DNSSEC: Is Your Infrastructure Ready?
A few months ago, we teamed with Infoblox for a DNSSEC webinar. Jonathan George, F5 Product Marketing Manager, leads with myself and Cricket Liu of Infoblox as background noise. He’s a blast as always and certainly knows his DNS. So, learn how F5 enables you to deploy DNSSEC quickly and easily into an existing GSLB environment with BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager (GTM). BIG-IP GTM streamlines encryption key generation and distribution by dynamically signing DNS responses in real-time. Running time: 49:20 </p> <p>ps</p> <p>Resources:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.f5.com/news-press-events/web-media/" _fcksavedurl="http://www.f5.com/news-press-events/web-media/">F5 Web Media</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/f5networksinc" _fcksavedurl="http://www.youtube.com/user/f5networksinc">F5 YouTube Channel</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.f5.com/products/big-ip/global-traffic-manager.html" _fcksavedurl="http://www.f5.com/products/big-ip/global-traffic-manager.html">BIG-IP GTM</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.f5.com/pdf/white-papers/dnssec-wp.pdf" _fcksavedurl="http://www.f5.com/pdf/white-papers/dnssec-wp.pdf">DNSSEC: The Antidote to DNS Cache Poisoning and Other DNS Attacks (whitepaper)</a> | <a href="http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/interviews/archive/2009/12/04/audio-tech-brief-dnssec-the-antidote-to-dns.aspx" _fcksavedurl="http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/interviews/archive/2009/12/04/audio-tech-brief-dnssec-the-antidote-to-dns.aspx">Audio</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.cricketondns.com" _fcksavedurl="http://www.cricketondns.com">Cricket on DNS</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/InfobloxInc" _fcksavedurl="http://www.youtube.com/user/InfobloxInc">Infoblox YouTube Channel</a></li> </ul> <p>Technorati Tags: <a href="http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/psilva/psilva/psilva/archive/2011/05/09/" _fcksavedurl="http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/psilva/psilva/psilva/archive/2011/05/09/">F5</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/webinar" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tags/webinar">webinar</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Pete+Silva" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tags/Pete+Silva">Pete Silva</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/security" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tags/security">security</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/business" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tag/business">business</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/education" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tag/education">education</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/technology" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tag/technology">technology</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/internet" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tags/internet">internet, </a><a href="http://technorati.com/tags/big-ip" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tags/big-ip">big-ip</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/dnssec" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tag/dnssec">dnssec</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/infoblox" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tags/infoblox">infoblox</a> <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/dns" _fcksavedurl="http://technorati.com/tags/dns">dns</a></p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="378"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="200">Connect with Peter: </td> <td valign="top" width="176">Connect with F5: </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="200"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-silva/0/412/77a" _fcksavedurl="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-silva/0/412/77a"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; 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display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="o_slideshare[1]" border="0" alt="o_slideshare[1]" src="http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/images/devcentral_f5_com/weblogs/macvittie/1086440/o_slideshare.png" _fcksavedurl="http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/images/devcentral_f5_com/weblogs/macvittie/1086440/o_slideshare.png" width="24" height="24" /></a> <a href="http://bitly.com/mOVxf3?r=bb" _fcksavedurl="http://bitly.com/mOVxf3?r=bb"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="o_youtube[1]" border="0" alt="o_youtube[1]" src="http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/images/devcentral_f5_com/weblogs/macvittie/1086440/o_youtube.png" _fcksavedurl="http://devcentral.f5.com/s/weblogs/images/devcentral_f5_com/weblogs/macvittie/1086440/o_youtube.png" width="24" height="24" /></a></td> </tr> </tbody></table></body></html> ps Resources: F5 Web Media F5 YouTube Channel BIG-IP GTM DNSSEC: The Antidote to DNS Cache Poisoning and Other DNS Attacks (whitepaper) | Audio Cricket on DNS Infoblox YouTube ChannelICSA Certified Network Firewall for Data Centers
