Declassification

By cliangNo Comments
Confidential information is costly to maintain. Imagine all the 3 data states (data-in-motion, data-at-rest, data-in-use) will require technology and the underlying process to manage the authorized access and usage while denying otherwise. Most often except a few, sensitive information will diminish its value or impact overtime. An example of the "few" is the formula of a soft drink that remains as trade secret to standout the products from its competitors. Other than technical controls like encryption or multi-factors authentication access for digital information, there are simply regulations to protect artist work copyrights, alogrithm patent etc. that are published in public domain. Secret government documents also have expiry date to release for public interests. The declassification together with destruction process are therefore an important stage in the information lifecycle management process. Without these, the burden to maintain secrecy will increase over time and become unmanageable. ...
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Enforcement #2

By cliangNo Comments
Durnig pandemic situation, InfraRed body temperature detection technology is great - contactless, accurate, multi-persons processing, seamlessly and transparent to customers. But the illustrated scenario lacks of enforcement - persons with detected abnormal body temperature are still able to go in. A policy statement (notice at entrance) must be established to deny visit of persons with abnormal body temperature. Further, a security guard or so needs to watch the outcome of measured body temperature to enforce such policy. Without enforcement, deploying great technology doesn't make sense. This applies to cybersecurity domain as well. ...
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Concealment

By cliangNo Comments
Two lanes but 3 traffic signs. Is the middle lane hidden? Information concealment is one of the techniques to hide important content. There are many tools that comes with steganographic processing. Usually, media files are chosen as the host file to store the secret data but their native usage (viewing photo, watching video with associated apps) are unaffected even with secret data injected. Media files are the popular host because photo, audio or video are basically having larger size. The objective is let secret message stored there and staying low profile without being caught. Yet, this technique is aimed at hiding small amount of data (like passcode, geo-location) because too much data might increase the host size that is unproportionable to its original form. ...
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Choke Point

By cliangNo Comments
In physical world, it is a geographical critical and strategic passage. Armed force is able to control what is allowed and what is not for passing thru. In cyber world, similar concept is deployed in network perimeter controlling data traffic what is allowed and what is not in reaching the destination node(s). Source ports don't matter. The camera aperture is the good metaphor. Light sources don't matter. What matter is to control the incoming lights from whatever directions to reach the camera senor for composing an ideal photo. I came across a cybersecurity practitioner who is so innovative to request controls of the network source ports in the firewall as well. This involves application logic and configuration changes yet the effectiveness to enhance cybersecurity is really in doubt. ...
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DeMilitarized Zone (DMZ)

By cliangNo Comments
DMZ becomes the de facto standard for network segmentation. It is used to control network traffic across trust and untrusted network zones. Network traffic is used instead of network connection because the latter is not precise. A network cable is connected across components but what does matter is the traffic flowing thru. The network zoning is typically implemented by network firewall. More functions like anti-malware protection, site filtering, application requests screening are adding to the network firewall making it the so-called next generation (NG) firewall. To enhance customer confidence, there are 3rd party accredition for firewall cybersecurity. No matter how secure the component is manufactured and deployed, the important aspects to maintain a secure network perimeter are: Proper design, i.e. placing the firewall(s) at the correct network nodeProper configuration, i.e. device management and least privilege firewall rulesPeriodic assessment, i.e. validate if the configuration is still valid (don't retain the associated firewall rules when system has retired)Proper maintenance, i.e. update firmware...
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Blind Spot

By cliangNo Comments
Can the bird be detected? When designing controls, we must understand what to protect. There might be blind spot that the intended controls are ineffective or even void. For inherent design weakness, retrofit would be costly and sometimes not possible without rebuilt from scratch. As a good practice, a design review to assess the control effectiveness before build will avoid such pitfall. Either a peer review or engaging independent subject matter expert will help to spot weakness with fresh eyes. ...
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Distance #2

By cliangNo Comments
Keeping distance on the road avoids accidents causing injuiry or fatality due to sudden situation changes. Keeping social distance avoids pandemic spreading among group of people. Similarly, keeping network distance will be cyber safer as it makes cyber attack harder. Network distance is established via defence layers between untrusted network and the target resources so as to drop or neutralize unintended traffic. The more layers, the more network distance that network traffic has to go thru to reach the destination. Layers, for example, are: Network perimeter (firewall, proxy, IPS, IDS)Application gateway (reverse proxy, DPI)Platform hardening (folder permissiom, white list/black list, no unused modules nor system sevices)System application hardening (change default setting, deny unauthenticated request)Business application hardening (observe good coding practices) While adding layers, don't forget to assess if network latency will be introduced affecting specific applications. Last but not least, all these layers shall have latest version and apply least privilege to combat threat actors as much as possible. ...
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Visibility #3

By cliangNo Comments
Below the iceberg, there is a large portion that is out of sight. That's why it is dangerous for vessels when approaching an iceberg. You need to keep a safe distance from it to avoid hitting it. The iceberg is often used to illustrate the dark web. The visible part is WWW (World Wide Web), below is the deep web then further down the dark web. The general perception on dark web is bad or associated with cyber criminals. However like penetration test tools, the tools can be misused to attack other computers but also to serve as a means to uncover infrastructure weakness for cybersecurity enhancement. The difference is between unauthorized and authorized intention. In the case of dark web, the usefulness might be Understand how the underground market business model operate, what are on sales such that you will revisit how to secure these cyber assets in your own environmentUncover if your or corporate information is there for sales ...
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Design & Build #2

By cliangNo Comments
A deployed function looks not elegant. Is this due to design problem, or deployment is not in accordance to the design? Fixing it will be costly without retrofit. Similarly, this happens to cyber protection. Protection effectiveness will be degraded or even none if improper design, or incorrectly deployed. To address this pitfall, comprehensive assessment from design, configuration check before commissioning and regular health check at O&M stage are necessary. Even if the system has not been changed, the external threat landscape has evolved and need to strengthen control to protect. ...
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Access Control #3

By cliangNo Comments
Controlling cyber (or network) access is always a main concern to limit threat vectors for lateral movement once they have gained a stepping stone within the infrastructure. The physical access aspect must not be forgotten. No matter how sophiscated controls are implemented and in place, if the core equipment is exposed to access at wish, this will defeat all these cyber controls. Bear in mind that all controls are to defer the access as much as possible. There is no bullet proof solution. A comprehensive risk assessment against the target of evaluation is very important to develop effective compensating controls. ...
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