In this third and final part of our article series about risk factors, we will examine Human attack factors and Physical factors.
The previous article discussed different procedures and systems that could be invoked in order to mitigate risk. In subsequent parts we will examine areas at risk, starting with Electronic factors.
The aim of this type of initial risk analysis is to identify potentially vulnerable points that may be exploited if they are not sufficiently secured.
It seems obvious that the current certificate security model needs to be replaced by something that is less vulnerable for attacks from dedicated persons, organizations or governments.
Malware authors continue to pursue delivery mechanisms that can confuse different malware detection systems.
Coordinated efforts between experts/authorities against cybercriminals seem like the most efficient method for combating cybercriminals. Different experts and authorities are then able to focus on the part of the criminal chain that corresponds to their ability and expertise.
Since the cybercriminals seem to shift from randomly directed mass attacks to more focused attacks, the total volume of spam will decrease.
It is almost impossible to protect completely against a targeted cyberattack against an organization.
Even organizations, which presumably are more security conscious than most, have vulnerabilities that may be exploited by an attacker who has sufficient resources and determination at her disposal.
As one of the largest companies in the software industry, Microsoft's policy will influence the way vulnerabilities are handled.
Bots and botnets comprise one of the biggest threats to the Internet and its users. However, recent news report of a success story: beheading the spam botnet Rustock.
The RSA Conferences are among the most important annual security conferences. This year's US conference was held in San Francisco 14 - 18 February.
Advertisements (ads) on the web have become part of a multi-billion industry. These days it is almost impossible to read news on the web without being overwhelmed by a plethora of ads for everything from cars to diapers. However, it is presumably not optimal to display the car ads to children. Nor are most teenagers particularly interested in diapers.
A new report, “Reducing Systemic Cybersecurity Risk”, has received quite a lot of attention. The report is part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Project on “Future Global Shocks”, and addresses the question: "How far could cyber-related hazards be as devastating as events like large-scale pandemics and the 2007-10 banking crisis?"
We have previously advocated the view that endpoint security is just one of several tools needed to accomplish secure environments. This article will examine one particular threat against the Internet community and discuss how it may be overcome.
In a press release 25 October the Dutch High Tech Crime Team (THTC) of the National Crime Squad announced a successful takedown of a major botnet. 143 malicious computer servers were taken down from the internet resulting from collaboration with a Dutch hosting provider, the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI), the internet security company Fox IT and GOVCERT.NL and the Dutch computer emergency response team.
A message similar to the one in this article's title may seem like a nightmare for most of us, as we have become increasingly dependent - some even addicted - to using resources available on the Internet for necessary as well as trivial tasks.
Last week in our article "Ways to use botnets", we discussed among other issues, botnets for hire. One example we mentioned in our article was the company Aiplex Software, which was hired to try stop illegal distribution of copyrighted material.
This article will not go in depth with regard to how the different botnets function technically. We shall rather examine some of the ways botnets may be used, study one successful method used for fighting this threat, and finally discuss the idea of botnets used for benign purposes.
A few days ago the Australian House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Communications published its report on cyber crime and security. This document has the ambitious title "Hackers, Fraudsters and Botnets: Tackling the Problem of Cyber Crime", and is an impressive, almost 300 pages reading with statistics, examples, and of course suggestions on how to solve the cyber crime problem.
Domain names are a crucial part of the Internet's infrastructure. However, as we have shown in previous security articles, registration of special domain names may be used as an attack vector for spreading malware.
The RSA Conferences are among of the most important annual security conferences. This year's US conference was held in San Francisco 1 - 5 March. One of the speakers was Microsoft's Scott Charney, Corporate Vice President Trustworthy Computing. His speech covered several interesting topics, of which we will discuss one: the ability, usefulness and implications of treating infected computers in a similar manner as infected human beings.
A new report about security risks was published this week. This report - "The Top Cyber Security Risks" - is a joint effort from the security organizations TippingPoint, Qualys, and SANS. In this week's security article we shall discuss one particular issue in the report - patching software.
Nmap (Network Mapper) is perhaps the most famous and used hacker tool that exists. Since its introduction in autumn 1997, this tool written by the pseudonym Fyodor (real name Gordon Lyon), has helped numerous hackers gathering valuable information about their targets. This summer Nmap version 5 was released. According to Insecure.org, this is supposed to be "the most important Nmap release since 1997".
Security organizations of different types have notified about perils involved for individuals as well as corporations, and the public sector in using the Internet. Unfortunately these warnings have often not been recognized with the sincerity they deserve. President Obama's speech is therefore a welcomed acknowledgement from the highest political level.
