Awesome CISO Maturity Models

• Security Operations Maturity Model (SOC-CMM) - The SOC-CMM was created by Rob van Os as a Master's thesis research project for the master's program Master of Information Security, part of the Luleå University of Technology (LTU) educational catalog. The SOC-CMM was created using a Design Science Research approach in which a scientific approach is combined with practical testing and experiences to create a usable artifact, in this case the maturity assessment tool. The full text for the thesis can be obtained from the LTU publication portal.

• Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM) - The mission of OWASP SAMM is to be the prime maturity model for software assurance that provides an effective and measurable way for all types of organizations to analyze and improve their software security posture. OWASP SAMM supports the complete software lifecycle, including development and acquisition, and is technology and process agnostic. It is intentionally built to be evolutive and risk-driven in nature.

• Security Awareness Maturity Model - Established in 2011 through a coordinated effort by over 200 security awareness officers, the Security Awareness Maturity ModelTM has become the industry standard which organizations use to not only benchmark the maturity of their program, but leverage as a strategic roadmap to both plan and communicate the impact of their program. What makes this model so powerful is that organizations can quickly determine why their program may not be having the impact they want, proven steps they can take to mature their program, and how to communicate the value of the program to their leadership.

• Security Culture Maturity Model - The Security Culture Maturity Model created by KnowBe4 is an evidence-driven framework for understanding and benchmarking the current security-related maturity of an organization, industry vertical, region, or any measurable group. The model’s range accounts for organizations with no formal or intentional awareness, behavior, or culture plan other than to achieve basic compliance (Level 1) all the way up to the most sophisticated organizations who seek to push beyond the pack and are actively working to shape even the unwritten rules and social dynamics of how their employees value security. Learn more about these levels below.

• AWS Security Maturity Model - The AWS Security Maturity Model is a set of guidance and documentation from AWS, intended to help an organization assess their security maturity, shape their cloud security strategy, and to prioritise future work accordingly. It’s based on AWS’ idea of how to secure workloads deployed on their systems, and makes extensive use of their services to achieve what they consider to be a strong security posture. It cross references numerous other sources, including the AWS Well Architected Framework Security Pillar, their security documentation, and a number of previously published whitepapers.

• Threat Hunting Maturity Model - Threat Hunting Maturity Model is a five-level evaluation system of how efficient an organization is in terms of cyber hunting. Threat Hunting Model was developed by David J. Bianco (@DavidJBianco), a Hunter and Security Architect. The main idea of this threat hunting framework is to outline different stages of organizational cyber hunting competence.

• Vendor Risk Management Maturity Model (VRMMM) - The VRMMM evaluates third-party risk programs against a set of comprehensive best practices and industry benchmarks. The focus of the VRMMM is to provide third party risk managers with a tool they can use to evaluate their program against a comprehensive set of best practices. Using governance as the foundational element, the model identifies the framework elements critical to a successful program. High-level components are broken down into subcomponents in a manner that makes the model adaptable across a wide spectrum of industry groups. Being able to identify specific areas for improvement the VRMMM allows companies to make well-informed decisions on how to spend limited resources to most effectively manage vendor related risks.

• OWASP DevSecOps Maturity Model (DSOMM) - The DevSecOps Maturity Model, which is presented in the talk, shows security measures which are applied when using DevOps strategies and how these can be prioritized. With the help of DevOps strategies security can also be enhanced. For example, each component such as application libraries and operating system libraries in docker images can be tested for known vulnerabilities. Attackers are intelligent and creative, equipped with new technologies and purpose. Under the guidance of the forward-looking DevSecOps Maturity Model, appropriate principles and measures are at hand implemented which counteract the attacks.

• SOAR Maturity Model - As security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) adoption continues at a rapid pace, security operations teams have a greater need for a structured planning approach.

• Consumer Authentication Strength Maturity Model (CASMM) - An easy-to-use security model for the average internet user. Basically, how secure is someone’s current behavior with respect to passwords and authentication, and how can they improve? People like moving up rankings, so let’s use that! The first way to use this model is to simply ask the user about their current behavior and show them where that ranks within these 8 Levels. If you show them they’re down at Level 1 or 2, the combination of seeing how low they are in the chart and the color might convey some measure of concern. Next, show them how to move upwards in the model!

