Title: Threats
Course: IN 2001 Principle of Information Assurance > Section: Module 2: Chapter Two

Threats

To make sound decisions about information security as well as to create and enforce policies, management must be informed of the various kinds of threats facing the organization and its applications, data and information systems.

A threat is an object, person, or other entity that represents a constant danger to an asset.  To better understand the numerous threats facing the organization, a categorization scheme has been developed, allowing us to group threats by their respective activities.  By examining each threat category in turn, management can most effectively protect its information through policy, education and training and technology controls.

The 2009 Computer Security Institute/Federal Bureau of Investigation (CSI/FBI) survey on Computer Crime and Security Survey found that:

- 64% of organizations responding to the survey suffered malware infections
- 14% of respondents identified indicated system penetration by an outsider

SEE TABLE 2-1

Compromises to Intellectual Property

Many organizations create or support the development of intellectual property (IP) as part of their business operations.  Intellectual property is defined as “the ownership of ideas and control over the tangible or virtual representation of those ideas.”

Intellectual property for an organization includes trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and patents.  Once intellectual property has been defined and properly identified, breaches to IP constitute a threat to the security of this information.  Most common IP breaches involve the unlawful use or duplication of software-based intellectual property, known as software piracy.

In addition to the laws surrounding software piracy, two watchdog organizations investigate allegations of software abuse: Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), formerly the Software Publishers Association, and the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

Enforcement of copyright laws has been attempted through a number of technical security mechanisms, such as digital watermarks, embedded code and copyright codes.

Deliberate Software Attacks

Deliberate software attacks occur when an individual or group designs software to attack an unsuspecting system.  Most of this software is referred to as malicious code, malicious software or sometimes malware.

These software components or programs are designed to damage, destroy or deny service to the target systems. Some of the more common instances of malicious code are viruses and worms, Trojan horses, logic bombs, back doors and denial-of-service attacks.

Computer viruses are segments of code that perform malicious actions. This code behaves very much like a virus pathogen that attacks animals and plants by using the cell’s own replication machinery to propagate. The code attaches itself to the existing program and takes control of that program’s access to the targeted computer. The virus-controlled target program then carries out the virus’s plan by replicating itself into additional targeted systems.

A macro virus is embedded in the automatically executing macro code that is common in word processors, spread sheets and database applications.

A boot virus infects key operating system files located in a computer’s boot sector.

Worms are malicious programs that replicate themselves constantly without requiring another program to provide a safe environment for replication.  Worms can continue replicating themselves until they completely fill available resources, such as memory, hard drive space and network bandwidth.

Trojan horses are software programs that hide their true nature and reveal their designed behavior only when activated.  Trojan horses are frequently disguised as helpful, interesting or necessary pieces of software, such as readme.exe files often included with shareware or freeware packages.

A virus or worm can have a payload that installs a back door or trap door component in a system. This allows the attacker to access the system at will with special privileges.

A polymorphic threat changes over time, making it undetectable by techniques that are looking for preconfigured signatures.  These threats actually evolve, changing their size and appearance to elude detection by antivirus software programs, making detection more of a challenge.

As frustrating as viruses and worms are, perhaps more time and money is spent on resolving virus hoaxes. Well-meaning people can disrupt the harmony and flow of an organization when they send e-mails warning of dangerous viruses that are fictitious

Deviations in Quality of Service

This category represents situations in which a product or services are not delivered to the organization as expected.

The organization’s information system depends on the successful operation of many interdependent support systems, including power grids, telecom networks, parts suppliers, service vendors and even the janitorial staff and garbage haulers.

Internet service, communications and power irregularities are three sets of service issues that dramatically affect the availability of information and systems.

Internet Service Issues

For organizations that rely heavily on the Internet and the Web to support continued operations, Internet service provider failures can considerably undermine the availability of information.  Many organizations have sales staff and telecommuters working at remote locations.  When an organization places its Web servers in the care of a Web hosting provider, that provider assumes responsibility for all Internet services, as well as the hardware and operating system software used to operate the Web site.

Communications and Other Service Provider Issues

Other utility services can impact organizations as well.  Among these are telephone, water, wastewater, trash pickup, cable television, natural or propane gas and custodial services.  The loss of these services can impair the ability of an organization to function properly.

Power Irregularities

Irregularities from power utilities are common and can lead to fluctuations, such as power excesses, power shortages and power losses. In the U.S., we are “fed” 120-volt, 60-cycle power usually through 15 and 20 amp circuits.

Voltage levels can spike (momentary increase), surge (prolonged increase), sag (momentary decrease), brownout (prolonged drop in voltage), fault (momentary complete loss of power) or blackout (a more lengthy loss of power).

Because sensitive electronic equipment—especially networking equipment, computers, and computer-based systems—are susceptible to fluctuations, controls should be applied to manage power quality.

Espionage or Trespass

This threat represents a well-known and broad category of electronic and human activities that breach the confidentiality of information.

