Insider Threats: Dealing with the Attacks That Can Cause the Greatest Harm [1167]
• Kubernetes Security Posture Management [1132]
• Mapping NSX Security Controls to MITRE ATT&CK [1123]
• Modern Bank Heist: From Heist to Hostage Situation [1165]
• Multi-cloud Application Security with WAF​ [1122]
• Network Security for the Modern Datacenter [1138]
• Network Security Vision and Strategy [1111]
• One-Click to Intrusion Detection and Prevention [1140]
• Operationalizing Carbon Black Cloud for the Modern SOC [1148]
• Operationalizing East-West Security: Customer Voices [1112]
• #PervasiveIntegrity: Maturing Security into Resiliency [1179]
• SASE: Accelerating & Simplifying Network Security in Times of Change [1117]
• Secure Connectivity for Modern Apps [1109]
• Securing a Remote Workforce using VDI Segmentation [1142]
• Securing Remote Workers with VMware Carbon Black Cloud [1135]
• Securing the Unsecurable [1114]
• Securing Your Environment with On-Prem Security Environment [1136]
• Security Hygiene for DevOps [1102]
• Security Within The Application Lifecycle [1110]
• Seeing Is Believing: Visualize Your Network Security Policy in Action [1145]
• Shift Security Left and Accelerate Application Deployments [1118]
• Simplifying Security for a Remote Workforce [1141]
• Simplifying Your Endpoint Security With VMware Carbon Black [1128]
• Simplify Security Complexity [1180]
• Simplify Your Security - A Practical Example [1124]
• The Evolution of the CISO: What It Means for All of Us [1101]
• The Latest Attacks and How to Spot Them [1171]
• The Mach 2 Mindset [1178]
• Threat Detecting to Threat Hunting [1107]
• Threat Hunting and Incident Response, Two Sides of the Same Coin [1116]
• Trusting Zero Trust: How VMware IT Reimagined Security and Resiliency [1113]
• VMware Security Innovation [1181]
• Vulnerability Management for vSphere Admins [1119]
• Women in Security: Encouraging Inclusivity and Representation [1103]
• Zero Trust, Zero Pain: A Practical Implementation with VMware Security [1106]

Summary Statistics for NIST SP 800-53r5

Very interesting statistics, particularly around the related and cross-referenced controls. These counts are related to the Top Level controls. While certainly not an absolute flag, these counts are an interesting indicator of the importance of each of the controls. 

Also, note the count of controls in the baselines, including the incremental jumps from LOW to MOD and MOD to HIGH. Note that these totals include controls and enhancements.