The BIG-IP platform is now ICSA Certified as a Network Firewall. Internet threats are widely varied and multi-layered. Although applications and their data are attackers’ primary targets, many attackers gain entry at the network layer. Internet data centers and public-facing web properties are constant targets for large-scale attacks by hacker/hactivist communities and others looking to grab intellectual property or cause a service outage. Organizations must prepare for the normal influx of users, but they also must defend their infrastructure from the daily barrage of malicious users. Security administrators who manage large web properties are struggling with security because traditional firewalls are not meeting their fundamental performance needs. Dynamic and layered attacks that necessitate multiple-box solutions, add to IT distress. Traditional firewalls can be overwhelmed by their limited ability to scale under a DDoS attack while keeping peak connection performance for valid users, which renders not only the firewalls themselves unresponsive, but the web sites they are supposed to protect. Additionally, traditional firewalls’ limited capacity to interpret context means they may be unable to make an intelligent decision about how to deliver the application while also keeping services available for valid requests during a DDoS attack. Traditional firewalls also lack specialized capabilities like SSL offload, which not only helps reduce the load on the web servers, but enables inspection, re-encryption, and certificate storage. Most traditional firewalls lack the agility to react quickly to changes and emerging threats, and many have only limited ability to provide new services such as IP geolocation, traffic redirection, traffic manipulation, content scrubbing, and connection limiting. An organization’s inability to respond to these threats dynamically, and to minimize the exposure window, means the risk to the overall business is massive. There are several point solutions in the market that concentrate on specific problem areas; but this creates security silos that only make management and maintenance more costly, more cumbersome, and less effective. The BIG-IP platform provides a unified view of layer 3 through 7 for both general and ICSA required reporting and alerts, as well as integration with SIEM vendors. BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager offers native, high-performance firewall services to protect the entire infrastructure. BIG-IP LTM is a purpose-built, high-performance Application Delivery Controller designed to protect Internet data centers. In many instances, BIG-IP LTM can replace an existing firewall while also offering scale, performance, and persistence. Performance: BIG-IP LTM manages up to 48 million concurrent connections and 72 Gbps of throughput with various timeout behaviors, buffer sizes, and more when under attack. Protocol security: The BIG-IP system natively decodes IPv4, IPv6, TCP, HTTP, SIP, DNS, SMTP, FTP, Diameter, and RADIUS. Organizations can control almost every element of the protocols they’re deploying. DDoS prevention capabilities: An integrated architecture enables organizations to combine traditional firewall layers 3 and 4 with application layers 5 through 7. DDoS mitigations: The BIG-IP system protects UDP, TCP, SIP, DNS, HTTP, SSL, and other network attack targets while delivering uninterrupted service for legitimate connections. SSL termination: Offload computationally intensive SSL to the BIG-IP system and gain visibility into potentially harmful encrypted payloads. Dynamic threat mitigation: iRules provide a flexible way to enforce protocol functions on both standard and emerging or custom protocols. With iRules, organizations can create a zero day dynamic security context to react to vulnerabilities for which an associated patch has not yet been released. Resource cloaking and content security: Prevent leaks of error codes and sensitive content. F5 BIG-IP LTM has numerous security features so Internet data centers can deliver applications while protecting the infrastructure that supports their clients and, BIG-IP is now ICSA Certified as a Network Firewall. ps Resources: F5’s Certified Firewall Protects Against Large-Scale Cyber Attacks on Public-Facing Websites F5 BIG-IP Data Center Firewall – Overview BIG-IP Data Center Firewall Solution – SlideShare Presentation High Performance Firewall for Data Centers – Solution Profile The New Data Center Firewall Paradigm – White Paper Vulnerability Assessment with Application Security – White Paper Challenging the Firewall Data Center Dogma Technorati Tags: F5, big-ip, virtualization, cloud computing, Pete Silva, security, icsa, iApp, compliance, network firewall, internet, TMOS, big-ip, vCMPF5 BIG-IP Platform Security
When creating any security-enabled network device, development teams must fully investigate security of the device itself to ensure it cannot be compromised. A gate provides no security to a house if the gap between the bars is large enough to drive a truck through. Many highly effective exploits have breached the very software and hardware that are designed to protect against them. If an attacker can breach the guards, then they don’t need to worry about being stealthy, meaning if one can compromise the box, then they probably can compromise the code. F5 BIG-IP Application Delivery Controllers are positioned at strategic points of control to manage an organization’s critical information flow. In the BIG-IP product family and the TMOS operating system, F5 has built and maintained a secure and robust application delivery platform, and has implemented many different checks and counter-checks to ensure a totally secure network environment. Application delivery security includes providing protection to the customer’s Application Delivery Network (ADN), and mandatory and routine checks against the stack source code to provide internal security—and it starts with a secure Application Delivery Controller. The BIG-IP system and TMOS are designed so that the hardware and software work together to provide the highest level of security. While there are many factors in a truly secure system, two of the most important are design and coding. Sound security starts early in the product development process. Before writing a single line of code, F5 Product Development goes through a process