Ross Hughes | Dec. 2013

U.S. Department of Education

2013 FSA Training Conference for Financial Aid Professionals

Detecting, Protecting, Preventing, and Reporting Computer Breaches

Session # 41

http://www.safeinternetbanking.be/en

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Agenda

• Introduction – There is a problem

• Risk Identification – The risk to Networks/Data

• Risk Management – Source of the risk to Networks/Data

• Risk Mitigation – Preventing data loss

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Introduction

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You Have a Problem

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• You think that the data you store is worthless to another person therefore protecting it is not worth the effort

• The easiest data to steal is data that you don’t know is valuable

• The bad guys will come after the data the easiest way that they can get it

• You can never second guess the use of data by malicious parties

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

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There’s No Such Thing as Worthless Data•The bad guys gather seemingly worthless bits of data to launch social engineering attacks or use a small piece of information to complete the attack puzzle

Compromises Happen All of the Time•Even to companies who take security seriously•Even to companies who do everything reasonable

It may not be YOUR data but it is YOUR responsibility to protect it

Systems Hacked

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October 17, 2013

California State University Sacramento

EDU HACK 1,800

In August, Sacramento State University was notified that a computer server had been hacked. It contained the Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, and other personal information of staff members. The cause and extent of the breach were determined in late September and staff members were notified in mid-October.

https://www.privacyrights.org/data-breach/new

It’s Not Just IT’s Problem

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• YOU assume the risk for the loss of data

• IT protects the data to the identified risk level

• Data protection, breach prevention MUST be a joint operation for success

Breach Scenario

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Virus Infection

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March 16, 2013

Salem State University EDU HACK 25,000

A server was found to be infected with a virus.  The University computer contained information related to paychecks distributed by the University.  Current and former employees who may have been students or staff may have been affected.

There is a Cost for a Compromise

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Risk Identification

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Risk

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Vulnerability

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• A weakness of an asset or group of assets that can be exploited by one or more threats which reduces a system's information assurance

• The intersection of three elements: a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw

• Vulnerabilities and threats together result in risks to the organization that need to be mitigated

Threat

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• A possible danger that might exploit a vulnerability to breach security and thus cause possible harm

• A threat can be either “intentional” (e.g., an individual hacker or a criminal organization) or “accidental" (e.g., a computer malfunction)

• Threats take advantage of your vulnerabilities

Vulnerable Software

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July 30, 2013

University of DelawareNewark, Delaware

EDU HACK 74,000

Students and staff members may have had their information exposed during a hacking incident. The hacker or hackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in software acquired by a vendor. Names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and university ID numbers were exposed.

UPDATE (08/19/2013): An additional 2,000 people were affected. They were not employees but had received payment from the University of Delaware.

Who are the Victims

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• 37% of breaches affected financial organizations

• 24% of breaches occurred in retail and restaurants

• 20% of network intrusions involved manufacturing, transportation, and

utilities

• 20% of network intrusions hit information and professional services firms

• 38% of breaches impacted larger organizations

• 27 countries affected

Who Perpetrated the Breaches

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Middle School Phishing

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May 3, 2013

Schoenbar Middle SchoolKetchikan, Alaska

EDU HACK Unknown

A ring of middle school students were able to gain access to and control of more than 300 computers by phishing for teacher administrative codes.  At least 18 students were involved.  The breach happened when students used software to imitate a legitimate software update on their computers.  The students then asked teachers to enter administrative account information so that they could complete the software updates or installations.  The phony software then stored teacher credentials.  The students were then able to control 300 laptops belonging to other students by using the administrative credentials.  The school believes that servers and sensitive information were not exposed.  

How Do Breaches Occur

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• 52% some form of hacking

• 76% network intrusions exploited weak or stolen credentials

• 40% incorporated malware

• 35% involved physical attacks

• 29% leveraged social tactics

• 13% resulted from privilege misuse and abuse

Password cracking by security experts:Six characters: 12 secondsSeven characters: 5 minutesEight characters: 4 hours

New Threats

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Risk Management

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What is at Risk?

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Risk Management of Networks

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• There is no one set of best security practices that can be applied across all educational institutions

• Any attempt to enforce a one size fits all approach to security our assets may result in under-protection from targeted attacks while over-spending on defending against simpler opportunistic attacks

• Complex systems like FSA’s must deploy DEFENSE IN DEPTH

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FSA Risk Management of Networks

College and Universities – Network Targets

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• Current Student and Alumni Information

• Widely distributed networks• Admissions• Registrar’s Office• Student Assistance• College Book Store• Health Clinic

• Hackers seek diverse information

Hackers

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April 9, 2013

Kirkwood Community CollegeCedar Rapids, Iowa

EDU HACK 125,000

Hackers accessed Kirkwood Community College's website and applicant database system on March 13.  Anyone who applied to a Kirkwood Campus may have had their names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, race, and contact information exposed.  People who applied to take Kirkwood college-credit classes between February 25, 2005 and March 13, 2013 were affected.

Students (and Parents) Data at Risk

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• Facebook = share everything (Security questions?)

• Very mobile = laptop, iPhone, iPad everywhere

• Very trusting = limited password usage, write passwords down

• Not organized = often do not track credit cards, “junk” mail

• High debt = attractive to foreign actors

Breach Incidents (by Type and #)

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# incidents 78 51 46 40 39 8 6PII records breached 11,783,776 80,706,983 296,710 1,082,749 177,399 5,906 250,650Total records breached 13,632,310 80,925,917 315,737 2,257,796 211,899 5,906 255,219

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Social Media Hacks:

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October 19, 2012

The College of St. ScholasticaDuluth, MN

EDU HACK

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exposed)

Hackers were able to guess the answers to student account challenge questions. The email account passwords of at least 28 students were reset and their account information was most likely accessed. The hackers may have been based in Beijing and most likely gathered the information needed to pass the challenge questions from information on the students' Facebook pages.

