Northeastern University Risk Assessment Standard

Related Policy: Northeastern University Information Security Policy
Responsible Office: Office of Information Security (OIS)

Purpose and Scope

Northeastern University is committed to securing its data and providing clear and concise guidance on protecting the many information technology (IT) systems we use. Given the widespread use and diversity of the types of IT systems employed within Northeastern University, it is paramount that a technology-agnostic set of standards are in place and uniformly applied across all IT systems.

This standard establishes the minimum risk assessment criteria to carry out and meet the intent of the directives within Northeastern University’s Information Security Policy. This standard applies to all organizations (e.g., academic entities, entities other than Colleges and Departments, legally separate but wholly owned entities) of Northeastern University.

IT systems are considered in the scope of this standard if they utilize any of the following: Northeastern’s Network, ITS troubleshooting or administration, OIS incident response or investigation, or a Northeastern Microsoft account (e.g., @northeastern.edu).

Risk Assessment Overview

This domain focuses on Risk Assessment (RA). RA seeks to establish methods and processes by which the university will identify and manage risks associated with all IT systems.

Roles and Responsibilities

The following high-level functional roles support the risk assessment processes for IT systems. In some cases, there may be more than one functional role associated with a specific process or task; similarly, more than one person may perform some roles. The following describe the roles and responsibilities associated with risk assessment within the Northeastern University environment.

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO): Individual responsible for the overall Northeastern University information security program.

System Administrator: An organization or individual responsible for setting up and maintaining an IT system, appliance, or specific IT system elements. This role revolves around hands on management of the IT system, usually more technical in nature than the System Owner. They are also responsible for implementing approved secure baseline configurations, incorporating secure configuration settings for IT products, and conducting/assisting with configuration monitoring activities as needed.

Depending on the size of the IT system, these responsibilities can be split across multiple skill-based domains listed below. These domains can be managed by separate teams across Northeastern University depending on the skills necessary to carry out the listed responsibilities.

Infrastructure: manages any servers that are not aligned to a specific skill-based domain listed below.
Network: manages all hardware and IT systems related to managing network communications.
Security: manages all IT systems that ensure and confirm security of the environment. Sentinel,Defender, Tenable, Azure, Intune, Windows Cloud PC, etc.
Desktop: manages the physical workstations and the software installed on them.
Identity: manages IT systems that control identity-based access, like Entra ID.

System Owner: An individual or organization responsible for the development, procurement, integration, modification, operation, and maintenance, and/or final disposition of an IT system.

Also responsible for establishing, tracking, and maintaining the inventory of IT products and IT systems which process, transmit, or store sensitive information; to include hardware, software, and firmware. Depending on the size of the IT system, these responsibilities can be assigned to someone with a role closely aligned to that of an Asset Manager.

Also responsible for maintaining the appropriate operational security posture for an IT system or enclave and for ensuring the information assurance of a program or organization. Depending on the size of the IT system, these responsibilities can be assigned to someone with a role closely aligned to that of an Information System Security Officer.

Standard

This standard is scoped primarily around a subset of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-171 controls to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. The related NIST controls have been tagged (e.g., 3.11.1) in the text below to identify where each listed responsibility inherits its requirements from.

As the risk assessment capability is matured over time, additional controls may be considered to augment confidentiality and address the availability and integrity of Northeastern University data. Additionally, when implementing the criterion of this document, organizations may choose to implement stricter criteria; however, the criterion cannot be lessened without formal exception by the Northeastern University Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) as described in the Compliance section of this standard.

Identify and Evaluate Organizational Risk

(3.11.1) The System Owner is responsible for ensuring risk assessments are performed at least annually, or when changes are made which impact the environment’s security posture and cataloging identified risks in a risk register. Risk Assessments must include threats, vulnerabilities, likelihood, risk from external parties (e.g., service providers, third-party systems), and impact to organizational operations, organizational assets, and individuals, at a minimum.

(3.11.2) The System Administrator is responsible for performing weekly vulnerability scans on IT system components and applications, and ad-hoc vulnerability scans when new vulnerabilities are identified.

Manage Risk

(3.11.3) The Security Administrator is responsible for remediating identified vulnerabilities in accordance with defined risk thresholds and tracking remediation actions (e.g., ticketing system).

Definitions

The following definitions have been derived from industry standard definitions provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Computer Security Resource Center Glossary1 and, where appropriate, tailored for Northeastern University’s IT environment.