called threat modeling. Engineers evaluate each new feature to determine what vulnerabilities it might create or introduce to the system. F5’s rule of thumb is a vulnerability that takes one hour to fix at the design phase, will take ten hours to fix in the coding phase and one thousand hours to fix after the product is shipped—so it’s critical to catch vulnerabilities during the design phase. The sum of all these vulnerabilities is called the threat surface, which F5 strives to minimize. F5, like many companies that develop software, has invested heavily in training internal development staff on writing secure code. Security testing is time-consuming and a huge undertaking; but it’s a critical part of meeting F5’s stringent standards and its commitment to customers. By no means an exhaustive list but the BIG-IP system has a number of features that provide heightened and hardened security: Appliance mode, iApp Templates, FIPS and Secure Vault Appliance Mode Beginning with version 10.2.1-HF3, the BIG-IP system can run in Appliance mode. Appliance mode is designed to meet the needs of customers in industries with especially sensitive data, such as healthcare and financial services, by limiting BIG-IP system administrative access to match that of a typical network appliance rather than a multi-user UNIX device. The optional Appliance mode “hardens” BIG-IP devices by removing advanced shell (Bash) and root-level access. Administrative access is available through the TMSH (TMOS Shell) command-line interface and GUI. When Appliance mode is licensed, any user that previously had access to the Bash shell will now only have access to the TMSH. The root account home directory (/root) file permissions have been tightened for numerous files and directories. By default, new files are now only user readable and writeable and all directories are better secured. iApp Templates Introduced in BIG-IP v11, F5 iApps is a powerful new set of features in the BIG-IP system. It provides a new way to architect application delivery in the data center, and it includes a holistic, application-centric view of how applications are managed and delivered inside, outside, and beyond the data center. iApps provide a framework that application, security, network, systems, and operations personnel can use to unify, simplify, and control the entire ADN with a contextual view and advanced statistics about the application services that support business. iApps are designed to abstract the many individual components required to deliver an application by grouping these resources together in templates associated with applications; this alleviates the need for administrators to manage discrete components on the network. F5’s new NIST 800-53 iApp Template helps organizations become NIST-compliant. F5 has distilled the 240-plus pages of guidance from NIST into a template with the relevant BIG-IP configuration settings—saving organizations hours of management time and resources. Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Federal Information Processing Standards are used by United States government agencies and government contractors in non-military computer systems. FIPS 140 series are U.S. government computer security standards that define requirements for cryptography modules, including both hardware and software components, for use by departments and agencies of the United States federal government. The requirements cover not only the cryptographic modules themselves but also their documentation. As of December 2006, the current version of the standard is FIPS 140-2. A hardware security module (HSM) is a secure physical device designed to generate, store, and protect digital, high-value cryptographic keys. It is a secure crypto-processor that often comes in the form of a plug-in card (or other hardware) with tamper protection built in. HSMs also provide the infrastructure for finance, government, healthcare, and others to conform to industry-specific regulatory standards. FIPS 140 enforces stronger cryptographic algorithms, provides good physical security, and requires power-on self tests to ensure a device is still in compliance before operating. FIPS 140-2 evaluation is required to sell products implementing cryptography to the federal government, and the financial industry is increasingly specifying FIPS 140-2 as a procurement requirement. The BIG-IP system includes a FIPS cryptographic/SSL accelerator—an HSM option specifically designed for processing SSL traffic in environments that require FIPS 140-1 Level 2–compliant solutions. Many BIG-IP devices are FIPS 140-2 Level 2–compliant. This security rating indicates that once sensitive data is imported into the HSM, it incorporates cryptographic techniques to ensure the data is not extractable in a plain-text format. It provides tamper-evident coatings or seals to deter physical tampering. The BIG-IP system includes the option to install a FIPS HSM (BIG-IP 6900, 8900, 11000, and 11050 devices). BIG-IP devices can be customized to include an integrated FIPS 140-2 Level 2–certified SSL accelerator. Other solutions require a separate system or a FIPS-certified card for each web server; but the BIG-IP system’s unique key management framework enables a highly scalable secure infrastructure that can handle higher traffic levels and to which organizations can easily add new services. Additionally the FIPS cryptographic/SSL accelerator uses smart cards to authenticate administrators, grant access rights, and share administrative responsibilities to provide a flexible and secure means for enforcing key management security. Secure Vault It is generally a good idea to protect SSL private keys with passphrases. With a passphrase, private key files are stored encrypted on non-volatile storage. If an attacker obtains an encrypted private key file, it will be useless without the