ISO 27000 is a family of standards focused on information security management systems (ISMS). Within this series, some standards are normative, meaning they define essential requirements, while others are informative, providing guidelines and recommendations.
Difference Between Normative and Informative Standards
Normative standards are mandatory for certification and compliance. They establish requirements that organizations must follow to achieve ISO certification.
Informative standards provide guidance and best practices but are not required for certification. They help organizations understand and implement security measures effectively.
Among the ISO 27000 series, ISO 27001, ISO 27006, and ISO 27009 are normative, making them crucial for compliance and certification. This blog post will explain each of these in detail and provide an overview of the informative standards in the series.
Normative ISO Standards in the 27000 Series
ISO 27001: The Foundation of ISMS
ISO 27001 is the core standard in the ISO 27000 series, specifying requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an ISMS. It provides a risk-based approach to information security, requiring organizations to:
Define a risk management process
Establish policies and objectives for information security
Implement controls from Annex A (which maps to ISO 27002)
Monitor, review, and improve the ISMS continually
Organizations that comply with ISO 27001 can achieve certification, demonstrating their commitment to managing information security risks effectively.
ISO 27006: Requirements for Certification Bodies
ISO 27006 sets the requirements for certification bodies that audit and certify organizations for ISO 27001 compliance. It ensures that auditors follow consistent and high-quality assessment methodologies. The key aspects of ISO 27006 include:
Accreditation requirements for certification bodies
Competency criteria for ISMS auditors
Audit process and procedures
Reporting and impartiality principles
By adhering to ISO 27006, certification bodies maintain credibility and ensure that ISO 27001 certifications are valid and trustworthy.
ISO 27009: Sector-Specific Adaptations of ISO 27001
ISO 27009 provides guidance on adapting ISO 27001 for specific industries or sectors. It allows the development of sector-specific information security standards while maintaining alignment with the ISO 27001 framework.
This standard is particularly useful for industries with unique regulatory and operational security requirements, such as healthcare, finance, and telecommunications. It ensures that sector-specific standards remain compatible with ISO 27001 while addressing industry-specific risks.
Informative ISO Standards in the 27000 Series
Unlike the normative standards, the following standards provide guidance rather than mandatory requirements:
ISO 27000: Overview and Vocabulary
ISO 27000 defines key terms and concepts used across the ISO 27000 series. It serves as a reference point for understanding information security principles and the structure of ISMS standards.
ISO 27002: Information Security Controls
ISO 27002 provides detailed guidance on implementing the security controls outlined in Annex A of ISO 27001. It covers best practices for:
Access control
Cryptography
Physical security
Incident management
Although not a certification standard, ISO 27002 helps organizations strengthen their ISMS controls.
ISO 27003: ISMS Implementation Guidance
ISO 27003 offers guidance on implementing an ISMS based on ISO 27001. It covers:
Project planning
Risk assessment methodologies
ISMS documentation requirements
Stakeholder engagement
ISO 27004: ISMS Monitoring and Measurement
ISO 27004 provides guidelines on how to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of an ISMS. It includes:
Metrics for assessing security performance
Continuous improvement techniques
Compliance monitoring strategies
ISO 27005: Risk Management for Information Security
ISO 27005 offers a structured approach to risk management in ISMS, aligning with ISO 27001’s risk-based approach. It guides organizations in:
Identifying and assessing security risks
Selecting appropriate mitigation strategies
Implementing a continuous risk management process
ISO 27007: Guidelines for ISMS Audits
ISO 27007 complements ISO 27006 by providing best practices for conducting ISMS audits. It helps organizations prepare for ISO 27001 certification audits and maintain compliance.
ISO 27008: Security Controls Assessment
ISO 27008 offers guidance on assessing the effectiveness of information security controls. It helps organizations verify whether implemented controls meet their security objectives.
ISO 27010 to ISO 27099: Industry-Specific and Emerging Standards
The ISO 27000 series continues to evolve with additional standards covering:
Information security in inter-organizational communication (ISO 27010)
Cloud security (ISO 27017, ISO 27018)
Privacy management (ISO 27701)
Cybersecurity frameworks (ISO 27032)
Conclusion
ISO 27001, ISO 27006, and ISO 27009 are the key normative standards that define requirements for ISMS implementation, certification, and sector-specific adaptations. The rest of the ISO 27000 series provides informative guidance, helping organizations understand, implement, and improve their ISMS. Understanding these distinctions ensures organizations can effectively navigate compliance, certification, and best practices for information security management.
By following these standards, businesses can strengthen their cybersecurity posture, protect sensitive data, and demonstrate their commitment to information security best practices.
In today’s cybersecurity landscape, having a robust and flexible security information and event management (SIEM) system is crucial. Wazuh, an open-source security platform, offers comprehensive solutions for threat detection, integrity monitoring, incident response, and compliance.
Wazuh has an interesting history. In 2015, the Wazuh team decided to fork OSSEC, an open-source host-based Intrusion Detection System (IDS), to expand its core functionalities with additional features, enhancements, and a user-friendly interface. Wazuh has grown significantly since its inception. It is now a comprehensive, open-source security platform that provides unified XDR (Extended Detection and Response) and SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) capabilities. The platform is designed to monitor infrastructures, detect threats, respond to incidents, and ensure regulatory compliance.
This blog will guide you through setting up Wazuh in a lab environment, focusing on its basic capabilities in Extended Detection and Response (XDR) and SIEM. Whether you’re a cybersecurity professional or an enthusiast, this step-by-step guide will help to get started with Wazuh to secure your systems effectively. We start with the defaults to make the lab-setup not more complex as necessary.
