Unit 3 - DIGITAL DEVICES SECURITY Assignment Questions. Syllabus: Device and Mobile Security: End Point device and Mobile phone security, Password policy, Security patch management, Data backup, Downloading and management of third-party software, Device security policy. Tools and Technologies for Cyber Security: Authentication tools, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus and encryption software. Cyber Security Best Practices: Cyber Security best practices, Significance of host firewall and Anti-virus, Managementof host firewall and Anti-virus, Wi-Fi security, Configuration of basic security policy and permissions. Device and Mobile Security: 1Q. Essay Question: Explore the importance of device and mobile security in today's digital landscape. Discuss the various threats and vulnerabilities faced by mobile devices, including malware, phishing attacks, and data breaches. Explain the significance of implementing security measures such as encryption, biometric authentication, and secure boot processes to protect against these threats. Additionally, analyze the role of user education and awareness in enhancing device security. Provide examples of best practices and case studies to illustrate effective strategies for mitigating risks to mobile and IoT devices. answer:The future of computers and communication lies with mobile devices, such as laptops, tablets and smartphones with desktop computer capabilities. Their size, operating systems, applications and processing power make them ideal to use from any place with an internet connection. With the expansion of ruggedized devices, the Internet of Things (IoT) and operating systems, such as Chrome OS, macOS and Windows 10, every piece of hardware that's enhanced with this software and capabilities becomes a mobile computing device. Because mobile devices have become more affordable and portable, organizations and users have preferred to buy and use them over desktop computers. With ubiquitous wireless internet access, all varieties of mobile devices are becoming more vulnerable to attacks and data breaches. Authentication and authorization across mobile devices offer convenience, but increase risk by removing a secured enterprise perimeter’s constraints. For example, a smartphone’s capabilities are enhanced by multi-touch screens, gyroscopes, accelerometers, GPS, microphones, multi-megapixel cameras and ports, allowing the attachment of more devices. These new capabilities change the way users are authenticated and how authorization is provided locally to the device and the applications and services on a network. As a result, the new capabilities also increase the number of endpoints that need protection from cybersecurity threats. Today, cybercriminals can hack into cars, security cameras, baby monitors and implanted healthcare devices. By 2025, there could be more than 75 billion “things” connected to the internet, including cameras, thermostats, door locks, smart TVs, health monitors, lighting fixtures and many other devices. Report IBM Security X-Force Threat Intelligence Index Gain insights to prepare and respond to cyberattacks with greater speed and effectiveness with the IBM Security® X-Force® Threat Intelligence Index. Related content Register for the Cost of a Data Breach report Mobile security threats While it's critical to establish and enforce an enterprise-wide security policy, a policy alone isn't sufficient to counter the volume and variety of today's mobile threats. In 2019, Verizon conducted a study (link resides outside ibm.com) with leading mobile security companies, including IBM®, Lookout and Wandera, surveying 670 security professionals. The study found that 1 out of 3 of those surveyed reported a compromise involving a mobile device. 47% say that remediation was "difficult and expensive," and 64% say they suffered downtime. Companies embracing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies also open themselves to higher security risks. They give possibly unsecured devices access to corporate servers and sensitive databases, opening them to attack. Cybercriminals and fraudsters can exploit these vulnerabilities and cause harm or damage to the user and the organization. They seek trade secrets, insider information and unauthorized access to a secure network to find anything that could be profitable. Phishing Phishing, the number one mobile security threat, is a scamming attempt to steal users’ credentials or sensitive data, such as credit card numbers. Fraudsters send users emails or short message service (SMS) messages (commonly known as text messages) designed to look as though they’re coming from a legitimate source, using fake hyperlinks. State of the Phish: IBM X-Force Reveals Current Phishing Attack Trends - This link opens in a new tab Malware and ransomware Mobile malware is undetected software, such as a malicious app or spyware, created to damage, disrupt or gain illegitimate access to a client, computer, server or computer network. Ransomware, a form of malware, threatens to destroy or withhold a victim’s data or files unless a ransom is paid to decrypt files and restore access. What is ransomware? Cryptojacking Cryptojacking, a form of malware, uses an organization’s computing power or individual’s computer power without their knowledge to mine cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, decreasing a device’s processing abilities and effectiveness. Cryptojacking Attacks: Who's Mining on Your Coin? - This link opens in a new tab Unsecured wifi Unsecured wifi hotspots without a virtual private network (VPN) make mobile devices more vulnerable to cyberattack. Cybercriminals can intercept traffic and steal private information by using methods such as man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks. Cybercriminals can also deceive users into connecting to rogue hotspots, making it easier to extract corporate or personal data. How to Secure Wi-Fi From Home - This link opens in a new tab Outdated operating systems Older operating systems (OS) usually contain vulnerabilities that have been exploited by cybercriminals, and devices with outdated OS remain vulnerable to attack. Manufacturer updates often include critical security patches to address vulnerabilities that may be actively exploited. Take Your Medicine: Where There's A Tablet There Must Be Security - This link opens in a new tab Excessive app permissions Mobile apps have the power to compromise data privacy through excessive app permissions. App permissions determine an app’s functionality and access to a user’s device and features, such as its microphone and camera. Some apps are riskier than others. Some can be compromised, and sensitive data can be funneled through to untrustworthy third parties. How to Lift the Veil on Mobile Application Security Threats - This link opens in a new tab How to secure mobile devices The core security requirements remain the same for mobile devices as they do for nonmobile computers. In general, the requirements are to maintain and protect confidentiality, integrity, identity and nonrepudiation. However, today's mobile security trends create new challenges and opportunities, which require a redefinition of security for personal computing devices. For example, capabilities and expectations vary by device form factor (its shape and size), advances in security technologies, rapidly evolving threat tactics and device interaction, such as touch, audio and video. IT organizations and security teams need to reconsider how to achieve security requirements in light of device capabilities, the mobile threat landscape and changing user expectations. In other words, these professionals need to secure multiple vulnerabilities within the dynamic and massively growing mobile device environment. A secure mobile environment offers protection in six primary areas: enterprise mobility management, email security, endpoint protection, VPN, secure gateways and cloud access security broker. Supported devices Learn how to manage multiple platforms with an AI-driven unified endpoint management. Try MaaS360 plan assessment Read the documentation Pictogram with android windows and apple logos Enterprise mobility management (EMM) EMM is a collective set of tools and technologies that maintain and manage how mobile and handheld devices are used within an organization for routine business operations. Email security To protect data from email-based cyberthreats such as malware, identity theft and phishing scams, organizations need to monitor email traffic proactively. Adequate email protection includes antivirus, antispam, image control and content control services. Learn more about email security Endpoint protection With technologies such as mobile, IoT and cloud, organizations connect new and different endpoints to their response environment. Endpoint security includes antivirus protection, data loss prevention, endpoint encryption and endpoint security management. What is the Biggest Challenge Facing Endpoint Security? VPN A virtual private network (VPN) allows a company to securely extend its private intranet over a public network's existing framework, such as the Internet. With a VPN, a company can control network traffic while providing essential security features such as authentication and data privacy. Learn more about VPN Secure gateways A secure gateway is a protected network connection that connects anything to anything. It enforces consistent internet security and compliance policies for all users regardless of location or device type used. It also keeps unauthorized traffic out of an organization's network. Cloud access security broker (CASB) A CASB is a policy enforcement point between users and cloud service providers (CSPs). It monitors cloud-related activity and applies security, compliance and governance rules around cloud-based resources use. Research Question: Conduct a comparative analysis of different mobile operating systems (e.g., Android, iOS) in terms of their security features and vulnerabilities. Investigate the security architectures, patching mechanisms, and app permission models employed by each operating system to protect user data and privacy. Evaluate the effectiveness of these security measures in mitigating common threats such as malware, unauthorized access, and data leakage. Furthermore, examine the impact of device fragmentation and software update practices on the overall security posture of mobile ecosystems. Based on your analysis, propose recommendations for improving the security of mobile devices across different platforms. answer:Technological advancements in smartphones are at par with personal computers. With increased computing power, smartphones are becoming ubiquitous part of daily life. Hence, number of smartphone users has exponentially risen in the last five years. The fact is established with the help of Statista [1], where the world smartphone users has exceeded three billion and is predicted to further increase by several hundred million by 2021 as shown in Fig. 1. There are multiple mobile platforms for smartphones, e.g. Symbian, Blackberry, Windows, Android, iOS, etc. Fig. 2 shows the market share of different mobile operating system (OS) from 2009–2020. Android (72.95%) and iOS (26.27%) are prominent due to their enhanced capabilities and popularity among users. Even though there are other smartphone platforms available, the combined market share of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS forms 99% by the year 2020 [2], therefore this study focuses on Android and iOS. It is also seen that Android is more popular than iOS. According to ZDNet [3], Google revealed that it has 2.5 billion active Android devices