security-policy-templates

A set of foundational but comprehensive policies, standards and procedures designed for cloud-native technology organizations. The policy package covers the requirements and controls for most compliance frameworks and best practices, in a lightweight approach.

They can be used as stand-alone documents. But the structure is designed to be best suited for use with the jupiter-policy-builder CLI and the policies app on the JupiterOne platform.

These are used internally at JupiterOne / LifeOmic Security.

TL;DR

Run the following command to install the policy builder and build the policies. You will be prompted for a few inputs, such as company name, to be included in your policy text.

npm install -g @jupiterone/jupiter-policy-builder

psp build -t ./templates

You will be prompted to save the config to a file, which you can reference the next time you'd like to rebuild the policies and procedures:

psp build -t ./templates -c path/to/your/config.json

The result files are put in ./docs (Markdown) and ./site (HTML).

IMPORTANT: To edit the policies and procedures, use the template files in ./templates and re-run the psp build command. Do not edit the ./docs and ./partials files directly as they will be overwritten on the next build.

For more detailed builder instructions, see the README here.

Format

Similar to the concept of "micro-services", the policies and procedures are written in "micro-docs" that are decoupled from the policies. They are mapped to each other via a JSON configuration.

• All policies, procedures and reference documents are written in Markdown.
• All configuration files are in JSON format, including mapping between policies and procedures, and between procedures and compliance standards.

Structure

templates/policies

• This directory contains the modular templates for policies.

• Each policy document is written in the following structure:

  # Policy Title
  
  `revision`
  
  Overview of the policy. A paragraph or two to describe the intent and
  principals of the policy.
  
  ## Policy Statements
  
  This section contains the high level requirements specific to the policy.
  
  Policy statements are aligned to the organization's operating model and
  applicable compliance requirements. These statements describe the "what"
  but not the "how". They are meant to be stable over longer periods of time 
  without needing frequent updates.
  

templates/procedures

• This directory contains the modular templates for controls and procedures.

• Each procedure is considered a "micro-document" that describes how a specific control is implemented to address the requirements in the policy that it implements.

• Each procedure document is written in the following structure:

  ### Control/Procedure Title
  
  Overview. A few lines to describe the control and procedure.
  
  Detailed text.
  
  #### Sub-section as needed
  
  More text.
  

  Note that the Title is a level 3 heading. This is because the policy-builder tool will automatically combine the procedures and policies they each implement to a single document for publishing, and it will insert a ## Controls and Procedures section heading after the Policy Statements section and before the first control/procedure.

templates/ref

• This directory contains the modular templates for reference documents.
• The reference documents are similar to control procedures. At build/publish time, they will be combined and attached to the Addendum and References document by the policy-builder

templates/assessments

• This directory contains templates for assessment reports.
• The only available report template at the moment is for a HIPAA risk assessment.
• The jupiter-policy-builder CLI tool can leverage this template to auto-generate a self assessment report based on the adoption of policies and procedures.

Configuration and Mapping

config.json { organization }

There are variables (e.g. companyFullName) defined throughout the template documents. These variables make it easy to adopt and maintain the policy set by configuring the variables at one place -- in the organization section of config.json.

JupiterOne's policy builder (both the web app and CLI) makes use of this configuration to build the final policy set.

config.json { policies }

The policies section is a repository of the policy modules. Each entry is defined with the following:

• id - typically matches the filename of the policy without the extension
• file - path to the markdown module (without the .tmpl extension)
• name - policy name, which typically matches the title in the policy doc
• adopted - a boolean flag to indicate if the policy has been adopted by the organization
• procedures - an array that contains the procedure modules that implement/enforce this policy.

Similar to the concept of "micro-services", the policies and procedures are written in "micro-docs" that are decoupled from the policies. They are mapped to each other via the above configuration.

config.json { procedures }

The procedures section is a repository of the procedure modules. Each entry is defined with the following:

• id - typically matches the filename of the procedures without the extension
• file - path to the markdown module (without the .tmpl extension)
• name - procedure name, which typically matches the title in the procedure doc
• type - specifies one of the following procedure types:
  • administrative
  • technical
  • operational
  • physical
  • informative
• provider - name of the control provider (e.g. "AWS IAM")
• summary - provides guidance to the document author specific to that procedure
• applicable - a boolean that specifies whether the procedure is applicable to the organization based on its operational and compliance requirements
• adopted - a boolean flag to indicate if the policy has been adopted by the organization

config.json { references }

Similar to procedures, the references section is a repository of additional documentation. Each entry is defined with the following:

• id - typically matches the filename of the procedures without the extension
• file - path to the markdown module (without the .tmpl extension)
• name - document name, which typically matches the title in the procedure doc
• applicable - a boolean that specifies whether the document is applicable to the organization based on its operational and compliance requirements
• adopted - a boolean flag to indicate if the policy has been adopted by the organization

Compliance Mapping

standards/controls-mapping.json

The controls-mapping.json document configures a mapping of each procedure to one or more security/compliance frameworks, as applicable.

Note that the controls mapping is only between a control/procedure document to the requirement, not at the policy level. This is because we strongly believe that you must have documented controls and procedures to implement and enforce a high level written policy. Having a written policy by itself without implementation or enforcement does not address the risk of any security or compliance requirement.

Internally at JupiterOne, we leverage CIS Controls and PCI DSS. JupiterOne's parent company, LifeOmic, builds a suite of healthcare related software products and is therefore under HIPAA regulation and has adopted HITRUST CSF.

The JSON documents for those four frameworks are included strictly because of our internal usage and shown as examples. Using those requires that you have obtained necessary end-user license for the framework for your own organization.