Archive for the ‘Threat Management’ Category

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Until mobile platforms get mature

January 29, 2011

After iPhone Tracker, its Android, which has been in the news for similar reasons – recording credit card or financial account numbers (or any numbers, in general). It’s nothing to do with iPhone or Andriod OS only…it’s the overall mobile platform, which needs to get mature before it can securely process financial transactions or store Confidential data.

While it’s evolving, there are several things we can do — to take advantage of mobile commerce and other opportunities created by mobile technologies – including writing secure code. Even though, in the past year or so, there has been so much focus on incorporating security in the SDLC process, only a small percentage of companies have implemented it as a formal program.

A general SDLC includes five phases: initiation, acquisition / development, implementation / assessment, operations / maintenance, and sunset (disposition). Each of the five phases includes a minimum set of security tasks needed to effectively incorporate security in the system development process. Including security early in the information SDLC will usually result in less expensive and more effective security than adding it to an operational system.

Posted in Communication, Privacy, Secure Coding, Threat Management, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Security Priorities for 2011

January 23, 2011

We all know our priorities for 2011 – protect Cloud, Social Networks, Mobile Devices, Critical Infrastructure. But this not uncommon…any device or environment that get more power or which we get dependent upon goes up in the hackers’ list and the fight starts. Before we start with 2011 list, we still have some carryover items from 2010 (Wikileaks, stuxnet, etc.) that we need to close ASAP. To make it easy for security professionals, Mathew has put together an enumerated list of top 10 security predictions for 2011 -

  1. Smaller Botnets Muscle Up
  2. DDoS Attacks Deny More With Less
  3. Smartphones Trigger Data Breaches
  4. Hacking Gets Industrialized — More Effective, Less Expensive
  5. Social Networks Feel More Pain
  6. Crimeware As A Service
  7. Specialized Malware Moves Past PCs And Servers
  8. Insider Attacks Still Unstoppable
  9. Government Security Gets A “Fraud Department”
  10. Cyber War Vs. Online Protests, Censorship, Political Attacks

Posted in Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Security, Metrics, Security Strategy, Threat Management | Leave a Comment »

Computer Takeover Alert!

January 20, 2011

Will this stop the multiplication of bots?

Online customers, he said, may not want their service provider to cut off their Internet access if their computer is infected. And they may balk at being forced to keep their computers free of botnets or infections.

But they may be amenable to having their Internet provider warn them of cyberattacks and help them clear the malicious software off their computers by providing instructions, patches or anti-virus programs.

They may even be willing to pay a small price each month for the service – in much the same way that telephone customers used to pay a minimal monthly charge to cover repairs.

Posted in Anti Virus, Cybersecurity, DDoS, Threat Management, Training / Awareness | Leave a Comment »

Side-Channel Attacks

January 9, 2011

The increase in processing and tranmission speeds have given birth to new attacks. Bill Synder discusses how time-sensitive global interactions are vulnerable to side-channel attacks, latency threats, and flash crashes.

Traditionally, applications that have latency requirements include: VoIP and interactive video conferencing, network gaming, high-performance computing, cloud computing, and automatic algorithmic trading. For example, one-way latency for VoIP telephony should generally not exceed 150 milliseconds (0.15 seconds) to enable good conversation quality, while interactive games typically require latencies between 100 and 1,000 milliseconds. However, the requirements for automated algorithmic trading are much more strict. A few extra milliseconds, or even a few extra microseconds, can enable trades to execute ahead of the competition, thereby increasing profits.

Posted in Application Security, DDoS, Threat Management | 1 Comment »

Researchers hack GSM mobile calls [again!]

January 5, 2011

This has been done in past. But now researchers seem to have overcome some of the issues (e.g., apply lookup to a real call). But is it that easy that anyone can do it….probably not -

How easy would it be to exploit the new hack? In short, not particularly easy. Creating a custom lookup table similar to Nohl’s would take months of work and any eavesdropper would still need to break into the handset in question.

Posted in Communication, Threat Management | Leave a Comment »

Geo Location Based DDoS Attacks

October 30, 2010

An interesting analysis of an old article on Geo Location based DDOS attack targeting Mobile Operators and why it isn’t as simple as it looks -

In order for a DDoS attack to succeed, you need a high volume of attack (‘zombie’) devices.

In a Geo Location DDoS you attack something which is at one geographic location, so zombie phones need to be at or around the target location.

This means that you need to persuade a lot of people to install the attacking app needs on their phones.

Posted in Anti Virus, Application Security, Threat Management | Leave a Comment »

Ban ‘sick’ PCs from the Internet

October 9, 2010

“a” solution to stop bots from multiplying but

The idea is not new. Many security experts have talked about quarantining infected computers. Research has shown that quarantining compromised computers on the top-50 networks showing signs of infection could eliminate half of all bots. Companies that run network access control (NAC) systems can restrict computers from connecting to their network if they don’t have up-to-date security software or do not meet other requirements.

Posted in Application Security, Threat Management, Vulnerability Analysis | Leave a Comment »

The Top Cyber Security Risks Report

September 26, 2010

HP recently published second edition of the annual Top Cyber Security Risks report containing in-depth analysis and attack data from TippingPoint DVLabs, vulnerability data from Qualys and additional analysis provided by the Internet Storm Center and SANS.

The report focuses on four key areas:
• Increased Consumerization of Enterprise Computing
• Prolonged and Persistent Targeting of Web Applications
• Increased Organization and Sophistication of Attackers
• The Unrelenting Presence of Legacy Threats

Posted in Anti Virus, Application Security, Information Security, Infrastructure Security, Metrics, Report / Paper, Threat Management, Vulnerability Analysis | Leave a Comment »

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