Treat or Trick #2

By cliangNo Comments
I talked about "strengthening human awareness cannot be overlooked". The easiest penetration into a corporate network is via phishing email. To validate workforce awareness and readiness withstanding phishing attacks, organizations start using simulated phishing emails to test who will take the bait: embedded document or hyperlink to track. This is a good motive except other surrounding elements need to be considered. Nowadays, email service provider will mark external emails to draw attention they are coming from outside. There are also emails generated from application for information using SMTP connector which carries the same external marker. Unless the corporate email gateway whitelists these SMTP sources or else workforce will get confused what emails to trust. Mail headers in simulated emails - this will disclose the email is a phishing test exercise for "advanced" or "professional" email users who know how to check the SMTP mail headers. Phishing test results will be affected because real phishing emails do not carry such identification. We should focus more...
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Access Path

By cliangNo Comments
A path is required at the barrier or perimeter for a number of reasons: reachability to/from destination with legitimate needs such as logistics, transport etc. In cyber world, network perimeter device protects the inside zone from outside but "holes" are still required. A common example is the access to the web site from outside. How do we stay secure? It requires orchestration from different aspects: configuration hardening, access control to resources, incident respond, resilience, regular security updates, situation awareness and most important an achievable cyber security policy to mandate all these are in place. ...
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Control #4

By cliangNo Comments
The "Exit" has demonstrated various types of control to secure the physical perimeter while enable a "kill switch" to emergency situation. The door lock acts as preventive control in normal circumstance. Inbound entry to the hall is prohibited by civilians (not stopping armed force). The lock bar can be pushed out to evacuate people in case emergency inside. It must be easily activated. To guard against abuse by malicious actor, CCTV camera is monitoring the scene. However, detective control must be supported by administrative control or else it won't be enforceable. Let's say, putting another notice there to indicate improper use will be subject to fine or imprisonment per bylaw clause so and so. Furthermore, security system is the first target to attack for disabling its surveillance function such that "improper" activities can be conducted without being caught. Altogether, this are the typical people, process, technologies, policies aspects that should be considered in formulating the use case, security and safety. ...
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Ice Road

By cliangNo Comments
This is seasonal - only happened a short while during winter time when lake or river is frozen with thickness that can support vehicles riding on it. What is the insight? We face a lot of changes in business environment, make adoption to stay competitiveness while deploying cost-effective protection measures against new threats. Examples are continuous digitization or disruptive technologies that business cannot escape from except cope with these. As standard practice, conduct a comprehensive risk assessment with the right Subject Matter Expert to guide thru the stakeholders to reimagine the new targeting operating model to understand threats and consequence and this decide level of risk acceptance. As always, we have to take risks. Here in the ice road, the risk contributors are the load of the vehicle, vehicle fitness, weather condition at time of crossing and the skillset of the vehicle driver. The prime objective (business outcome) is to stay alive crossing the ice road with the load to reach the destination. ...
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Design & Build #3

By cliangNo Comments
Earlier, I talked about similar. When conducting a comprehensive assessment of a facility, we should not just look at the cyber aspects but also the reliability and safety of the facility. Those exposed pipelines could be essential supply of human nessasities or dischargs of waste. If they are physically damaged (intentionally or unintentionally), these facilities will be disrupted therefore affecting normal live or even life. Physical security is also importantly in protecting the cyber components of facilities. ...
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Emergency vs Privacy

By cliangNo Comments
It is common to leave contact information in passport, contact card in wallet such that under emergency situation, others could notify your family member or significant half. This will be helpful if you are travelling alone, or aged. But how do we eliminate scam? Our contact information (email, phone number) is perhaps widely shared when register for web service as 2-step authentication, product registration for warranty, leave as call back for inquiry results, or our friends' devices carrying our contacts are compromised. There is a little trick to beat against scammer by establishing a one-way trust. Put a preset phase in the emergency contact card. Pre-arrange this with your contact(s) the caller must quote this preset phase to prove the contact info is obtained from this emergency contact card but not elsewhere. ...
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Bag Tag

By cliangNo Comments
It is common practice to tag your checked bag or even hand carried bag with a tag. How are you going to fill the info there? In old days, mobile communication device is rare. If you cannot find the bag at baggage claim area, you rely on transportation service provider to contact you and deliver the bag per the stated address even though you report them about lost bag. Therefore, you have to provide the accurate address and contact information. Now, the scenario is reversed. If you cannot find your checked bag, you contact the transportation service provider to locate the lost bag with ticket number assigned at check in and tell them where to send to and how to reach you. Therefore, the bag tag shall only serve an identification means and avoid putting too much privacy information (address, contact number, email) there. In addition, the tag attached to the checked bag has RFiD to track its routing through out the entire...
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Renewable Energy

By cliangNo Comments
It is one of the decarbonization means. Investment involves initial plant setup and then recurring operating cost. There is no need for fuel except resources to manage the plant properly. The entire ecosystem will need site survey, i.e. how many days with sufficient wind are there in a year and the strength, physical security from sabotage of the plant and then digital security against cyber attack - bring down the grid, damage the equipment, scheduled plant maintenance. This shall best have a Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) exercise that include everything that most cybersecurity practitioners are only focusing on cybersecurity, or technical controls. If they do, they are incompetent for the job. ...
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Bunkers

By cliangNo Comments
Bunker at Diamond Head State Monument Bunkers are fortified physical infrastructure to withstand attack. However, there are side channels required for supplies, reconnaissance, defense or attack the attackers. Similarly the firewall in cyber world takes the same analogy. It is a network perimeter device to control network traffic but it requires ruleset management, health check thru the network rather than doing this locally. This will open up side channels that could be vulnerable to cyber attack if configured improperly. Best practices are to review firewall configuration (rulesets), event logs (permitted or dropped traffic) regularly. Automated tool is required as human check is nearly impossible. Log parser via SOC (Security Operation Centre) will associate network traffic from different zones providing a holistic view for better visibility, identify early sign of compromise as threat vectors are conducting reconnaissance to understand the system landscape, vulnerable component before choosing the appropriate attack kit. ...
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Tora! Tora! Tora!

By cliangNo Comments
Lightning Attack This historical event is unexpected attack. But in cyber world, unexpected attack is always expected. It ranges from threat actors trying to penetrating into the organization network thru various means like BEC (Business Email Compromise phishing), insecure Internet-facing resources, zero-day exploits to deepfake. We can only protect threats that we know. So, we can't secure every cyber resources? That said, cyber resilience and prompt incident respond are vital to sustain business operations. All these should be the joint development among business and cybersecurity units within the organization in periodic review and drills for improvement. ...
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