Cybersecurity Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 01-09-2023

To cyber-protect your personal and business data, make sure everyone at home and at work recognizes that they are a target. People who believe that hackers want to breach their computers and phones and that cyber criminals want to steal their data act differently than people who do not understand the true nature of the threat. Many businesses use security awareness programs to improve security related behaviors.

Article / Updated 10-19-2022

The General Data Protections Regulation (GDPR) is a ruling intended to protect the data of citizens within the European Union (EU). The GDPR was a move by The Council of the European Union, European Parliament, and European Commission to provide citizens with a greater level of control over their personal data. After several years of refining and debating, the regulation was officially approved by European Parliament on April 14, 2016. The EU then allowed a two-year transition period for organizations to reach compliance. As of May 25, 2018, the GDPR's heavy fines kicked in, to be levied against any business not meeting the guidelines. Who is affected by the GDPR? The GDPR has far-reaching implications for all citizens of the EU and businesses operating within the EU, regardless of physical location. If businesses hope to offer goods or services to citizens of the EU, they will be subject to the penalties imposed by the GDPR. In addition, any business that holds personal data of EU citizens can be held accountable under the GDPR. What sort of data falls under the GDPR? Name Photo Email address Social media posts Personal medical information IP addresses Bank details The GDPR covers any information that can be classified as personal details or that can be used to determine your identity. Parental consent is required to process any data relating to children ages 16 and under. The regulation specifies the entities impacted by the GDPR. The wording specifically includes data processors and data controllers. What does this mean? Information that is stored in a “cloud” or in a separate physical location is still subject to penalties. Regardless of who has determined how your information will be used and who actually uses it, fines can still be imposed for misuse if it concerns the data of EU citizens. Penalties for not complying with GDPR Businesses that fail to comply with GDPR are subject to fines. This can mean different things for businesses, depending on the level of infraction. On the high end, businesses may be required to pay up to 4 percent of their global turnover, or 20 million euros, whichever is highest. Companies may also be fined 2 percent for not taking appropriate measures to keep records in order. Ultimately, the fine depends on the nature of the infraction. Data breaches and the GDPR A data breach is any situation where an outside entity gains access to user data without the permission of the individual. Data breaches often involve the malicious use of data against users. If a data breach should occur, the GDPR specifies that companies must provide adequate notification. The affected company has 72 hours to notify the appropriate data protection agency and must inform affected individuals “without undue delay.” Uncertain politics and the GDPR In an uncertain political climate, many companies and citizens are concerned about how they will be affected by the GDPR given the undetermined nature of Brexit. Companies operating in the United Kingdom are encouraged to take measures to comply with the GDPR. Although these companies may not be subject to the GDPR, EUGDPR.org states that “The UK Government has indicated it will implement an equivalent or alternative legal mechanisms.” If you believe you will be operating in the UK but not in other EU countries, you are still encouraged to prepare for the GDPR as the UK is expected to follow suit with similar data protection legislation.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 10-19-2022

Some scams cyber-criminals use to target online shoppers seem to persist for years. This likely indicates that people are continuously falling prey to the scams, thereby encouraging criminals to keep using the same forms of trickery over and over. Look here to discover some straightforward tips on how to keep yourself — and your loved ones — safe when using the internet to shop, as well as how to avoid common cybersecurity mistakes.

