ISA 3200 NETWORK SECURITY Chapter 1: Introduction to Information Security

ISA 3200NETWORK SECURITY Chapter 1: Introduction to Information Security

Learning Objectives

ISA 3200---Summer 2010

Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to: Explain the relationship among the component parts of information

security, especially network security Define the key terms and critical concepts of information and

network security Describe the organizational roles of information and network

security professionals Understand the business need for information and network security Identify the threats posed to information and network security, as

well as the common attacks associated with those threats Differentiate threats to information within systems from attacks

against information within systems

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Introduction


Firewalls and network security are critical components in securing day-to-day operations of nearly every organization in business today

Before learning to plan, design, and implement firewalls and network security, it is important to understand the larger topic of information security and how these two components fit into it

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What Is Information Security?


Information security (InfoSec) is defined by standards published by CNSS as the protection of information and its critical elements, including the systems and hardware that use, store, and transmit that information

To protect information and related systems, organizations must implement policy, awareness training and education, and technology

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Figure 1-1Components of Information Security

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What is Information Security? (continued)


C.I.A. triangle consists of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability

List of characteristics has expanded over time, but these three remain central

Successful organization maintains multiple layers of security: Network security Physical security Personal security Operations security Communications security

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Critical Characteristics of Information


Availability enables authorized users to access information without interference or obstruction and to receive it in required format

Accuracy means information is free from error and has the value the end user expects

Authenticity is quality or state of being genuine or original, rather than reproduced or fabricated; information is authentic when it is what was originally created, placed, stored, or transferred

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Critical Characteristics of Information (continued)


Confidentiality is when information is protected from exposure to unauthorized entities

Integrity is when information remains whole, complete, and uncorrupted

Utility of information is quality or state of having value for some end purpose; information must be in a format meaningful to end user

Possession is ownership or control of some object or item; information is in one’s possession if one obtains it, independent of format or other characteristics

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Figure 1-2 The CIA Triad and the McCumber Cube


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Securing Components


When computer is subject of an attack, it is used as active tool to conduct attack

When computer is object of an attack, it is entity being attacked

Direct attack is when hacker uses a computer to break into a system

Indirect attack is when a system is compromised and used to attack other systems, such as a botnet or other distributed denial-of-service attack

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Figure 1-3 Computer as the Subject and Object of an Attack


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Balancing Information Access and Security


Information security cannot be an absolute; it is a process, not a goal

Information security should balance protection and availability

To achieve balance—to operate information system to satisfaction of users and security professionals—level of security must allow reasonable access, yet protect against threats

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Balancing Information Access and Security (continued)


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Business Needs First


Information security performs four important organizational functions:

Protects organization’s ability to function Enables safe operation of applications

implemented on organization’s IT systems Protects data the organization collects and

uses Safeguards technology assets in use at the

organization

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Security Professionals and the Organization


Chief Information Officer Senior technology officer Primarily responsible for advising senior

executive(s) for strategic planning Chief Information Security Officer

Individual primarily responsible for assessment, management, and implementation of securing information in the organization

May also be referred to as Manager for Security, Security Administrator, or a similar title

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Security Professionals and the Organization (continued)


Information security project team should consist of individuals experienced in one or more facets of vast array of technical and nontechnical areas:ChampionTeam leaderSecurity policy developersRisk assessment specialistsSecurity professionals System, network, and storage administratorsEnd users

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Data Ownership


Data owner: responsible for the security and use of a particular set of information

Data custodian: responsible for the storage, maintenance, and protection of the information

Data users: the end systems users who work with the information to perform their daily jobs supporting the mission of the organization

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Threats


Sun Tzu Wu: “If you know the enemy and know yourself,

you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

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Threats (continued)


To make sound decisions about information security, management must be informed about the various threats facing the organization, its people, applications, data, and information systems—that is, the enemy

In the context of information security, a threat is an object, person, or other entity that represents a constant danger to an asset

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Threats (continued)


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Human Error or Failure


Includes acts done without malicious intent Caused by: inexperience, improper training,

incorrect assumptions, and other circumstances

Employees are greatest threats to information security—closest to organizational data

Employee mistakes can easily lead to: Revelation of classified data Entry of erroneous data Accidental deletion or modification of data Storage of data in unprotected areas Failure to protect information

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Human Error or Failure (continued)

Many of these can be prevented with controls

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Figure 1-5 Human Error or Failure


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Compromises to Intellectual Property


Intellectual property is “the ownership of ideas and control over the tangible or virtual representation of those ideas”

Many organizations create intellectual property—trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, patents

Most common IP breach is software piracy (??) Watchdog organizations that investigate include:

Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) Business Software Alliance (BSA)

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Compromises to Intellectual Property (continued)

