Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.

Question 1

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

What is it about (Introduction)?

Answer 1

• Security must be top organizational priority.
• Majority of security breaches can be prevented.
• Firms suffering a security breach can experience direct financial loss, exposed proprietary information, fines, legal payouts, court costs, damaged reputations, plummeting stock prices, and more.
• Information security isn’t just a technology problem; a host of personnel and procedural factors can create and amplify a firm’s vulnerability.

Question 2

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

Why is this Happening?

Answer 2

• Reasons:
  o Corporation have a lot data
  o Small employees also access to critical data

Question 3

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

What are Data Harvesters ?

Answer 3

• Data Harvesters: steal data

Question 4

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

What are Cash-out fraudsters?

Answer 4

buy from harvesters stolen credit cards to buy goods

Question 5

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

What are botnets?

Answer 5

• Botnets:
  o networks of infiltrated and compromised machines controlled centrally (up to 10 million computer)
  o sending spam
  o launching distributed denial of Services (DDoS):
   overloading websites with requests  shutdown

Question 6

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

What is Cyberwarfare?

Answer 6

• Cyberwarfare: attack by terrorist or foreign power with devastating disruptions

Question 7

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

What is a White hat hacker?

Answer 7

o White hat hacker:  good guys, probe for weaknesses

Question 8

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

What is a Black hat hacker?

Answer 8

o Black hat hacker  bad guys

Question 9

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

What is a Hacktivists?

Answer 9

o Hacktivists  hacking as protest measure

Question 10

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

User and Administrator Threats: What are Bad Apples?

Answer 10

• Bad Apples:
  o 70% security incidents involve insiders
  o Temporary work contracts and outsourcing increases risk

Question 11

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

User and Administrator Threats: What is Social Engineering:?

Answer 11

• Social Engineering:
  o Tricking employees into revealing information or performing tasks
  o With access to personal info (LinkedIn), much easier to trick

Question 12

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

User and Administrator Threats: What is Phishing?

Answer 12

• Phishing:
  o Leverage the reputation of firm or friend to trick victim in downloading malware
  o Mails masqueraded as security alert or message from employer

Question 13

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

User and Administrator Threats: What is the deal with Passwords?

Answer 13

• Passwords:
  o Typical webuser has 6,5 passwords
  o Security questions (where is your mom born) can be guessed
  o Alternatives
   Biometrics (fingerprints)
   2x authentication

Question 14

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

Technology Threats: What is Malware?

Answer 14

• Malware
  o Malicious software seeks to compromise a computing system without permission
  o Common via phishing, infected USB drives
  o Adobe and Microsoft primary means by which hackers try to infect

o Methods of infection:
 Virus: programs that infect software or files, require executable (running programm)
 Worms: Similar, but don’t need executable (scan and install themselves)
 Trojans: masqueraded, tricking user to download or install something

Question 15

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

Technology Threats: What are the goals of Malware?

Answer 15

o Goals of Malware:
 Botnets / Zombie Networks
 Malicious adware: unwanted advertisement
 Spyware: monitoring screens, actions and files
 Keylogger: type of spyware recoding user keystrokes
 Screen capture: software recording the pixel appearing on a user’s screen
 Blended Threats: Attacks combining multiple malware

Question 16

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

Technology Threats: What are Compromising Web Sites?

Answer 16

• Compromising Web Sites
  o Exploits directly target poorly designed and programmed web sites
  o Directing customers to other websites, monitoring personal data, deleting data
  o SQL Injection
   Method used to give commands what the website has to do
   Fastest growing security thread
   Poorly designed websites can be easily injected

Question 17

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

Technology Threats: What are Encryptions?

Answer 17

• Encryption
  o Scrambling data to make it unreadable
  o Key: needed to unscrample
  o When implemented correct  encryption = rock solid vault
  o Sensible data should be encrypted before sending or storing  lowers risk dramatically
  o VPN Software: Used to minimize risk of public wireless connections by making passed through data unreadable
  o Key Management is essential

Question 18

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

How can user take action?

Answer 18

Taking Action as a User
* Surf smart: don’t use public machine when accessing sensitive data
* Stay vigilant: Don’t fall for con artists on the phone an social engineering techniques
* Stay updated: update software
* Stay armed: like taking your car for oil change, you should regularly check your safety and security measures
* Be settings smart: Use VPN, don’t turn on risky settings
* Be password savvy: change password on any new device you instal
* Be disposal smart: Shred personal documents and wipe hard drives when disposing

Question 19

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

How can Organisation take action?

Answer 19

Taking Action as an Organization
Frameworks, Standards, Compliance
* ISO Framework: used for standards of an information security management system
* Compliance Requirements
o Legal of professionally binding steps must be taken
o Different for certain industries: “HIPAA”  regulating health data
o Compliance does not equal security: just seeing it as necessary evil, but security doesn’t stop there

Question 20

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

How can Organisation take action: Education, Audit and enfoirment?

Answer 20

Education, Audit and Enforcement
* Antivirus software does not keep a company safe alone  education needed
* Employees need to be training on firms policies face penalties in case the fail to meet obligations
* Auditing the real time use of IT is essential to keep an overview

Question 21

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

How can Organisation take action: What Needs to Be Protected and How much Is Enough?

Answer 21

What Needs to Be Protected and How much Is Enough?
* Most firms don’t know what they need to protect and where valuables are kept
* Inventory style auditing and risk assessment is crucial for information security
* Security must be dealt with as an economic problem

Question 22

(Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway – Gallaugher J.)

How can Organisation take action: What is Technology’s Role?

Answer 22

Technology’s Role

Patches: Pay attention to patches to plug existing holes in software’s
* Lock down hardware methods:
o Issue standard system throughout a company to ensure safety
o Preventing wifi use or requiring VPN use
o All data is stored in the cloud but not on the hardware
* Firewalls: blocking certain type of access to a network
* Intrusion detection systems: look for unauthorized behaviour
* Honeypots: meant to distract attackers and used to identify attackers
* Blacklists: denying entry of specific IP addresses
* Whitelists: only access to certain sites
* Lock down partners: insists partner firms (e.g. within supply chain) to use same security standard
* Lock down systems: security team muss constantly scan exploits for all firm’s partners
* Audit trails: Recording, monitoring and auditing access allows firms to hunt for patterns of abuse
* Failure and recovery plans: what needs to be done when data got stolen