What is Cloud Penetration Testing? Benefits, Tools, and Methods

While many people see cloud computing as more secure than an on-premises IT environment, the truth is that it’s far from impenetrable. According to Check Point’s 2022 Cloud Security Report, 27 percent of organizations say they suffered from a security incident in their public cloud infrastructure within the past year.

Techniques such as cloud penetration testing can help strengthen your cloud security posture. So, what is cloud penetration testing, and how can you get started using it?

This blog covers cloud penetration testing, including the various benefits, tools, and methods of cloud pentesting.

What is Cloud Pen Testing?

Cloud penetration testing is a simulated attack to assess the security of an organization’s cloud-based applications and infrastructure. It is an effective way to proactively identify potential vulnerabilities, risks, and flaws and provide an actionable remediation plan to plug loopholes before hackers exploit them. Cloud penetrating testing helps an organization’s security team understand the vulnerabilities and misconfigurations and respond appropriately to bolster their security posture.

With the escalating crisis of cloud cyberattacks jeopardizing businesses, cloud security should be a primary agenda to help organizations avoid costly breaches and achieve compliance. By conducting cloud penetration testing, they can address potent cloud security issues and resolve them immediately before they turn to a malicious hacker’s advantage.

What Are the Cloud Penetration Testing Methods?

Penetration testing is a widespread cybersecurity practice that involves simulating a cyberattack on an IT resource or environment. Ethical hackers (also called “white-hat hackers”) work with organizations to identify vulnerabilities in their IT security postures. The organization can fix these issues proactively before a malicious actor can discover and exploit them.

Cloud penetration testing, that involves the methods of penetration testing as applied to cloud computing environments. Formally, cloud penetration testing is the process of identifying, assessing, and resolving vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure, applications, and systems. Cloud pentesting experts use various tools and techniques to probe a cloud environment for flaws and then patch them.

Penetration testing and cloud penetration testing are typically separated into three types of methods

◉ In white box testing, penetration testers have administrator or root-level access to the entire cloud environment. This gives pentesters full knowledge of the systems they are attempting to breach before the tests begin and can be the most thorough pentesting method.

◉ In gray box testing, penetration testers have some limited knowledge of or access to the cloud environment. This may include details about user accounts, the layout of the IT system, or other information.

◉ In black box testing, penetration testers have no knowledge of or access to the cloud environment before the tests begin. This is the most “realistic” cloud penetration testing method in that it best simulates the mindset of an external attacker.

Benefits of Cloud Penetration Testing

Cloud penetration testing is an essential security practice for businesses using the public cloud. Below are just a few advantages of cloud pentesting:

 

◉ Protecting confidential data: Cloud penetration testing helps patch holes in your cloud environment, keeping your sensitive information securely under lock and key. This reduces the risk of a massive data breach that can devastate your business and its customers, with reputational and legal repercussions.

◉ Lowering business expenses: Engaging in regular cloud penetration testing decreases the chance of a security incident, which will save your business the cost of recovering from the attack. Much of the cloud penetration testing process can also be automated, saving time and money for human testers to focus on higher-level activities.

◉ Achieving security compliance: Many data privacy and security laws require organizations to adhere to strict controls or regulations. Cloud penetration testing can provide reassurance that your business is taking adequate measures to improve and maintain the security of your IT systems and cloud environment.

Common Cloud Pentesting Tools

There’s no shortage of cloud pentesting tools for IT security professionals. While some agencies are intended for use with a specific cloud provider (e.g., Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure), others are “cloud-agnostic,” meaning they’re fit for use with any provider. Some of the most popular cloud penetration testing tools include:

◉ Nmap: Nmap is a free and open-source network scanning tool widely used by penetration testers. Using Nmap, cloud pentesters can create a map of the cloud environment and look for open ports and other vulnerabilities.

◉ Metasploit: Metasploit calls itself “the world’s most used penetration testing framework.” Created by the security company Rapid7, the Metasploit Framework helps pentesters develop, test, and launch exploits against remote target machines.

◉ Burp Suite: Burp Suite is a collection of security testing software for web applications, including cloud-based applications. Burp Suite is capable of performing functions such as penetration testing, scanning, and vulnerability analysis.

Many third-party tools are created for cloud pentesting in the Amazon Web Services cloud. For example, the Amazon Inspector tool automatically scans running AWS workloads for potential software vulnerabilities. Once these issues are detected, the device also determines the severity of the vulnerability and suggests methods of resolving it. Other options for AWS cloud pentesting include Pacu, an automated tool for offensive security testing, and AWS_pwn, a collection of testing scripts for evaluating the security of various AWS services.

Best Practices for Cloud Pen Tests

Cloud penetration testing is both an art and a science, with many tips and advice for security professionals to follow. If you’re looking to get started with cloud pentesting, be sure to follow best practices such as:

◉ Map your cloud environment: Cloud penetration testing can only be effective when you know exactly what assets are under your command—which is incredibly challenging with a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud setup. Start by creating a map of your cloud architecture to help you plan which components to test and how to try them.

◉ Understand the cloud shared responsibility model: Cloud providers and their customers should understand their security obligations, a concept known as the shared responsibility model. Before you start cloud pentesting, make sure you know which security vulnerabilities your responsibility are to fix and which are the cloud providers.

◉ Define the requirements and roadmap: After finding the right cloud penetration testing team or provider, codify your goals and expectations. This should include a timeline for the testing process, a list of deliverables after the tests, and suggestions for how to correct the vulnerabilities discovered.

◉ Establish plans for a worst-case scenario: The cloud pentesting process might uncover a live vulnerability that attackers are already exploiting. In this worst-case scenario, take the time to establish how you would react and respond to fix the issue and mitigate the damage.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

Transforming Security in the Age of Agile: The DevSecOps Paradigm

Introduction

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, where technology advancements and cyber threats are at an all-time high, ensuring the security of software development processes has become a critical concern for organizations worldwide. As businesses strive to embrace agility and deliver products and services at an accelerated pace, the traditional approach to security has undergone a significant transformation. This article explores the revolutionary concept of DevSecOps, a paradigm that seamlessly integrates security into every phase of the software development lifecycle, empowering organizations to build secure, reliable, and robust applications. Join us on this journey as we delve into the principles, benefits, and best practices of DevSecOps and discover how it is reshaping security in the age of agility.

Understanding DevSecOps

What is DevSecOps?

DevSecOps, an amalgamation of Development, Security, and Operations, represents a cultural shift in the software development process. Unlike the traditional approach, where security is often an afterthought, DevSecOps embraces security as an integral part of the development workflow. It advocates for the collaboration and shared responsibility of developers, security teams, and operations personnel throughout the entire software development lifecycle.

The Principles of DevSecOps

DevSecOps is built upon a set of core principles that guide organizations towards a secure and agile development environment. These principles include:

Shift-Left Security: By integrating security early in the development process, vulnerabilities can be identified and addressed proactively, minimizing the risk of security breaches in later stages.

