Our team is putting together some blog posts and other content on social media policies and compliance. Can you please help us with our research work by spending just 3 minutes to complete the following quick 3 question poll?
Thanks, in advance, for your insights. We will be publishing the results of the poll, along with our other content in the coming weeks. Thanks again for your kindness!
I wanted to take a few moments to talk about 3 quick wins you can do to help better deal with the threats of BYOD. While much has been said about products and services that are emerging around this space, I wanted to tack back to 3 quick basics that can really help, especially in small and mid-size organizations.
1. Get them off the production networks – an easy and often cheap quick win is to stand up a wireless network or networks that are completely (logically and physically) separated from your production networks. Just giving folks an easy and secure way to use their devices at the office may be enough to get keep them off of your production networks. Back this up with a policy and re-issue reminders periodically about the “guest network”. Use best practices for security around the wifi and egress, and you get a quick and dirty win. In our experience, this has reduced the BYOD traffic on production segments by around 90% within 30 days. The networks have been built using consumer grade equipment in a few hours and with less than $500.00 in hardware.
2. Teach people about mobile device security – I know, awareness is hard and often doesn’t produce. But, it is worth it in this case. Explain to them the risks, threats and issues with business data on non-company owned devices. Teach them what you expect of them, and have a policy that backs it up. Create a poster-child punishment if needed, and you will see the risks drop for some time. Keep at it and it just might make a difference. Switch your media periodically – don’t be afraid to leverage video, audio, posters, articles and emails. Keep it in their face and you will be amazed at what happens in short term bursts.
3. Use what you already have to your advantage – There are hundreds of vendor white papers and configuration guides out there and it is quite likely that some of the technologies that you already have in place (network gear, AD Group Policy Objects, your DHCP & DNS architectures, etc.) can be configured to increase their value to you when considering BYOD policies and processes. Quick Google searches turned up 100’s of Cisco, Microsoft, Aruba Networks, Ayaya, etc.) white papers and slide decks. Talk to your vendors about leveraging the stuff you already have in the server room to better help manage and secure BYOD implementations. You might save money, and more importantly, you might just save your sanity. 🙂
BYOD is a challenge for many organizations, but it is not the paradigm shift that the media and the hype cycle make it out to be. Go back to the basics, get them right, and make rational choices around prevention, detection and response. Focus on the quick wins if you lack a long term strategy or large budget. With the right approach through rapid victories, you can do your team proud!
We wanted to close out this series by pulling together some information for clients on the federal laws (US) surrounding computer intrusion and hacking. Here are some pointers for your consideration:
Internet crime is among the newest and most constantly evolving areas of American law. Although the Internet itself is more than three decades old, greater public usage began in the late 1980s with widespread adoption only following in the 1990s. During that decade the Net was transformed from its modest military and academic roots into a global economic tool, used daily by over 100 million Americans and generating upwards of $100 billion in domestic revenue annually. But as many aspects of business, social, political, and cultural life moved online, so did crime, creating new challenges for lawmakers and law enforcement.
Crime on the Net takes both old and new forms. The medium has facilitated such traditional offenses as fraud and child pornography. But it has also given rise to unique technological crimes, such as electronic intrusion in the form of hacking and computer viruses. High-speed Internet accounts helped fuel a proliferation of copyright infringement in software, music, and movie piracy. National security is also threatened by the Internet’s potential usefulness for terrorism. Taken together, these crimes have earned a new name: when FBI Director Louis J. Freeh addressed the U.S. Senate in 2000, he used the widely-accepted term “cybercrime.
The main hacking laws are in the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act passed in 1986 and has undergone several amendments.
Based on the history of hacking, computer problems caused as a result of hacking were continuously increasing and like recent times ethical hacking became unpopular because of the notoriety of black hats. What do you think? If these laws weren’t there, ha! Imagine what would have been happening. I like the efforts of the US government on hacking.
