Risk Evaluation

By cliangNo Comments
Risk assessment is the approach to identify hazard and implement proper controls to reduce likelihood. When doing so, we should look at the portion that must be function well to support the intended outcome. In the illustration, the vehicle is to transport people or goods from one location to another. The engine and tires must be in good condition with sufficient fuel plus cooling fans to achieve this purpose. Any one of these components fails will affect the intended outcome. Therefore, vehicle (especially commercial) needs to undergo regular inspection and maintenance to keep in good condition. Check the tires and fuel capacity before any trip to reduce the likelihood of break down. Having spare tires or road-side assist contact numbers are the mitigation under assumption that the cellular phone signal coverage is within the trip. Otherwise, a different support model (say, satellite phone) is required.. ...
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Do The Right Thing

By cliangNo Comments
No matter in physical or cyber world, there are facilities built for people using them to achieve certain purposes - whether paid or free. All these facilities are designed per proper usage. That said, if the assumed usage behavior is not exercised, some adverse consequence might be resulted to the facility provider or the facility user. Take Internet banking as an example. Banks always remind people to safeguard their access credential (i.e. password) to avoid account being misused: never disclose the password to 3rd party not even the Bank, mandate 2-step authentication, enforce regular changing of password, never click links from email or from social network shared by others. Further, the Bank will alert account holder via text message or email for any credit card transaction executed with physically wiping the card, impose transaction limit to 3rd parties, etc. So as an user, do the right thing as advised to keep cyber secure. That means in the Internet banking example,...
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Proper Usage #2

By cliangNo Comments
Security Boundary Every system has its own weakness and limitation. We can't build a total secure system practically unless it is on the shelve without any usage value. There is always the need to assess the risks to opt for optimal security controls. The key part is the "users" that they are expected to behave within the security boundary. Don't try to address ALL vulnerabilities because it is unwise and a never-ending story. Even if this is achievable, it is just a snapshot at a particular point in time. The proper approach is that Understand what are the inherent vulnerabilitiesWhat are the compensating controls surrounding the core system to reduce the likelihoodIf there are any alternate facilities to maintain the minimal business operations should bad things happen ...
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Vulnerability Management #2

By cliangNo Comments
Vulnerability Management or Scare Your Management Some cybersecurity practitioners conduct vulnerability management (VM) by just using automated vulnerability scanning tool (scanner) to uncover system vulnerabilities and then job is done. Even the worst, the scanner is placed next to the component using the target's administrative credential to probe. Raw results from the scanner is presented to the Management of vulnerabilities detected highlighting how many critical, high, moderate, low risks. This is a totally incorrect approach. The vulnerability scan is only the 1st step of the VM. The raw result gives you the worst scenario. It illustrates the system weakness assuming the adversaries have already gained the network access to that component by evading all the cybersecurity perimeter controls plus system privileges escalated. We must not forget the 2nd step is to evaluate if there are other controls (e.g. network segmentation, anomalies detection, system lock down etc.) implemented in reducing the likelihood of exploitation. This is...
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Information Integrity #2

By cliangNo Comments
The missing Chinese character is "zero", this gives entirely different meaning. Disseminating of informative message appears does not have much of cybersecurity concerns. However, it depends on the usage purpose. If the incorrect information does not impose adverse consequence, then it only cause inconvenience to the target audience. But if it does (like sending out incorrect result of lottery draws, stock price, exchange rates), then the service provider has liability. Usually, a disclaimer is added to relieve the liability and using the service will constitute the acceptance of the usage term implicitly. Bottom-line is to have a comprehensive risk assessment of the digital solution or service offered to other parties. ...
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Insider #2

By cliangNo Comments
Physical access requires substantial resources while visual accessibility is anywhere Industrial Control Systems (ICS) in a plant are now modernized using commodity hardware and software with networking capability to enhance overall efficiency, business analytics and to standardize skillset in plant operation plus support. With network, remote diagnostic and support are also possible to cut down the turn around time without waiting for engineer on site. Some cybersecurity practitioners put focus only on the cyber portion of the plant. This is not wrong provided that the physical aspects are equally considered at the compatible level. This is because the ICS is just a portion of the entire plant. The physical and mechanical plant conditions must also be secured. If background check is deemed necessary for O&M teams to reduce insider threat, this should also extend to the service crews (e.g. delivery, janitor), physical security guard service, contractors, vendors or even management. Most often, management level is by default granted with...
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Onion Approach

By cliangNo Comments
Information protection is usually via layered defence, sometimes refers as the "onion approach". In physical world, protected contents are placed inside secure facility thru multiple control points with access granularity like site level, particular zone(s) in the site, building, equipment room and cabinet before reaching the target. When things are changed accessible from network, reliance on physical access is still required but there are added controls to the cyber portion. Layered protection counterparts are: network firewall, application firewall, middleware gateway, RBAC, multi-factor authentication. Latest concept is zero-trust (ZT): user identity (and the authorized roles), request originated from which device (and platform), via trusted or untrusted network, type of application raising the request, types of contents for access, industry compliance and latest threat intelligence are all the variables in determining the permission for access. The same onion approach applies except more complexity in setting up and maintenance of these dynamic parameters. ...
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Rule or Ruler

By cliangNo Comments
As a security practitioner, providing advice in securing the organization cyber assets is the expected responsibilities and everyone in the organization has such expectation. In commercial world, resources are limited and there are always risks in business operations. Therefore, risk management is needed in an organization to prioritize resources in consistently dealing with the risks. A risk-based approach to deploy appropriate controls must be in place, i.e. objectively per organization risk matrix rather than subjectively per individual perception. After all, there won't be zero-risk business in this world. I come across a situation that a security practitioner demands uplifting the criticality of a target system just by personal feeling while the consequence does not exceed the threshold guideline per the official organization risk matrix. The escalated criticality of consequence could be legitimate because business environment or threat landscape have changed. Then the correct attitude is to revise the organization risk matrix which serves the foundation for consistent assessment. We must...
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Transformation

By cliangNo Comments
Due to rapid technology advancement, business operations are always undergone transformation. A phone kiosk becomes legacy as the use case is approaching to zero. While transformation creates new jobs, it also makes other jobs extinct. Imagine when there is no need to deploy phone kiosk, job functions regarding the manufacturing line, its supply chain, sales, installation, regular maintenance are no longer needed. Therefore, the transformation shall not only viewed at the business model but also the workforce development and the mentality to accept changes are part of life. Transformation also integrates cybersecurity as part of the job function except the demand of scale and skill might be different. Never complain cybersecurity is none of your business. The positive attitude is to look into the appropriate training to adapt and manage such new challenge. ...
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Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) Firewall

By cliangNo Comments
No doubt, the technology is secure. But without assessing the situation holistically, this is inconclusive. Rulesets might be wrongly set or firewall is wrongly configured, then the DPI firewall is insecure. If the connecting components are in a restricted and lock down environment, a DPI firewall is overkill and won't contribute to enhance more security. By the same token, media always exaggerate cyber threats. We must judge if such threat scenarios are likely in our environment rather than blindly doing unnecessary lock down on existing systems. An example is the ransomware attack via inactive user account thru VPN without 2-factor authentication, or authenticated users via PrintNightmare exploit. Something must be done but not to complete today. Security enhancement must be assessed, managed rather than in a piecemeal manner. The latter might even create more problems after blindly applying the counter-measures. Remember - action without plan is nightmare; plan without action is day dream. ...
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