Copyright enforcement is attempted with technical security mechanisms and online registration

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Espionage or Trespass


Category of activities that breach confidentiality

Unauthorized accessing of information Competitive intelligence vs. espionage Shoulder surfing can occur any place a

person is accessing confidential information

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Espionage or Trespass (continued)

Controls are implemented to mark the boundaries of an organization’s virtual territory, giving notice to trespassers that they are encroaching on the organization’s cyberspace

Hackers use skill, guile, or fraud to steal the property of someone else

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Figure 1-6 Shoulder Surfing


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Figure 1-7 Hacker Profiles


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Generally two skill levels among hackers: Expert hacker

Develops software scripts and codes exploits Usually a master of many skills Often creates attack software to share with others

Unskilled hackers (script kiddies) Hackers of limited skill Use expert-written software to exploit a system Do not usually fully understand systems they hack

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Other terms for system rule breakers: Cracker: “cracks” or removes protection designed

to prevent unauthorized duplication Phreaker: hacks the public telephone network

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Information Extortion


Information extortion is an attacker or formerly trusted insider stealing information from a computer system and demanding compensation for its return or non-use

Extortion found in credit card number theft

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Sabotage or Vandalism


Individual or group who wants to deliberately sabotage operations of a computer system or business or perform acts of vandalism to either destroy an asset or damage image of the organization

Threats can range from petty vandalism to organized sabotage

Organizations rely on image so Web defacing can lead to dropping consumer confidence and sales

Rising threat of hacktivist or cyber-activist operations; most extreme version is cyber-terrorism

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Theft


Illegal taking of another’s property—physical, electronic, or intellectual

Value of information suffers when it is copied and taken away without the owner’s knowledge

Physical theft can be controlled—wide variety of measures used from locked doors to guards or alarm systems (enforcement: University policy on locking classrooms)

Electronic theft is more complex problem to manage and control; organizations may not even know it has occurred (Perfect copies)

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Software Attacks


When an individual or group designs software to attack systems, they create malicious code called malware

Designed to damage, destroy, or deny service to target systems (Allow others to use the resources)

Includes: Virus (macro virus or boot virus ) Worms Trojan horses Back door or trap door Polymorphic Virus and worm “hoaxes”

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Figure 1-8 Trojan Horse Attack


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Forces of Nature


Forces of nature, force majeure, or acts of God are dangerous because they are unexpected and can occur with very little warning

Can disrupt not only the lives of individuals, but also the storage, transmission, and use of information

Include fire, flood, earthquake, and lightning as well as electrostatic discharge

Since it is not possible to avoid many of these threats, management must implement controls to limit damage and also prepare contingency plans for continued operations

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Deviations in Quality of Service


Situations of product or services not delivered as expected

Information system depends on many inter-dependent support systems

Service issues that dramatically affect the availability of information and systems include: Internet service Communications service Power irregularities

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Internet Service Issues


Loss of Internet service can lead to considerable loss in availability of information since organizations have customer sales staff and telecommuters working at remote locations

When an organization outsources its Web servers, outsourcer assumes responsibility for all Internet services as well as for hardware and operating system software used to operate the Web site (problem of defining service parameters)

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Communications and Other Service Provider Issues


Other utility services have potential impact Among these are:

Telephone Water & wastewater Trash pickup Cable television Natural or propane gas Custodial services

The threat of loss of services can lead to inability to function properly

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Power Irregularities


Power irregularities are common and lead to fluctuations such as: Spike: momentary increase Surge: prolonged increase Sag: momentary low voltage Brownout: prolonged drop Fault: momentary loss of power Blackout: prolonged loss communication

infrastructure Electronic equipment is susceptible to fluctuations;

controls can be applied to manage power quality

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Hardware Failures or Errors


Technical hardware failures or errors occur when manufacturer distributes to users equipment containing flaws

These defects can cause system to perform outside of expected parameters, resulting in unreliable service or lack of availability

Some errors are terminal, in that they result in unrecoverable loss of equipment; some errors are intermittent, in that they only periodically manifest, resulting in faults that are not easily repeated

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Software Failures or Errors


This category of threats comes from purchasing software with unrevealed faults

Large quantities of computer code are written, debugged, published, and sold only to determine that not all bugs were resolved

Sometimes, unique combinations of certain software and hardware reveal new bugs

Sometimes, these items aren’t errors, but are purposeful shortcuts left by programmers for honest or dishonest reasons

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Obsolescence


When infrastructure becomes antiquated or outdated, it leads to unreliable and untrustworthy systems

Management must recognize that when technology becomes outdated, there is a risk of loss of data integrity to threats and attacks