Article / Updated 06-23-2022

Hackers use a variety of means to gain passwords. One of the most common ways for hackers to get access to your passwords is through social engineering, but they don’t stop there. Check out the following tools and vulnerabilities hackers exploit to grab your password. Keystroke logging One of the best techniques for capturing passwords is remote keystroke logging — the use of software or hardware to record keystrokes as they’re typed. Be careful with keystroke logging. Even with good intentions, monitoring employees raises various legal issues if it’s not done correctly. Discuss with your legal counsel what you’ll be doing, ask for her guidance, and get approval from upper management. Logging tools used by hackers With keystroke-logging tools, you can assess the log files of your application to see what passwords people are using: Keystroke-logging applications can be installed on the monitored computer. Check out Veriato's Cebral, as one example. Dozens of such tools are available online. Hardware-based tools fit between the keyboard and the computer or replace the keyboard. A keystroke-logging tool installed on a shared computer can capture the passwords of every user who logs in. Countermeasures against logging tools The best defense against the installation of keystroke-logging software on your systems is to use an antimalware program or a similar endpoint protection software that monitors the local host. It’s not foolproof but can help. As with physical keyloggers, you’ll need to inspect each system visually. The potential for hackers to install keystroke-logging software is another reason to ensure that your users aren’t downloading and installing random shareware or opening attachments in unsolicited emails. Consider locking down your desktops by setting the appropriate user rights through local or group security policy in Windows. Alternatively, you could use a commercial lockdown program, such as Fortres 101 for Windows or Deep Freeze Enterprise for Windows, Linux, and macOS X. A different technology that still falls into this category is Carbon Black’s “positive security” allow listing application, called Cb Protection, which allows you to configure which executables can be run on any given system. It’s intended to fight off advanced malware but could certainly be used in this situation. Weak password storage Many legacy and stand-alone applications — such as email, dial-up network connections, and accounting software — store passwords locally, which makes them vulnerable to password hacking. By performing a basic text search, you can find passwords stored in clear text on the local hard drives of machines. You can automate the process even further by using a program called FileLocator Pro. How hackers search for passwords You can try using your favorite text-searching utility — such as the Windows search function, findstr, or grep — to search for password or passwd on your computer's drives. You may be shocked to find what’s on your systems. Some programs even write passwords to disk or leave them stored in memory. Weak password storage is a criminal hacker’s dream. Head it off if you can. This doesn’t mean that you should immediately run off and start using a cloud-based password manager, however. As we’ve all seen over the years, those systems get hacked as well! Countermeasures against weak passwords The only reliable way to eliminate weak password storage is to use only applications that store passwords securely. This practice may not be practical, but it’s your only guarantee that your passwords are secure. Another option is to instruct users not to store their passwords when prompted. Before upgrading applications, contact your software vendor to see how it manages passwords, or search for a third-party solution. How hackers use network analyzers to crack passwords A network analyzer sniffs the packets traversing the network, which is what the bad guys do if they can gain control of a computer, tap into your wireless network, or gain physical network access to set up their network analyzer. If they gain physical access, they can look for a network jack on the wall and plug right in. Finding password vulnerabilities with network analyzers The image below shows how crystal-clear passwords can be through the eyes of a network analyzer. This shows how Cain & Abel can glean thousands of passwords going across the network in a matter of a couple of hours. As you can see in the left pane, these clear text password vulnerabilities can apply to FTP, web, Telnet, and more. (The actual usernames and passwords are blurred to protect them.) If traffic isn’t tunneled through some form of encrypted link (such as a virtual private network, Secure Shell, or Secure Sockets Layer), it’s vulnerable to attack. Cain & Abel is a password-cracking tool that also has network analysis capabilities. You can also use a regular network analyzer, such as the commercial products Omnipeek and CommView, as well as the free open-source program Wireshark. With a network analyzer, you can search for password traffic in various ways. To capture POP3 password traffic, for example, you can set up a filter and a trigger to search for the PASS command. When the network analyzer sees the PASS command in the packet, it captures that specific data. Network analyzers require you to capture data on a hub segment of your network or via a monitor/mirror/span port on a switch. Otherwise, you can’t see anyone else’s data traversing the network — just yours. Check your switch’s user guide to see whether it has a monitor or mirror port and for instructions on how to configure it. You can connect your network analyzer to a hub on the public side of your firewall. You’ll capture only those packets that are entering or leaving your network — not internal traffic. Countermeasures against network analyzers Here are some good defenses against network analyzer attacks: Use switches on your network, not hubs. Ethernet hubs are things of the past, but they are still used occasionally. If you must use hubs on network segments, a program like sniffdet for Unix/Linux-based systems and PromiscDetect for Windows can detect network cards in promiscuous mode (accepting all packets, whether they’re destined for the local machine or not). A network card in promiscuous mode signifies that a network analyzer may be running on the network. Make sure that unsupervised areas, such as an unoccupied lobby or training room, don’t have live network connections. An Ethernet port is all someone needs to gain access to your internal network. Don’t let anyone without a business need gain physical access to your switches or to the network connection on the public side of your firewall. With physical access, a hacker can connect to a switch monitor port or tap into the unswitched network segment outside the firewall and then capture packets. Switches don’t provide complete security because they’re vulnerable to ARP poisoning attacks. How hackers break weak BIOS passwords Most computer BIOS (basic input/output system) settings allow power-on passwords and/or setup passwords to protect the computer’s hardware settings that are stored in the CMOS chip. Here are some ways around these passwords: You usually can reset these passwords by unplugging the CMOS battery or by changing a jumper on the motherboard. Password-cracking utilities for BIOS passwords are available on the Internet and from computer manufacturers. If gaining access to the hard drive is your ultimate goal, you can remove the hard drive from the computer and install it in another one, and you’re good to go. This technique is a great way to prove that BIOS/power-on passwords are not effective countermeasures for lost or stolen laptops. Check cirt.net for a good list of default system passwords for various vendor equipment. Tons of variables exist for hacking and hacking countermeasures depending on your hardware setup. If you plan to hack your own BIOS passwords, check for information in your user manual, or refer to the BIOS password-hacking guide. If protecting the information on your hard drives is your ultimate goal, full (sometimes referred to as whole) disk is the best way to go. The good news is that newer computers (within the past five years or so) use a new type of BIOS called unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI), which is much more resilient to boot-level system cracking attempts. Still, a weak password may be all it takes for the system to be exploited. Weak passwords in limbo Bad guys often exploit user accounts that have just been created or reset by a network administrator or help desk. New accounts may need to be created for new employees or even for security testing purposes. Accounts may need to be reset if users forget their passwords or if the accounts have been locked out because of failed attempts. Password weaknesses in user account Here are some reasons why user accounts can be vulnerable: When user accounts are reset, they’re often assigned an easily cracked or widely-known password (such as the user’s name or the word password). The time between resetting the user account and changing the password is a prime opportunity for a break-in. Many systems have default accounts or unused accounts with weak passwords or no passwords at all. These accounts are prime targets. Countermeasures against passwords in limbo The best defenses against attacks on passwords in limbo are solid help-desk policies and procedures that prevent weak passwords from being available at any given time during the new-account-generation and password-reset processes. Following are perhaps the best ways to overcome this vulnerability: Require users to be on the phone with the help desk or to have a help-desk member perform the reset at the user’s desk. Require that the user immediately log in and change the password. If you need the ultimate in security, implement stronger authentication methods, such as challenge/response questions, smart cards, or digital certificates. Automate password reset functionality via self-service tools on your network so that users can manage most of their password problems without help from others.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-15-2022