When an unauthorized individual gains access to the information an organization is trying to protect, that act is categorized as a deliberate act of espionage or trespass.

When information gatherers employ techniques that cross the threshold of what is legal and/or ethical, they enter the world of industrial espionage.

Instances of shoulder surfing occur at computer terminals, desks, ATM machines, public phones or other places where a person is accessing confidential information.

The threat of trespassing can lead to unauthorized, real, or virtual actions that enable information gatherers to enter premises or systems they have not been authorized to enter.

Controls are sometimes implemented to mark the boundaries of an organization’s virtual territory.  These boundaries give notice to trespassers that they are encroaching on the organization’s cyberspace.

The classic perpetrator of deliberate acts of espionage or trespass is the hacker.  In the gritty world of reality, a hacker uses skill, guile or fraud to attempt to bypass the controls placed around information that is the property of someone else. The hacker frequently spends long hours examining the types and structures of the targeted systems.

There are generally two skill levels among hackers.  The first is the expert hacker, who develops software scripts and program exploits used by the second category, the novice or unskilled hacker.

The expert hacker is usually a master of several programming languages, networking protocols and operating systems and also exhibits a mastery of the technical environment of the chosen targeted system.

However, expert hackers have become bored with directly attacking systems and have turned to writing software.  The software they write are automated exploits that allow novice hackers to become script kiddies—hackers of limited skill who use expertly written software to exploit a system, but do not fully understand or appreciate the systems they hack.

As a result of preparation and continued vigilance, attacks conducted by scripts are usually predictable and can be adequately defended against.

There are other terms for system rule breakers:

1. The term cracker is now commonly associated with an individual who “cracks” or removes software protection that is designed to prevent unauthorized duplication.
2. A phreaker hacks the public telephone network to make free calls, disrupt services and generally wreak havoc.

Forces of Nature

Forces of nature, force majeure or acts of God pose some of the most dangerous threats, because they are unexpected and can occur with very little warning.

These threats can disrupt not only the lives of individuals, but also the storage, transmission and use of information.  They include fire, flood, earthquake, and lightning, as well as volcanic eruption and insect infestation.  Since it is not possible to avoid many of these threats, management must implement controls to limit damage and also prepare contingency plans for continued operations.

Human Error or Failure

This category includes the possibility of acts performed without intent or malicious purpose by an individual who is an employee of an organization.

Inexperience, improper training, making incorrect assumptions and other circumstances can cause problems.

Employees constitute one of the greatest threats to information security, as they are the individuals closest to the organizational data.  Employee mistakes can easily lead to the following: revelation of classified data, entry of erroneous data, accidental deletion or modification of data, storage of data in unprotected areas and failure to protect information.

Many threats can be prevented with controls, ranging from simple procedures, such as requiring the user to type a critical command twice, to more complex procedures, such as the verification of commands by a second party.

Information Extortion

The threat of information extortion involves the possibility of an attacker or trusted insider stealing information from a computer system and demanding compensation for its return or for an agreement to not disclose the information.  Extortion is common in credit card number theft.

Missing, Inadequate, or Incomplete Organizational Policy or Planning

Missing, inadequate, or incomplete organizational policy or planning makes an organization vulnerable to loss, damage, or disclosure of information assets when other threats lead to attacks.

Information security is, at its core, a management function.

The organization’s executive leadership is responsible for strategic planning for security as well as for IT and business functions—a task known as governance.

Missing, Inadequate, or Incomplete Controls

Security safeguards and information asset protection controls that are missing, misconfigured, antiquated or poorly designed or managed make an organization more likely to suffer losses when other threats lead to attacks.

Sabotage or Vandalism

Equally popular today is the assault on the electronic face of an organization—its Web site.  This category of threat involves the deliberate sabotage of a computer system or business, or acts of vandalism to either destroy an asset or damage the image of an organization.

These threats can range from petty vandalism by employees to organized sabotage against an organization.

Organizations frequently rely on image to support the generation of revenue and vandalism to a Web site can erode consumer confidence, thus reducing the organization’s sales and net worth.  Compared to Web site defacement, vandalism within a network is more malicious in intent and less public.

Today, security experts are noticing a rise in another form of online vandalism, hacktivist or cyberactivist operations. A more extreme version is referred to as cyberterrorism.

Theft

Theft is the illegal taking of another’s property.  Within an organization, that property can be physical, electronic or intellectual.

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

Physical theft can be controlled quite easily.  Many measures can be taken, including locking doors, training security personnel and installing alarm systems.

Electronic theft, however, is a more complex problem to manage and control.  Organizations may not even know it has occurred.

Technical Hardware Failures or Errors

Technical hardware failures or errors occur when a manufacturer distributes to users equipment containing a known or unknown flaw.  These defects can cause the system to perform outside of expected parameters, resulting in unreliable or unavailable service.