Automation: Leveraging automation tools and technologies streamlines security practices, allowing for continuous monitoring, testing, and deployment, thereby ensuring a rapid and secure software delivery.

Culture of Collaboration: Encouraging open communication and collaboration among cross-functional teams fosters a shared understanding of security concerns and enables the seamless integration of security measures throughout the development lifecycle.

Continuous Improvement: Embracing a mindset of continuous improvement empowers organizations to evolve their security practices in response to emerging threats and technological advancements, ensuring that security measures remain up-to-date and effective.

The Benefits of DevSecOps

Enhanced Security

The primary benefit of adopting the DevSecOps paradigm is improved security posture. By integrating security practices from the inception of the development process, organizations can proactively identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities, reducing the risk of data breaches, unauthorized access, and other security incidents. Continuous security testing, automation, and collaboration between teams create a robust security framework, providing enhanced protection for applications and critical data.

Accelerated Time-to-Market

Contrary to the misconception that security measures slow down development processes, DevSecOps actually facilitates accelerated time-to-market. By incorporating security practices seamlessly into the development pipeline, organizations can identify and address security issues early, avoiding costly delays and rework later in the cycle. This streamlined approach enables faster release cycles while maintaining the highest standards of security, giving businesses a competitive edge in today's dynamic market.

Improved Collaboration and Efficiency

DevSecOps promotes a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility, breaking down silos between development, security, and operations teams. Through continuous communication, knowledge sharing, and joint decision-making, organizations can achieve greater efficiency and productivity. Developers gain a deeper understanding of security concerns, and security professionals gain insights into the development process, fostering a harmonious and productive work environment.

Cost Savings

By incorporating security as an integral part of the development process, organizations can avoid the costly repercussions of security breaches, including financial losses, reputational damage, and legal consequences. Additionally, the automation of security practices reduces the need for manual interventions and repetitive tasks, freeing up resources and reducing operational costs. DevSecOps enables organizations to allocate their budgets more efficiently, investing in proactive security measures rather than reactive incident response.

Best Practices for Implementing DevSecOps

Establish a Secure Development Framework

Create a comprehensive and well-defined secure development framework tailored to the organization's specific needs and industry standards. This framework should encompass secure coding practices, security testing methodologies, and guidelines for secure configuration and deployment.

Integrate Security at Every Stage

Embed security practices into each phase of the software development lifecycle. From requirements gathering and design to coding, testing, and deployment, security should be a continuous consideration, ensuring that potential vulnerabilities are addressed throughout the development journey.

Automate Security Testing and Monitoring

Leverage automated tools and technologies to streamline security testing and monitoring processes. Automated security scans, vulnerability assessments, and continuous monitoring help identify potential threats and weaknesses, enabling swift remediation before they can be exploited.

Foster a Culture of Security

Promote a culture of security awareness and accountability throughout the organization. Conduct regular security training sessions, establish clear security policies and guidelines, and encourage open communication and reporting of security incidents or concerns.

Collaborate Across Teams

Facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing among development, security, and operations teams. Encourage cross-functional teams to work together, exchange insights, and jointly address security challenges, fostering a collective responsibility for application security.

Conclusion

In the age of agility, where rapid innovation and security are equally vital, the DevSecOps paradigm emerges as a transformative approach to software development. By integrating security into the core fabric of the development process, organizations can achieve enhanced security, accelerated time-to-market, improved collaboration, and significant cost savings. Embracing DevSecOps empowers businesses to navigate the evolving threat landscape with confidence, delivering secure and innovative solutions that meet the demands of the modern digital era.

Continue reading

The Ultimate Guide to Fortifying Your Cloud: 7 Expert Tips for Ironclad Security

Introduction

Welcome to the ultimate guide to fortifying your cloud and ensuring ironclad security for your valuable data. In today's digital landscape, where cloud computing plays a crucial role in business operations, it is imperative to prioritize the security of your cloud infrastructure. This comprehensive guide will provide you with expert tips and best practices to safeguard your cloud environment against potential threats and vulnerabilities. Let's dive in!

1. Implement Robust Authentication Mechanisms

One of the fundamental steps in fortifying your cloud is to establish strong authentication mechanisms. Utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA) to add an additional layer of security to user logins. By requiring users to provide multiple forms of verification, such as a password and a unique code sent to their mobile device, you can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

2. Regularly Update and Patch Your Systems

Keeping your cloud infrastructure up to date with the latest security patches is vital for protecting against known vulnerabilities. Hackers often exploit weaknesses in outdated software or firmware. Establish a routine system for updating and patching your systems to ensure that you have the latest security measures in place.

3. Encrypt Your Data

Encryption is a powerful technique that converts your data into an unreadable format, thereby rendering it useless to unauthorized individuals. Implement end-to-end encryption for data transmission and storage in your cloud environment. This ensures that even if someone intercepts your data, they won't be able to decipher its contents without the encryption key.

4. Regularly Monitor and Audit Your Cloud

Maintaining a proactive approach to cloud security involves continuous monitoring and auditing of your cloud environment. Set up robust logging mechanisms to track user activities, system events, and network traffic. By analyzing logs and conducting regular security audits, you can identify any suspicious behavior or potential security breaches in real-time, allowing you to take immediate action.

5. Employ Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems

Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS) are essential tools for fortifying your cloud against cyber threats. These systems monitor network traffic and detect any suspicious activities or patterns that may indicate an intrusion attempt. By promptly identifying and mitigating potential threats, IDPS helps maintain the integrity and security of your cloud environment.

6. Backup Your Data Regularly

Data loss can have severe consequences for any business. Implementing a regular backup strategy for your cloud data is crucial to ensure quick recovery in case of accidental deletion, hardware failure, or a security breach. Store backups in secure, off-site locations, and test the restoration process periodically to guarantee the integrity of your backups.

7. Educate Your Employees on Security Best Practices

No security strategy is complete without educating your employees on security best practices. Conduct regular training sessions to raise awareness about the importance of strong passwords, safe browsing habits, and identifying potential phishing attempts. Encourage a culture of security within your organization to ensure that every individual understands their role in maintaining a secure cloud environment.

Conclusion

Securing your cloud infrastructure is a continuous process that requires a proactive approach and adherence to best practices. By implementing robust authentication mechanisms, regularly updating and patching your systems, encrypting your data, and employing intrusion detection and prevention systems, you can fortify your cloud against potential threats. Additionally, regular data backups and employee education are crucial elements in maintaining a secure cloud environment. Remember, safeguarding your cloud is an ongoing commitment that requires vigilance and continuous improvement.

Continue reading

Understanding Web Application Hacking: Unveiling the Vulnerabilities

Web application hacking is a critical concern in today's digital landscape. As the internet becomes increasingly integral to our daily lives, web applications serve as gateways to various online services. However, the convenience and functionality they provide can also be exploited by malicious individuals seeking unauthorized access, data breaches, and other nefarious activities. In this comprehensive article, we delve into the depths of web application hacking, exploring its intricacies, vulnerabilities, and preventive measures.