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was designed to streamline data protection laws across Europe as well as provide for some consistency across the European Union (EU). Although it's been in place since May 2018, it still causes a lot of confusion. This cheat sheet answers some questions about a few major misunderstandings: Does the GDPR apply to non-EU organizations? Can non-EU organizations be fined for non-compliance? Do you need an Article 27 representative?

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-14-2022

Security awareness is much more complicated than just making users “aware.” Implementing an effective security awareness program means that you aren’t just providing information — rather, you’re specifically improving security related behaviors

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-01-2022

Penetration (pen) testing is used by many organizations to ensure that the security controls they put in place actually work. Pen testing and security are complicated topics and can be intimidating. This cheat sheet covers basic pen testing terminology you need to know, the most commonly used pen testing tools, and a list of commonly sought-after certifications in the field of pen testing.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-24-2022

Not all hacking is bad. It reveals security weaknesses or flaws in your computing setups. This Cheat Sheet provides you with quick references to tools and tips and alerts you to commonly hacked targets — information you need to make your security testing efforts easier.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 01-10-2022

So many computing resources have migrated to the cloud because of ease of use, accessibility, cost, maintainability, and getting your computing closer to your clients (edge computing). With all of these advantages comes additional responsibilities. Cloud service providers do provide some security for your applications and data, but you share responsibility with them. Primarily, those responsibilities include managing access to your cloud resources and maintaining the security of your applications. While it may seem that having responsibility for two things is not a lot of work, it’s quite a challenge. Following, are the essentials of cloud security.