Privacy: “The right to be left alone”

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• Types of privacy• Communications privacy• Physical privacy• Locational privacy• Information privacy

• FSA is mostly concerned with “information privacy”—the right of the individual to control what information about them is released

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

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“PII is information that can be used to distinguish a person’s identity, e.g., name, social security number, biometric data, etc., alone, or when combined with other personal data, linked or linkable to a specific person, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc.”

•Some PII is always sensitive and requires a high level of protection because of the substantial harm to an individual that could occur if it were wrongfully disclosed

•The level of protection should reflect the sensitivity of the data – data that is determined by the owner to be of high value or that represents a high risk to the individual if it were wrongfully disclosed requires increased protection

OMB Memorandum M-07-16, Safeguarding Against and Responding to the Breach of Personally Identifiable Information, May 22, 2007

What Is A Privacy Breach

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A privacy breach occurs when PII is lost or stolen, or is disclosed or otherwise exposed to unauthorized people for unauthorized purposes.

• Includes PII in any format, and whether or not it is a suspected or confirmed loss

• Examples of PII breaches: •PII left on the printer or scanner •PII e-mailed without encryption or other protection •PII mailed to the wrong recipient •PII stored on a stolen laptop or thumb drive•PII posted to a public-facing website, etc.

Risk Mitigation

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WHAT YOU

CAN and SHOULD

DO

Establish Good Governance

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• Create policies and procedures for protecting sensitive data and enforce penalties for noncompliance

• Identify a privacy official and make sure privacy has a “seat at the table”

• Develop a training and awareness program

• Publish rules of behavior – Make users sign a “confidentiality contract”

• Have a breach response plan that includes roles, responsibilities, timeframes, call trees, alternates, etc.

• Know your inventory of HW, SW, and PII

• Do you know how much PII you have, where it is stored (USB drives, CD-ROMS, etc.), who touches it, and why

• Map out your business process flows - follow the PII

Implement Network Security

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• Do a self assessment, such as the HEISC inventory *

• Use strong passwords and change them often

• Ensure essential controls are met

• Collect, analyze, and share incident data

• Collect, analyze, and share tactical threat intelligence

• Emphasize prevention

• Ensure patches are current

• Focus on better and faster detection

• Utilize metrics to drive security practices

• Don’t underestimate the determination of your adversary

• Evaluate the threat landscape

* Higher Education information Security Council (HEISC)http://www.educause.edu

Reduce Your Data Exposure

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• Enforce a clean desk policy• Conduct PII “amnesty” days (shred paper PII/eliminate PII from local and

shared drives)• Protect data at the endpoints

• USB drives, paper, laptops, smartphones, printers

• Destroy your data securely• Do not keep records forever• Limit access to only those with a need to know

• Enforce role-based access, least privilege

• Practice breach prevention• Analyze breaches from other organizations• Learn from their mistakes• Adjust your policies and procedures accordingly

• Please - THINK before you post/send/tweet!

Tips to Safeguard PII

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Lost Laptop

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March 22, 2013

University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC)Jackson, MS

EDU PORT Unknown

A laptop used by UMMC clinicians was discovered missing on January 22. The password-protected laptop contained information from patients who entered the hospital between 2008 and 2013. Patient names, Social Security numbers, addresses, diagnoses, medications, treatments, dates of birth, and other personal information may have been exposed.

UPDATE (04/25/2013): The laptop may have been lost or stolen in November of 2012.

Teleworking Security

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Ideal Situation: Separate home office with door; Dedicated files/cabinets;GFE laptop, VPN/Citrix

Not-So-Ideal Scenarios: Home Computer; Kiosk; Firepass; Local Hard Drive/USB

•Non-government computers or portable storage devices (eg, a USB flash/thumb drive), should have ED-equivalent security controls (eg, antivirus/malware, full disk encryption, session lock, strong passwords)

•If possible, do NOT copy data from the VPN to your hard drive, or to a removable storage device - If you must copy data, make sure the data is encrypted

•Keep your computer in a secure location; do not leave it unattended/unsecured

•If you are teleworking from a public location, make sure no-one else can see what is on your computer screen (consider a privacy screen)

•Encrypt PII/sensitive data when emailing such data (e.g., WinZip encryption)

What Can I Personally Do

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• Only collect and use information that is absolutely necessary, and only share with those who absolutely need the information

• “Review and reduce”—inventory your PII and PII data flows, and look for ways to reduce PII

• Follow all Departmental policies and procedures

• Think before you hit the “send” button (E-mail is by far the #1 source of breaches)

• “Scramble, don’t gamble”—encrypt, encrypt, encrypt

• Minimize (or eliminate) the use of portable storage devices

• Protect PII on paper—enforce a clean desk policy, use secure shredding bins, locked cabinets, etc.

Summary

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• Never forget the network and data you connect to

• YOUR actions are critical for everyone’s continued security

• Follow all security policies and procedures• If you THINK something is wrong, call the help desk or

Security, DON’T HESITATE

Breach Investigations are costly and notjust in $$$$$

Contact

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Ross C. Hughes, CHS, CISA, CISM, CISSP, ECSA, IAM

FSA Cyber Security Manager

Office: (202) 377-3893   

Cell: (202) 480-6586

Fax: (202) 275-0907

Questions?

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