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

Technical Software Failures or Errors

This category involves threats that come from purchasing software with unknown, hidden faults.  Large quantities of computer code are written, debugged, published and sold before all of their bugs are detected and resolved.

Sometimes combinations of certain software and hardware reveal new bugs.  Sometimes these items aren’t errors, but rather are purposeful shortcuts left by programmers for benign or malign reasons.

Technological Obsolescence

Antiquated or outdated infrastructure leads to unreliable and untrustworthy systems.  Management must recognize that when technology becomes outdated, there is a risk of loss of data integrity from attacks.

Ideally, proper planning by management should prevent technology from becoming obsolete.  But when obsolescence is identified, management must take immediate action.

Attacks

An attack is a deliberate act that exploits a vulnerability to compromise a controlled system.  An attack is accomplished by a threat agent that damages or steals an organization’s information or physical asset.

A vulnerability is an identified weakness of a controlled system where controls are not present or are no longer effective.

Malicious Code

The malicious code attack includes the execution of viruses, worms, Trojan horses and active Web scripts with the intent to destroy or steal information.

The polymorphic, or multivector, worm is a state-of-the-art attack system.

These attack programs use up to six known attack vectors to exploit a variety of vulnerabilities in commonly found information system devices.

Attack Replication Vectors:

IP scan and attack: The infected system scans a random or local range of IP addresses and targets any of several vulnerabilities known to hackers or left over from previous exploits.

Web browsing: If the infected system has write access to any Web page, it makes all Web content files infectious so that users who browse to those pages become infected.

Virus: Each infected machine infects certain common executable or script files on all computers to which it can write with virus code that can cause infection.

Unprotected shares: Using vulnerabilities in file systems and the way many organizations configure them, the infected machine copies the viral component to all locations it can reach.

Mass mail: By sending e-mail infections to addresses found in the address book, the infected machine infects many users whose mail-reading programs automatically run the program and infect other systems.

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): By using the widely known and common passwords that were employed in early versions of this protocol (which is used for remote management of network and computer devices), the attacking program can gain control of the device.

Other forms of malware include covert software applications—bots, spyware and adware—that are designed to work out of sight of users or via an apparently innocuous user action.  A bot is an automated software program that executes certain commands when it receives a specific input.  Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge.  Adware is any software program intended for marketing purposes such as that used to deliver and display advertising banners or popups to the user’s screen or tracking the user’s online usage or purchasing activity.

Hoaxes

A more devious approach to attacking computer systems is the transmission of a virus hoax, with a real virus attached.

Back Doors

Using a known or previously unknown and newly discovered access mechanism, an attacker can gain access to a system or network resource through a back door

Password Crack

Password cracking is attempting to reverse-calculate a password.

Brute Force

Brute force is the application of computing and network resources to try every possible combination of options of a password.

Dictionary

A dictionary narrows the field by selecting specific accounts to attack and uses a list of commonly used passwords (the dictionary) instead of random combinations.

Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS)

A denial-of-service attack begins when an attacker sends a large number of connection or information requests to a target.  So many requests are made that the target system cannot handle them successfully along with other legitimate requests for service.  This may result in the system crashing or simply becoming unable to perform ordinary functions.

A distributed denial-of-service attack is one in which a coordinated stream of requests is launched against a target from many locations at the same time.

Spoofing

Spoofing is a technique used to gain unauthorized access to computers, wherein the intruder sends messages to a computer containing an IP address that indicates that the messages are coming from a trusted host.

Man-in-the-Middle

The attacker sniffs packets from the network, modifies them and inserts them back into the network. This is also known as a TCP hijacking attack.

Spam

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

Mail Bombing

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

Sniffers

Sniffers are programs or devices that can monitor data traveling over a network.  They can be used both for legitimate network management functions and for stealing information from a network.

Social Engineering

Within the context of information security, social engineering is the process of using social skills to convince people to reveal access credentials or other valuable information to the attacker.

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

Phishing

Phishing is an attempt to gain personal or financial information from an individual, usually by posing as a legitimate entity.

A variant is spear phishing, a label that applies to any highly targeted phishing attack. While normal phishing attacks target as many recipients as possible, a spear phisher sends a message that appears to be from an employer, a colleague, or other legitimate correspondent, to a small group, or even one specific person.

Phishing attacks use three primary techniques, often used in combination with one another: URL manipulation, Web site forgery, and phone phishing.

Pharming

Pharming is “the redirection of legitimate Web traffic to an illegitimate site for the purpose of obtaining private information.”

Pharming may also exploit the Domain Name Server (DNS) by causing it to transform the legitimate host name into the invalid site’s IP address. This form of pharming is also known as “DNS cache poisoning.”

Timing Attack

A timing attack explores the contents of a Web browser’s cache and stores a malicious form of cookie on the client’s system. The cookie can allow the designer to collect information on how to access password-protected sites.

Another attack by the same name involves the interception of cryptographic elements to determine keys and encryption algorithms.