Ideally, proper planning by management should prevent risks from technology obsolesce, but when obsolescence is identified, management must take action

Physical equipment wears out

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Attacks


An attack is a deliberate act that exploits vulnerability

Accomplished by threat agent to damage or steal organization’s information or physical asset Exploit is a technique to compromise a system Vulnerability is an identified weakness of a

controlled system whose controls are not present or are no longer effective

Attack is the use of an exploit to achieve the compromise of a controlled system

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Malicious Code


This kind of attack includes the execution of viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and active Web scripts with the intent to destroy or steal information

The state of the art in attacking systems is the multi-vector worm using up to six attack vectors to exploit a variety of vulnerabilities in commonly found information system devices

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Table 1-2 Attack Replication Vectors


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New Table

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Attack Descriptions


“Hoaxes”: a more devious approach to attacking computer systems is transmission of a virus hoax, with a real virus attached

Back doors: using a known or previously unknown and newly discovered access mechanism, an attacker can gain access to a system or network resource

Password crack: attempting to reverse calculate a password

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Attack Descriptions (continued)


Brute force: the application of computing and network resources to try every possible combination of options of a password Discuss timing

Dictionary: the dictionary password attack narrows the field by selecting specific accounts to attack and uses a list of commonly used passwords (the dictionary) to guide guesses Compare dictionary size with brute force

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Denial-of-service (DoS): attacker sends a large number of connection or information requests to a target; so many requests are made that the target system cannot handle them successfully along with other, legitimate requests for service May result in a system crash or merely an inability to

perform ordinary functions Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS): attack in

which a coordinated stream of requests is launched against a target from many locations at the same time

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Figure 1-9 Denial-of-Service Attacks


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Spoofing: technique used to gain unauthorized access whereby the intruder sends messages to a computer with an IP address indicating that the message is coming from a trusted host

Man-in-the-Middle: in this attack, an attacker sniffs packets from the network, modifies them, and inserts them back into the network; also called TCP hijacking

Spam: unsolicited commercial e-mail; while many consider spam a nuisance rather than an attack, it is emerging as a vector for some attacks

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Figure 1-10 IP Spoofing


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Figure 1-11 Man-in-the-Middle


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Mail-bombing: another form of e-mail attack that is also a DoS, in which an attacker routes large quantities of e-mail to the target

Sniffer: program and/or device that can monitor data traveling over a network; can be used for both legitimate network management and for stealing information from a network

Social engineering: within the context of information security, the process of using social skills to convince people to reveal access credentials or other valuable information

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Figure 1-12 The Nigerian National Petroleum Company


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“People are the weakest link. You can have the best technology; firewalls, intrusion-detection systems, biometric devices ... and somebody can call an unsuspecting employee. That's all she wrote, baby. They got everything.” Zimbra login page, exam question from 2101

“Brick attack”: the best configured firewall in the world can’t stand up to a well-placed brick

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Buffer overflow: application error occurs when more data is sent to buffer than it can handle; when buffer overflows, attacker can make target system execute instructions or attacker can take advantage of some other unintended consequence of the failure

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Timing attack: relatively new, works by exploring contents of Web browser’s cache; can allow collection of information on access to password-protected sites Another attack by the same name involves

attempting to intercept cryptographic elements to determine keys and encryption algorithms

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Chapter Summary


Firewalls and network security are essential components for securing systems that businesses use to run day-to-day operations

Information security is protection of information and its critical elements, including systems and hardware that use, store, and transmit that data

C.I.A. triangle based on confidentiality, integrity, availability of info and systems that process it

CNSS Security model (McCumber Cube) provides graphical description of approach used in computer and information security

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Chapter Summary (continued)


Computer can be subject of attack or object of attack; two types of attacks: direct and indirect

Information security not an absolute: a process, not a goal; should balance reasonable access and availability while protecting against threats

Information security performs four functions: Protects organization’s ability to function Enables safe operation of applications implemented on

organization’s IT systems Protects data that organization collects and uses Safeguards technology assets of organization

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Requires wide range of professionals and skill sets to support information security program

Information security project team includes: team leader, security policy developers, risk assessment specialists, security professionals, systems, network and storage administrators, and end users

Three types of data ownership: data owner, data custodian, and data user

Threat is object, person, or other entity that represents a constant danger to assets

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Attack is deliberate act or action that takes advantage of vulnerability to compromise controlled system

Vulnerability is identified weakness in controlled system

Major types of attacks include: malicious code, “hoaxes” of malicious code, back doors, password cracking, DoS, DDoS, spoofing, man-in-the-middle, spam, mail bombing, sniffers, social engineering, buffer overflow, and timing attacks

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Documents

ISA 3200 NETWORK SECURITY Chapter 1: Introduction to Information Security