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The Carpenter, Not the Hammer, Builds the House March 8, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management, weapons and tactics.
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I was in a discussion yesterday with a friend of mine who happens to be the Editor in Chief of The Counter Terrorist Magazine.  Chris and I served together long ago and I always enjoy talking to him as he is one of the most insightful people I know.  He mentioned what he felt was the over reliance on technology in CT operations and how it was causing people to lose sight of the fact that it is the people that matter and not the tools.

I find this particularly relevant in all areas of security but especially in information security.  In a past life I operated as a Marine Scout/Sniper.  When my civilian friends learn of this, it is not uncommon for me to hear the question: “What is the best rifle to use?”  (more…)

“A Failed State of Security”; Deterrence Theory & CyberCrime (Research Brief) March 5, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management.
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Expanding on the concept of Rational Deterrence and its effect on crime, we have published a research brief on Deterrence Theory and Its Effect on CyberCrime.  The brief outlines the failing strategy of compelling companies to prevent breaches without deterring those who commit the crimes. You download the brief (all 25 pages) here. Below is a short excerpt:

“At RSA’s annual security convention, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Robert Mueller stated, on February 28th, 2012, ominously: “There are only two types of companies. Those that have been hacked and those that will be.”[1]  At the same event, the CEO of RSA, told the audience:  “Our networks will be penetrated. We should no longer be surprised by this.”  He further stated: “The reality today is that we are in an arms race with our adversaries, and right now, more often than not, they are winning.”[2] The comments, while accurate, are late in coming.  RSA, one of the worlds’ largest security vendors, was breached in 2011.  The breach was more than a simple theft of customer data.  The breach was a theft of intellectual property that compromised the infrastructure of RSA’s 2-factor authentication system known as SecureID.  This potentially exposed thousands (if not more) of companies to a bypass of their own access control mechanism.  

RSA’s CEO then continued: (more…)

“Don’t Eat Your Hash without Salt”- Zappos Data Theft February 29, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management.
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On January 12, 2017 it was announced on MSNBC.com that an Amazon owned shoe company, Zappos, experienced a data breach of more than 24 million accounts.  According to the report, the breach captured the names, email addresses, telephone numbers, last four digits of the credit card, and the “cryptographically scrambled passwords”.   The report on MSNBC then states:  “Using the clues gleaned from Zappos accounts, the hackers may now have enough clues to gain access to a user’s e-mail or other important accounts. So while Zappos passwords may still be relatively secure, all those other pieces of information can offer clues to a user’s password. That information can also be used to answer a weak set of security questions correctly.”  Unfortunately, this article is somewhat misleading.

The description of ‘cryptographically scrambled’ passwords is referring to passwords that have been stored using one-way cryptographic functions known as ‘hashing algorithms’.   A hashing algorithm like MD5, SHA1, SHA256 is called ‘one way’ because the same input will always result in the same output.  If given the output, it approaches mathematical impossibility (because nothing is truly impossible) to derive the input.  Why would you want a ‘one way hash’ to secure passwords?  (more…)

“New cybersecurity reality: Attackers are winning” – You don’t say? February 29, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management.
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The title of this blog was taken from a CNN article published today which quotes RSA chief executive Arthur Coviello.  The article, and Mr. Coviello, finally concede that the bad guys (cyberthieves, hackers, hactivists) are “winning”.  Forgive my cynicism but this has been well known for some time and loudly proclaimed by numerous people.  “In the area of cybercrime, it’s the criminals who are winning.”; “The criminals are absolutely ripping us to shreds, We’re not even slowing them down.” ;“We’re losing the battle, That’s the reality of it.” This was not a comment by RSA from 2012 rather a comment by me (Chris Mark) in October 2010 at an InfraGard meeting at which I was speaking.  You can read the Salt Lake Tribune Article here.

The point is not for me to attempt to say “I told you so” rather to point out that what RSA is, in 2012,  finally conceding has been well known, and acknowledged for some time by numerous others within the area of cybersecurity.  It is not until RSA experienced their own breach of their vaunted SecureID system that they recognize that they are as fallible as the rest.  As stated by Mr. Coviello: “Our networks will be penetrated. We should no longer be surprised by this.”   RSA further states: “The reality today is that we are in a race with our adversaries, and right now, more often than not, they are winning.”

The issue at hand is one that is familiar to those who have worked in the payment card or other industries for any amount of time.  It is a sense of arrogance and infallibility until it is your own network that is penetrated.  At that point we often see companies conceding what it appears RSA is conceding here.  (not their quote) “If we can be breached then there is no hope for anyone.”  The point is security should not be reactive.  Companies need to recognize the threat before it hits their own networks and should take steps to address the vulnerabilities and mitigate the risk.  I am personally a fan of SecureID and two-factor authentication and have recommended RSA more times than I can count.  That being said, there appears to have been a degree of complacency on their part and now their mea culpa is to concede that “we are losing the battle”.

Traveling Naked (digitally) to avoid Cyberespionage February 25, 2012

Posted by Chris Mark in InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management.
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There is a very good article written by Nichole Perlroth of the New York Times that discusses the dangers of cyberespionage.  I have written this subject in this blog, as well.  It is always interesting when you talk with people about cyberespionage and get the “brush off” or some comment about “james bond” and fantasy.  Unfortunately, cyberespionage is very real, and very dangerous for companies.  Intellectual property and trade secrets are in high demand for certain governments and competitors.  As stated by top counterintelligence official, Joel F. Brenner: “If a company has significant intellectual property that the Chinese and Russians are interested in, and you go over there with mobile devices, your devices will get penetrated,” (more…)