Article / Updated 12-29-2021

One aim of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect on May 25, 2018, was to harmonize data protection laws across Europe — so its legal form is a regulation (an order that must be executed) as opposed to a directive (a result to achieve, though the means to achieve aren’t dictated). The GDPR is the successor to the European Union's (EU) Data Protection Directive 1995 (Directive 95/46/EC). Unlike a directive, when the EU enacts a regulation, it becomes national legislation in each EU member state, with member states having no opportunity to change it via national legislation. However, EU member states are permitted to make certain derogations (a fancy term for exemptions) from the GDPR (such as in the case of the need to uphold a country’s security), so data protection laws across Europe aren’t quite as harmonized as may have been desired by some of the legislators. Although EU member states cannot change the GDPR, each member state requires national legislation to accompany the GDPR, for two reasons: The GDPR needs to fit into the member state’s legal framework. National legislation is needed to choose from the exemptions permitted by the GDPR. At the time this article was written, all but three member states had passed national legislation to sit alongside the GDPR. So, you need to familiarize yourself with not only the GDPR but also the legislation that was implemented in the EU member state(s) in which your organization is established. Data protection laws Data protection laws exist to balance the rights of individuals to privacy and the ability of organizations to use data for the purposes of their business. Data protection laws provide important rights for data subjects and for the enforcement of such rights. This list describes a handful of additional points about these laws to keep in mind. Data protection laws: Protect data subjects: A data subject is an individual whose personal data is collected, held, and/or processed. Apply to organizations that control the processing of personal data (known as data controllers) and also organizations that process personal data under the instructions of data controllers (known as data processors): These include companies (both private and public), charities (not-for-profit, political, and so on), and associations (such as churches, sports clubs, and professional leagues, to name only a few). Apply throughout the world: The concept of privacy originated in the United States in the 1890s. Although the EU has been a front-runner in establishing the laws protecting data and sees itself as setting the gold standard of data protections laws, the vast majority of countries around the world have some form of data protection laws. Do not prevent organizations from using personal data: Organizations can legitimately use personal data to their benefit as long as they comply with applicable data protection laws. Every organization is likely to process some personal data — of its clients, employees, suppliers, prospects, and so on. Prevent common misuses of personal data: Organizations often fail to (a) put in place appropriate measures to keep personal data secure (b) inform the data subject at the point of data collection about what it is intending to do with the personal data and where necessary to obtain consent and (c) transfer personal data to third parties without the knowledge of the data subject. Data protection laws generally prevent these common misuses. Countries hold to varying degrees of regulation and enforcement and some countries don’t have any data protection laws. The following table rates the strength of various countries’ efforts to protect data. Regulation/Enforcement Strength of Data Protection Laws Worldwide Type of Regulation/Enforcement Countries Tough Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea Strong Argentina, China, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Monaco, Morocco, New Zealand Light Angola, Belarus, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ghana, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia/UAE, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine Limited Honduras, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Panama, Thailand, Uruguay The 10 most important obligations of the GDPR The obligations I refer to in this section’s heading are the ten most important actions you need to take to comply with the GDPR; I’ve only summarized these obligations in the following list because I discuss them further throughout this book: Prepare a data inventory to map your data flows so that you can understand exactly what personal data you’re processing and what you’re doing with it. Work out the lawful grounds for processing each type of personal data for each purpose for which you’re processing it. Ensure that your data security strategy is robust and that you have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk of a data breach or other security incident. Ensure that an appropriate safeguard is in place whenever you transfer personal data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Update your Privacy Notice to ensure that you’re being transparent about the means and purposes of your data-processing. Update your Cookie Policy to ensure that you aren’t relying on implied consent, that browsers of your website are taking affirmative action to consent to non-essential cookies being used, and that the cookies are fired only after consent is obtained. Ensure that your staff are appropriately trained in relevant areas of the GDPR. Ensure that you have reviewed the grounds on which you process employee data, and issue a revised employee privacy notice where necessary. Determine whether you need to appoint a data protection officer (DPO). If you do, take the necessary steps to hire a suitable candidate. Review all of your processor and subprocessor arrangements and ensure that appropriate contracts are in place. Ensure that the data processors (and subprocessors) are compliant with the GDPR and that they have adequate security in place to protect the personal data. The consequences of non-compliance Think of this as a description of not only the consequences you