Administrative Control #2

By cliangNo Comments
SSSS (or 4S) is Smart Site Safety System. It consists of server, workstation, mobile network, end point devices (CCTV, smart watch, RFiD helmet, other sensors) to monitor construction site and workforce situation for safety hazards alert. For client project involving civil works, equipment installation etc, contractor will bring their own 4S to ensure and compliance with safety rules and regulations. 4S is not a project deliverable but a tool during construction. I see some cybersecurity practitioners have incorrect understanding. They demand contractor 4S compliance with own organization cybersecurity policies. No doubt 4S might capture client site specific condition, coincidental inclusion of personnel other than contractor workforce causing privacy concerns. We must not forget there are administrative controls in the contractual obligation to comply with laws & regulation plus non-disclosure agreement. We shall not bother the how's in technical aspects. Otherwise, this is overkilled. This something like you walk into a mall, using the ATM - there are CCTV everywhere but you won't question...
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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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The Forgotten Place #5

By cliangNo Comments
It is self-explanatory. There are similar faults posted previously. Risk of consequence must be understood before deploying information automation tool. If the display is for information of the mall, failure does not matter much and at most the reputation of the management office. But if the display shows real time high value trading, failure will cause substantial direct and indirect financial impacts. Direct is the loss of opportunity to conduct transaction by the users of the display. Indirect could be claims thru litigation by users of the display causing their direct loss due to this failure. Technically, multi-displays are deployed for resilience. From policy perspective, users must sign usage agreement to undertake consequence due to machine failure and disclaim the service provide for any direct or indirect losses. ...
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Security By Trust

By cliangNo Comments
In physical world, we trust this glass roof is safe and secure to walk on because there are underlying processes to sustain its safety: Regular inspection and maintenance Regulatory requirement for license issue and renewal 3rd party insurance etc. In addition in building this infrastructure, the design will cater for the intended loading with safety margin, wind speed, anchor points stability plus build it per engineering standard to ascertain the quality. We will therefore have no doubt and trust these arrangements are in place and safely step on it. In cyber world, things are different. There might be cybersecurity standards as foundation but the design and build will require competent practitioners. Even there is comprehensive verification tests before commissioning, there are always new cyber threats requiring recurring effort to sustain the protection effectiveness. Deception to lurk victim into malicious web site to compromise the device or application will further complicate the situation. Then, how do we stay secure in the cyber world? It's a very...
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Time

By cliangNo Comments
Time is an interesting phenomenon. It dominates everything both in physical and cyber worlds. All living individual or objects are under influence of time: getting aged. All data traffic are regulated with time as base reference for synchronization and handshaking. Everyone has equal amount of time. Time cannot be borrowed nor saved for later use. Time is abstract that cannot be touched nor felt its existence. That said, how do we deal with time? This is really use case based. In time-sensitive action, time is kept down to micro or nano second. Examples are stock trading transaction and racing. In certain case, "coarse" time reference may be used like the illustration that hour indication is sufficient - morning, afternoon, evening or night time. It all depends how time reference is deployed in the use case, and how time measurement is secure to maintain integrity. Inevitably, a comprehensive risk assessment (not just cyber but the business as a whole) is required to understanding risk...
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Search & Destroy

By cliangNo Comments
This is typical blacklisting approach. Anti-malware protection is installed in the computer. It stays resident in the kernel and actively looking for file changes, I/O behaviors against known signature then destroy (or neutralize) the malicious actions. The practice also include periodic search all files in the computers to detect if any malware prior to detection signature release has already resides in the computer. Now, technology has evolved into auto-signature generation from OEM (i.e. upon receipt of malicious sample, new signature will be added), heuristic detection. This sounds comprehensive protection. But we must not forget the signature update must be frequency and its legitimacy. Other than using a fradulent signauture, legitimate signature sometimes will cause system fault. As an organization, anti-malware protection must be centrally managed, i.e. collect event logs, deploy signature update to relax burden of end users. A sandbox will be needed to test new signature before deploy to all computers in order to minimize the risk of service interruption. ...
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Fault Detection

By cliangNo Comments
When using technology, usually there is inherent trust that the outcome is correct because it has been tested before going to market. With competition, time-to-market is squeezed. We have seen examples of vehicle recall for fixing certain faults. Even worst, other factors like insufficient training, lack of comprehensive operation instruction could cause tragedy or fatality. In the illustration, GPS infrastructure is proven but the map data might not be updated or the software to map the GPS signal to the location could have fault. A dual GPSs could mitigate an incorrect navigation if the impact due to incorrect route is significant. That said, the entire principle gets back to risk management - what measures can be controlled to reduce likelihood and what does not. ...
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Trust #5

By cliangNo Comments
For free Internet kiosk like this, will you use? In old days when device is rare for Internet ready and Internet access isn't anywhere, yes, facility like this is welcome. Even at that era, use it with caution and for general web browsing (e.g. searching for information rather than login to web portal like bank account) because your sensitive information might be captured and stored elsewhere behind the scene. With cell phone and data plan generally affordable, such facility will be phased out like public paid phone. That's the expected consequence of technology innovation and advancement. It's just a matter of time when these facilities will be decommissioned. ...
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Orchestration

By cliangNo Comments
One of the pain points in cybersecurity is the protections are always choosing the "best of breed" technology. This is fine except each technology has its own protection management tool, GUI, dashboard. As as result, SOC or IR personnel will need to dive into each cyber protection solution and analyze time of sequence event. Orchestration technology is available to consolidate logs from various log sources to make life easier. However, cautions must be exercised: Are extra investment or recurring operating costs properly funded and ready? The ROI might result into workforce reduction to justify the deployment. That means some one might lose the job. How are the integration done? Will this breach network zoning? Last but not the least, how to validate the solution is successfully deployed as a means of acceptance criteria. ...
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