Hacking laws according to the US laws(Computer Fraud and Abuse Act) states,
Hacking Law 1
1.Whoever having knowingly accessed a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access, and by means of such conduct having obtained information that has been determined by the United States Government pursuant to an Executive order or statute to require protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national defense or foreign relations, or any restricted data, as defined in paragraph y of section 11 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, with reason to believe that such information so obtained could be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits, or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it;
Hacking Law 2
2.Intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains–
Information contained in a financial record of a financial institution, or of a card issuer as defined in section 1602(n) of title 15, or contained in a file of a consumer reporting agency on a consumer, as such terms are defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.);
B.Information from any department or agency of the United States; or
C. Information from any protected computer if the conduct involved an interstate or foreign communication;
Hacking law 3
3. Intentionally, without authorization to access any nonpublic computer of a department or agency of the United States, accesses such a computer of that department or agency that is exclusively for the use of the Government of the United States or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use, is used by or for the Government of the United States and such conduct affects that use by or for the Government of the United States;
hacking law 4
4 Knowingly and with intent to defraud, accesses a protected computer without authorization, or exceeds authorized access, and by means of such conduct furthers the intended fraud and obtains anything of value, unless the object of the fraud and the thing obtained consists only of the use of the computer and the value of such use is not more than $5,000 in any 1-year period;
A.Knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer;
B. Intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, recklessly causes damage; or
C. Intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, causes damage;
Reporting Cyber-Crimes:
Every day, criminals are invading countless homes and offices across the nation—not by breaking down windows and doors, but by breaking into laptops, personal computers, and wireless devices via hacks and bits of malicious code.
The collective impact is staggering. Billions of dollars are lost every year repairing systems hit by such attacks. Some take down vital systems, disrupting and sometimes disabling the work of hospitals, banks, and 9-1-1 services around the country.
Who is behind such attacks? It runs the gamut—from computer geeks looking for bragging rights…to businesses trying to gain an upper hand in the marketplace by hacking competitor websites, from rings of criminals wanting to steal your personal information and sell it on black markets…to spies and terrorists looking to rob our nation of vital information or launch cyber strikes.
Today, these computer intrusion cases—counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal—are the paramount priorities of our cyber program because of their potential relationship to national security.
Combating the threat. In recent years, we’ve built a whole new set of technological and investigative capabilities and partnerships—so we’re as comfortable chasing outlaws in cyberspace as we are down back alleys and across continents. That includes:
A Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters “to address cyber crime in a coordinated and cohesive manner”;
Specially trained cyber squads at FBI headquarters and in each of our 56 field offices, staffed with “agents and analysts who protect against investigate computer intrusions, theft of intellectual property and personal information, child pornography and exploitation, and online fraud”;
New Cyber Action Teams that “travel around the world on a moment’s notice to assist in computer intrusion cases” and that “gather vital intelligence that helps us identify the cyber crimes that are most dangerous to our national security and to our economy;”
Our 93 Computer Crimes Task Forces nationwide that “combine state-of-the-art technology and the resources of our federal, state, and local counterparts”;
A growing partnership with other federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and others—which share similar concerns and resolve in combating cyber crime.
How to Report Computer Hackers
Many computer users fall prey to hackers and the crimes they perpetrate on unsuspecting individuals and companies. If a crime occurs in your home or business, it’s not difficult to report the computer hacker.
Determine which agency has jurisdiction over the crime. This will depend upon whether the crime was committed at your home or at your business, and the address of that particular location. If you live within city limits, the proper agency will generally be a police department in your town. If you live outside the city limits, within the county, contact your local sheriff’s office.
Call the non-emergency phone number for your local police department or sheriff’s office to report the crime. Ask to speak with someone in the detective’s division about an Internet crime.
Reporting Computer Hacking, Fraud and Other Internet-Related Crime
The primary federal law enforcement agencies that investigate domestic crime on the Internet include: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Secret Service, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) , the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) . Each of these agencies has offices conveniently located in every state to which crimes may be reported. Contact information regarding these local offices may be found in local telephone directories. In general, federal crime may be reported to the local office of an appropriate law enforcement agency by a telephone call and by requesting the “Duty Complaint Agent.”