What Is Web Application Hacking?

Web application hacking refers to the process of exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications to gain unauthorized access, manipulate data, or compromise the security and integrity of the underlying systems. Hackers employ various techniques and tools to identify and exploit weaknesses in the application's code, infrastructure, or design. Their primary goal is to bypass security measures and gain control over sensitive information or the application itself.

Types of Web Application Vulnerabilities

1. Injection Attacks

Injection attacks occur when an attacker inserts malicious code or commands into an application's input fields. This can lead to severe consequences, such as unauthorized access to databases, data leaks, or even complete system compromise. Common injection attack types include SQL injection, OS command injection, and cross-site scripting (XSS).

2. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities enable attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by users. When unsuspecting users access these compromised pages, the injected scripts can execute unauthorized actions or steal sensitive information. XSS attacks often exploit vulnerabilities in user input validation and inadequate output encoding.

3. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks force users to perform unwanted actions on a web application without their knowledge or consent. By tricking users into clicking malicious links or visiting compromised websites, attackers can make authenticated requests on behalf of the user. CSRF attacks exploit the trust between the user and the target application.

4. Broken Authentication and Session Management

Weak authentication and session management mechanisms can allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to user accounts or impersonate legitimate users. This vulnerability typically arises from poor password policies, session fixation, session hijacking, or the improper storage of authentication credentials.

5. Security Misconfigurations

Security misconfigurations occur when web applications are deployed with incorrect or insufficient security settings. These misconfigurations may include default passwords, exposed sensitive information, unpatched software, or unnecessary services and features. Attackers exploit these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access or escalate privileges.

Preventive Measures for Web Application Hacking

Securing web applications against hacking attempts requires a multi-layered approach that encompasses both development practices and ongoing security measures. Here are some essential preventive measures to mitigate web application vulnerabilities:

1. Secure Coding Practices

Adhering to secure coding practices during the development phase is crucial. This includes regular code reviews, input validation, output encoding, and implementing mechanisms like prepared statements or parameterized queries to prevent injection attacks. By following industry best practices, developers can minimize the potential for vulnerabilities.

2. Authentication and Access Controls

Implementing strong authentication mechanisms, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and enforcing complex password policies, helps fortify user account security. Access controls should also be properly configured to ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive functionalities or data.

3. Regular Patching and Updates

Keeping web application frameworks, libraries, and server software up to date is vital to address known vulnerabilities. Regularly applying security patches and updates can prevent attackers from exploiting well-known weaknesses.

4. Web Application Firewalls (WAFs)

Deploying web application firewalls acts as a protective barrier between the application and potential attackers. WAFs monitor and filter incoming traffic, blocking malicious requests and providing an additional layer of defense against common web application attacks.

5. Security Testing and Vulnerability Assessments

Regularly conducting security testing and vulnerability assessments helps identify and address weaknesses before they can be exploited. Techniques such as penetration testing, code reviews, and automated vulnerability scanning can assist in detecting vulnerabilities and strengthening the overall security posture of the web application.

Conclusion

Web application hacking poses a significant threat to the security and integrity of online systems. Understanding the various vulnerabilities and implementing robust preventive measures are paramount to safeguarding sensitive data and maintaining user trust. By adopting secure coding practices, implementing strong authentication mechanisms, staying vigilant with updates, and conducting regular security assessments, web application owners can mitigate the risks associated with hacking attempts.

Remember, securing your web applications is an ongoing process. Stay proactive, keep up with evolving security practices, and regularly reassess your defenses to stay one step ahead of potential attackers.

Continue reading

Azure Cloud Certification for Cybersecurity Professionals

Introduction

A solid understanding of Azure Cloud is essential for IT workers interested in cloud security. Obtaining an Azure cloud certification is an excellent way to demonstrate that you have the skills and experience necessary to protect Azure environments from security incidents. In addition, since Microsoft Azure is one of the most popular cloud environments, understanding Azure security is a crucial step for cybersecurity experts who want to take a more vendor-neutral stance.

This article will discuss everything you need to know about Azure cloud certification for cybersecurity professionals.

What is Azure Cloud?

Microsoft Azure is a public cloud computing environment offered by Microsoft that is one of the top 3 cloud service providers, along with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Azure Cloud offers a wide range of public cloud services, including compute, storage, databases, networking, big data and analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Customers of Azure Cloud can use these offerings to build, deploy, and manage their own applications and services within Microsoft’s global network of cloud data centers.

Because Azure Cloud has a healthy market share and over 200 public cloud services and products, it is a major player in the field of public cloud computing. In the fourth quarter of 2022, Azure Cloud occupied 23 percent of the global cloud infrastructure market, making it the second most popular vendor after Amazon Web Services (Vailshery, L., 2022).

With so many Azure products and services available, it’s no surprise that there are also many Azure cloud certifications. As of writing, more than 50 Azure certifications are listed on the Microsoft website (Microsoft, 2023).

For example, beginners can get started with Microsoft Azure training using certifications such as “Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals.” Microsoft also offers more advanced certifications in specialized Azure topics such as cybersecurity, including “Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert.”

The Importance of Azure Cloud Certification for Cybersecurity

Obtaining an Azure cloud certification can be tremendously useful for cybersecurity professionals. Below are just a few reasons to invest in Azure cloud certification:

◉ Gaining a foothold in cloud security: Azure cloud certification helps cybersecurity professionals understand the challenges and best practices associated with Microsoft Azure cloud computing. This includes the tools and methodologies used to secure Azure infrastructure, applications, and databases.

◉ Career advancement: IT certifications generally give individuals the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise in a certain technology or field. Obtaining an Azure cloud certification can help workers stand out to potential employers, get a leg up on their career, and keep up with the changing face of enterprise IT.

◉ Widespread use of Azure: If you’re interested in the field of cybersecurity, getting an Azure cloud certification is a very wise idea. A majority of organizations worldwide—an estimated 56 percent—use Microsoft Azure for their cloud services (Vailshery, 2022). This means that thousands of companies are in need of Azure computing security experts who can help protect them from data breaches, hacks, and other IT security incidents.

◉ Highly applicable: Due to Microsoft Azure’s high profile, Azure and its customers have been involved in a number of major cybersecurity issues. Understanding how to identify and resolve these issues is crucial for cybersecurity professionals. In February 2023, for example, researchers discovered that the Defense Department inadvertently leaked more than a terabyte of confidential messages due to a Microsoft Azure cloud misconfiguration (Martin, P. et al., 2023).

◉ Meeting compliance requirements: Many companies and industries need to meet specific compliance requirements in terms of cybersecurity, such as HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS. By obtaining Azure cloud certification, IT professionals can demonstrate to auditors and regulators that the organization is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

What to Look For with Azure Cloud Certification

Of course, not all Azure cloud certifications are created equal. Receiving a cybersecurity certification can be a time-consuming and intensive task that requires a great deal of self-study and motivation. This means that would-be students need to carefully select the Azure cloud certifications they choose to obtain.

