Penetration

By cliangNo Comments
Cybersecurity is becoming commodity skill and therefore same terminology will have different interpretation by different parties. Pick penetration test (pTest) as an example. For beginners they simply pick up automated scanner then scan the network and hosts. Whatever reported in the scanner and recommendations are their findings and that's all. A more skillful pTester will review the reported finding, validate its applicability with owner for a practical and achievable follow up before reporting. A professional pTester will go beyond further. Before engagement Understand what is the target of evaluation Advise owner the risk of doing automated scan rather than blindly perform the scan because others say so Agree on approach of execution to set expectation Agree on picking representable samples to manage resources (for both sides) Determine where to place the scanner - before or behind any network perimeter Before execution Load scanner with updated signature and agree on types of test (brute force password attack? DoS test?) Validate target node is accessible ...
Read More

Threat Hunting

By cliangNo Comments
Suddenly, new market jargon "threat hunting" is spreading around under cybersecurity domain. It is a kind of proactive measure to uncover if your environment has already been penetrated and critical info are being exfiltrated. This kind of exercise is best executed by 3rd party periodically, because: If this is due to insider threat, it won't be surfaced In-house workforce might have assumption for certain things that won't go wrong Periodic check is for assurance because the threat hunting only spots situation at a particular point in time and its past, it cannot predict the future A more holistic approach is to augment this threat hunting exercise with workforce and business process strengthening to identify vulnerabilities for effective risk reduction....
Read More

Spam

By cliangNo Comments
Everything in the world is relative. For some, spam mails are annoying and try to filter them off the mailbox as spams usually associate with unsolicited sales or phishing attack. But for others, spam are considered as valuable resources. Honeypots are setup to collect spams, analyze and understand the trend, the TTP (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) of phishers in order to bring up awareness and counter-measures....
Read More

ROI

By cliangNo Comments
Return On Investment (ROI) is the typical approach to justify the spending to acquire asset. For the sample solar renewable energy illustrated, this is simple: One-off cost like equipment purchase & installation Recurring cost like maintenance, insurance, administrative (if trading to grid is involved) In a 5 or 10 years total cost model, how much energy charges could be saved, or how much revenue is generated if energy is sold back to the grid vs how much expense to paid. However, there are risks that might affect the net gain: Sufficiency of sun light intensity Weather condition at the location Physical security of equipment against theft or sabotage In cyber protection technology, stake holders normally expect cyber-security is the baseline and integrated with the asset. Adding extra cost won't be seen as ROI.  A slightly adjusted model is to calculate the avoidance cost of a single cyber-security incident vs investment.  Therefore, the justification is to be: If we invest $X, then we could avoid spending...
Read More

Network

By cliangNo Comments
Network exists in both physical and cyber worlds. Both have physical portion and content portion. Even in cyber perspective, both the physical media and the info exchange are required to protect but most focus is on the content part. If the adversary is able to access network equipment physically, then all those secured configuration will become insecure. Therefore, in any security assessment, physical aspect must not be forgotten....
Read More

Born or Made

By cliangNo Comments
Cybersecurity vulnerabilities are broadly categorized into 2 types: [a] Inherent weakness in the component, protocol (e.g. PLC, ftp) that is insecure by design [b] Improper deployment causes a secure component (e.g. FIPS-140-2 Level-4 certified crypto module) into insecure due to lack the required surrounding elements (likely broken business process or human negligence) Type [a] can be overcome at time of procurement to specify requirement. Type [b] can be identified via vulnerability assessment of the deployed solution in people, process and technology perspectives...
Read More

Direction

By cliangNo Comments
Establishing cyber directives (policies) is challenging. On one hand, the language must be chosen not too specific for flexibility but on contrary too loose will be difficult to enforce practically. The bottom line is to establish organization specific directive per its line of business based on commonly recognized best practices and industry regulations (e.g. CIP, PCIDSS, HIPAA, SOX, GDPR). Over time, regular review among stake holders is required to fine tune the language based on experience of adoption to address any limitations. And this regular review process shall also be specified in the directive itself as part of the compliance....
Read More

End of Road

By cliangNo Comments
In physical journey, there is always an end such as End of vacation, back to workRoad blocked by obstacle, detour or get back In cyber journey especially digital transformation, it is never-ending. The target is rolling, compliance to new regulations are demanding, expectations from stake holders are uplifting over time. You need to upkeep security protection against emerging threats even if your business or technologies deployed remain unchanged. New solutions or even new protections will bring new risks. Essentially, regular assessment is required the business environment, technologies deployed and threat landscape, and review how much risks are acceptable to run the business. After all there is never 100% secure system. ...
Read More

Dormant

By cliangNo Comments
Malware nowadays is getting sophisticated - has small footprint, evade sandbox & detection, determine platform to inject the applicable payload, some even change account password, disable all network interfaces to completely lock you out. Backup is one of the mitigation means for recovery of the pre-victim state at cost of losing certain application data. The challenge is that malware might have already existed in the previous state in dormant form and the backup carries it. What should best be done? In extreme case, no Internet and even standalone with communication, no removable media and all I/O ports sealed, zero-trust of any users with all system privileges locked down, application white-listed, use kiosk mode. Imagine you are working in an organization like this. You won't be working long as the business will soon cease in such environment. And after all, who should be appointed to maintain the system that this inevitably requires root privileges. This is a risk taking consideration....
Read More

Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)

By cliangNo Comments
As cyber attacks have already moved from network layer to application tier, DPI is a must to examine contents to detect malicious intention. Some technologies (like web proxy) even break the TLS for content inspection incurring cyber threats from user perspective that https is no longer trusted to be secure. In a corporate environment Privacy is not guaranteed via a blanket statement by consent to being monitored when start using the IT facilities, e.g. displayed in logon banner. As an user, check the site certificate if issued by site owner or another party to understand if traffic is being intercepted For network in public Usually connectivity is via WLANYou have no idea what is behind the infrastructure, whether it has been maniuplated for malicious intention. So, follow the OS platform recommended public network profile upon connection -- Don't allow your device being discovered -- Disable folder sharing -- Setup another web browser without login credential saved for general web surfing -- Never use insecure...
Read More