passphrase. In PKI (public key infrastructure), the public key enables a client to validate the integrity of something signed with the private key, and the hashing enables the client to validate that the content was not tampered with. Since the private key of the public/private key pair could be used to impersonate a valid signer, it is critical to keep those keys secure. Secure Vault, a super-secure SSL-encrypted storage system introduced in BIG-IP version 9.4.5, allows passphrases to be stored in an encrypted form on the file system. In BIG-IP version 11, companies now have the option of securing their cryptographic keys in hardware, such as a FIPS card, rather than encrypted on the BIG-IP hard drive. Secure Vault can also encrypt certificate passwords for enhanced certificate and key protection in environments where FIPS 140-2 hardware support is not required, but additional physical and role-based protection is preferred. In the absence of hardware support like FIPS/SEEPROM (Serial (PC) Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), Secure Vault will be implemented in software. Even if an attacker removed the hard disk from the system and painstakingly searched it, it would be nearly impossible to recover the contents due to Secure Vault AES encryption. Each BIG-IP device comes with a unit key and a master key. Upon first boot, the BIG-IP system automatically creates a master key for the purpose of encrypting, and therefore protecting, key passphrases. The master key encrypts SSL private keys, decrypts SSL key files, and synchronizes certificates between BIG-IP devices. Further increasing security, the master key is also encrypted by the unit key, which is an AES 256 symmetric key. When stored on the system, the master key is always encrypted with a hardware key, and never in the form of plain text. Master keys follow the configuration in an HA (high-availability) configuration so all units would share the same master key but still have their own unit key. The master key gets synchronized using the secure channel established by the CMI Infrastructure as of BIG-IP v11. The master key encrypted passphrases cannot be used on systems other than the units for which the master key was generated. Secure Vault support has also been extended for vCMP guests. vCMP (Virtual Clustered Multiprocessing) enables multiple instances of BIG-IP software to run on one device. Each guest gets their own unit key and master key. The guest unit key is generated and stored at the host, thus enforcing the hardware support, and it’s protected by the host master key, which is in turn protected by the host unit key in hardware. Finally F5 provides Application Delivery Network security to protect the most valuable application assets. To provide organizations with reliable and secure access to corporate applications, F5 must carry the secure application paradigm all the way down to the core elements of the BIG-IP system. It’s not enough to provide security to application transport; the transporting appliance must also provide a secure environment. F5 ensures BIG-IP device security through various features and a rigorous development process. It is a comprehensive process designed to keep customers’ applications and data secure. The BIG-IP system can be run in Appliance mode to lock down configuration within the code itself, limiting access to certain shell functions; Secure Vault secures precious keys from tampering; and optional FIPS cards ensure organizations can meet or exceed particular security requirements. An ADN is only as secure as its weakest link. F5 ensures that BIG-IP Application Delivery Controllers use an extremely secure link in the ADN chain. ps Resources: F5 Security Solutions Security is our Job (Video) F5 BIG-IP Platform Security (Whitepaper) Security, not HSMs, in Droves Sometimes It Is About the Hardware Investing in security versus facing the consequences | Bloor Research White Paper Securing Your Enterprise Applications with the BIG-IP (Whitepaper) TMOS Secure Development and Implementation (Whitepaper) BIG-IP Hardware Updates – SlideShare Presentation Audio White Paper - Application Delivery Hardware A Critical Component F5 Introduces High-Performance Platforms to Help Organizations Optimize Application Delivery and Reduce Costs Technorati Tags: F5, PCI DSS, virtualization, cloud computing, Pete Silva, security, coding, iApp, compliance, FIPS, internet, TMOS, big-ip, vCMPYou’ll Shoot Your Eye Out…
…is probably one of the most memorable lines of any Holiday Classic. Of course I’m referring to A Christmas Story, where a young Ralphie tries to convince his parents, teachers and Santa that the Red Ryder BB Gun is the perfect present. I don’t know of there was a warning label on the 1940’s edition box but it is a good reminder from a security perspective that often we, meaning humans, are our own worst enemy when it comes to protecting ourselves. Every year about 100 or so homes burn down due to fried turkeys. A frozen one with ice crystals straight in or the ever famous too much oil that overflows and toasts everything it touches. Even with the warnings and precautions, humans still take the risk. Warning: You can get burned badly. As if the RSA breach wasn’t warning enough about the perils of falling for a phishing scam, we now learn that the South Carolina Department of Revenue breach was also due to an employee, and it only takes one, clicking a malicious email link. That curiosity lead to over 3.8 million Social Security numbers, 3.3 million bank accounts, thousands of credit cards along with 1.9 million dependant’s information being exposed. While the single click started it all, 2-factor authentication was not required and the stored info was not encrypted, so there is a lot of human error to go around. Plus a lot of blame being tossed back and forth – another well used human trait – deflection. Warning: Someone else may not protect your information. While working the SharePoint Conference 2012 in Vegas a couple weeks ago, I came across a interesting kiosk where it allows you to take a picture and post online for free to any number of social media sites. It says ‘Post a picture online for free.’ but there didn’t seem to be a Warning: ‘You are also about to potentially share your sensitive social media credentials or email, which might also be tied to your bank account, into this freestanding machine that you know nothing about.’ I’m sure if that was printed somewhere, betters would think twice about that risk. If you prefer not to enter social media info, you can always have the image emailed to you (to then share) but that also (obviously) requires you to enter that information. While logon info might not be stored, email is. Yet another reason to get a throw away email address. I’m always amazed at all the ways various companies try to make it so easy for us to offer up our information…and many of us do without considering the risks. In 2010, there were a number of photo kiosks that were spreading malware. Warning: They are computers after all and connected to the internet. Insider threats are also getting a lot of attention these days with some statistics indicating that 33% of malicious or criminal attacks are from insiders. In August, an insider at Saudi Aramco released a virus that infected about 75% of the employee desktops. It is considered one of the most destructive computer sabotages inflicted upon a private company. And within the last 2 days, we’ve learned that the White House issued an Executive Order to all government agencies informing them of new standards and best practices around gathering, analyzing and responding to insider threats. This could be actual malicious, disgruntled employees, those influenced by a get rich quick scheme from an outsider or just ‘compromised’ employees, like getting a USB from a friend and inserting it into your work computer. It could even be simple misuse by accident. In any event, intellectual property or personally identifiable information is typically the target. Warning: Not everyone is a saint. The Holidays are still Happy but wear your safety glasses, don’t click questionable links even from friends, don’t enter your logon credentials into a stray kiosk and a third of your staff is a potential threat. And if you are in NYC for the holidays, a limited run of "Ralphie to the Rescue!" A Christmas Story, The Musical is playing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre until Dec 30th. ps References How One Turkey Fryer Turned Into A 40-foot Inferno That Destroyed Two Cars And A Barn S.C. tax breach began when employee fell for spear phish 5 Stages of a Data Breach Thinking about Security from the Inside Out Obama issues insider threat guidance for gov't agencies National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards for Executive Branch Insider Threat Programs Insiders Big Threat to Intellectual Property, Says Verizon DBIR Negligent Insiders and Malicious Attacks Continue to Pose Security Threat Infographic: Protect Yourself Against Cybercrime The Exec-Disconnect on IT Security "Ralphie to the Rescue!" A Christmas Story, The Musical Opens On Broadway Nov. 19Holiday Shopping SmartPhone Style
Close to 70% of smartphone owners plan to use the devices for holiday shopping, according to Deloitte (pdf). Smartphone ownership has jumped from 39.7% last year to 46.1% this year and tablet owners have doubled from 10.5% to 22.4% according to 9,000 shoppers surveyed by BIGinsught. This will probably also spur an increasing number of people colliding heads and walking into fountains as everyone in the mall will be looking down at their mobile devices instead of watching where they are walking. Knowing that these devices have become permanent fixtures on our bodies, retailers are using the technology in an attempt to enhance the shopping experience. As soon as you cross the mall threshold, your phone will buzz with merchant coupons or even better, your online shopping cart has been paid and converted to real items for you walk out, bags in hand, without standing in the check-out aisle. You’ll be able to browse inventory to know if that incredible deal is in stock or simply purchasing the item on the smartphone while standing in the store and have it arrive, already wrapped, the next day. Retailers are trying to combat the behavior of looking for the best deals on an item, only to go home and purchase online elsewhere. Many retailers are equipping employees with tablets and checkout areas with mobile payment systems. Employees have apps that offer richer information in case a shopper wants to know what a coat is made of, or specific warranty info on an electronic item. These employee handhelds could also check-out a shopper in the middle of the store, avoiding any lines. Some stores have even installed iPads in the dressing room so shoppers can choose what music to listen to while parading their selections in the mirror. Hopefully on those, the cameras are disabled since I can already see a remote ‘Peeping in the Dressing Room’ breach in the headlines. Coupon sites are starting to deploy Geofencing, or the ability to offer deals that are within range. You cross a digital boundary and the phone lights up with scan-able deals from area merchants. While retailers will be trying to entice the shopper, mobile technology also helps the shopper. They can look up items, prices and reviews; see who has the best selection/inventory/deals; who offers free shipping and a host of other data to help complete Santa’s list while staying under budget. More stores will also be offering free WiFi for shoppers. Boingo Wireless indicates that 20%-30% of retailers have deployed wireless in the stores and they expect that to grow to 30%-40% in the coming years. While it’s wonderful not to be ‘connected’ while shopping, most of these WiFi zones are not secure and all the security rules of open WiFi still apply. Watch the type of sensitive info you enter while connected since there is virtually no protection. In other Holiday Shopping news, Consumer Reports released its 2011 Naughty & Nice Holiday List, which looks at the good and not-so-good shopping policies and the companies behind them. And, Toy sales down after early rush. psSmartTV, Smartphones and Fill-in-the-Blank Employees