face if you aren’t compliant with the GDPR but also the reasons you should care about being compliant. Increased fines and sanctions The GDPR has introduced significant increases in the maximum fines for breaches of its requirements. Under the GDPR, the fine for certain breaches of the GDPR have been increased to 20 million euros (about $24 million USD) or 4 percent of global turnover for the past financial year, whichever is higher. For “lesser” breaches, the maximum fines have increased to 10 million euros (about $12 million USD) or 2 percent of global turnover for the past financial year, whichever is higher. This significant increase in fines indicates the increasing importance of data protection within the EU as the value of personal data increases and the processing becomes even more sophisticated. This is not to say that you will be fined these amounts for any infringements of the GDPR. You would have to do something that significantly impacts on the rights and freedoms of a large number of data subjects to incur a maximum fine. Supervisory authorities are the regulatory authorities (often known as data protection authorities) within individual EU member states that are responsible for the enforcement of the GDPR. Civil claims Data subjects can now bring civil claims against data controllers for infringements of their data subject rights. So, if, for example, you don’t respond appropriately to a data subject right request (namely where the data subject can request details of the personal data you process for that data subject) or if you experience a data breach that affects the data subject’s personal data, you could find yourself on the receiving end of a civil claim. As you may have noticed in recent high-profile data breaches, such as the British Airways data breach in 2019, data protection lawyers are placing advertisements encouraging victims of data breaches to join group actions against the data controller. A civil claim against you would not only damage your reputation further but would also cost a significant amount of time and money to defend the claim. Data subject complaints The general public is much savvier about their data protection rights than they used to be, for these reasons: The introduction of the GDPR garnered a lot of publicity due to the increased sanctions. Supervisory authorities ran various awareness campaigns to ensure that data subjects were aware of their rights. Certain high-profile cases, such as the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica cases (where personal data was misused for political profiling), and the British Airways data breach case have received broad coverage in the media. This savviness has led to an increase in the number of complaints from data subjects whose personal data hasn’t been processed in accordance with the GDPR. Data subjects are lodging complaints both directly to the data controller and to supervisory authorities. The two situations require two different responses: If the data subject complains directly to you (the data controller): Although a complaint signals that an element of reputational damage has occurred, you have an opportunity to repair the relationship, which is particularly important if the data subject is a customer or a potential customer. If the data subject complains to the supervisory authority: Because the supervisory authority is bound to investigate that complaint, you might face more serious consequences. The supervisory authority will review all your data processing activities, policies and procedures in relation to that complaint. If it finds that the complaint is valid, the supervisory authority will use its corrective powers in relation to such complaints. These corrective powers include the ability to issue fines, to impose a temporary or definitive ban on the processing of personal data or to force you to respond to the data subject’s requests to exercise their rights. Brand damage When a data subject brings a claim against you, you risk not only sanctions from the relevant supervisory but also brand damage. A report by Axciom (a consulting firm providing marketers with data and technology assistance) entitled “Global data privacy: what the consumer really thinks” showed that individuals from around the world are, in the vast majority, quite concerned about how their personal data is used and protected. If you aren’t compliant with the GDPR, you’re showing your prospects, customers, and employees that you aren’t concerned about the protection of their personal data. Loss of trust If you don’t comply with the GDPR and, for example, you experience a data breach or don’t respond appropriately to data subject requests, you are likely to lose trust from your customers and prospects. When they don’t trust you, they don’t want to buy from you or otherwise do business with you. Similarly, when your employees don’t trust you, they no longer want to work for you. In unfortunate timing, British Airways sent an email to all of its customers to assure them that they could trust British Airways with their personal data. Just a couple of months later, British Airways suffered a large data breach that compromised the financial details of 185,000 customers, details that were sold on the dark web. As a result of this data breach, the share price of IAG (British Airways’ parent company) decreased by 5.8 percent (equivalent to a loss of £350m). In 2018, CompariTech carried out a report finding that, in the long term, organizations that have suffered data breaches financially underperformed. Be a market leader By embracing the GDPR and showing your customers, prospects, and employees that you care about the protection of their personal data, you gain a competitive advantage. Elizabeth Denham, the United Kingdom information commissioner, summed up this idea nicely: “Accountability encourages an upfront investment in privacy fundamentals, but it offers a payoff down the line, not just in better legal compliance, but a competitive edge. We believe there is a real opportunity for organisations to present themselves on the basis of how they respect the privacy of individuals and over time this can play more of a role in consumer choice.”