My Lab-env is as follows:
Host
IP
OS
Wazuh-Server
10.50.100.76
Ubuntu 24 LTS
Wazuh-Agent
10.50.100.110
RHEL 9
Wazuh-Agent
10.50.100.111
RHEL 9
Wazuh-Agent
10.50.100.201
Windows
Basic setup of Wazuh-Server
with root rights execute curl -sO https://packages.wazuh.com/4.10/wazuh-install.sh && sudo bash ./wazuh-install.sh -a
Example output:
30/01/2025 08:07:17 INFO: Starting Wazuh installation assistant. Wazuh version: 4.10.1
30/01/2025 08:07:17 INFO: Verbose logging redirected to /var/log/wazuh-install.log
30/01/2025 08:07:22 INFO: Verifying that your system meets the recommended minimum hardware requirements.
30/01/2025 08:07:22 INFO: Wazuh web interface port will be 443.
30/01/2025 08:07:27 INFO: --- Dependencies ----
30/01/2025 08:07:27 INFO: Installing apt-transport-https.
30/01/2025 08:07:30 INFO: Installing debhelper.
30/01/2025 08:07:43 INFO: Wazuh repository added.
30/01/2025 08:07:43 INFO: --- Configuration files ---
30/01/2025 08:07:43 INFO: Generating configuration files.
30/01/2025 08:07:44 INFO: Generating the root certificate.
30/01/2025 08:07:44 INFO: Generating Admin certificates.
30/01/2025 08:07:44 INFO: Generating Wazuh indexer certificates.
30/01/2025 08:07:44 INFO: Generating Filebeat certificates.
30/01/2025 08:07:44 INFO: Generating Wazuh dashboard certificates.
30/01/2025 08:07:45 INFO: Created wazuh-install-files.tar. It contains the Wazuh cluster key, certificates, and passwords necessary for installation.
30/01/2025 08:07:45 INFO: --- Wazuh indexer ---
30/01/2025 08:07:45 INFO: Starting Wazuh indexer installation.
30/01/2025 08:08:23 INFO: Wazuh indexer installation finished.
30/01/2025 08:08:23 INFO: Wazuh indexer post-install configuration finished.
30/01/2025 08:08:23 INFO: Starting service wazuh-indexer.
30/01/2025 08:08:35 INFO: wazuh-indexer service started.
30/01/2025 08:08:35 INFO: Initializing Wazuh indexer cluster security settings.
30/01/2025 08:08:38 INFO: Wazuh indexer cluster security configuration initialized.
30/01/2025 08:08:38 INFO: Wazuh indexer cluster initialized.
30/01/2025 08:08:38 INFO: --- Wazuh server ---
30/01/2025 08:08:38 INFO: Starting the Wazuh manager installation.
30/01/2025 08:10:10 INFO: Wazuh manager installation finished.
30/01/2025 08:10:10 INFO: Wazuh manager vulnerability detection configuration finished.
30/01/2025 08:10:10 INFO: Starting service wazuh-manager.
30/01/2025 08:10:22 INFO: wazuh-manager service started.
30/01/2025 08:10:22 INFO: Starting Filebeat installation.
30/01/2025 08:10:28 INFO: Filebeat installation finished.
30/01/2025 08:10:28 INFO: Filebeat post-install configuration finished.
30/01/2025 08:10:28 INFO: Starting service filebeat.
30/01/2025 08:10:30 INFO: filebeat service started.
30/01/2025 08:10:30 INFO: --- Wazuh dashboard ---
30/01/2025 08:10:30 INFO: Starting Wazuh dashboard installation.
30/01/2025 08:11:22 INFO: Wazuh dashboard installation finished.
30/01/2025 08:11:22 INFO: Wazuh dashboard post-install configuration finished.
30/01/2025 08:11:22 INFO: Starting service wazuh-dashboard.
30/01/2025 08:11:23 INFO: wazuh-dashboard service started.
30/01/2025 08:11:24 INFO: Updating the internal users.
30/01/2025 08:11:27 INFO: A backup of the internal users has been saved in the /etc/wazuh-indexer/internalusers-backup folder.
30/01/2025 08:11:35 INFO: The filebeat.yml file has been updated to use the Filebeat Keystore username and password.
30/01/2025 08:12:00 INFO: Initializing Wazuh dashboard web application.
30/01/2025 08:12:01 INFO: Wazuh dashboard web application initialized.
30/01/2025 08:12:01 INFO: --- Summary ---
30/01/2025 08:12:01 INFO: You can access the web interface https://<wazuh-dashboard-ip>:443
User: admin
Password: PblablablablaB7n3vfwq
30/01/2025 08:12:01 INFO: Installation finished.
Please note the autogenerated User/Password to get later access to the Dashboard.
open a Browser and access: https://10.50.100.76 Don’t be surprised that the connection is interested, we use the default certs.
We see the default Dashboard:
Wazuh is shipped with default rules. In a productive environment the real work would start now: Create/adapt rules that are suitable for the required purposes and environment. We will start with fixing the first (easy) vulnerability finding.
Fix a chrony-finding/vulnerability
Lets pick an RHEL-Agent and check the details of the chrony-finding:
Navigate to Configuration Assesment
Select an Agent
Agent ID 02 looks as a good candidate
filter the findings for chrony
click on the failed check
read carefully the finding and check the settings on the Agent to get it fixed
get the chrony finding fixed
The crony process is not executed by user chrony, let’s get it fixed:
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