Right off the bat, I know the title sounds like it’s all connected but they are only slightly related so I’ll give you the option of dropping out now. Still here? Cool. I’ve been traveling over the last couple weeks and stories catch my eye along the way that I probably would’ve written about but didn’t. Until now. Besides it’s always fun to roll up a few stories in one to get back on track. TV’s are becoming cutting edge multimedia devices that reside on your living room wall. You can stream movies, browse the web, check weather, plug in USBs for slideshows/video, play games, home network along with simply catching the latest episode of your favorite program. This article from usatoday.com talks about many of the internet enabled TVs and their capabilities. For instance, some TVs are now including dual-core processors to make web browsing more enjoyable since many TVs don’t have the processing power to load web pages quickly, or at least what we’re used to on our computers. Also coming out are TVs with screen resolutions four times greater than full HD screens – these are the 4K sets. These new 4K sets apparently has dampened any lingering 3D enthusiasm, which seems waning anyway. In addition to TVs, other appliances are getting smart, so they say. There are new refrigerators, air conditioners, washers, and dryers which are all app-controlled. Users can turn them on and off from anywhere. I know there are mobile ‘apps’ but it would be a easy transition to start calling our appliances, apps also. Close enough. How’s the clothes cleaning app working? Is the food cooling app running? I’ve mentioned many times that while all this is very cool stuff, we still need to remember that these devices are connected to the internet and subject to the same threats as all our other connected devices. It’s only a matter of time when a hacker takes down all the ‘smart’ refrigerators on the East Coast. I also think that TVs, cars and any other connected device could be considered BYOD in the near future. Why wouldn’t a mobile employee want secure VDI access from his car’s Ent/GPS display? Why couldn’t someone check their corporate email from the TV during commercials? Smartphones, as most of you are aware, are changing our lives. Duh. There is an interesting series over on cnn.com called, "Our Mobile Society," about how smartphones and tablets have changed the way we live. The first two articles, How smartphones make us superhuman and On second thought: Maybe smartphones make us 'SuperStupid'? cover both sides of the societal dilemma. In 2011, there were 6 Billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide servicing the 7 Billion people who live on this planet, according to the International Telecommunication Union. These connected devices have made trivia, trivial and we can keep in constant contact with everyone along with people driving, texting and generally not paying attention to anything around them while interacting with their appendage. Pew also released a survey indicating that 54% of cell phone consumers who use mobile apps have decided not to install an app after learning how much personal information they'd have to share; and 30% of that group has uninstalled an app for privacy reasons. We are so concerned about our privacy that we’re now dumping apps that ask for too much info. I know there is a ‘We all have one & use it everyday day but don’t look, ok’ joke somewhere in there. To Educate or Not Educate. I have no idea why I only saw this recently but back in July, there was a lively discussion about whether security awareness training for employees was money well spent. I’ve often written about the importance of ongoing training. In Why you shouldn't train employees for security awareness, Dave Aitel argues that even with all that training, employees still click malicious links anyway. Instead of wasting money on employee training, organizations should bolster up their system’s defenses to protect employees from themselves. Boris Sverdlik of Jaded Security posted a rebuttal saying that employees are and should be accountable for what happens in the environment and no amount of controls can protect against people spilling secrets during a social engineering probe. In a rebuttal to both, Iftach Ian Amit, from Security Art says they are both right and wrong at the same time. He states, ‘Trying to solve infosec issues through technological means is a guaranteed recipe for failure. No one, no technology, or software can account for every threat scenario possible, and this is exactly why we layer our defenses. And layering shouldn’t just be done from a network or software perspective – security layers also include access control, monitoring, tracking, analysis, and yes – human awareness. Without the human factor you are doomed.’ His position is that when it comes to ‘Information Security,’ we focus too much on the ‘information’ part and less on the holistic meaning of ‘security.’ His suggestion is to look at your organization as an attacker would and invest in areas that are vulnerable. That’s your basic risk analysis and risk mitigation. We are in a fun time for technology, enjoy and use wisely. ps References Smart TVs offer web browsing, instant video streaming Poll: Cellphone users dump apps to save privacy, lose their phones anyway Forget 3D. Your dream TV should be 4K How smartphones make us superhuman On second thought: Maybe smartphones make us 'SuperStupid'? Technology Can Only Do So Much Unplug Everything! Why you shouldn't train employees for security awareness You Shouldn’t train employees for Security Awareness – REBUTTAL Why Training Users in Enterprise Security May Not Be Effective Security Awareness and Security Context – Aitel and Krypt3ia are both wrong?From Car Jacking to Car Hacking