Information Technology (IT): Computing and/or communications hardware and/or software components and related resources that can collect, store, process, maintain, share, transmit, or dispose of data. IT components include computers and associated peripheral devices, computer operating systems, utility/support software, and communications hardware and software.

Organization: An entity of any size, complexity, or positioning within an organizational structure (e.g., school, department, lab, operational elements).

Risk: The level of impact on organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organizational assets, or individuals resulting from the operation of an IT system given the potential impact of a threat and the likelihood of that threat occurring.

Risk Assessment: The process of identifying risks to organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, reputation), organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, and the Nation, resulting from the operation of an IT system.

Risk Mitigation: Prioritizing, evaluating, and implementing the appropriate risk-reducing controls/countermeasures recommended from the risk management process.

Vulnerability: Weakness in an IT system, system security procedures, internal controls, or implementation that could be exploited or triggered by a threat source.

Compliance

This standard complies with the directives defined in the Northeastern University Information Security Policy. The university recognizes that on rare occasions there might be compelling reasons to consider allowing an organization to operate outside of the criterion defined in this standard, as derived from the Northeastern University Information Security Policy. To facilitate this consideration the System Owner must submit a petition for a risk-based policy exception in writing, including supporting rationale, and forward it to the Northeastern University CISO for review and approval. All approved risk-based policy exceptions must be formally documented by the Northeastern University CISO and indicate the exception duration (e.g., temporary, long-term). The Northeastern University CISO is responsible for disseminating and communicating all risk-based exception approvals and rescissions to the relevant stakeholders in a timely manner.

Change and Review Log

Date	Description	Version	Editor
1/15/2025	Initial draft	0.1	David Niles
1/24/2025	Manager review before stakeholder review	0.2	Brad Wing
9/3/2025	Final draft approved by CISO	1.0	Brad Wing

Appendix A. Risk Assessment Standard Summary

The table below summarizes the Northeastern University IT system environment minimum criteria for enabling risk assessment capabilities within the Northeastern University IT system environments.

The first column “Northeastern University Practice ID” identifies the related Northeastern University practice ID as defined in the NIST 800-171.
The “Northeastern University Practice Statement” column includes the Northeastern University practices required to be met for that control.
The third column, “Derived Requirement”, provides a description of the requirement derived from the high-level Northeastern University practice statement. Derived requirements were developed from analysis of the intent of the practice and the logical components required to satisfy the practice. In some instances, an Northeastern University practice statement may be derived into several requirements to be addressed to satisfy the Northeastern University practice.
The final column, “Northeastern University IT system environment Criteria”, defines the minimum criteria (e.g., configurations, actions, responsibilities, practices, etc.) which the university will implement to satisfy the related Northeastern University practice.

Northeastern University Practice ID	Northeastern University Practice Statement	Derived Requirement	Northeastern University Environment Criteria (Northeastern University Practice Implementation)
3.11.1	Periodically assess the risk to organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organizational assets, and individuals, resulting from the operation of organizational IT systems and the associated processing, storage, or transmission of sensitive university data.	Risk Assessments	The System Owner is responsible for: Ensuring risk assessments are performed at least annually, or when changes are made which impact the environment’s security posture, Cataloging identified risks in a risk register. Risk Assessments, at a minimum, must include: Threats, vulnerabilities, likelihood, risk from external parties (e.g.,service providers, third-party systems) Impact to organizational operations, organizational assets, and individuals.
3.11.2	Scan for vulnerabilities in organizational IT systems and applications periodically and when new vulnerabilities affecting those IT systems and applications are identified.	Vulnerability Scans	The System Administrator is responsible for: Performing weekly vulnerability scans on IT system components and applications Ad-hoc vulnerability scans when new vulnerabilities are identified.
3.11.3	Remediate vulnerabilities in accordance with risk assessments.	Remediate Vulnerabilities	The Security Administrator is responsible for: Remediating identified vulnerabilities in accordance with defined risk thresholds Tracking remediation actions (e.g., ticketing system).

Appendix B. Risk Assessment References

The following list of references are common industry standards used to carry out the risk assessment criterion defined within this standard.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-30 Rev. 1, Guide for Conducting Risk Assessments. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-30r1.pdf
NIST SP 800-39, Managing Information Security Risk: Organization, Mission, and Information System View. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-39.pdf