Enterprise SAFE Assumptions

Two fundamental assumptions are made in the Enterprise SAFE model (these assumptions also apply to every extension of the SAFE model). First, the SAFE Blueprint specifically assumes that you already have a security policy in place. Unspoken is the corollary to that, in which we assume that the policy is applied or enforced.

Without a security policy in place, you have not defined the following:

• What you need to protect

• What you choose to protect those things from

• What means of protection are appropriate for your organization

• What you will do if and when protection fails

With those things defined, you can design security for your network; without them, you don't have a basis on which to plan. Of course, if the policy is not enforced or actually applied, it might as well not be present; its value as a guide depends on your being able to assume that it will hold (your position will not be undercut by someone with the authority to operate beyond or outside the rules).

The second assumption in all the SAFE Blueprints is that, although security is designed in, the network remains fully usable for those who need to use it. This does not mean that security will be transparent to the users; they will need to make some accommodations, such as living with stronger security on VPNs. Nonetheless, the idea behind SAFE is to implement network security in a manner complementary to the network and its users, not to make design choices or network use difficult.