20 Critical Security Controls: Control 20 – Penetration Tests and Red Team Exercises

Today’s post is all about Control 20 of the CSIS 20 Critical Security Controls – Penetration Tests and Red Team Exercises (the last post pertained to Control 19).  Here I’ll explore the (15) requirements I’ve parsed out of the control (I used the PDF version) and offer my thoughts on what I’ve found [*].

Key Take Aways

Contract If You Can. My bet is that most organizations don’t need to hire a dedicated penetration testing team.  Some do.  My recommendation is to find a reputable group of people that do this day in and day out.  Have some internal security guys geek out with the red team for a while before, during, and after – they’ll learn from it.  But, you’ll probably get more for your dollar by outsourcing this function.  Take this with a grain of salt, because your organizational mission and/or industry may dictate otherwise.

SOURCE: tripwire.com