ATLAS views computer attacks from a global perspective and helps users predict future network attacks. It does this by analyzing data gathered from a variety of sensors.
We have previously discussed the fact that national police may not be sufficiently equipped to fight ecrime in its various forms. One of the problems with fighting today's ecrime by national means is that ecrime is not bound by national borders.
Recently we have seen that some of the major players on "the dark side" of the Internet community have been removed from the Internet. Malicious activity dropped instantly - and by an amazingly significant quantity.
Experts - self-appointed and a few other - often claim that malicious software (malware) is the ultimate tool for terrorist groups. This Security Information will attempt to analyze this claim.
A honeypot can be loosely defined as a device that it meant to trick someone (or somewhat) to use it and thereby trick that person to perform a specific action with the honeypot instead of the real thing. Honeypots of different kinds are widely used as a security device in computer security.
If we have to believe Jasim Saleh Al-Azzawi, his latest invention will put us all out of business. He has ‘invented’ a harddisk with additional features making past, present and future viruses harmless.
How does the user know that their security application, say their antivirus product, works and that the appropriate actions are taken by the antivirus product? An ‘easy’ but less secure and non-advisable way is to send yourself a virus by email or to launch it on your corporate network.
Security Information Week 19, 2006
On 10 April, IBM announced that it will bring mainframe inspired security to the world of consumer products, medical devices, defense systems and digital media. The technology, named "SecureBlue" can be applied to a variety of imaginable equipment that contains valuable confidential or private information as mobile phones, PDA’s, PC’s, notebooks, etc.
On 5 April 2006, Apple has released a beta version called “Boot Camp" that enables the Intel-based Macintosh machines to install Windows XP.
Investigating teams mayoperate and act much faster if they are allowed to put technical aids in the computer of suspects.
In the aftermath of the publishing of The Prophet Mohammad cartoons, hacking of web sites has become a more frequent activity. Certain individuals and organizations, seem to believe that this is an appropriate tool for promoting their views.
There are several securities issues involved in using the Internet for conducting corporate business, as well as issues involved in protecting individuals for misuse of their personal information. This article will discuss some of those
Summer, sun and sweet sins are something that most people associate with happiness and innocent fun. But the thieves do not go on vacation! And there are plenty of sinners under the sun.
Industrial espionage is just as frequent during summertime as it is in other parts of the year. It can be done by unfaithful workers, former employees or external persons who want to steal or destroy information. It is not always easy to be protected from these intruders and regular tools like firewall, antivirus programs and ad-aware are not always sufficient.
Wireless networks (WLAN) are getting more and more popular among both private users and larger corporations. Not everybody is aware of the potential dangers that can happen if one does not make the necessary security steps.
Here are some general information about the Sasser worm - Frequently Asked Questions, and their answers.
Today, most organizations will claim that their data is adequately secured. Normally they will have implemented systems to detect illegal access to their networks, as well as antivirus solutions, back-up routines and firewalls.
Security Information Week 38, 1999 Our weekly security information for week 12 points to different places where security information is available. One kind of such places ...
Security Information Week 14, 1999Many organizations, especially smaller ones do not have a specified security policy. This may cause several different problems, among those that ...
Security Information Week 6, 1999All the time reports are published about famous and not-so-famous organizations which have had their networks and computers compromized by crackers. ...
Security Information Week 50, 1999IntroductionDuring the latest months viruses have been using e-mail clients to spread themselves. The most famous one is of course W97M/Melissa.A ...
Security Information Week 43, 1999During the last weeks different security issues which involves Internet Explorer version 5 has been discovered. These have to do with ...
Security Information Week 18, 1999Some time ago the long-awaited Service pack 4 to Windows NT version 4.0 was released. Last week Microsoft surprisingly released another ...
Security Information Week 22, 1999 The need to secure information is for many organizations and persons extremely important. This includes of course business secrets, which could ...
Security Information Week 12, 1999 On the Internet there are several sites which offer very good security information. The different sites are of two kinds: Security sites ...
Security Information Week 10, 1999A person who is interested in breaking in to an organization's computers wants to know as much about these computers as ...
Security Information Week 40, 2002IntroductionOne of the ongoing discussions regarding security is about informing the public about new security risks. The two extremes are on ...
Security Information Week 26, 2000SANS Institute's web site is one of the most useful resources to visit/use for those interested in computer security issues.One of ...
Security Information Week 6, 2000During the first days of this week several high-profile web sites fell victim of what seems to be Denial of Service ...
Security Information Week 4, 2000The high frequency of updates to antivirus packages - weekly or even more often - has come about partly as a ...