Each law enforcement agency also has a headquarters (HQ) in Washington, D.C., which has agents who specialize in particular areas. For example, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service both have headquarters-based specialists in computer intrusion (i.e., computer hacker) cases.
We are often asked for specific details of the legal issues surrounding hacking, computer intrusion and other criminal acts around infosec. Specifically, many of our Ohio clients ask for specific pointers. As such, similarly to what we did a couple of weeks ago with regard to child pornography, here is some vital information about the topic.
Computer hacking in Ohio falls under unauthorized use of property. Generally this is a misdemeanor of the 4th degree. If the hacking is for the purpose of obtaining property or services and the loss is under $1000 it is a 1st degree misdemeanor. Losses between $1,000-$7,500 it is a 5th degree felony, between $7,500-$150,000 it is a 4th degree felony and over $150,000 it is a 3rd degree felony. If the victim is elderly or disabled, then computer hacking is automatically at least a 5th degree felony, depending on the circumstances.
This information is directly from the Ohio state government website and should be the most up to date info available.
Statute 2909.04 also has a section on computer intrusion and hacking, prohibiting the aforementioned activities in so far as they may interfere with the ability of public services or emergency response.
This information was obtained here.
To report instances of computer intrusion in Ohio, citizens are directed to contact their local law enforcement/sheriff’s office. In addition, citizens and organizations should also consider notifying the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as federal laws are also likely to apply. You can contact the FBI directly through a variety of methods detailed here.
(NOTE: MSI is not providing legal advice of any kind, consult your attorney or council for legal advice. This material is simply meant to be a pointer for education. MSI is NOT qualified to offer legal advice under any circumstance.)
As a follow up to my last couple of weeks posting around Tor and the research I am doing within the Tor network, I presented at the Central Ohio ISSA Security Summit around the topic of Tor Hidden Services. The audience asked some great questions, and today I wanted to post some links for folks to explore the Tor network on their own in as safe a manner as possible.
The following is a set of links for gaining access to the Tor network and a couple of links to get people started exploring Tor Hidden Services. (Note: Be careful out there, remember, this is the ghetto of the Internet and your paranoia may vary…)
Once you get into the Tor network, here are a couple of hidden service URLs to get you started:
http://kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion – Original hidden wiki site
http://3g2upl4pq6kufc4m.onion/ – Duck Duck Go search engine
http://kbhpodhnfxl3clb4.onion – “Tor Search” search engine
As always, thanks for reading and stay safe out there!
At MSI, we know security doesn’t exist for its own sake. The world cares about business and so do we. While our professional and managed service offerings easily empower lines of business to work with data more safely, we also offer some very specific business process focused security services.
Attackers and criminals go where the money is. They aren’t just aiming to steal your data for no reason, they want it because it has value. As such, we have tailored a specific set of security services around the areas where valuable data tends to congregate and the parts of the business we see the bad guys focus on most.
Lastly, we have also found several areas where the experienced eyes of security experts can lend extra value to the business. Sometimes you can truly benefit from a “hacker’s eye view” of things and where it’s a fit, we have extended our insights to empower your business.
Here are some of the business focused offerings MSI has developed:
MSI knows that your business needs security around the most critical data and the places where bad guys can harm you the worst. We’ve built a wide variety of customized security solutions and offerings to help organizations harden, monitor and protect the most targeted areas of their organization. At MSI, we know that information security means business and with our focused security offerings, we are leading the security community into a new age.
At a Glance Call Outs:
Variety of business focused services
M&A offerings
Assessments of systems that move money
Fraud-based real world testing
Business partner & supply chain security
Executive protection
Key Differentiators:
Focused on the business, not the technology
Reporting across all levels of stakeholders
Specialized, customizable offerings
Capability to emulate & test emerging threats
Thought leading services across your business
The other day, I was discussing the idea that as the world moves more strongly toward chip and pin credit cards, that the levels of online credit card fraud were likely to skyrocket. Joel, the @SCADAHacker took me to task, and I thought I would share with you our conversation (with his permission, of course.) Here it is:
@lbhuston: Time to Get Moving on Chip and PIN? ow.ly/tvyZa <There are downsides to this too. It will help physical, but up online fraud.
