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R Tools Security Posture

7 messages · MAJID, Ayesha (NHS ENGLAND - X26), Ivan Krylov, Martin Maechler +3 more

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Hi

Hope you are well. I work for NHS England and I have been asked to conduct a security review of R, I am unable to locate information around the security posture of R. Would someone please be able to direct me to the correct page or alternatively answer the questions below:


  *   When was the application last updated?
  *   How often is it updated?
  *   Are there any guidance that is followed such as OWASP Application Security Verification Standards?
  *   Do you conform with a recognised security standard? (e.g., SOC1/2/3, ISO27001)
  *   Do you have an Information Security Policy with supporting Standards and Procedures? Please provide details (or provide a copy of the policy).
  *   Do you have formal change control and release management processes to manage code changes? Please provide details (or provide a copy of the documented process).
  *   Is the source code anywhere? If so where is and is it secure?
  *   Do you follow secure development processes? How is this achieved?
  *   Are there any common vulnerabilities?
  *   Is there a reporting process for reporting vulnerabilities and remediation processes? Please provide details/a copy of the documented process
  *   Do you undertake audits or other reviews to ensure that security controls are being implemented and operating effectively? How is this done? Can you provide details of this?
  *   Do you undertake regular penetration testing (or similar technical security testing, code review or vulnerability assessment); and are you able to provide a summary of results/findings?
  *   Do your employees (e.g., developers or system administrators) have access to customer data? How is this access controlled and monitored?
  *   Are all personnel required to sign Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or Confidentiality Agreements (CA) as a condition of employment to protect customer information?
  *   Do you have Business Continuity and/or Disaster Recovery Plans? If Yes, please provide details including backup and redundancy mechanisms.
  *   Is there a  dedicated security team?
  *   Is there a contact for security issues?
  *   Has a vulnerability disclosure program?
  *   Is there a bug bounty program?
  *   Does R require third party authorization/connections?



Thank you

Regards

Ayesha Majid
Cyber Security Advisor | Cyber Operations
Transformation Directorate
NHS England

Mobile: 07842323170
Email: ayesha.majid at nhs.net<mailto:ayesha.majid at nhs.net>

Website: www.england.nhs.uk<http://www.england.nhs.uk/>
NHS England and NHS Digital have merged. Learn more <https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/nhs-digital-merger-with-nhs-england>

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? Tue, 16 May 2023 13:47:19 +0000
"MAJID, Ayesha \(NHS ENGLAND - X26\) via R-help" <r-help at r-project.org>
?????:
This information is publicly available at
<https://developer.r-project.org/> by looking for "Release plans". You
can reach this page by starting at <https://www.r-project.org/> and
clicking the "Developer Pages" link. The developer pages are admittedly
harder to navigate than the main website, but I think that they could
answer some of your other questions too.

You can also obtain this information by looking for "News" under
<https://www.r-project.org/> and by checking the dates of all released
versions of R at <https://cloud.r-project.org/src/base/>.
Yes, you can download release source code by following the "download R"
link at <https://www.r-project.org/>, ending up at
https://cloud.r-project.org/ (or your preferred CRAN mirror) and
clicking the link for the currently-latest version, R-4.3.0.tar.gz.

The link to the Subversion repository containing yet unreleased code
can be located at https://developer.r-project.org/.
What's the threat model?
What would be considered a vulnerability in a piece of software that
was never supposed to be a security boundary?

(Will R run arbitrary code typed at its prompt? Yes, by design. Is it
possible to feed maliciously-constructed data into R's unserialize()
and cause arbitrary code execution this way? Probably, but typing code
at the prompt is much easier. Can third-party R packages that start TCP
servers be convinced to run arbitrary code on attacker's behalf?
Consider that a given.)
By itself, R processes any data fed into it locally, on the computer
where it's running, without contacting R developers about it.

The same cannot be guaranteed about third-party packages, although
there are tests and reviews at both CRAN and Bioconductor in order to
prevent the packages from doing anything considered "anti-social". (See
<https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/policies.html> for more
information on this.) A sufficiently motivated malicious actor could
circumvent them, of course, but that can be said about anything.

If someone at NHS wants to use R, they will probably want to use CRAN
and Bioconductor packages too. Potentially, they might need packages
published elsewhere as well. All these packages will have to be
reviewed separately from R, because they are maintained by different
people.
No, but shouldn't you be more concerned with third-party software
dependencies?

(Did you mean to ask these questions at the public mailing list open
for J. Random Hackers like me to answer?)
#
> ? Tue, 16 May 2023 13:47:19 +0000
    > "MAJID, Ayesha \(NHS ENGLAND - X26\) via R-help" <r-help at r-project.org>

[ ............. ]
[ ............. ]
[ .. helpful & useful answers / pointers to public information .. ]
[ ............. ]
[ ............. ]

    > (Did you mean to ask these questions at the public mailing list open
    > for J. Random Hackers like me to answer?)

    > -- 
    > Best regards,
    > Ivan

Actually, people typically ask "the R Foundation" or even
individual RF / R-core members such as me about this ...

... as if we were a company with staff to answer such questions;
but we (volunteering individuals) really do *not* have the time
resources for that,
and consequently, also in my function---shared with another few
individuals---as gatekeeper to the R foundation / R core / R webmaster
e-mail addresses, I typically deflect such questions to the
public web sites *and* public e-mail lists.

The big advantage of this approach is that at least the answers
are findable by web searches in the future, and so, hopefully
have to be answered less frequently by volunteers as you, Ivan,
for whom we are really very grateful.

Martin
#
Fortune nomination (if trimmed a little) ... thanks to Martin, Ivan and 
so many others who never cease to teach me things here!

(As an ex-NHS person who has used R for countless centuries, slowly less 
awfully courtesy of this list and other angeles, I contacted Ms Majid 
off list to see if I can help!)

Chris
On 17/05/2023 11:11, Martin Maechler wrote:
#
Hi,

An additional resource that was not listed below is the R Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) document that is available here:

??https://www.r-project.org/certification.html

which addresses a subset of the issues raised.

Regards,

Marc Schwartz
On May 17, 2023 at 4:52:27 AM, Ivan Krylov (krylov.r00t at gmail.com (mailto:krylov.r00t at gmail.com)) wrote:

            
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Chris

Presumably you've also pointed her to the NHS R community and in particular
is slack group?

There are so many variables in what was even being asked it's going to take
some time to work through, did the mean R or R Studio or R Studio Cloud...
Before any packages..

On Wed, 17 May 2023, 10:49 Chris Evans via R-help, <r-help at r-project.org>
wrote:

  
  
#
Chris replied off list to say he hadn't directed the OP to NHS R Community
so it seems prudent to point a link here for eternity -- because there will
be another NHS Security Audit with questions that don't fit R properly and
the guys in the community may be best placed to answer them

Linky:
https://nhsrcommunity.com/


On Wed, 17 May 2023, 10:49 Chris Evans via R-help, <r-help at r-project.org>
wrote: