HSM Operation Planning

HSM Operation Planning

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This page describes the required contents of a plan to provide responsibly operated HSMs as a service.

Overview

The main requirements for responsible operations are listed here.

This document provides a structure for the first point in that list, an auditable and
maintained plan. The plan should not be just a manual, i.e. a collection of Standard
Operating Procedures, though that is an important part of it. The plan must encompass what
the operator organisation is actually planning to do, with what resources and under what
management and oversight structure.

Personnel roles will be defined in the abstract in the plan, but there will a sections listing
concrete role assignments to real people, that must be kept updated as the project evolves.

Contents

The Plan must have the following sections, not necessarily in this exact sequence or structure:

1. Plan management
   1. Plan and Document Review group and approval rules (initial and later, working review of changes)
   2. Plan Archiving.
   3. Audit Groups and access
2. Security Plan
   1. Catalogue of sensitive Data
   2. Access Controls, mechanisms, roles, groups and maintenance
   3. Secure Storage
      1. Access Control to storage
      2. Other Access Credentials stored in storage
      3. Input material - e.g. from third parties
      4. Generated Material
      5. Physical items, e.g. smart cards
   4. Separated multi-part Offsite and Backup storage
   5. Device Habeas Corpus
   6. Ceremonial actions. Definition of categories.
3. Operations Organisation
   1. Team Management
   2. Oversight and resource allocation
   3. Team Roles
      1. Training Plan - requirements and sources
      2. Multiplicity - Holiday/Sickness coverage etc.
      3. Availability - on call, full time, etc?
   4. Other Resources
      1. Infrastructure access and resources
      2. HSMs (!)
   5. External Interfaces
      1. Application Owner requests
      2. Suppliers and support (HSMs, Infrastructure, ...)
      3. Delivery to Owner
         1. cHSM network access and initial credentials
         2. Generated material from Ceremonies
         3. Other Action Confirmations
4. Delivery Model
   1. Structure of services offered.
   2. Data Model - Organisation of records and storage by Owner, physical HSM, cHSM, HA Cluster.
   3. Delivery lifecycle (Overviews/Diagrams) Referencing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
      1. Physical HSM Lifecycle from purchase/lease through to decommission and disposal/repurpose.
      2. Application Lifecycle from definition/purchase through to decommission.
5. Ceremonial Actions
   1. Definition of Ceremony types and execution/reporting requirements. These will differ in
      complexity and effort according to the security requirements (from the security plan) for each.
      1. HSM Ceremonies
      2. Storage Access Ceremonies
      3. cHSM Propagation Ceremonies
   2. Ceremony Definitions:
      1. Prerequisites
         1. Owner Request - description of intention
         2. Input material
         3. Intended output Material and destinations
         4. Planned execution time
         5. Tools and infrastructure access
      2. Required approvals and credentials
      3. Required Personnel (roles)
      4. Execution - other requirements, e.g. Locked meeting room with no internal windows?
      5. Execution report
         1. Opening time, personnel present list.
         2. Actions carried out by SOP, input material, outputs and storage destinations
         3. Logs of actions where appropriate, bowdlerised as necessary.
         4. Exceptions and reactions - including items requiring further attention or action
            after the ceremony
         5. Signatures of those present on the report
         6. Archiving of report.
         7. Summary sheet for ceremony for circulation to Owner and Management.
6. Standard Operating Procedures
   1. SOP definition and reference location. Probably not directly included in this doc,
      but referenced
   2. Physical Device Operations
   3. Global HSM Operations
   4. CryptoServer Operations
   5. Routine Maintenance/Propagation Operations
   6. SIEM Alerts and reactions
   7. Catastrophe scenarios
7. Current Personnel Role Assignments - plan to update frequently.