@scadahacker: @lbhuston Please explain your reasoning on this and why it would be any different than current mag-based cards for online purchases. [sic]
@lbhuston: @SCADAhacker The threat won’t be different, but the criminals that now work physical card fraud will migrate their value stream to online.
@lbhuston: @SCADAhacker In other words, the crime rings powered by card fraud will simply compensate for the controls by switching fraud vector.
@lbhuston: @SCADAhacker This has been historically valid, & I think applies here. Most of those rings already have online fraud skills, they extend.
@lbhuston: @SCADAhacker Make sense? Sorry, hard in 120 char bursts. Sorry for the multiples. 🙂
@lbhuston: @SCADAhacker The really sad thing is that it is the best path forward. Chip cards work, for now. Also look for forgery to accelerate. 🙁
@scadahacker: @lbhuston Agree. Good point my friend!
From there, I went on to discuss another concern that I am focusing on at the moment, crypto currency.
@lbhuston: @SCADAhacker Sadly, another thing I am watching closely is the impacts of crypto currencies on old school political corruption. Few controls
@lbhuston: @SCADAhacker Many law enforcement & govt watchdog groups don’t have digital chops to even understand something like bitcoin. 🙁
@lbhuston: @SCADAhacker Here’s my derby talk from 2 years ago. bit.ly/QQ4Skq <The innovate crime 4 profit is why I follow a lot of this.
@scadahacker: @lbhuston Thanks bro!
As always, Joel and all of my readers are welcome. Thanks for reading what I have to say and for allowing me to voice my thoughts and concerns. If you don’t already follow Joel, you should, he is world class and in addition to being brilliant, is a heck of a nice guy, too. Reach out and Twitter and let me know what you think. Do you think card fraud is about to turn a corner? How will crypto currency influence the future political process? Am I just being paranoid? Give me a shout at @lbhuston and let me know what is on your mind.
PS – It looks like some of these ideas are being thought about around the world. Here are some other folks thinking along the same lines. Click here, here, here or here.
Just a quick note to remind you that it’s a good time to check your coverage schedule for the holidays. With so many events and vacations, make sure you know who is available to cover important tasks and who can handle security incidents during this busy time.
Many incidents occur during the holiday period, so make sure you have a plan for handing them when you are rushed, short staffed and on the run.
We hope you have a safe and joyous holiday season. MicroSolved is here if you need us, so never hesitate to give us a call or drop us a line.
Given that so many firms will spend the end of the year issuing their opinions and predictions for next year, we thought we’d go against the grain, so to speak, and instead ASK YOU what you want the next year to bring?
What do you hope the information security community accomplishes or changes in a major way next year?
What new services or changes to service offerings would you most like to see?
If you could wake up on the first morning of the new year and have a brand new security product on your door step, what would it do for you? How would you like it to operate? What do you most fantasize about accomplishing?
What projects would you like to see grow in 2014? What terms, techniques or technologies would you like to see left behind in 2013?
Drop us a line via Twitter (@microsolved or @lbhuston) or via our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/microsolved) and let us know what you dream about. We’ll work hard to see if we can make your holiday season wishes come true!
Whether it is budget preparation or annual project planning, the end of the year always leads us to think of the “big picture”. The touchdown task for this month is to review your network architecture maps and diagrams. First of all, make sure they are up-to-date. But secondly, look for indications that your network might be too flat. That is, do you have proper network segmentation between all of your information resources? Are your firewalls placed properly throughout your environment?
A “flat” network architecture allows attackers who have gained a foothold on the internal (and sometimes even the external — you do have a layered DMZ, right?) network full visibility to internal systems and to move freely through workstation and server space.
If you see some re-architecting that should be done, make note of it now. Depending on the complexity of the work, either schedule the re-architecture for a slow period at the end of this year or create a work plan for 2014.
As always, thanks for reading and keep your eyes on the goal!