With the promise of self-driving cars just around the corner of the next decade and with researchers already able to remotely apply the brakes and listen to conversations, a new security threat vector is emerging. Computers in cars have been around for a while and today with as many as 50 microprocessors, it controls engine emissions, fuel injectors, spark plugs, anti-lock brakes, cruise control, idle speed, air bags and more recently, navigation systems, satellite radio, climate control, keyless entry, and much more. In 2010, a former employee of Texas Auto Center hacked into the dealer’s computer system and remotely activated the vehicle-immobilization system which engaged the horn and disabled the ignition system of around 100 cars. In many cases, the only way to stop the horns (going off in the middle of the night) was to disconnect the battery. Initially, the organization dismissed it as a mechanical failure but when they started getting calls from customers, they knew something was wrong. This particular web based system was used to get the attention of those who were late on payments but obviously, it was used for something completely different. After a quick investigation, police were able to arrest the man and charge him with unauthorized use of a computer system. University of California - San Diego researchers, in 2011, published a report (pdf) identifying numerous attack vectors like CD radios, Bluetooth (we already knew that) and cellular radio as potential targets. In addition, there are concerns that, in theory, a malicious individual could disable the vehicle or re-route GPS signals putting transportation (fleet, delivery, rental, law enforcement) employees and customers at risk. Many of these electronic control units (ECUs) can connect to each other and the internet and so they are vulnerable to the same internet dangers like malware, trojans and even DoS attacks. Those with physical access to your vehicle like mechanics, valets or others can access the On-Board Diagnostic System (OBD-II) usually located right under the dash. Plug in, and upload your favorite car virus. Tests have shown that if you can infect the diagnostics tools at a dealership, when cars were connected to the system, they were also infected. Once infected, the car would contact the researcher’s servers asking for more instructions. At that point, they could activate the brakes, disable the car and even listen to conversations in the car. Imagine driving down a highway, hearing a voice over the speakers and then someone remotely explodes your airbags. They’ve also been able to insert a CD with a malicious file to compromise a radio vulnerability. Most experts agree that right now, it is not something to overly worry about since many of the previously compromised systems are after-market equipment, it takes a lot of time/money and car manufactures are already looking into protection mechanisms. But as I’m thinking about current trends like BYOD, it is not far fetched to imagine a time when your car is VPN’d to the corporate network and you are able to access sensitive info right from the navigation/entertainment/climate control/etc screen. Many new cars today have USB ports that recognize your mobile device as an AUX and allow you to talk, play music and other mobile activities right through the car’s system. I’m sure within the next 5 years (or sooner), someone will distribute a malicious mobile app that will infect the vehicle as soon as you connect the USB. Suddenly, buying that ‘84 rust bucket of a Corvette that my neighbor is selling doesn’t seem like that bad of an idea even with all the C4 issues. psThe Venerable Vulnerable Cloud
Ever since cloud computing burst onto the technology scene a few short years ago, Security has always been a top concern. It was cited as the biggest hurdle in many surveys over the years and in 2010, I covered a lot of those in my CloudFucius blog series. A recent InformationWeek 2012 Cloud Security and Risk Survey says that 27% of respondents have no plans to use public cloud services while 48% of those respondents say their primary reason for not doing so is related to security - fears of leaks of customer and proprietary data. Certainly, a lot has been done to bolster cloud security, reduce the perceived risks associated with cloud deployments and even with security concerns, organizations are moving to the cloud for business reasons. A new survey from Everest Group and Cloud Connect, finds cloud adoption is widespread. The majority of the 346 executive respondents, 57%, say they are already using Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, with another 38% adopting Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions. The most common applications already in the cloud or in the process of being migrated to the cloud include application development/test environments (54%), disaster recovery and storage (45%), email/collaboration (41%), and business intelligence/analytics (35%). Also, the survey found that cloud buyers say the two top benefits they anticipate the most is a more flexible infrastructure capacity and reduced time for provisioning and 61% say they are already meeting their goals for achieving more flexibility in their infrastructures. There’s an interesting article by Dino Londis on InformationWeek.com called How Consumerization is Lowering Security Standards where he talks