• Zero-trust Maturity Model - CISA’s Zero Trust Maturity Model is one of many roadmaps for agencies to reference as they transition towards a zero trust architecture. The goal of the maturity model is to assist agencies in the development of their zero trust strategies and implementation plans and present ways in which various CISA services can support zero trust solutions across agencies. The maturity model, which include five pillars and three cross-cutting capabilities, is based on the foundations of zero trust. Within each pillar, the maturity model provides agencies with specific examples of a traditional, advanced, and optimal zero trust architecture.

• Red Team Maturity Model - A model to reference when gauging Red Team maturity, as well as set goals and provide guidance when building internal Red Teams.

• CyberSecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) - Organizations can use the C2M2 to consistently measure their cybersecurity capabilities over time, identify target maturity levels based on risk, and prioritize the actions and investments that allow them to meet their targets. U.S. energy organizations have been using the C2M2 to evaluate and improve their cybersecurity capabilities for more than a decade. Since 2012, DOE has responded to more than 2,400 requests for the C2M2 PDF-based Tool from owners and operators in U.S. critical infrastructure sectors and international partners that are adopting the model. Increasing tool requests suggests a growing adoption of the C2M2 across the globe.

• Vulnerability Management Maturity Model - The SANS Vulnerability Management Maturity Model helps you gauge the effectiveness of your Vulnerability Management program. The model details key activities performed within Vulnerability Management on a 5-point scale. Leveraging the model, you can categorize your program’s current capabilities to create a clear roadmap to improve your program.

• IoT Security Maturity Model - The goal of a Security Maturity Model (SMM) is to provide a path for Internet of Things (IoT) providers to know where they need to be and how to invest in security mechanisms that meet their requirements without over-investing in unnecessary security mechanisms. It seeks to help organizations identify the appropriate approach for effective enhancement of these practices where needed. Deciding where to focus limited security resources is a challenge for most organizations given the complexity of a constantly changing security landscape.

• ENISA Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRT) Maturity Framework - The ENISA CSIRT Maturity Framework is intended to contribute to the enhancement of the global capacity to manage cyber incidents, with a focus on CSIRTs. Cyber incidents and developments are inherently transnational and effective responses depend on transnational collaboration. The establishment of national CSIRTs1 is an essential step to facilitate the building of cyber capacity both within and across nations and make it more effective. The ENISA CSIRT Maturity Framework is aimed at parties involved in planning, building and leading such capacities with a concrete focus to increase maturity of all CSIRTs in the CSIRTs Network.

• API Security Maturity Model - Inspired by the Richardson Maturity Model, which outlines increasing degrees of web service development maturity, the API Security Maturity Model reframes the model within the context of security. Within this model, security and trust are improved the higher up you go.

• Building Security In Maturity Model (BSIMM) - BSIMM helps organizations plan, implement, and measure their software security initiatives. A BSIMM assessment provides an objective, data-driven evaluation that leaders seeking to improve their security postures can use to base decisions about resources, time, budget, and priorities. The annual BSIMM report offers analysis derived from hundreds of assessments across several industry verticals and serves as an important benchmark for security professionals, college curriculums, and analysts. BSIMM also includes a robust community where members share best practices and exclusive content, and collaborate with security peers.

• Container Security Maturity Model - Understandably, security needs to evolve as companies move from developing their first containerized application to using entirely new development processes to build containers and managing thousands of microservices. The following maturity model can help organizations understand and successfully meet the security challenges that go along with adopting and expanding containerized applications.

• Privileged Access Management Maturity Model - Privileged access is the primary method that attackers use to gain access to sensitive systems. Protecting privileged access on each system is becoming extremely important to defend against these attacks. The Delinea Privileged Access Management (PAM) Maturity Model is a framework to help you systematically lower privileged access risk, increase business agility, and improve operational efficiency.