in 2019, making the largest mobile OS by user numbers. On the other hand, Apple has 1.4 billion users across all products, including macOS and iOS devices. Fig. 3 depicts the statistics for the mobile application downloads from 2018 to 2024 worldwide, sorted by app store. In 2024, it is predicted that mobile users will download 139 billion mobile applications from the Google Play Store, up from 102 billion applications downloaded from Google Play in 2019 [4]. Aforementioned reasons account for Android’s prominence in the smartphone marketplace. The key contributions of this paper are: 1. Comparative analysis of Android and iOS based on architecture, security model, isolation mechanism, encryption mechanism, app permissions, and auto-erase mechanism 2. Listing of common vulnerabilities prevalent in both Android and iOS, their distribution pattern over the recent years, mean severity score and vulnerability assessment based on confidentiality, integrity and availability triad 3. Thorough investigation of strengths and weaknesses of related works are also discussed 4. Discussion on various research challenges along with future work presented for academicians and application developers in order to cope with increasing vulnerabilities The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 discusses the approaches for the smartphone security from the past with their strengths and weaknesses. Section 3 presents the comparative analysis of Android and iOS based on architecture, security model, isolation mechanism, encryption mechanism, app permissions, and auto-erase mechanism. Section 4 describes common vulnerabilities prevalent in Android and iOS. Section 5 discusses the data collection methodology along with the preprocessing. Section 6 presents the vulnerability trends of Android and iOS over the years, mean severity score and vulnerability assessment on confidentiality, integrity and availability triad. In Section 7, malware attacks on Android and iOS are discussed in the time period of 2015–2019. Furthermore, Section 8 explains future directions that should be adopted by the researchers and app developers to avoid growing hazards. Finally, the conclusion is provided in Section 9 of the paper. Section snippets Related work Research work carried out in the domain of smartphone security deals with issues like vulnerabilities in smartphones, malware impact, security procedures in mobile platforms, and different policies used for safety and privacy of users. Hidhaya and Geetha [5] detected web view vulnerabilities, which can cause malicious attacks on smartphones. They used static analysis techniques to analyze the apps. They achieved a detection accuracy of 85%, however, run time/dynamic behavior of the apps was not Comparison between Android and iOS Android and iOS are the most popular mobile platforms available in the market. The on-going Android vs. iOS battle seems to be never ending. Section 3 elaborates this in terms of different parameters, with more focus on security aspects. Software vulnerabilities common in Android and iOS Vulnerability can be defined as a weakness, which an attacker can exploit potentially to carry out unauthorized actions in a network or a system [30]. Vulnerabilities in mobile devices can arise due to lack of security practices by users and from poor technical controls. Software vulnerabilities are analyzed based on different technical parameters like causes, techniques, severity levels and software systems [31]. Common vulnerabilities seen in Android and iOS are shown in Table 2. Data collection The main source of data for this study is CVE details [32]. Web-based scraper tool Web Scraper 0.4.0 is used to collect this data. The web scraper looks for the CVE IDs for vulnerabilities and extracts corresponding details. Web-based scraper was able to extract all vulnerabilities in the iOS and Android category from CVE details. We collected 1655 CVE IDs of iOS and 2563 CVE IDs of Android, with a total of 4218 CVE IDs. Fig. 10 explains the process of web-based scraping. After scraping the Vulnerability trends in Android vs. iOS Smartphones are prone to cyber-attacks and can compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the data saved on the mobile devices. Risk levels are indicated by the number of vulnerabilities and number of reported malware. The number of vulnerabilities determines the flaws found in the platform that can potentially compromise it, whereas the number of malware indicates the number of actual threats that are detected. According to CVE details, the number of vulnerabilities reported Malware attacks in Android and iOS Malware is malicious software that is designed to cause unintentional harm to the system [34]. Malware can evade security mechanisms, collect sensitive user information, display unnecessary advertisements, or can interrupt with the normal functioning of the mobile device. Different types of mobile malware are the Trojans, backdoors, ransomware, spyware, adware, etc. These malware are briefly described as follows: Trojan — It is a type of malware, which does not self-replicate. To avoid Research directions and future scope Android’s market share will continue to grow and it is evident that there would be no cross over between Android and iOS in the near future. Increasing market share and open-source nature of Android owes to its increasing vulnerabilities as compared to the closed nature of iOS. Therefore, we have chosen Android as our research area, where we will address the major problems encountered in Android. With the growing vulnerabilities, Android malware is continuously emerging at an alarming rate. Conclusion Android and iOS being the most popular among all the smartphone platforms, also attracts large number of attackers with malicious intentions. The pragmatic approach used for comparing Android and iOS helps to understand that Android is more susceptible to security breaches and malware attacks. Therefore, in the research domain Android becomes the first choice. The paper also presents forthcoming challenges and research directions, which are bucketed in the different categories along with the Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Tools and Technologies for Cyber Security: 1Q. Case Study Question: Select a recent cyberattack incident and analyze the tools and technologies that were utilized by the attackers. Describe the attack vector, the tools employed (e.g., malware, penetration testing frameworks, exploit kits), and the techniques used to exploit vulnerabilities. Evaluate the effectiveness of the defensive measures in place at the targeted organization and assess the lessons learned from the incident. Based on your analysis, propose recommendations for enhancing the organization's cybersecurity posture, including the adoption of specific tools and technologies to prevent similar attacks in the future. answer:Recent Cyber Attacks from 2023 Under normal business circumstances, cyber attacks are an ever-increasing problem causing trillions of dollars in losses. To make matters worse, the war between Russia and Ukraine exacerbated these problems with a flurry of major politically-motivated cyber attacks in 2022. Here are some of the recent cyber attacks. Hot Topic Attacks In August 2023, American retailer Hot Topic notified its customers they had detected automated attempts by unauthorized third parties to log into customer accounts on both their website and their mobile app. The attack involved "valid account credentials (e.g., email addresses and passwords) obtained from an unknown third-party source." Prospect Medical Holdings Ransomware Attack In August 2023, more than one of Prospect Medical's offices, facilities, and hospitals were forced offline by a ransomware attack. The company closed a few of its outpatient facilities and informed patients and families of the attack via its Facebook pages and websites. News organizations following the story reported that medical staff switched to manual information procedures while the network was offline. Cyber Attacks in 2022 Finnish Parliament Attack In August 2022, the Finnish parliament's website experienced a DDoS attack while the parliament was in session. This denial-of-service attack may be part of a coordinated campaign by Russian state-sponsored hackers to disrupt the Finnish government’s websites in retaliation for the application to join NATO. A DDoS attack temporarily blocks access to a website but does not cause permanent destruction. Ukrainian State Nuclear Power Company Attack The Russian “hacktivist” group called the People’s Cyber Army engaged 7.25 million bots in August 2022 in a bot attack to take the Energoatom website down. It used a flood of garbage web traffic and webpage requests. A disruption of online services lasted for a few hours, but no permanent negative impact remained. The attack was part of a Russian psyops campaign to create fear of a nuclear disaster and terrorize Europeans. Greek Natural Gas Distributor Attack Greek national gas distributor DESFA reported an incidence of a cyber attack in August 2022. The attack impacted part of the company’s IT infrastructure and caused a data leak. The ransomware operation of cybercriminals called Ragnar Locker is holding the stolen data hostage. They demand ransom not to expose sensitive data. The company refused to make a payment. South Staffordshire Water Company Attack In August 2022, the South Staffordshire Water Company reported an attack that caused a network disruption in its internal corporate network and a data loss. A cybercriminal ransomware group threatened to tamper with the water supplied by the company. The company disputed this claim. The criminals demanded payment to not release sensitive files and explain how the network breach happened. Montenegro Government Attack The government of Montenegro's digital IT infrastructure reported an unprecedented cyberattack in August 2022. No data breach occurred. However, certain governmental services and telecommunications experienced disruption, including border crossings and airport operations. The state-owned utility company, EPCG, switched to manual operations as a precautionary measure. Estonian Government Attack A DDoS attack disrupted many Estonian government websites for several hours in April 2022. The attack targeted websites for the president, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Police and Border Guard, the identification card webpage, and the state services digital portal. Estonia’s condemnation of the Russian war on Ukraine makes the country a target for Russian hackers. Islamic Culture and Communication Organization Attack The Iranian Islamic Culture and Communication Organization (ICCO) experienced a severe attack in July 2022. Six ICCO websites went down, and 15 others changed to photos of Massoud Rajaivi, the Iranian Resistance leader. Additionally, there was data destruction on 44 servers and hundreds of computers. The ICCO also lost 35 databases with highly-confidential information about money laundering, spies, and terrorists living abroad. Belgian Government and Military Attack In July 2022, the Belgian government announced that three Chinese hacker groups, part of the known Chinese Advanced Persistent Threat actors, attacked Belgian public services and military defense forces. The Chinese government-sponsored attackers steal trade secrets and intelligence information. The Soft Cell Chinese group recently launched a new remote access trojan (RAT) malware in June 2022. UK Military Social Media Breach Hackers took over the Twitter account of the British Army in July 2022. The social media account underwent multiple name and photo changes. The content started