When looking for the right Azure cloud certification, IT professionals should consider a number of factors. First, Microsoft certifications are offered at four different levels: Fundamentals, Associate, Expert, and Specialty. With a wide variety of options available, you should select the Azure certification that best aligns with your career goals and level of experience.

As of writing, Microsoft offers 11 different certifications and exams for would-be Azure security experts. Two particularly relevant exams are:

◉ Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies: The AZ-500 exam verifies that candidates are able to deploy, manage, and monitor Azure security solutions, including in multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments. By passing this exam, candidates demonstrate that they can identify and resolve cloud vulnerabilities, model security threats, and select the right security components and configurations to protect Azure resources, including identity & access, data, networks, and applications. After passing the AZ-500 exam, Microsoft provides the Azure Security Engineer Associate certification.

◉ Exam SC-200: Microsoft Security Operations Analyst: The SC-200 exam verifies that candidates can protect Azure cloud environments from malicious actors. By passing this exam, candidates demonstrate that they can repel active attacks, suggest ways to improve Azure security practices, and detect violations of Azure security policies. After passing the SC-200 exam, Microsoft provides the Security Operations Analyst Associate certification.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

What is the Role of Vulnerability Management in Cybersecurity?

Introduction

Vulnerability management in cybersecurity is crucial for businesses of all sizes and industries. In vulnerability management, organizations continuously assess their IT environments for security flaws, prioritize and rank them based on their severity, and then move to address them appropriately.

This article will cover everything you need to know about vulnerability management in cybersecurity: the definition and benefits of vulnerability management, steps, and best practices for vulnerability management, and more.

What is Vulnerability Management?

As the name suggests, vulnerability management is the process of managing security vulnerabilities in a computer system, software application, or network environment. A security vulnerability is any technological weakness or defect that a malicious actor can exploit. Vulnerabilities may be present in software code, system configurations, physical security control, and even human behavior via social engineering attacks.

The goal of vulnerability management is to minimize an organization’s attack surface, i.e., the set of potential security flaws and access points that a malicious actor could use to launch a cyberattack. As such, vulnerability management is an ongoing process that involves constantly staying one step ahead of would-be attackers.

The Benefits of Vulnerability Management in Information Security

Vulnerability management has many advantages in information security. Below are a few benefits of vulnerability management:

◉ Better security: Vulnerability management helps organizations pinpoint and handle security flaws before they can be discovered by malicious actors, reducing the risk of data breaches and hacks.

◉ Lower costs: It can lower business expenses by avoiding costly security incidents that may cause fines, legal fees, and reputational damage.

◉ Greater effectiveness: It helps organizations prioritize and triage the security vulnerabilities present in their IT environment so they can see the most result from their efforts.

◉ Regulatory compliance: It can help businesses comply with data security and privacy laws and regulations, such as HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS.

What is the Vulnerability Management Process?

The vulnerability management process typically involves four main stages. Below, we’ll review the different steps of a typical vulnerability management process.

1. Scanning and Discovery

The first stage of vulnerability management involves scanning for vulnerabilities in the IT environment. This involves examining assets, resources, and systems such as endpoint devices (desktops and laptops), servers, databases, peripherals, and firewalls. In addition, vulnerability management tools can discover security flaws in operating systems, ports, software, accounts, file systems, and more.

2. Assessment and Prioritization

Once vulnerabilities have been identified, the next step is to assess their severity and prioritize them. This stage is sometimes referred to as vulnerability analysis. Organizations may use a vulnerability management framework such as the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) that describes how to provide different scores or ratings for several types of security flaws (NIST, 2023). Assessing a security vulnerability involves asking questions such as:

◉ How easily discoverable is this vulnerability?

◉ How long has this vulnerability been present?

◉ How difficult is it to exploit this vulnerability?

◉ What would happen to the business if the vulnerability were exploited?

3. Remediation and Mitigation

After security vulnerabilities have been assessed and ranked in order of severity, the next step is to start addressing them. Businesses have multiple options for how to manage a vulnerability:

◉ Remediation fixes a security flaw to prevent it from being exploited by malicious actors. This may involve installing new software patches or changing system configurations.

◉ Mitigation attempts to decrease the chance that a security flaw will be exploited or the impact if it is exploited rather than fixing it entirely. This is usually done only temporarily (e.g., waiting for a software patch for a newly discovered vulnerability).

◉ Acceptance involves leaving a security flaw alone instead of attempting to remediate or mitigate it. This is usually done only for minor or low-impact vulnerabilities, where the effort involved in remediating or mitigating it is more costly than the impact if it were exploited.

4. Continuous Verification

The final stage of vulnerability management in cybersecurity is continuously verifying the IT environment. This involves ensuring that the actions taken to remediate and mitigate security flaws have successfully addressed the problem. In addition, IT teams should regularly scan for new flaws, threats, and attackers that appear in their environment. For example, changes in an IT ecosystem (e.g., adding a new device) can introduce new vulnerabilities. Security researchers may also discover previously unknown vulnerabilities that require users to upgrade their software and firmware.

Vulnerability Management Best Practices

Effectively performing vulnerability management requires organizations to follow industry best practices. Below are some vulnerability management tips:

◉ Regular Vulnerability Scans: Organizations should set up vulnerability scans in their environment frequently and regularly. These scans should cover the entirety of the IT ecosystem, including servers, workstations, databases, and mobile devices.

◉ Patch Management: Disastrous security incidents such as the 2017 Equifax data breach have occurred due to unpatched software vulnerabilities (Goodin, 2017). Staying up-to-date on security patches and upgrades is critical.

◉ Automation: Modern enterprise IT systems are far too complex for humans to effectively analyze for vulnerabilities. Like other areas of IT, automation is key for effective vulnerability management, helping resolve security flaws more quickly and reducing human error.

◉ Education and Training: Despite the value of automation, human employees still have essential vulnerability management roles and responsibilities. For example, education and training programs can help reduce or prevent security incidents due to human error, such as falling victim to a phishing scam.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

Types of WiFi Hacks, How to Identify and Fix Them, and Preventive Measures

Becoming the victim of a WiFi hack is surprisingly easy — in a 2021 study, Israeli security researchers were able to crack the passwords of roughly 70 percent of WiFi networks (Toulas, B. 2021). Moreover, a study by Forbes Advisor found that 43 percent of people reported that their online security had been compromised by network hackers while using public WiFi (Haan, K., 2023).

How do malicious actors hack WiFi? Was your WiFi hacked? How can you identify and prevent WiFi hacks? If you’re desperately searching for “how to protect your router from hackers,” this article is for you. Below, we’ll go over the different types of WiFi hacks, the signs that your WiFi was hacked, and how to prevent your WiFi from being hacked.

What Are WiFi Hacks?

A “WiFi hack” is any technique used to gain unauthorized access to a WiFi network. Typically, this is done by exploiting security flaws or vulnerabilities, allowing the attacker to steal confidential information or disrupt the network’s normal operations.