about how Mob Rule or the a democratization of technology where employees can pick the best products and services from the market is potentially downgrading security in favor of convenience. We all may forgo privacy and security in the name of convenience – just look at loyalty rewards cards. You’d never give up so much personal info to a stranger yet when a store offers 5% discount and targeted coupons, we just might spill our info. He also includes a list of some of the larger cloud breaches so far in 2012. Also this week, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) announced more details of its Open Certification Framework, and its partnership with BSI (British Standards Institution). The BSI partnership ensures the Open Certification Framework is in line with international standards. The CSA Open Certification Framework is an industry push that offers cloud providers a trusted global certification scheme. This flexible three-stage scheme will be created in line with the CSA's security guidance and control objectives. The Open Certification Framework is composed of three levels, each one providing an incremental level of trust and transparency to the operations of cloud service providers and a higher level of assurance to the cloud consumer. Additional details can be found at: http://cloudsecurityalliance.org/research/ocf/ The levels are: CSA STAR Self Assessment: The first level of certification allows cloud providers to submit reports to the CSA STAR Registry to indicate their compliance with CSA best practices. This is available now. CSA STAR Certification: At the second level, cloud providers require a third-party independent assessment. The certification leverages the requirements of the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 management systems standard together with the CSA Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM). These assessments will be conducted by approved certification bodies only. This will be available sometime in the first half of 2013. The STAR Certification will be enhanced in the future by a continuous monitoring-based certification. This level is still in development. Clearly the cloud has come a long way since we were all trying to define it a couple years ago yet, also clearly, there is still much to be accomplished. It is imperative that organizations take the time to understand their provider’s security controls and make sure that they protect your data as good or better as you do. Also, stop by Booth 1101 at VMworld next week to learn how F5 can help with Cloud deployments. psInfographic: Protect Yourself Against Cybercrime
Maybe I’ll start doing an ‘Infographic Friday’ to go along with Lori’s F5 Friday. This one comes to us from Rasmussen College's School of Technology and Design Cyber Security Program and shows the online risks and offers some good tips on how to better protect your computer and avoid being a victim of cybercrime. psThe Exec-Disconnect on IT Security
Different Chiefs give Different Security Stories. A recent survey shows that there is a wide gap between CEOs and Chief Security Officers when it comes to the origin and seriousness of security threats. They differ on how they view threats to IT Infrastructure and remain far apart on how to best address an issue that according to analyst reports, costs organizations more than $30 billion annually. The survey of 100 CEOs and 100 CISO (or other C-levels with security responsibility), shows that the discrepancy is often due to lack of communication. 36% of CEOs said that they never get a security report from their CISO and only 27% receive updates on a regular basis. Is it the CISO that doesn’t report back or the CEO that is not interested? Let’s look at some more data. The CISO felt that the biggest threat was from internal (their employees) due to lack of education and attention while the CEO felt that the biggest threat was from the outside, such as phishing attacks. Thus, 61% of CEOs said they did have enough time and resources to adequately train the staff on how to mitigate threats while Only 27% of CISOs felt the same. It’s opposite day. When asked if their IT systems were ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ under attack without their knowledge, 58% of CISOs said yes while only 26% of CEOs agreeing. The chasm grows. What percentage of each, do you think, said they were very concerned about their IT systems getting hacked? 30 seconds on the clock, please. Don’t peek. Only 15% of CEOs and ‘only’ 62% of CISOs are anxious about breaches. 15%? That’s it? Maybe they have great confidence in their security team…or, they don’t have the information. 65% of CEOs admitted to not having the sufficient data needed to interpret how security threats translate to overall business risk. Wow, the very day-to-day operations. Granted, the CEO is further removed from the specific threats and how they are handled but there is clearly a distance between how each views threats and the company’s ability to successfully mitigate them. Lack of interest or lack of understanding/information? Probably both. An old adage was that a great boss hired people who were good at the things he/she wasn’t so good at. Surround yourself with those who know their areas better. Or maybe there is a culture that you don’t alert the top unless it’s dire, critical or unstoppable. Communication or interest, it is evident that the C-suite isn’t really talking about these critical business issues especially when 3 times as many CEOs worried about losing their jobs following an attack than did CISOs. ps References SECURITY: A LACK OF CEO INSIGHT OR CEO INTEREST? CEOs Lack Visibility Into Origin and Seriousness of Security Threats Talking About Security Bores the Boss, Survey Shows Myth or Fact? Debunking 15 of the Biggest Information Security Myths The CEO/CISO Disconnect Infographic