• Infrastructure as Code Maturity Model - Although infrastructure as code is not explicitly called out as a practice in the Continuous Delivery Maturity Model, many of it’s best practices can be found in the maturity model. For example, the model prescribes automated environment provisioning, orchestrated deployments, and the use of metrics for continuous improvement. The good news is that there are a lot of information and tools available today for anyone who would like to automatically deploy infrastructure resources with built-in security in the cloud by developing secure infrastructure as a code. NCC group article aims to make an attempt to collect the main starting points, creating a guide on how to integrate security into infrastructure as a code and show how these security checks and gates, tools and procedures secures the infrastructure by mentioning free and/or open-source tools wherever possible.

• Essential Eight Maturity Model - The Essential Eight are designed to protect Microsoft Windows-based internet-connected networks. While the Essential Eight may be applied to cloud services and enterprise mobility, or other operating systems, it was not primarily designed for such purposes and alternative mitigation strategies may be more appropriate to mitigate unique cyber threats to these environments. In such cases, organisations should consider alternative guidance provided by the ACSC. To assist organisations with their implementation of the Essential Eight, four maturity levels have been defined (Maturity Level Zero through to Maturity Level Three). With the exception of Maturity Level Zero, the maturity levels are based on mitigating increasing levels of adversary tradecraft (i.e. tools, tactics, techniques and procedures) and targeting, which are discussed in more detail below. Depending on an adversary’s overall capability, they may exhibit different levels of tradecraft for different operations against different targets. For example, an adversary capable of advanced tradecraft may use it against one target while using basic tradecraft against another. As such, organisations should consider what level of tradecraft and targeting, rather than which adversaries, they are aiming to mitigate.

• Cloud Forensics Capability Maturity Model (CMM) - CMM can be used by both cloud consumers and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) in assessing their process maturity for conducting digital forensic investigations in the cloud environment. Five maturity levels were given, with an attempt to map classic digital forensics to the cloud environment. It has attempted to answer questions like: How do the maturity levels differ from each other? What are the key objectives for each? What is the specific impact on forensic process in the cloud? At the end of the day however, it is up to each individual enterprise to decide upon the guidance and practices that they deem most appropriate for their business.

Threat Model Maturity model - There are some great maturity models, for example OWASP SAMM, that helps assessing the maturity of different practices across secure development lifecycle. The granularity and details of the parameters to assess the maturity of secure design and threat model is not enough for defining a specific strategy for successfully Threat Modeling. As in other maturity frameworks the highest maturity, Level 3, is not the prescriptive final target for everybody. Maturity 1 or 2 al already a great place to be for a company or product.

• Insider Threat Program Maturity Model - The Insider Threat Program Maturity Model created to help security professionals assess their organization’s ability to monitor for, detect, and respond to insider threats. By using a maturity model for reference, organizations can see where their program needs improvement, working towards an Optimized level of maturity. This maturity level allows the organization to dynamically align the program with current operations, responding quickly, efficiently, and effectively to both leading and active indicators of insider threat

• Security Maturity Model - This model is designed to help organizations grow and mature their security capabilities related to people, processes and technology. The goal is to help you better understand the reality of where your organization stands today and the steps you should take to level up. A step-by-step guide for CISOs to build alignment, reduce risk and deliver business value. CISOs can no longer focus strictly on developing technical capabilities and protecting their organizations. Executives and boards are looking to CISOs to make investments that drive growth with a holistic security framework. No security program can fully eliminate risk or human error, but a mature approach to cybersecurity can mitigate the risks that pose the most danger to organizational objectives and success.

• Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) Maturity Model - A PSIRT is an entity within an organization which, at its core, focuses on the identification, assessment, and disposition of the risks associated with security vulnerabilities within the products, including offerings, solutions, components, and/or services which an organization produces and/or sells. PRIST supports Identifying metrics for evaluating performance and/or effectiveness to identify improvements. PSIRT services framework helps to assess or evaluate how well a PSIRT is operating, and to identify potential areas for improvement. The PSIRT will be able to measure its performance and understand areas where improvement is desired.

Others

• Privacy Capability Maturity Model