How Is WiFi Hacked? 10 Different Types of WiFi Hacks

How is WiFi hacked by an attacker? There are many different types of WiFi hacks, each presenting a unique threat to businesses and individuals. This section will cover ten kinds of WiFi hacks you should be aware of.

Password Cracking

In a password-cracking WiFi hack, the attackers can guess or crack the password to gain access to the network. This is often done using automated brute-force tools or lists of credentials leaked due to a data breach.

Rogue Access Point

Attackers may set up a rogue access point: a fake wireless access point plugged into a legitimate WiFi network, creating a bypass or backdoor. This allows an attacker to intercept all the data that victims send and receive over the network, including sensitive data such as financial information and login credentials.

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack

In a MITM attack, malicious actors insert themselves between two devices communicating on a network. Each device believes it is talking to the other but is really talking to the attacker, who may capture or manipulate the exchanged information.

Evil Twin Attack

An evil twin WiFi hack is similar to a rogue access point but with a crucial point of distinction. In a rogue access point attack, the access point is illegitimately plugged into a real network. In an evil twin attack, however, the fake access point is intended to look like a convincing replica of a real network.

Packet Sniffing

In a packet sniffing WiFi hack, attackers remain hidden using tools such as Wireshark to intercept and analyze the data packets sent back and forth over a WiFi network. These packets may contain sensitive information that the attackers can later exploit.

Wireless Jamming

Wireless jamming attacks involve sending a signal (such as white noise) on the same frequency as the WiFi network, trying to disrupt its operations by causing interference. These attacks can result in slower network speeds or even bring down the network entirely.

MAC Spoofing

In a MAC spoofing WiFi hack, the attacker changes their device’s Media Access Control (MAC) address to a legitimate device on the network. This may allow the attacker to access the network without needing login credentials.

Denial of Service (DoS) Attack

A denial of service (DoS) attack involves maliciously flooding a network with illegitimate traffic to disrupt its normal operations. For example, attackers might send the network malformed data packets or extremely high volumes of connection requests.

WPS Vulnerabilities

Hackers may exploit a WiFi router’s Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) feature by brute-force guessing the WPS number. The WPS PIN lets devices connect to the network without needing login credentials.

Physical Access

Last but not least, a physical access WiFi hack involves an attacker who gains physical access to the network router. This allows the attacker to reconfigure the router’s settings or even damage the router to bring down the network.

Was Your WiFi Hacked? 6 Signs Someone Hacked Your Router

If you’re worried about WiFi and router hacks, the good news is that they can often be detected and fixed. Below are 6 of the most significant signs that your WiFi router has been hacked:

1. Performance issues: If your WiFi network suddenly suffers from slow Internet speeds, this could indicate that attackers have gained access and are using the network for their own purposes (e.g., operating botnets or distributing malware).

2. High data usage: Similarly, if data consumption on your WiFi network is higher than usual or greater than expected, this might be a sign that unwelcome guests have hijacked your router.

3. Trouble logging in: If you cannot log into your router’s administrative control with your usual username and password, the credentials might have been changed by an attacker.

4. Unknown devices: The presence of unknown or suspicious devices on your WiFi network strongly indicates that your router’s defenses have been compromised to let in the attacker.

5. Unexpected network activity: If your WiFi network is behaving strangely (e.g., your browser always redirects to the same page), the router settings may have been changed by an attacker.

6. Strange messages: Last but not least, if your browser or devices display strange pop-ups or notifications (such as ransomware messages or advertisements), it could be a sign that the WiFi network is compromised.

How to Prevent Your WiFi from Being Hacked

While it’s good to recognize the signs of a WiFi hack, it’s even better to stop it in its tracks. Below are some tips for how to block WiFi hackers:

◉ Change your password: Many WiFi networks are easily hacked because administrators fail to change the default username and/or password. Choose a secure password and change it at regular intervals.

◉ Use encryption: WiFi networks should use strong encryption algorithms such as WPA2 or WPA3. Avoid using the WEP protocol, which is older and considered less secure.

◉ Keep router firmware up-to-date: Router firmware can suffer from security vulnerabilities if not updated regularly. Check for new upgrades to your router software and install them as soon as possible.

◉ Disable security settings: Network features such as WPS and remote management have their uses, but they can also leave you vulnerable to attackers. Without a good reason, these features should be disabled.

WiFi Hacked? Here’s What to Do

Was your WiFi hacked by an attacker? If you believe that you’ve been the victim of a WiFi hack, follow the tips and best practices below:

◉ Change the credentials: As soon as possible, you should change the administrator credentials for your WiFi router, including the username and password. Your choice of password should be memorable while still being difficult to guess for an attacker. This will prevent malicious actors from being able to log in with the old credentials.

◉ Reboot the router: In some cases, rebooting or resetting the router can clear out any malicious software and help you determine the extent of the hack. To reboot the router, simply hold down the device’s reset button until it shuts down, then power it back up. This will also require you to reconfigure the router settings once it restarts.

◉ Upgrade the firmware: If attackers exploit an existing flaw in the router’s firmware, installing the latest updates may automatically patch this vulnerability. This can be done within your router’s dashboard page. Moving forward, checking for new router updates at least every three months is a good idea.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

The Power of Collective Intelligence: Leveraging Threat Intelligence to Protect Against Cyber Threats

Cybersecurity is continuously evolving, and the ability to quickly detect attacks is crucial for security teams to mitigate threats and vulnerabilities before they are exploited. Cybersecurity threat intelligence (CTI) plays a key role in detecting and securing security gaps, as it helps identify cyber threats by accessing data that reveal the existence or details of a breach. But the challenge is that the sources from which such actionable intelligence can be obtained are minimal. Although the Security Operations Center (SOC) and honeypot method offer valuable insights, the information received is limited to the organization implementing it. The need to obtain more threat intelligence has compelled organizations to exchange threat intel, crowdsource, or both.

Crowdsourcing is one of the most powerful processes today, gathering workforce, knowledge, or opinions from a sizable number of people or entities who contribute their information online, on social media, or through mobile apps. This may consist of system artifacts, security alerts, and existing threat intelligence reports. Collective intelligence can be generated from enterprise-owned security intelligence platforms or crowdsourced via mass market applications. Crowdsourcing is a growing trend where companies and organizations leverage the power of the crowd to identify and mitigate security threats. This article explores the need to gather threat intelligence from multiple sources and to create a comprehensive database that can be used to defend against cyberattacks. The article also discusses open threat exchange and security crowdsourcing as ways of leveraging collective intelligence.

What Is Cybersecurity Collective Intelligence?