promoting contests to win Angry Apes non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital art stored on a blockchain. The army’s YouTube page experienced an attack as well. Its name changed to Ark Invest, and the account promoted interviews of Elon Musk talking about cryptocurrency. Lithuanian Energy Company Attack A DDoS attack in July 2022 blocked access to the website of the Lithuanian energy company, Ignitis Group. The company managed the attack and limited the damage using DDoS Protection. No data breach occurred, but the attacks were persistent and ongoing. Pro-Russia group Killnet claimed responsibility. The attack retaliated against Lithuanian support of Ukraine in the war with Russia. Additional Global Cyber Attacks ProxyLogon Cyberattack One of the most damaging recent cyberattacks was a Microsoft Exchange server compromise that resulted in several zero-day vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities, known as ProxyLogon and initially launched by the Hafnium hacking group, were first spotted by Microsoft in January and patched in March. However, more groups joined Hafnium in attacking unpatched systems, resulting in thousands of organizations being compromised. MeetMindful Cybersecurity Breach Dating app MeetMindful suffered a cybersecurity attack in January 2021, resulting in data of more than 2 million users being stolen and leaked. The hacking group behind the event managed to steal information like users’ full names and Facebook account tokens. Tether Attack In March 2021, cyber criminals threatened to leak documents from the Tether cryptocurrency. The attackers claimed the data would “harm the Bitcoin ecosystem” and demanded a settlement fee of around 500 Bitcoin ($24 million), but Tether refused to pay. CNA Financial Breach A ransomware attack on insurance firm CNA Financial left employees locked out of their systems and blocked from accessing corporate resources. The attack in March 2021 also involved company data being stolen, which led CNA Financial to reportedly pay the $40 million settlement fee. Facebook Cyberattack Data of more than 530 million Facebook users, including their names, Facebook IDs, dates of birth, and relationship status, was published online in April 2021. Facebook, now Meta, said the information was obtained through scraping in 2019. Colonial Pipeline Attack The growing threat that advanced cybersecurity attacks pose to the world was highlighted by the Colonial Pipeline attack in May 2021. The fuel pipeline operator suffered a ransomware attack launched by the DarkSide hacking group, which led to fuel disruption and mass panic buying across the U.S. Omiai Cyberattack An unauthorized entry cyberattack in May 2021 resulted in the exposure of 1.7 million users of the Japanese dating app Omiai. Audi and Volkswagen Cybersecurity Breach In June 2021, Audi and Volkswagen revealed a data breach had affected more than 3.3 million customers and prospective buyers, who were primarily U.S.-based. The breach was blamed on an associated vendor, which was purportedly responsible for exposing the data between August 2019 and May 2021. Guntrader.uk Cyberattack The United Kingdom’s trading website for guns and shooting equipment revealed that records of 100,000 gun owners had been stolen and published online in July 2021. Gun ownership is strictly controlled in the U.K., so the data breach of customers’ names and addresses caused significant privacy and safety concerns. T-Mobile Attack In August 2021, telecoms firm T-Mobile suffered a cybersecurity breach that led to the data of around 50 million existing customers and prospects being stolen. The data, which included customer addresses, drivers' licenses, and social security numbers, was stolen by a 21-year-old, who claimed to have obtained around 106GB of information. Poly Network Breach An attack on Poly Network in August 2021 proved that cybersecurity breaches on cryptocurrency firms are on the rise. The blockchain firm revealed an Ethereum smart contract hack resulted in cyber criminals stealing cryptocurrency worth more than $600 million. AP-HP Attack Cybersecurity attacks on medical organizations and healthcare firms are also increasing. As a result of the hack on AP-HP, a Paris public hospital system, in September 2021, cyber criminals stole personal data belonging to around 1.4 million people who were tested for COVID-19 in 2020. Cream Finance Breach Cream Finance, a decentralized finance firm, suffered a vulnerability in its project’s market system. The hack, which was revealed in September 2021, caused losses worth $34 million. Debt-IN Consultants Cyberattack A South African debt recovery company suffered a significant attack that led to client and employee data being illegally accessed from its servers in September 2021. The incident is suspected to have affected the personally identifiable information (PII), including owed debts, of over 1.4 million people. Neiman Marcus Data Breach Department store Neiman Marcus suffered a data breach that resulted in the exposure and theft of up to 3.1 million customers’ payment card details. The attack was detected in September 2021 but began in May 2020, and most of the data stolen was believed to have been from expired or invalid cards. Argentinian Government Attack A hacker, who claimed to have leaked the entire database of Argentina’s National Registry of Persons, has allegedly stolen the data of more than 45 million Argentinian residents. However, the government denied the hack. Squid Game Cyberattack The value of a cryptocurrency linked to but not officially associated with the Netflix program Squid Game plummeted after a suspected exit scam in November 2021. The cryptocurrency’s value dropped from $2,850 to $0.003028 overnight, which resulted in investors losing millions of dollars. Robinhood Trading App Breach Also in November 2021, a data breach of the trading app Robinhood affected the data of around 5 million users. Data like usernames, email addresses, and phone numbers were compromised through a customer support system. BitMart cyberattack Yet another cybersecurity attack against digital currencies, BitMart suffered a breach that enabled cyber criminals to steal approximately $150 million worth of cryptocurrency in December 2021. The attack resulted in total losses of around $200 million, including damages. Log4j Breach In December 2021, a zero-day vulnerability was discovered in the Log4j Java library. The remote code execution flaw is now active, and the resulting bug, Log4Shell, is being activated by botnets like Mirai. Kronos Cyberattack HR platform Kronos suffered a ransomware attack that took the Kronos Private Cloud offline. The outage occurred shortly before Christmas and took the vital service down for several weeks. Experian Security Breach In August 2020, credit reporting agency Experian suffered a breach that affected 24 million consumers in South Africa and more than 793,000 businesses. The incident occurred when an individual who claimed to be a client requested services that prompted the data’s release. The stolen data was eventually secured and deleted, while Experian revealed it had not been used fraudulently and that its customer database, infrastructure, and systems had not been compromised. MGM Hotel Attack The data of more than 10.6 million customers of MGM Resorts hotels was leaked to a hacking forum in February 2020. The data included addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, names, and phone numbers belonging to celebrities, business executives, government employees, and tourists. However, the hack did not breach users’ credit card details. The incident began in mid-2019 when MGM discovered unauthorized access to its server. Another data breach followed in February 2020, which saw user data published on an open, accessible forum. California University Cyber Attack The University of California, based in San Francisco, suffered a ransomware attack that led to hackers demanding a settlement payment of $3 million on June 1, 2020. The university’s system was targeted by malware that could encrypt various servers and steal and encrypt critical data. The university negotiated and paid a settlement fee of $1.14 million but later revealed no data had been compromised. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. Cybersecurity Breach Technology and consulting firm Cognizant was affected by the Maze ransomware attack on April 18, 2020. The attackers stole data and threatened to publish it online unless Cognizant paid a settlement fee. Cognizant later revealed it paid a ransom fee of between $50 million and $70 million to restore its services. Tillamook County Cyber Attack Tillamook County’s IT systems were infected by encryption malware on January 22, 2020. The attack shut down its computer and phone systems and took down the website that hosts its various departments. Tillamook County’s computer systems were down for at least two weeks, and attackers demanded $300,000 as settlement, which would double after two weeks, to restore the data. The county tried to avoid paying the settlement fee but could not restore the data and eventually settled. WHO Attack As the COVID-19 pandemic broke, an attack targeting the World Health Organization (WHO) resulted in the breach of 25,000 email addresses and passwords. The data was leaked online on April 19, 2020, along with information belonging to other groups fighting the pandemic, including the Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Zoom Conferencing Service Breach Videoconferencing service Zoom saw a massive increase in activity throughout 2020 with people working from home and speaking to friends and family through the application. However, in April 2020, a cyberattack known as Zoombombing enabled cyber criminals to join private meetings, access conversations, and share offensive images, videos, and screens. Zoom updated its application to enhance security levels. Mitsubishi Electric Cyber Attack A Mitsubishi Electric systems data breach resulted in around 200 MB of files being stolen. The breach, which was first detected in June 2019 but was reported in January 2020, contained employee and applicant information, data about retired employees from affiliate companies, and sales and technical material. The attack was caused by a vulnerability in the organization’s antivirus solution, which Chinese hackers exploited. Hacker Theft of 18 Companies' Data One of the most significant cyber attacks that occurred in 2020 was through a hacker known as ShinyHunters. The hacker stole around 386 million user records from 18 different companies between the start of the year and July. The attacker posted links to these companies’ databases, made them freely available to download, and sold data online. Find out to stop today's sophisticated attacks and hackers Cyber Predictions in 2022 and Beyond Know the key threat trends, cyber techniques, and cyber security practices and habits to adopt. Watch the on-demand webinar Biggest Data Breaches Cyber-attacks pose a significant threat to businesses of all sizes, government agencies, and individual internet users. Recent cyber-attacks have come from hacktivist groups, lone wolf hackers, and nation-states. The first cyber-attack on record was The Morris Worm in 1988. Robert Tappan Morris, a graduate student at Cornell University, developed a worm program that would crawl the web to count how many computers were connected to the internet. However, the worm installed itself on one in seven computers and forced them to crash, which saw it inadvertently become the first distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The Morris Worm damaged around 6,000 computers, which then comprised 