In several recent engagements, we came across some IoT (Internet of Things) devices within client networks. There’s a growing presence of these ubiquitous devices within corporate environments. They measure, they detect, they capture, they sense. Then they send the info to some app on your phone.

These devices make life easier. Safer. More convenient. Many times, just simply accessible when it was not possible before.

But there can be risks. I’ve always held the belief that security has an inverse relationship with accessibility. The more doors you have to enter a building, the more accessible it is to get inside. But with this accessibility to authorized persons with keys to the doors, likewise, the risk for a burglar to pick the locks to break in increases.
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For more than 20 years now, hackers and cyber-criminals have been breaking into computer systems and networks. And for just as long a period of time, manufacturers, networking folk and cyber-security personnel have been developing devices, controls and processes to prevent these people from getting in and raising havoc. The “bad guys” come up with new ways to compromise system security, and then the “good guys” come up with new ways to protect it. Back and forth, forth and back, back and forth… it never seems to stop!

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Several months ago, MSI was called for an incident response. The business was under a denial of service attack (DoS). They had no internet connectivity. They had no phone service. They were under attack.

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Over the past couple years we’ve encountered increasing numbers of customers using various print management vendors. Many that we have encountered are using the same application suite to manage the printers, and by default it has a blank admin password. In most of the instances we’ve observed this parameter has not been changed, or a strong password set. Likewise most of the managed printers also are not configured to use authentication or are using the default credentials.

When we encounter this one of the “benefits” this application affords us, due to the fact that it keeps a fairly detailed inventory with model number, is that it allows us to pinpoint areas of attack and compromise. Printers that we know have issues, or printers with functionality such as saving to network shares, SNMP etc. can be leveraged without doing activities that would be easily detectible on the network.

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Have you ever heard of the New York State Department of Financial Services regulation requiring financial services companies to adopt cybersecurity measures that “match relevant risks and keep pace with technological advancements” (23 NYCRR 500)? If you haven’t, you should take a look, even if you don’t do business in the State of New York. This regulation is having a snowball effect that is affecting financial institutions across the nation.

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Office 365 and G Suite MFA bypass

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) has been shown to be a critical control to prevent business email compromise (BEC) as well as compromise of other critical systems. Recently, some information came to light about attacks on Office 365 and G Suite applications that bypass the protection of MFA.

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In a previous blog on healthcare information access concerns, I had expressed concerns for internal origins for data breaches. Further research to help mitigate some of these concerns has led to an observation that many data breach incidents could be funneled to a few common origins. The intent for sharing below some of the more unusual or high profile cases is to drive home the point that it really does happen in real life. And passive awareness of regulatory controls are not enough; active exercising and use of in-place policies is necessary.

Be it intentional, malicious or accidental HIPAA information disclosure, information leak occurs. Continue reading →

In a previous post, we talked about compromised Office 365 (O365) mailboxes and how to identify IOC’s – indicators of compromise. Despite all of your best attempts, phishing is still the single most efficient way into most if not all organizations.

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