Collective intelligence involves sharing information about vulnerabilities, threats, and mitigations among different stakeholders for cybersecurity. Businesses, government agencies, security vendors, and individual researchers can all participate in collective intelligence efforts. Cyber threats, currently distributed across various environments and devices, are constantly evolving. Collaborative intelligence can help security teams understand what’s happening to their systems, enabling them to direct efforts toward mending known or suspected weaknesses. Cybercriminals use psychological tricks to manipulate their victims, so it is essential to be aware of cybersecurity issues. According to the most recent small and medium business research, around 34% of businesses never provided their staff with cybersecurity awareness training (Pawar & Palivela, 2022). Collective intelligence can help security teams improve risk management by sharing information about vulnerabilities and threats across different business verticals. This is generally carried out by various intelligence exchange platforms that rely on business organizations of all sizes and security vendors. The different types of threat intelligence based on the source and its nature can be divided into two categories, i.e., threat exchange and vulnerability detection via crowdsourcing. The current article further discusses these two categories in detail below.

Security Crowdsourcing

Security crowdsourcing is a technique companies and organizations use to gather collective intelligence from various sources, including bug bounty programs. The idea behind these programs is to identify and neutralize cyber threats. A bug bounty program is the best example of a program that leverages crowdsourcing to conduct security investigations; it allows novice and expert contributors to submit vulnerability findings from their perspectives to develop the system or application. Crowdsourced security programs reward people for discovering flaws and vulnerabilities, and their different types could be classified as follows.

Hacktivism and Bug Bounties

Every large business organization or major tech giant has an active bug bounty program. These programs operate by allowing individuals to report any vulnerability or bug. If the reported issue is found to be valid, the individual will be compensated for their efforts. Ethical hackers can earn anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a couple of million dollars by uncovering software vulnerabilities, making it a lucrative full-time income opportunity.

Crowdsourced VAPT (Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing)

Crowdsourcing programs request ethical hackers to find bugs and vulnerabilities in their applications or website, and upon reporting the exposure, the ethical hacker is rewarded with money and recognition for their findings. A vulnerability disclosure or crowdsourced VAPT is a vulnerability assessment and disclosure carried out when the product is available in the market and being used, thus, making the records for reporting available to the public openly (Mujezinovic, 2023). These types of bug bounties could vary in scope, from detecting minor bugs to identifying exploitable vulnerabilities. The more extensive the process and the aim of detecting vulnerabilities could be termed Crowdsourced VAPT.

Malware Crowdsourcing

Assuming your device’s antivirus software has missed the detection, you can check whether a downloaded file is malicious using online scanners. These online scanners and tools aggregate multiple security products to check if the file in question is harmful. While organizations typically collect such data from their endpoint security systems and devices, crowdsourcing can be applied to regular users and the public.

Disseminating Cyber Threat Intelligence

Organizations can improve their security posture and capability to develop countermeasures for security threats by sharing and utilizing shared information via threat exchange platforms. Access to resources that provide information about potential threats enables one to detect existing threats and develop countermeasures for possible advanced versions of a particular threat (Cortés, 2023).

Strategic Cyber Threat Intelligence

Strategic CTI is a type of intelligence that helps business leaders make high-level decisions about cybersecurity threats. This information usually comes from white papers and other sources, such as news reports and governmental or academic institutions’ policy documents. To develop effective strategic CTI, an organization must understand the issues surrounding digital security, sociopolitical and market trends, and business concepts. Security heads then craft a report for nontechnical personnel to understand cyber threats and possible mitigation strategies. The amount of research required in this process makes automation a standard tool for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of operations.

Tactical Cyber Threat Intelligence

Tactical CTI, or Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) for threat intelligence aims to help security teams and SOC managers understand the methods and processes of malicious hackers. Tactical cyber threat intelligence reports include details about the attack vectors, tools, and infrastructure threat actors use to breach IT infrastructures or delay detection. Security research groups and product vendors generally create Tactical CTI. These groups create reports on the effectiveness of existing controls, which are adopted by an organization’s security team.

Operational Cyber Threat Intelligence

Operational CTI reports are more technical than tactical, focusing on cyber attacks, security events, and other technical topics. These insights help security professionals understand cyber threats’ nature, intent, and other specifications and can provide valuable insight into future cyber risks. Various threat intelligence platforms and reported indicators of compromise are sources of data feeds for operational threat intelligence. Researchers can also include vulnerabilities found in any application, device, or operating system submitted under the bug-bounty program under this type of intelligence.

Models for Threat Detection by Enterprises

The enterprise could divide its threat detection and response measures into three categories: endpoints, networks, and open threat exchange platforms (Pankhania, 2023).

Endpoint Detection and Response

Every device connected to a network is a potential attack vector for adversaries. EDR solutions gather data from endpoints, identify potential threats, search hosts, and automate subsequent security reporting.

Network Detection and Response

Network Detection and Response (NDR) is a subset of network traffic analysis that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to classify unknown and known threats entering or exiting networks. NDR solutions have advanced the state of network security by applying machine learning to scope for lateral movements in networks, centralize network traffic analysis, and ensure complete visibility into networks.

Extended Threat Detection and Response (XDR)

With XDR solutions, you can analyze traffic and security events between devices in a network. XDR solutions leverage two or more vendor logs, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, event log servers, and external third-party data sources. These sources are integrated locally with Active Directory log files for enhanced visibility. XDR platforms normalize data from separate sources for analysis with the same goal as NDR solutions—threat detection and remediation.

Benefits of Intelligence Sharing and Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing security skills aims to benefit both organizations and bounty hunters by providing incentives for reported critical bugs. Using security crowdsourcing, businesses indirectly employ these ethical hackers as freelance manpower for specific projects and applications. This not only saves the costs for hiring professionals who, after spending a considerable amount of time and resources, may or may not find the vulnerabilities but also help organizations test the product for various bugs through multiple and varied real-world inputs that tend to test the application to its limits. The quantity of testers involved with such a program guarantees rigorous testing at a minimal cost.

While crowdsourcing has an obvious numerical advantage, only some aspects of the security testing could be subjected to such programs where non-authorized testers can access sensitive data and the business architectures. In such cases, the ideal way to stay ahead in the threat intelligence game is to procure intel via threat exchange platforms that allow businesses to access intelligence for a possible vulnerability they might have yet to come across. The exchange of CTI allows for a hardened security posture, including easier identification of affected systems, implementation of protective security measures, and enhanced threat detection. It keeps current with the latest threats and improves detection capability and security controls for better defense agility. It also helps enrich index volumes and further the development of knowledge on specific incidents and threats.

Challenges Associated with Intelligence Sharing and Crowdsourcing

Sharing threat intelligence is highly beneficial, but some concerns deter organizations from freely sharing it, with privacy and liability being the most significant. While crowdsourcing allows for cost-efficient security testing, finding and declaring any vulnerability is equivalent to announcing it to the threat actors even before fixing it. Also, it is difficult for ethical hackers to access certain assets that are internal to the organization’s security architecture. Allowing access to such components is equal to giving the non-authorized personal rights to manage or jeopardize the security of your assets as they see fit.

A bug can be exploited when it goes unnoticed. This is made possible by crowdsourcing. As crowdsourced security is a type of reward upon-discovery program, it becomes difficult to estimate the security budget for the task. Also, it is not known what will be found ahead of time, implying that the number of hours of labor to be invested cannot be quantified. Therefore, if the rewards are poor, the program might fail to garner attention from ethical hackers (Haynes, 2018).