10% of the entire internet. In 2002, the first internet attack as we now know it saw a DDoS attack target the 13 Domain Name System (DNS) root servers. The attack could have brought the internet down if allowed to continue and was then the most sophisticated and widescale cyber-attack ever launched. Recent cyber-attacks have advanced and can affect vast numbers of people. Single attacks now regularly steal the data of hundreds of millions of people. Below is an overview of some of the most significant cyber-attacks recorded in history. Cyber attacks in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict The Russia-Ukraine crisis, which began in February 2022, involved not just physical battles that displaced thousands and killed many—but cyberattacks as well. FortiGuard Labs has determined that new viper malware was used to attack Ukrainian targets and discovered it installed on at least several hundred machines in Ukraine. Several Ukrainian organizations have also been targeted by sophisticated attacks that used the KillDisk and HermeticWiper malware strands, which appear to destroy data on devices. In addition, a tool that remotely controls devices, Remote Manipulator System (RMS), was found to have been distributed in Ukraine via fake “Evacuation Plan” emails. Ukraine also suffered a wave of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. This included an attack targeting the State Savings Bank, which impacted banking services and cash withdrawals from ATMs, as well as disrupted the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces networks. Adobe Cyber Attack In October 2013, software company Adobe suffered a cyber-attack in which hackers stole credit card data from nearly 3 million customers. The attack also saw login credential data, including usernames and hashed passwords, of up to 150 million users stolen. Further research into the attack discovered that the hackers had also stolen customer names, identification data, passwords, and more debit and credit card data. It also paid around $1 million to customers as a financial settlement because of unfair business practices and violating the Customer Records Act. Furthermore, the settlement included a provision that Adobe should implement security measures and submit the results of an independent security audit one year after the final settlement date. Canva Security Breach In May 2019, the graphic design website Canva suffered an attack that exposed email addresses, names, cities of residence, passwords, and usernames of 137 million users. Hackers were also able to view but not steal files that included partial payment and credit card data. The attackers, known as GnosticPlayers, contacted the technology news website ZDNet to boast about the attack. They claimed to have obtained users’ open authorization (OAuth) login tokens, which are used for logging in via Google. Canva confirmed the attack, notified its users, and prompted them to update their passwords and reset their OAuth tokens. But a list of 4 million Canva accounts and stolen passwords was later shared online, which resulted in Canva having to invalidate any passwords that remained unchanged. Dubsmash Attack More than 162 million users’ data—email addresses, hashed passwords, dates of birth, and usernames—was stolen from the video messaging service Dubsmash in December 2018. A year later, the data was made available for sale on dark web site Dream Market as part of a dump of data that also included information from attacks on Armor Games, Coffee Meets Bagel, MyHeritage, MyFitnessPal, and ShareThis. Dubsmash acknowledged that its systems had been breached and the stolen data put up for sale, and advised users to change their passwords. However, it has not reported how attackers gained access to the data or confirmed the attack scale. eBay Data Breach A cyber attack in May 2014 exposed the account list of eBay’s 145 million users. The attack, which exposed user addresses, dates of birth, names, and encrypted passwords, occurred as hackers obtained three eBay employees’ credentials. Attackers gained complete access to the entire eBay network for 229 days. eBay asked customers to update their passwords, for which it received criticism over its poor communication and password-renewal process implementation. The auction site also advised that financial details, such as credit card information, were stored in a separate location and had not been compromised. LinkedIn Cyber Attack The business social network LinkedIn is a common target for cyber criminals launching social engineering attacks. It has also suffered major cyber attacks that leaked its users’ data. The first came in 2012, when 6.5 million hashed passwords were stolen then posted on a Russian hacker forum. The attack’s true size was revealed four years later when a hacker was discovered selling 165 million LinkedIn users’ email addresses and passwords for 5 bitcoins, which were then worth around $2,000. LinkedIn acknowledged the breach and reset passwords on all accounts that had been affected. Slack Attack Collaboration platform Slack was affected in 2015 when hackers gained unauthorized access to the service’s infrastructure. This included a database storing user profile data, such as usernames and hashed passwords. The attackers also injected code that enabled them to steal plaintext passwords when users entered them. Slack revealed the attack affected around 1% of its users, estimated to be around 65,000 users. It immediately reset their passwords and advised all users to reset their passwords and implement security measures like two-factor authentication (2FA). Four years later, a Slack bug bounty program revealed a potential compromise of Slack credentials, which it suspected was due to malware or users recycling passwords across online services. It subsequently realized that most of the credentials affected were from accounts that accessed the service during the 2015 incident. Yahoo! Cybersecurity Breach Cyber attacks targeting the internet provider Yahoo are widely acknowledged as the most significant data breaches in history. The state-sponsored attacks, which began in 2013, affected all of Yahoo’s 3 billion users. In September 2016, Yahoo revealed a 2014 attack that compromised 500 million users’ names, email addresses, telephone numbers, and birth dates. Three months later, the company revealed a breach from 2013, which was carried out by another attacker and compromised its users' names, email addresses, passwords, dates of birth, and security questions and answers. Yahoo initially estimated that the 2013 attack affected 1 billion users but later changed that to its entire user base of 3 billion people. Zynga Attack Games developer Zynga, which created various popular games that users accessed via Facebook, suffered a massive cyber attack in September 2019. The attack by Pakistani hacker group GnosticPlayers, who also claimed the Canva attack, accessed the database of Zynga games Draw Something and Words With Friends. It compromised the email addresses, hashed passwords, phone numbers, and Facebook and Zynga user IDs of 218 million people. Cybersecurity Trends The volume of cybersecurity incidents is expected to increase through 2022—not to mention the damage victims will incur as a consequence. Trends that organizations need to be aware of include: Increased hardware usage: Software programs enable businesses to achieve great results and form new strategies. However, they are also highly attractive to cyber criminals. As a result, moves toward hardware are expected to gather speed, although businesses should not reduce their investments in upgraded software. Remote work attacks: Cyberattacks targeting remote workers are expected to increase further through 2022. Hackers are constantly evolving their tactics in line with employees’ ways of working and will continue to take advantage of potential downtime and network vulnerabilities. Growing government interest: Attacks on critical infrastructure have attracted the attention of global government agencies. 2022 will likely see increased investment and new regulations that aim to prevent massive cyberattacks against high-priority targets. Ransomware targeting SMBs: Cyber criminals rarely discriminate based on the size of businesses. As governments increase investment to defend critical infrastructure, ransomware groups will shift their focus to target small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who have less funding, staffing, and security expertise. The rise of AI defenses: The increasing sophistication of various cybersecurity incidents in 2021 means organizations need to improve their defenses. Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions will enable smarter, faster, more proactive security that plugs the existing gaps in the cybersecurity industry. Research Question: Investigate and compare different categories of cybersecurity tools and technologies used for threat detection, prevention, and incident response. Choose three categories (e.g., antivirus software, intrusion detection systems, threat intelligence platforms) and analyze the key features, functionalities, and deployment considerations for each category. Evaluate the strengths and limitations of popular tools within each category, considering factors such as scalability, ease of use, and integration capabilities. Finally, discuss emerging trends in cybersecurity technology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, and their potential impact on the effectiveness of cyber defense strategies. answer:In today’s digital world, our information is constantly under attack. Cybersecurity tools act as our digital armor, defending against sneaky hackers. These tools block malicious software, identify system weaknesses, and keep watch for suspicious activity. By providing multiple layers of defense, cybersecurity tools safeguard sensitive information, prevent financial losses, and ensure peace of mind. Just like a locked door protects your home, these tools keep your data safe and secure. What is a Cybersecurity Tool? A cybersecurity tool is essentially a digital armor that helps protect information systems and data from cyberattacks. These tools can be hardware or software, and they work in a few different ways to secure your information: Preventing intrusions: Firewalls and anti-virus software are classic examples. They act as a shield, filtering incoming traffic and blocking malicious attacks. Identifying vulnerabilities: Security professionals use tools to scan systems for weaknesses that hackers could exploit. Monitoring activity: Some tools keep a watchful eye on network activity, alerting security personnel to any suspicious behavior. Encrypting data: Encryption tools scramble data into an unreadable format, making it useless even if stolen. List of Cybersecurity Tools There are many different cybersecurity tools available, and the specific ones used will depend on the size and needs of the organization or individual. But ultimately, they all work together to create a layered defense against the ever-evolving threats of the digital world. Sprinto Sprinto is a cybersecurity platform designed to streamline compliance for cloud-based businesses. It helps companies achieve and maintain compliance with various security standards, including popular options like ISO 27001. Sprinto offers features like automated checks, continuous monitoring, and a centralized dashboard for managing your security posture. This allows businesses to proactively identify and fix security vulnerabilities, reducing the risk of breaches and making audits a breeze. Splunk Splunk is a software tool that helps organizations with cybersecurity by acting as a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system. In other words, it collects data from all over your computer network, analyzes it for threats, and helps you respond to them. Splunk can also automate some tasks, which can save security analysts time and effort. This lets them focus on the most serious threats. Nessus Pro Nessus Pro is a popular cybersecurity tool designed to scan for vulnerabilities in your computer systems and networks. It’s known for being comprehensive and easy to use, allowing you to identify weaknesses and take action to secure your IT infrastructure. Imagine it like a security checkup for your devices, helping you find and fix potential problems. Nessus Pro is widely used by security professionals and can be a valuable asset in keeping your data safe. Teramind Teramind is a software program designed to help companies with insider threat management, data loss prevention, and business process optimization. It focuses on employee activity, monitoring things like applications used, emails sent, and even keystrokes. This allows businesses to identify potential security risks and ensure employees are following company policies. Teramind can also be used to analyze how employees work and identify areas for improvement. Overall, it’s a tool that helps businesses protect their data and optimize their workflows. TotalAV Cyber Security TotalAV Cyber Security is an all-in-one security solution that protects your devices from online threats. It offers real-time antivirus protection, blocks dangerous websites, and even includes a VPN for secure browsing. TotalAV also has features to help clean up your device and improve its performance. Whether you’re using a PC, Mac, or mobile device, TotalAV can help keep you safe online. Norton LifeLock Norton LifeLock is a cybersecurity company offering a bundled package of protection. It combines Norton, a well-known antivirus software, with LifeLock, an identity theft protection service. It helps secure your devices from viruses and malware while also monitoring for suspicious activity related to your personal information. This can help prevent identity theft and give you peace of mind when you’re online. Defendify Defendify is an all-in-one cybersecurity platform designed for businesses with growing security needs. It offers multiple layers of protection, including detection and response by security experts, to help businesses defend against cyberattacks, vulnerabilities, and exploits. Defendify also provides training for employees to make them more aware of cybersecurity best practices. Forcepoint Forcepoint is a cybersecurity company that specializes in protecting your data wherever it goes. Their software helps organizations stop sensitive information leaks and secure access to cloud applications, web browsing, and internal apps. Basically, it helps you create a safe digital environment for your employees to work in, even if they’re using different devices or cloud services. One of their key features is that it allows you to set up a single security policy that applies to everything, making it easier to manage. OSSEC OSSEC acts as a vigilant guard for your computer’s security. It continuously monitors system logs and files, searching for any signs of unauthorized access or suspicious changes. Like a watchful eye, it keeps track of important files, ensuring they haven’t been tampered with. If it detects something out of the ordinary, OSSEC raises the alarm and can even take steps to halt the attack. This makes it a valuable tool for anyone who wants to fortify their defenses against hackers and other cybersecurity threats. Bitwarden Bitwarden is a popular tool that helps you manage your passwords securely. It’s like a digital vault where you can store all your login information for different websites and apps. But unlike just writing them down on a piece of paper, Bitwarden encrypts everything with a powerful code, making it super difficult for anyone to steal your passwords. Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) Zed Attack Proxy, often shortened to ZAP, is a free and open-source security scanner specifically designed for web applications. It helps users find vulnerabilities in their applications during development and testing. ZAP is popular for both beginners and experienced pen testers due to its user-friendly interface and wide range of features. It acts like a middleman (proxy) for your web traffic, allowing you to intercept and analyze communication between your browser and the web application. ZAP can then automatically scan the application for weaknesses and report its findings. Fortinet SIEM Fortinet SIEM is a security information and event management (SIEM) tool designed to be the central hub for your security operations team. It collects data from various sources like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and security logs. FortiSIEM then analyzes this data to identify potential threats and security incidents. Fortinet SIEM helps you understand your security posture, quickly respond to threats, and investigate security incidents. It can also automate many tasks, freeing up your security team to focus on more complex issues. Snort Snort is a free and powerful cybersecurity tool that acts as a network traffic watchdog. It can be configured to sniff out suspicious activity on your network by analyzing data packets and comparing them against a list of known threats. Think of it as a digital bouncer, checking every packet at the door to see if it’s legitimate before letting it onto your network. It can not only detect suspicious traffic (Intrusion Detection System – IDS), but also actively block it (Intrusion Prevention System – IPS). This makes it a versatile tool for businesses and organizations looking to fortify their defenses against cyberattacks. Metasploit Metasploit is a popular open-source cybersecurity tool used for penetration testing. Penetration testing, also called pen testing, is essentially ethical hacking. It involves simulating an attack on a computer system or network to identify vulnerabilities before malicious actors can exploit them. Metasploit provides a framework for finding and exploiting these vulnerabilities. It includes a large database of known exploits, along with tools for scanning systems for weaknesses and deploying those exploits. Kali Linux Kali Linux is a powerful operating system built specifically for cybersecurity tasks. Imagine a toolbox, but instead of wrenches and screwdrivers, it’s filled with programs for hacking (ethically, of course!). Penetration testers, who identify weaknesses in computer systems, use Kali Linux to scan for vulnerabilities, exploit them in a safe environment, and ultimately help improve overall security. Because of its vast arsenal of tools, Kali Linux is a popular choice for ethical hackers and security professionals worldwide. Nikto Nikto is a free and open-source cybersecurity tool that acts like a scanner for web servers. It identifies potential weaknesses by searching for things like outdated software, insecure files, and common misconfigurations. Think of it as a security checkup for your website. Nikto is a popular tool among developers and security professionals because it’s fast, easy to use, and can uncover a wide range of issues. It’s important to use Nikto responsibly, with permission from the website owner, as it can reveal vulnerabilities that hackers might try to exploit. John the Ripper John the Ripper is a free password auditing tool. Originally designed for Unix systems, it’s now available on many platforms. It’s used by system administrators to find weak passwords. John the Ripper can crack passwords using various methods, including trying different combinations of characters (brute force) or using lists of common passwords (wordlists). By identifying weak passwords, administrators can improve system security. It’s important to note that John the Ripper should only be used on authorized systems with permission. Nmap Nmap, short for Network Mapper, is a free and open-source cybersecurity tool. It’s like a flashlight for your network, letting you see what devices are connected and what services they’re running. Nmap works by sending packets of data and analyzing the responses to discover details like operating systems, open ports, and even firewalls. This information is crucial for system administrators to identify potential security weaknesses and manage their networks effectively. Aircrack-ng Aircrack-ng is a powerful suite of tools for auditing the security of Wi-Fi networks. It can be used to monitor network traffic, crack weak passwords, and even simulate attacks. While it can be a valuable tool for security professionals to identify vulnerabilities, it’s important to remember that using Aircrack-ng for malicious purposes is illegal. Make sure you have permission before using it on any network. OpenVAS OpenVAS is a free and open-source vulnerability scanner used to identify security weaknesses in computer systems and networks. It’s a core component of Greenbone Vulnerability Management, a framework offering a broader range of vulnerability management features. OpenVAS keeps its vulnerability tests updated with a continuously maintained feed, allowing it to scan for both well-known and recently discovered threats. It can perform various types of scans, including unauthenticated and authenticated testing, making it a versatile tool for security professionals. Security Onion Security Onion is a free and open-source platform designed for threat hunting, network security monitoring, and log management. It basically functions as a security analyst’s toolkit, bundling together a bunch of powerful open-source tools like Suricata, Zeek, and the Elastic Stack. Security Onion allows you to monitor your network for suspicious activity, analyze logs for threats, and investigate security incidents. Tcpdump Tcpdump is a network detective. It’s a command-line tool that captures the digital conversations flowing on your network. Like a wiretap for the internet, it snags packets of data zipping by, allowing you to examine them for troubleshooting or security purposes. Used by network administrators and security analysts, tcpdump can help diagnose network slowdowns, identify suspicious activity, and even recover lost data. By filtering through the captured traffic, you can isolate specific connections or protocols, giving you a clear picture of what’s happening on your network. Forcepoint Forcepoint acts like a watchful guardian in the digital world, keeping a close eye on your organization’s sensitive data. Their tools analyze how employees interact with information, preventing leaks and ensuring everything stays secure. Imagine it like having a security guard specifically focused on data, making sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Forcepoint offers a suite of products that work together to achieve this, including tools to monitor data movement, provide control over cloud applications, and even shield your network from unauthorized access. By using Forcepoint, organizations can gain peace of mind by securing their data across all devices and locations. Nagios Nagios is a software tool used to monitor the health of your computer systems and network. It keeps an eye on things like servers, applications, and switches. If something goes wrong, Nagios will send out an alert so you can fix the problem. There’s a free, open-source version called Nagios Core, and also commercial versions with more features, like Nagios XI. Paros Proxy Paros Proxy is a free, open-source cybersecurity tool used to identify vulnerabilities in web applications. Imagine it as a middleman between your web browser and the internet. By intercepting traffic, Paros allows you to view and edit data exchanged between your browser and the websites you visit. This lets security researchers see if there are weaknesses that hackers could exploit. Paros also has built-in features to scan for common web application vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting. Mimecast Mimecast is a cloud-based cybersecurity solution that offers a variety of tools to protect organizations from email threats. It focuses on both email security and continuity. Mimecast can help businesses defend against phishing attacks, malware, and other email-borne threats. It also provides email archiving, backup, and recovery services, ensuring that users always have access to their email even if there’s a disruption. Mimecast additionally offers security awareness training to empower employees to identify and avoid cyber threats. Wireshark Wireshark is a free and powerful tool that lets you see what’s happening inside your computer network. Nicknamed a “packet analyzer,” Wireshark captures the data flowing through your network, like a digital eavesdropper. This captured data can then be examined to troubleshoot network problems, analyze security threats, or even develop new software. Because it’s open-source, anyone can contribute to its development and freely use it. KisMac KisMac is a free, open-source tool for Mac computers that helps with wireless network discovery and security. Similar to its Linux counterpart Kismet, KisMac scans for WiFi networks, including those hidden or cloaked. It can show you details like the network name (SSID), signal strength, and even devices connected to the network (identified by MAC address). While KisMac offers advanced features for mapping and security assessments, it’s geared more towards network professionals due to its technical interface. WebTitan WebTitan is a web filtering tool that helps organizations stay safe online. It works by filtering DNS requests, which are essentially the internet’s address book. This allows WebTitan to block access to malicious websites, phishing attempts, and other online threats. It can also be used to restrict access to certain types of content, like social media or streaming sites. Overall, WebTitan helps businesses protect their users and network from online dangers. SiteLock SiteLock is a cloud-based cybersecurity tool that helps protect websites from various threats like malware, viruses, and hacking attempts. It scans your website for vulnerabilities and can even automatically remove malicious code. SiteLock also monitors your website for suspicious activity and alerts you if it detects any problems. Cloudflare Cloudflare offers a suite of cybersecurity tools aimed at businesses. Instead of relying on various standalone security products, Cloudflare positions itself as a one-stop shop for network security. Their cloud-based platform focuses on Zero Trust security, keeping your data and users safe wherever they are. This includes securing applications, APIs, and websites, as well as protecting remote teams and offering cloud-delivered security for employees. Metasploit Metasploit is a popular open-source cybersecurity tool that helps ethical hackers, or penetration testers, identify weaknesses in computer systems. Think of it as a digital toolbox for simulating attacks and finding vulnerabilities before malicious actors can exploit them. Metasploit offers a wide range of features, including tools to scan for vulnerabilities, deploy exploits, and gain access to systems. Because it’s open-source, anyone can contribute to its development, making it a powerful resource for the cybersecurity community. However, it’s important to remember that this tool can also be misused by malicious actors. That’s why it’s crucial that only authorized individuals with proper training use Metasploit for ethical penetration testing. Burp Suite Burp Suite is a popular application used for security testing, specifically penetration testing of web applications. It essentially acts as a toolkit for security professionals. There’s a free version available along with paid plans that offer more features. With Burp Suite, testers can analyze web traffic, identify vulnerabilities, and even exploit them in a controlled setting to understand their impact. This helps developers fix these vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors. Ghidra Developed by the National Security Agency (NSA), Ghidra allows users to analyze code, understand its functionality, and even identify potential security vulnerabilities. Released in 2019, Ghidra is seen as a rival to commercial options like IDA Pro. Ghidra is written in Java with a user-friendly interface, and even its decompiler component is accessible for independent use. This open-source nature fosters a community of developers who create extensions and scripts to further enhance Ghidra’s capabilities. Maltego Maltego is a software program used for investigations in cybersecurity, but also for other fields like forensics. It excels at uncovering connections between different pieces of information. Investigators can use Maltego to visually map these connections, helping them to identify patterns and understand complex situations. Maltego can also gather information from publicly available sources, making it a valuable tool for open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques. VeraCrypt VeraCrypt is a free and open-source program that helps you encrypt your data on your computer. Imagine a hidden container with a lock on it. VeraCrypt creates that locked container, encrypting your files and keeping them hidden unless you enter the password. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. VeraCrypt is considered strong and reliable, making it a good choice for people who want to keep their data confidential. SolarWinds SolarWinds isn’t just a cybersecurity tool, it’s actually a broader IT management platform that offers some specific security features. Their “Security Event Manager” (SEM) helps monitor network activity for suspicious events, analyze logs, and identify potential threats. They also offer an “Access Rights Manager” (ARM) that focuses on user permissions and managing access to sensitive data. So, while SolarWinds isn’t exclusively a cybersecurity tool, it offers some valuable functionalities to help with your overall IT security posture. TheHive TheHive is an open-source cybersecurity tool that helps manage security incidents. It’s designed for Security Operations Centers (SOCs) and other teams that deal with cyber threats. TheHive helps streamline the process of investigating and responding to security incidents, allowing teams to react faster and more efficiently. It integrates with other tools used in threat analysis and information sharing, making it a comprehensive solution for cybersecurity professionals. Metasploit Metasploit is a popular open-source cybersecurity tool used for penetration testing. Penetration testing, also called pen testing, is essentially ethical hacking. It involves simulating an attack on a computer system or network to identify vulnerabilities before malicious actors can exploit them. Metasploit provides a framework for finding and exploiting these vulnerabilities. It includes a large database of security exploits, tools for scanning systems for weaknesses, and utilities for maintaining access to compromised systems. While it can be a powerful tool in the hands of criminals, Metasploit is primarily used by security professionals to improve system defenses. IBM QRadar IBM QRadar is a security information and event management (SIEM) tool that helps organizations detect and respond to security threats. It collects data from various sources across your network, such as security devices, servers, and applications. This data is then analyzed for suspicious activity, which can help security analysts identify and investigate potential threats. QRadar can also automate some security tasks, such as generating alerts and reports. This can help security teams to be more efficient and effective in their work. Snorby Snorby is a web application designed to simplify network security monitoring. It acts as a front-end for intrusion detection systems (IDS) like Snort, Suricata, and Sagan. Snorby allows you to view and analyze alerts generated by these IDS programs through a web interface. This makes it easier to understand potential security threats on your network. In short, Snorby helps translate the technical output of IDS tools into a user-friendly format for security professionals. CrowdStrike Falcon CrowdStrike Falcon is a cloud-based cybersecurity platform that protects computers (endpoints) from cyberattacks. It uses a single agent to simplify security and stop both traditional malware and more advanced attacks. Falcon is known for its ease of use, strong detection capabilities, and ability to respond to threats. With Falcon, businesses can consolidate multiple security products and improve their overall IT hygiene. Intercept X Advanced Intercept X Advanced utilizes a combination of cutting-edge technologies like anti-exploit techniques and deep learning AI to identify and thwart attacks before they can gain a foothold. This proactive approach safeguards your devices from both known and unforeseen dangers. By minimizing potential vulnerabilities and stopping threats in their tracks, Intercept X Advanced empowers you to work with peace of mind, confident that your valuable data and systems are secure. Cloud One Trend Micro’s Cloud One offers a centralized platform to secure critical applications across complex hybrid cloud environments. It tackles security challenges by providing comprehensive visibility into potential threats, allowing businesses to proactively safeguard their data and operations. Cloud One streamlines security throughout the development process, from the initial build to ongoing runtime. This ensures consistent protection and helps businesses meet compliance standards. Webroot Business Endpoint Protection Webroot™ Business Endpoint Protection is a cybersecurity tool designed to shield businesses from a range of online threats. It uses cloud-based technology and machine learning to continuously monitor and defend devices like laptops, desktops, and servers. This protection extends to smartphones, tablets, and even virtual environments. Webroot’s strength lies in its ability to identify and stop malicious files, scripts, and web addresses before they can harm your business. In addition to real-time protection, Webroot offers remote management tools for easy policy control and the ability to roll back changes in case of infection. By combining these features, Webroot™ Business Endpoint Protection helps businesses maintain a strong cyber defense. Magnet AXIOM Cyber Magnet AXIOM Cyber is a digital forensics powerhouse, designed to streamline investigations into cybercrime. It tackles the challenge of scattered evidence by offering a single platform to acquire and analyze data from computers, smartphones, and even cloud storage. This all gets organized within a centralized case file, making it easier for investigators to connect the dots. AXIOM Cyber boasts two key components: AXIOM Process handles the acquisition and processing of evidence, while AXIOM Examine provides a suite of tools to explore and analyze the mountain of data collected. With features like automated highlighting of relevant evidence and the ability to add custom rules, Magnet AXIOM Cyber aims to make the digital investigation process faster and more efficient. Prelude Detect Unlike traditional security measures that passively wait for threats, Prelude Detect takes an active approach. It mimics the tactics of attackers, employing lightweight programs to probe your defenses for vulnerabilities. This continuous testing ensures your security stays ahead of the curve, identifying the latest threats and exposing any holes in your defenses against malware, misconfigurations, and even zero-day exploits. By constantly testing your systems, Prelude Detect creates a self-learning loop. It refines its tests based on your specific environment, pinpointing areas that need improvement. This ongoing dialogue between your defenses and Prelude Detect ensures your security posture is constantly evolving, adapting to the ever-changing threat landscape. Varonis for Active Directory Varonis for Active Directory acts as a guardian for your organization’s critical directory service. It provides deep visibility into your Active Directory, allowing you to identify security weaknesses that hackers might exploit. By utilizing pre-built threat models, Varonis can detect suspicious activity such as attempts to steal credentials or move laterally within your network. This enables you to take action and prevent a cyberattack before it unfolds. Varonis goes beyond just detection; it also offers recommendations for fixing misconfigurations and hardening your Active Directory’s defenses. With Varonis on watch, you can ensure your Active Directory remains a secure foundation for your IT infrastructure. Acunetix Acunetix is a web application security scanner that helps businesses identify and fix vulnerabilities in their online programs. This is important because even a small coding error can leave a website open to attacks, potentially allowing hackers to steal data or take control of the server itself. Acunetix uses a combination of automated and manual testing tools to give security analysts a complete picture of their web application’s health. This can save businesses time and money by pinpointing threats early on, before they can be exploited by attackers. BluVector BluVector is a cybersecurity tool designed to give organizations a powerful shield against modern threats. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect and respond to attacks in real-time, including those that are new and haven’t been seen before (zero-day attacks). This allows security teams to not only identify threats but also prioritize them and take action to prevent breaches. BluVector goes beyond just detection by providing broader network visibility, giving security teams a clearer picture of what’s happening on their systems. This translates to increased efficiency and productivity for security professionals. Cyber Security Best Practices: 1Q. Policy Development Question: Imagine you are tasked with developing a comprehensive cyber security policy for a medium-sized organization. Outline the key components that should be included in the policy, such as access control, data protection, incident response, and employee training. Discuss the importance of each component and provide examples of specific policies or procedures that could be implemented to mitigate cyber security risks. Additionally, address the challenges of policy enforcement and compliance monitoring within the organization. Finally, propose strategies for ensuring the ongoing effectiveness of the cyber security policy in the face of evolving threats and technologies. answer:Information security policies play a critical role in an organization's overall security posture. They serve as a foundation for establishing a secure environment and mitigating potential risks. The value of information security policies can be outlined as follows: Risk management: Information security policies provide a systematic approach to identifying, assessing, and managing risks associated with information assets. By addressing vulnerabilities and implementing appropriate controls, organizations can minimize the potential damage caused by security incidents. Security culture and awareness: Information security policies promote a culture of security awareness within an organization. By providing training and resources, organizations can educate employees on security best practices and encourage them to play an active role in protecting information assets. Trust and reputation: By implementing and maintaining a robust information security policy, organizations can demonstrate their commitment to protecting customer, employee, and partner data. This fosters trust and confidence, which is crucial for maintaining a positive reputation and building strong business relationships. Competitive advantage: As data breaches and cyberattacks become more common, organizations with effective information security policies can differentiate themselves from competitors. Demonstrating strong security practices can provide a competitive advantage, particularly when dealing with clients or partners who prioritize data protection. Cost savings: By proactively addressing security risks, organizations can reduce the financial impact of security incidents, including costs associated with data breaches, system downtime, and regulatory fines. Continuous improvement: Information security policies include processes for regular monitoring, auditing, and reviewing security practices. This allows organizations to identify areas for improvement, adapt to evolving threats, and ensure that their security measures remain effective over time. Examples of Information Security Policies Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) The AUP sets the ground rules for using an organization's IT resources, including computers, mobile devices, networks, email systems, and the internet. It aims to prevent activities that may compromise security, violate laws or regulations, or harm productivity. Key elements of an AUP may include: Prohibited activities (e.g., accessing malicious websites, downloading copyrighted materials, using offensive language in communications). Guidelines for email and instant messaging usage (e.g., avoiding phishing scams, not sharing sensitive information via email). Rules for using social media and personal devices in the workplace. Procedures for reporting security incidents or policy violations. Consequences for violating the policy (e.g., disciplinary actions, termination). Network Security Policy This policy provides a framework for securing an organization's network infrastructure. It may include: Network architecture and design principles (e.g., segmentation, redundancy). Firewall management and configuration (e.g., rules for inbound/outbound traffic, monitoring for unauthorized access attempts). Intrusion detection and prevention systems (e.g., monitoring for suspicious network activity, automatic response mechanisms). Wireless network security (e.g., secure encryption protocols, strong authentication methods). Guidelines for connecting personal devices to the network (e.g., BYOD policies). Access Control Policy This policy defines how access to information assets is granted, managed, and monitored. It may include: User authentication methods (e.g., passwords, multi-factor authentication, biometrics). Role-based access control (RBAC) or attribute-based access control (ABAC) models. Procedures for granting, modifying, and revoking access rights (e.g., approval workflows, regular access reviews). Password management guidelines (e.g., password complexity requirements, expiration periods, storage best practices). Logging and monitoring of user activities (e.g., tracking login attempts, auditing access to sensitive data). Data Management Policy This policy governs the entire data lifecycle, from creation and storage to disposal. It may include: Data classification schemes (e.g., public, internal, confidential, top secret). Handling procedures for different data types (e.g., storage locations, access restrictions, encryption requirements). Data backup and recovery processes (e.g., frequency, storage media, offsite storage). Data retention and disposal policies (e.g., legal requirements, secure deletion methods). Guidelines for sharing data internally and externally (e.g., secure file transfer methods, third-party data sharing agreements). Remote Access Policy This policy sets the rules for employees and contractors who access the organization's network and resources remotely. It may include: Approved remote access technologies (e.g., VPNs, remote desktop applications). Authentication and encryption requirements for remote connections. Device security guidelines (e.g., antivirus software, system updates, device encryption). Restrictions on remote access locations and networks (e.g., prohibiting public Wi-Fi connections). Procedures for revoking remote access privileges (e.g., when an employee leaves the organization). Vendor Management Policy This policy aims to ensure that third-party vendors maintain appropriate security standards when handling an organization's information assets. It may include: Criteria for selecting and evaluating vendors (e.g., security certifications, financial stability, past performance). Requirements for vendor contracts (e.g., security clauses, confidentiality agreements, data ownership). Vendor risk assessments and audits (e.g., reviewing security policies, testing security controls). Procedures for monitoring vendor compliance and performance (e.g., regular reporting, incident response coordination). Guidelines for terminating vendor relationships (e.g., secure data return or destruction, revoking access to systems, handling contractual obligations and penalties, post-contract reviews and lessons learned). 11 Key Elements of an Information Security Policy While the specifics may vary depending on the organization's size, industry, and regulatory environment, the following key elements are generally found in an effective information security policy: Purpose and scope: Clearly state the objectives of the policy, the types of information and systems it covers, and the people it applies to (e.g., employees, contractors, vendors). Roles and responsibilities: Define the roles and responsibilities of individuals or teams related to information security. This should include top management, the information security team, IT staff, and general employees. Risk management: Outline the approach to identifying, assessing, and managing risks related to information assets, including the process for conducting risk assessments and implementing appropriate risk mitigation measures. Asset management: Establish guidelines for identifying, classifying, and handling information assets, covering areas such as data classification, ownership, acceptable use, and disposal. Access control: Describe the methods and procedures for granting, modifying, and revoking access to information assets, based on the principles of least privilege and separation of duties. This should include guidelines for user authentication, password management, and monitoring of user activities. Physical and environmental security: Address the protection of information assets from physical threats, such as theft, damage, or unauthorized access. This may include guidelines for securing server rooms, workstations, and storage media, as well as disaster recovery planning. Incident management: Define the process for detecting, reporting, and responding to security incidents and breaches, including the roles and responsibilities of those involved in incident response and communication with relevant stakeholders. Business continuity and disaster recovery: Establish the processes and plans for maintaining critical operations and recovering from data loss or system failures, including backup procedures, recovery objectives, and emergency response teams. Compliance: Address the organization's legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations related to information security, outlining the measures in place to ensure compliance and the consequences of non-compliance. Training and awareness: Ensure that employees and other relevant parties receive the appropriate training according to the organization's security policies and procedures and are aware of their responsibilities related to information security. Monitoring, auditing, and review: Describe the processes for regularly monitoring and auditing the organization's security practices to ensure their effectiveness and compliance with the information security policy. This should include provisions for updating the policy based on changes in the threat landscape, technology, or business environment. Enforcing Your Security Policy with HackerOne HackerOne’s Attack Resistance Platform takes a preemptive approach to finding critical vulnerabilities embedded within your digital assets using human ingenuity and precision. By taking an adversarial testing approach, businesses can use real-world vulnerability and attack data to influence changes to their security policy as well as enforce policy mandates within their software development lifecycle. By integrating data from the HackerOne platform into your existing development and SecOps workflows, your security operations teams saves valuable time by prioritizing the vulnerabilities that directly violate your security policy. You’ll launch digital applications that are secure by design by feeding back findings to your developer teams. And, to showcase compliance, you’ll be assured your security coverage is validated with standardized testing by specialized experts. Scenario-Based Analysis Question: Analyze a hypothetical cyber security incident scenario and develop a set of best practices for preventing, detecting, and responding to such incidents. Describe the incident scenario, including the type of attack, the target system or data, and the potential impact on the organization. Based on the scenario, identify the key steps that should be taken by the organization to mitigate the immediate threat and minimize the impact on operations. Additionally, outline proactive measures that could have been implemented beforehand to prevent or mitigate the incident. Finally, discuss the importance of continuous monitoring, incident response planning, and post-incident analysis in improving cyber security resilience. answer:Incident Response Frameworks The two most well-respected IR frameworks were developed by NIST and SANS to give IT teams a foundation to build their incident response plans on. Below are steps of each framework: NIST Incident Response Steps Step #1: Preparation Step #2: Detection and Analysis Step #3: Containment, Eradication and Recovery Step #4: Post-Incident Activity SANS Incident Response Steps Step #1: Preparation Step #2: Identification Step #3: Containment Step #4: Eradication Step #5: Recovery Step #6: Lessons Learned When we compare the NIST and SANS frameworks side-by-side, you’ll see the components are almost identical, but differ slighting in their wording and grouping. The biggest difference lies with Step 3, where NIST believes that containment, eradication, and recovery overlap – meaning you shouldn’t wait to contain all threats before beginning to eradicate them. Which Framework is Better? Some debate which framework is better, but it really comes down to a matter of preference and your organization’s resources. Both come with a comprehensive checklist for your team to follow and get started. This article expands upon the four steps of the NIST Framework, and breaks down what each means for your incident response plan. LEARN MORE CrowdStrike’s Incident Response team follows the NIST framework! Step #1: Preparation No organization can spin up an effective incident response on a moment’s notice. A plan must be in place to both prevent and respond to events. Define the CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team) To act quickly and completely while an incident is unfolding, everyone on the CSIRT needs to know their responsibilities and the decisions that are theirs to make. The CSIRT should include a cross section of business and technical experts with the authority to take action in support of the business. Members should include representatives from management, technical, legal, and communications disciplines, as well as security committee liaisons. All departments affected by an incident should be in the loop and everyone should have a decision matrix to guide their actions during and after the incident. The plan should also define who is in charge and who has the authority to make certain critical decisions. Those aren’t things to figure out–let alone argue over–in the heat of the moment. Develop and update a plan Ensure plans and other supporting documents exist and are updated periodically to remain current. All relevant personnel should have access to the parts of the plan that pertain to their responsibilities and should be alerted when the plan is revised. There should be a feedback loop that is enacted after every significant incident in order to improve the plan continuously. Acquire and Maintain the Proper Infrastructure and Tools Have the capabilities to detect and investigate incidents, as well as to collect and preserve evidence. To determine if an attacker is in your environment, it’s critical that you have endpoint security technology that provides total visibility into your endpoints and collects incident data. Without the right tools, and processes to guide their use, you’ll be ill-equipped to investigate how attackers are accessing your environment, how to mitigate an attacker’s existing access, or how to prevent future access. Always Improve Skills and Support Training Ensure the IR team has the appropriate skills and training. This includes exercising the IR plan from time to time. It also includes staffing the IR team, with either in-house staff or through a third-party provider, to accommodate the time away from the job necessary in order to maintain certifications and leverage other educational opportunities. Possess Up-to-Date Threat Intelligence Capabilities Threat intelligence capabilities help an organization understand the kinds of threats it should be prepared to respond to. Threat intelligence should integrate seamlessly into endpoint protection and use automated incident investigations to speed breach response. Automation enables a more comprehensive analysis of threats in just minutes, not hours, so an organization can outpace advanced persistent threats (APTs) with smarter responses. EXPERT TIP Don’t chase ghosts in your IT estate. Learn how visibility into all assets is a critical success factor in effectively responding to a cybersecurity incident. Read Blog Step #2. Detection & Analysis The second phase of IR is to determine whether an incident occurred, its severity, and its type. NIST outlines five steps within this overall phase: Pinpoint signs of an incident (precursors and indicators): Precursors and indicators are specific signals that an incident is either about to occur, or has already occurred. Analyze the discovered signs: Once identified, the IR team has to determine if a precursor or indicator is part of an attack or if it is a false positive. Incident documentation: If the signal proves valid, the IR team must begin documenting all facts in relation to the incident and continue logging all actions taken throughout the process. Incident prioritization: NIST designates this step as the most critical decision point in the IR process. The IR team can’t simply prioritize incidents on a first come, first serve basis. Instead, they must score incidents on the impact it will have on the business functionality, the confidentiality of affected information, and the recoverability of the incident. Incident notification: After an incident has been analyzed and prioritized, the IR team should notify the appropriate departments/individuals. A thorough IR plan should already include the specific reporting requirements. Step #3. Containment, Eradication, & Recovery The purpose of the containment phase is to halt the effects of an incident before it can cause further damage. Once an incident is contained, the IR team can take the time necessary to tailor its next steps. These should include taking any measures necessary to address the root cause of the incident and restore systems to normal operation. Develop containment, eradication, and recovery strategies based on criteria such as: the criticality of the affected assets the type and severity of the incident the need to preserve evidence the importance of any affected systems to critical business processes the resources required to implement the strategy At all times, these processes should be documented and evidence should be collected. There are two reasons for this: one, to learn from the attack and increase the security team’s expertise, and two, to prepare for potential litigation. advertisement FRONT LINES REPORT Every year our services team battles a host of new adversaries. Download the Cyber Front Lines report for analysis and pragmatic steps recommended by our services experts. Download Now Step #4. Post-Incident Activity Every incident should be an opportunity to learn and improve, but many organizations give short shrift to this step. Adversaries are always evolving, and IR teams need to keep up with the latest techniques, tactics, and procedures. A lessons learned meeting involving all relevant parties should be mandatory after a major incident and desirable after less severe incidents with the goal of improving security as a whole and incident handling in particular. In the case of major attacks, involve people from across the organization as necessary and make a particular effort to invite people whose cooperation will be needed during future incidents. During the meeting, review: what happened and when how well the IR team performed whether documented procedures were followed whether those procedures were adequate what information was missing when it was needed what actions slowed recovery what could be done differently what can be done to prevent future incidents what precursors or indicators can be looked for in the future The results of these meetings can become an important training tool for new hires. They can also be used to update policies and procedures and create institutional knowledge that can be useful during future incidents. text, letter CUSTOMER STORY: CITY OF LAS VEGAS About 2,700,000 residents and over 40 million yearly visitors to Las Vegas place trust in the city’s ability to ensure essential services are delivered and protected. The City of Las Vegas has deployed a comprehensive endpoint and managed security solution based on the CrowdStrike Falcon®️ platform and a range of security tools and services. Learn how CrowdStrike worked side-by-side with the City of Las Vegas to stare a major cybersecurity breach in the face and beat it. Download Now CrowdStrike Incident Response The volume of indicators of potential compromise (IOCs) can be extremely high. Some organizations may even receive millions per day. Separating the signal from the noise is a massive task. CrowdStrike is here to make things easier for your organization. The CrowdStrike Incident Response team takes an intelligence-led approach that blends Incident Response and remediation experience with cutting-edge technology to identify attackers quickly, and eject them from your environment. CrowdStrike works collaboratively with organizations to handle the most critical cybersecurity incidents.