Very few private organizations have cyber threat intelligence collaborative platforms on their websites or social media pages, like SecureClaw. In the case of intelligence procurement via threat exchange format, a lack of a common mechanism or an established policy for preserving the trust model on these platforms may prove to be a setback. Lack of trust and transparency about the source is another challenge in legitimizing any exchange platform. As threat intelligence capabilities aim to automate the process, achieving interoperability and calibrating new formats can be difficult, as not every organization uses a standardized data format.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

Wireshark: Packet Capturing and Analysis

Penetration testing is one of the most robust defenses businesses have against cyberattacks. By simulating attacks in a safe, controlled environment, penetration testers can more easily identify vulnerabilities in an IT environment and fix them before malicious actors can exploit them.

The good news is that penetration testers have no shortage of tools, including Wireshark, a packet-capturing and analysis tool commonly used by network administrators and IT security professionals. So, what is Wireshark, and how is it used in penetration testing? This Wireshark tutorial will cover everything you need to know about using Wireshark.

What Is Wireshark?

To answer the question “What is Wireshark?”, you first must understand the concept of a network packet. Network packets are “chunks” or data units sent between two connected devices on a network using protocols such as TCP/IP. Each packet consists of a header containing metadata about the packet (such as its source and destination) and a payload (the actual content of the packet, such as an email or web page).

Wireshark is a free, open-source software application for capturing and analyzing network packets. Wireshark can help users glean valuable insights about the network’s activity and identify issues or threats by capturing and analyzing these packets.

Wireshark Uses

A great deal of Wireshark’s popularity is due to its flexibility and versatility. The Wireshark tool has many use cases, including:

◉ Troubleshooting: Network administrators can better understand the goings-on in their IT environment by analyzing the packets captured in Wireshark. This can help diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve network issues.

◉ Network analysis: The packets captured by Wireshark are helpful for network monitoring and forensics. For example, Wireshark can detect several common network-based attacks, such as port scanning and attacks using FTP, ICMP, or BitTorrent.

◉ Software development: Wireshark helps software engineers during the development and testing process. For example, Wireshark can help debug problems related to unexpected network behavior or performance issues.

◉ Education: The nonprofit Wireshark Foundation supports the development of Wireshark and promotes its use in education programs. Wireshark is a common tool used in penetration testing certifications and training.

Wireshark Features

Wireshark has many valuable features and functionalities, making it an invaluable addition to any IT security professional’s toolkit. The features of Wireshark include the following:

◉ Live packet capture: With Wireshark, users can capture network packets in real-time, giving up-to-the-minute insights about network activity.

◉ Detailed analysis: Wireshark provides various details about the header and contents of each packet, letting users filter the traffic they want to view and analyze.

◉ Support for thousands of protocols: As of writing, Wireshark is compatible with more than 3,000 network protocols, making it useful in a wide variety of applications (Wireshark).

◉ Multi-platform support: Wireshark is compatible with the Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems, making it accessible to millions of users interested in networking and IT security.

Using Wireshark in Penetration Testing

Although Wireshark has numerous features and use cases, one of its most popular applications is penetration testing. The ways in which Wireshark is used in penetration testing include:

◉ Network reconnaissance: Penetration testers can use Wireshark to perform reconnaissance: identifying targets such as ports, devices, and services based on the type and amount of network traffic they exchange.

◉ Traffic analysis: Wireshark can run scans on network traffic to detect signals of malicious activity, such as unusual payloads or surges in traffic patterns from a particular location.

◉ Password cracking: Network packets that contain user credentials such as usernames and passwords should use encryption for security. However, penetration testers can attempt to identify and crack these packets to test for vulnerabilities.

◉ Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks: DoS attacks attempt to prevent legitimate users from accessing a server or resource by flooding it with malicious traffic. IT security professionals can use Wireshark to detect DoS attacks and mitigate them by blocking traffic from specific sources or locations.

Packet Capturing in Wireshark

To get started with Wireshark, users must first define what kind of network packets they wish to capture. Packet capturing in Wireshark involves following the steps below:

1. Select the network interface: First, users must select the proper network interface from which to capture packets. This is likely the name of the wired or wireless network adapter used by the current machine.

2. Configure the capturing options: Wireshark users can select from various options when capturing network packets. Users may configure the type of packets to capture, the number of bytes to capture for each packet, the size of the kernel buffer for packet capture, the file name and capture format, and much more.

3. Start the packet capture: Once the capture is set up, users can start the Wireshark packet capture process. Wireshark will automatically capture all packets sent and received by the current machine and network interface using the provided options.

4. End the packet capture: When the process is complete, users can manually or automatically stop packet capture in Wireshark (e.g., after capturing a specified number of packets). The results will be saved to a file for later analysis.

Analyzing Data Packets in Wireshark

After packet capture is complete, users can also perform network packet analysis with Wireshark. First, users should be aware of the various filters and options available in Wireshark. For example, the Wireshark tool can automatically label different types of traffic with different colors (e.g., packets using TCP/IP with one color or packets containing errors with another).

To analyze data packets in Wireshark, first, open the corresponding file that has been saved after the packet capturing process. Next, users can narrow their search by using Wireshark’s filter options. Below are just a few possibilities for using Wireshark filters:

◉ Showing only traffic from a particular port.

◉ Showing only packets that contain a particular byte sequence.

◉ Showing only traffic to a particular source or from a particular destination.

Users can select a given packet in the Wireshark interface to display more details about that packet. Wireshark’s Packet Details pane contains additional information about the packet’s IP address, header, payload data, and more (Wireshark).

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

Email Security 101: Balancing Human and Machine Approaches to Combat Phishing

Next-gen cybersecurity attacks can bypass traditional technologies, and the role of human interaction cannot be underestimated when dealing with these threats. Email security is critical to organizations as members must often correspond with people outside of their networks, e.g., tending to customer queries, requests, and feedback. It’s not uncommon to receive viruses, spam, crypto-malware, and ransomware files through attachments. Robust email security can safeguard personal and corporate data from cyber-attacks, prevent identity theft, and ensure end-users and organizations stay protected.

Over 90% of all cyber-attacks are attributed to phishing emails, and few organizations are immune to dealing with emerging threats, especially with the advent and use of malware, ransomware, and social engineering techniques being so prevalent (Yong 2020). Phishing emails target users in different ways, and attackers are quite savvy at duping victims into clicking on email links and opening attachments.

Your employees are your first line of defense, and although they must know how to protect themselves online, sometimes more than knowledge is needed. Technology is not foolproof and cannot fully filter phishing emails since attackers can make them highly personalized. The International Anti-Phishing Work Group (APWG) was established to inform online users of email security trends, threats, and scams. Machine Learning plays a significant role in developing anti-phishing models using techniques like dynamic self-structuring neural networks, associative classifications, and dynamic rule induction. However, phishing email attacks cannot be warded off with technology alone, as the human element is involved when engaging with these threats (Said Baadel, 2023).

Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities Your Business Can Face 

Regarding email security for organizations, below is a list of the most dangerous cybersecurity vulnerabilities they face:

Physical Security

Examples of physical security threats include vandalism, robbery, natural disaster, and unauthorized access to premises. These threats cause damage to computer systems and allow malicious actors to steal login credentials directly, which compromises email security. Someone who gains direct access to machines can wipe out all the data from servers.

Network Perimeter Security 

Network perimeter security is subject to risks such as broken authentication, weak firewalls, low bandwidths, and misconfigurations related to an organization’s policies.

Security of Internal Communications 

If your internal communications channels aren’t secure, your emails could leak. Employee negligence is one of the most significant risks to email security, and many businesses have noted that they have lost important documents and sensitive information due to human error.

Incident Response Challenges 

The growth of the email threat landscape shows that a failure to respond promptly to email attacks costs businesses a lot of valuable resources. Attacks use sophisticated methods to forward their malicious objectives, and email incident response is more complex than searching for and deleting harmful messages. Even secure email gateways can be bypassed, and attacks cannot be filtered or restricted using traditional security tools.

Combat Phishing Threats with AI and Human Insight 

Security and IT experts are using AI-powered anti-phishing tools to reduce workloads and improve their ability to detect threats over email with high precision and accuracy. While AI-based tools are effective at scanning malicious attachments and links, they can also analyze message intent and detect social engineering attacks like business email compromise by leveraging sentiment analysis. While AI is powerful enough to detect 99% of email threats, there is still that rare 1% error margin where attacks are sophisticated enough to bypass the best filters. Your employees are your last line of defense when it comes to staying protected from email attacks: this is where regular security awareness training comes in. Running extensive phishing simulation tests within the organization to check and see who is up to date with the latest cybersecurity practices and who is falling behind is a great security strategy for businesses.

The following steps outline how to balance the human and machine learning approach to build an effective anti-phishing strategy:

1. Create Baselines and Establish Risk Levels 

Before building an anti-phishing strategy, it’s important to establish a baseline regarding which threats your organization is likely to face. Once you have identified these threats, you must also set your acceptable risk levels and assess employee security awareness training programs to see which profiles attackers are targeting the most. Allocate your resources and prioritize efforts in training to address these vulnerabilities effectively.

2. Assess Tools 

Evaluate the efficacy of your current anti-phishing toolkits and see if they meet business expectations. Security and IT teams combine SEG solutions with anti-phishing strategies to enhance security awareness training. All-in-one email security solutions that incorporate AI and human insights to improve real-time detection of threats and provide remediation are also popular and in high demand today. When deciding whether it is in your best interest to adopt such approaches for your organization, you may ask yourself, is there any room for improvement, and will your current methods prove effective when your organization scales up?

3. Empowering Your Employees 

You can combat advanced phishing attacks like VIP impersonation, BEC, and ATO by combining AI and human insights into one platform. Empowering your employees can be seen as an asset that builds upon your email security. When your employees take personal accountability for their data and help build awareness, it strengthens your organization’s security posture (Rezabek, 2023).

Tips for Building Good Email Habits to Ward Off Phishing Attacks 

The following tips are excellent email habits to build to ward off phishing attacks:

◉ Avoid unverified links from unknown users – Phishing can be text messages, social media posts, ads, and SMS. Clicking on links from unknown users can redirect to fake websites. As a precaution, it’s important to hover over links before clicking on them to see where they lead. Be aware of words like “copy” or “get this link” as part of URLs, since phishers are increasingly intelligent with their baits (Spike, 2022).

◉ Don’t respond to emails that instill fear or a sense of urgency – Fear tactics and emails that instill a sense of urgency are generally scams. If you receive offers that sound too good to be true, it usually is. A typical phishing scam is when scammers pose as online retailers and send discount codes and coupons. They may ask you to register on a website to steal your credentials. Be wary of emails with poor spelling and grammar as well, since some scammers are not usually adept at online communication (Spike, 2022).

◉ Do not use public Wi-Fi – Public Wi-Fi does not encrypt your data, is insecure, and won’t keep your information safe from prying eyes. Using a VPN and a private hotspot can help prevent on-path attacks. If you are using multiple email accounts, it’s good practice to use a strong password manager, which can randomize credentials for every service and page you visit. Change your passwords frequently over short periods, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of encryption and backup methods so that access to sensitive information is permanently restricted (Spike, 2022).

◉ Do not share personal information – You should never share personally identifiable information with anyone over the internet. Avoid posting your details over social media, addresses, phone numbers, and anything else that cyber thieves could exploit. Attackers are excellent at devising the best social engineering tactics, and even the most minor bits of information can help them compromise your data (Simister, 2022).

◉ Enable 2FA or MFA – Two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication can make it almost impossible for hackers to penetrate email systems. They will need to obtain an additional security code generated by separate devices, and unless they have physical access to them, they cannot hijack your accounts. Most 2FA and MFA apps will send alerts to your phone and devices when someone tries to log in to your accounts with suspicious user credentials. This will allow you to act before the account gets compromised.

◉ Use Email Forensic Investigative Techniques – Metadata analysis, port scanning, keyword searching, and investigating the source code and content of emails can identify the actual recipients and senders of messages. Popular techniques used in email forensics include network device and server investigations, software-embedded identifiers, header analysis, and analyzing sender mailer fingerprints. Python is mainly used for conducting email forensics and extracting information from EML files. It’s also standard practice to use MD5 and SHA1 hashing algorithms to preserve digital evidence and conduct email forensics investigations. (Sethi, 2022)

Tips for Building on Your Existing Email Security Stack 

Even when following a defense-in-depth model, organizations may need more support in email security solutions. Using an on-premises solution for your email infrastructure can translate to difficulties in migration and compliance. Here are some tips on how to build upon your existing email security stack:

◉ Scalability is one of the main concerns of organizations when building an existing email security stack. Cloud-based vendors support high-volume sending, and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the standardized protocol for mail transfers. However, SMTP does not offer encryption in its native state and is prone to spam. Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption solves this problem and ensures that messages stay protected when traveling to inboxes.

◉ The three must-haves of automated email security solutions are triage, remediation, and incident response investigation. Email threat protection platforms can automate SOC processes, and fully automated solutions will seamlessly integrate with existing SIEM and SOAR solutions. The need for manual research is removed by using internal and external threat intelligence resources like multi-AV machines, email metadata analysis, crowd intelligence, and sandboxes.

◉ Good triage email security solutions should be able to prioritize and cluster email messages according to different categories like spam messages, false positives, and phishing messages. It should be able to filter emails by source and reputation and identify whether messages have been opened (Benishti, 2019). 

Conclusion 

Technology is constantly evolving, and it is not easy to design and implement an effective email security strategy to protect business needs. Users need to be trained to identify threats and scope for suspicious activities in areas where AI and automation prove to leave behind vulnerabilities or missing instances. Remember that every email security program is flawed, and the best approach is to combine human intelligence with automation to create the best email security suite.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading