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

What Is Threat Modeling, and What Are Its Most Important Advantages?

Threat modeling is the process of defining an organization’s cybersecurity needs, threats, and vulnerabilities, and then suggesting ways to meet these needs and address these vulnerabilities.

In his classic work of military strategy, The Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote that “if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” The more information you can gather about your enemies and how they operate, the better prepared you will be to fend off their attacks.

Nowhere is this adage truer than in the field of cybersecurity. There are many countermeasures available for organizations, both proactive and reactive, to protect themselves against and recover from cyberattacks.

In particular, the threat modeling process seeks to identify and better understand the possible threats an IT ecosystem faces. Below, we’ll go over what threat modeling is, the various ways to perform threat modeling, and the benefits of threat modeling for industries and businesses of all sizes.

What Is Threat Modeling?

As the name suggests, threat modeling involves creating a model of the various attackers and vulnerabilities that potentially threaten an organization’s cybersecurity posture. Threat models typically include components such as:

◉ A description of the various assets and resources in your IT environment (endpoints, software, networks, servers, databases, etc.)

◉ A list of the potential threats to the system and their severities

◉ A list of the potential actions and recommendations for addressing each threat

◉ Suggestions for validating the model’s correctness and verifying that the fixes and patches are successful

◉ Any underlying assumptions and conditions that the threat model requires

Threat models can take many forms and include various documents and visualizations, depending on the most effective way to communicate information. For example:

What Are the Types of Threat Modeling?

Since each institution is free to define its own standards, there are as many possible types of threat modeling as there are organizations to be modeled. However, there are a number of threat models that have become dominant in the field of cybersecurity, each one providing a framework that helps businesses think through the hazards they face. Below is a quick overview of the most common types of threat modeling.

STRIDE

First developed at Microsoft in the 1990s, the STRIDE threat model is still in use today. The STRIDE acronym represents six of the most frequent cybersecurity threats:

1. Spoofing: Gaining access to restricted networks or data by impersonating an authorized individual or resource

2. Tampering: Maliciously altering data (e.g., encrypting files with ransomware or changing a configuration file to obtain administrator access)

3. Repudiation: Denying responsibility for an attack without proof to the contrary

4. Information disclosure: Leaks and data breaches of sensitive or confidential files

5. Denial of service: Shutting down a resource (e.g., a website or service) by flooding it with superfluous requests

6. Elevation of privilege: Accessing files or data in an unauthorized manner based on a user’s level of privilege within the system

PASTA

PASTA (Process of Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis) is a threat modeling framework created in 2015 by the consulting firm VerSprite. The PASTA framework outlines the 7 stages of developing a robust cybersecurity threat model:

1. Defining the objectives: This includes both internal objectives and any external governance or compliance issues.

2. Defining the technical scope: An organization’s attack surface may consist of endpoint systems, networks, servers, mobile devices, applications, databases, containers, websites, and more. 

3. Decomposing applications: Data flow diagrams help users visualize how applications work with data to prepare for deeper analysis.

4. Analyzing threats: Using multiple sources of threat intelligence and the assets defined in step 2, organizations need to identify the most pressing threats to these assets.

5. Analyzing vulnerabilities: Applications should be examined for security issues, design flaws, and other weaknesses.

6. Analyzing attacks: Attack trees model how a malicious actor could viably infiltrate the IT ecosystem using the vulnerabilities identified in step 5.

7. Analyzing risks and impact: Finally, organizations must come up with countermeasures to eliminate or mitigate the above issues and challenges.

TRIKE

TRIKE is an open-source threat modeling methodology for security audits and risk management. The TRIKE website provides a spreadsheet that allows users to define the relationships between the various actors, actions, and assets within an IT environment. Based on these definitions, users can implement the appropriate security controls or preventive measures to ward off any threats.

What Are the Advantages of Threat Modeling?

Threat modeling is one of the most important techniques organizations have to protect themselves from cyberattacks. Some of the benefits and advantages of threat modeling include:

◉ Improving collaboration: First and foremost, threat modeling helps get all departments in the organization on the same page. By defining your IT resources and the issues that confront them, threat modeling ensures that everyone—from your IT team to executives and key stakeholders—works based on the same constructs and assumptions.

◉ Reducing the attack surface: Threat modeling can identify backdoors and other vulnerabilities in your IT ecosystem so that they can be fixed quickly and efficiently. In addition, threat modeling helps reduce IT complexity by identifying unnecessary endpoints, software, or resources that can be eliminated.

◉ Prioritizing cybersecurity needs: Threat modeling helps organizations understand which threats require the most attention and resources in terms of effort or budget. For example, given multiple vulnerabilities present in an IT environment, which should be resolved first?

◉ Strengthening compliance: Threat modeling helps companies comply with data privacy and security laws and regulations that require organizations to understand how they may be putting sensitive data at risk. For example, the European Union’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compels organizations to perform a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) when they begin new projects that process personal data.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

How to Identify Network Security Threats and Vulnerabilities

Anyone who operates a computer network is susceptible to security threats and vulnerabilities. Hackers, criminals, and other malicious actors often exploit these weaknesses to steal data or disrupt service. To protect your network from these threats, it is important to be able to identify them and take appropriate steps to mitigate risks. Here we will provide an overview of some of the most common security threats and vulnerabilities as well as tips on how to detect them.

What Is a Network Threat?

A network threat is when an attacker targets a computer network or the computers and devices connected to it. Network threats can cause significant damage to data, systems, and networks and lead to downtime or even complete system failure. There are many different types of network threats, but some of the most common include:

◉ Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attacks: A DoS attack is an attempt to make a computer or network resource unavailable to users. They can be carried out using various methods, including flooding the target with requests or traffic or exploiting vulnerabilities in the network or system.

◉ Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks: A DDoS attack is similar to a DoS attack, but multiple computers or devices, known as zombies, are used to carry out the attack. A large number of requests or traffic from the zombies can overwhelm the target, thus denying access to legitimate users. 

◉ Malware: Malware or malicious software refers to any type of software that is designed to damage or disrupt a computer system. Viruses, worms, and Trojans are some examples of malware.

◉ Phishing: Phishing is a type of social engineering attack that attempts to trick users into revealing sensitive information, like passwords or credit card numbers. Such attacks are often carried out by email and may include links to fake websites that look identical to the real website (SecurityScorecard, 2021). 

What Are Network Vulnerabilities?

Network vulnerabilities are weaknesses in a computer network that malicious actors can exploit to gain unauthorized access, launch DoS attacks, or spread malware. While some vulnerabilities are unintentionally introduced during the design and implementation of a network, others may be deliberately introduced by attackers.

Common types of network vulnerabilities include unpatched software flaws, weak passwords, and open ports. To protect a network from attack, it is important to regularly scan for vulnerabilities and take steps to remediate them. Network administrators can use a variety of tools to perform vulnerability scans, including open source and commercial products.

Once a vulnerability has been identified, it is essential to fix the loophole based on the potential impact of an exploit. For example, a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to gain administrative access to a server should be addressed urgently. In contrast, a less critical vulnerability may be patched at a later time.

Network vulnerabilities can have a wide range of impacts, from causing minor disruptions to leading to complete system compromise. In some cases, attackers may exploit vulnerabilities to launch DoS attacks or steal sensitive data. In other cases, they may use vulnerabilities to gain control of systems and use them for malicious purposes such as sending spam or launching attacks against other targets.

What Are the Types of Network Security Threats?

While there are many different types of network security threats out there, some of the most dangerous ones include:

◉ Viruses and Malware: Viruses and malware are malicious software programs that can infect your computer or network and cause serious damage. They can delete important files, steal confidential information, or even shut down your entire system.

◉ SQL Injection Attacks: SQL injection attacks exploit vulnerabilities in web applications that use Structured Query Language (SQL) to communicate with databases. By injecting malicious SQL code into these vulnerable applications, attackers can gain access to sensitive data or even take control of the entire database.

◉ OnPath Attacks: OnPath attacks occur when an attacker intercepts communication between two parties and impersonates each party to the other. This allows the attacker to eavesdrop on the conversation or modify the data being exchanged.

◉ Password Attacks: Password attacks are common types of network attacks because they are very effective. There are many types of password attacks, but some of the most common include brute force attacks, dictionary attacks, and rainbow table attacks (EasyDmarc, 2022).

What Are the Main Types of Security Vulnerability?

In computer security, a vulnerability is a weakness that can be exploited by a threat actor, usually for malicious purposes. Vulnerabilities can be found in many different areas of a system, including hardware, software, networks, and even people.

There are four main types of security vulnerabilities:

◉ Misconfigurations: Incorrectly configured systems and applications are often the weakest links in an organization’s security posture. A poorly configured firewall in cybersecurity, weak passwords, and leaving default accounts active are all examples of common misconfigurations that can lead to serious security vulnerabilities.

◉ Unsecured APIs: Many modern applications rely on application programming interfaces (APIs) to function properly. However, if APIs are not properly secured, they can be a serious security vulnerability. Attackers can exploit unsecured APIs to gain access to sensitive data or even take control of entire systems.

◉ Outdated or Unpatched Software: Software vulnerabilities are often the root cause of major security breaches. Outdated software is especially vulnerable, as attackers can exploit known weaknesses that have already been patched in newer versions. Unpatched software is also a major security risk, as many organizations fail to apply critical security updates in a timely manner.

◉ Zero-Day Vulnerabilities: A zero-day vulnerability is a previously unknown security flaw exploited by attackers before the vendor has patched it. These types of vulnerabilities are extremely dangerous, as there is usually no way to defend against them until after they have been exploited (CrowdStrike, 2022).

So, what can you do to address these types of security vulnerabilities?

Learn More About Risk and Vulnerability Assessment with C|ND

As the world increasingly moves online, the need for network security professionals who are up to date on the latest threats and vulnerabilities has never been greater. EC-Council’s Certified Network Defender (C|ND) program is designed to provide IT professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to protect networks from a wide range of attacks.

As a certified network defender, you can protect your organization’s infrastructure from online threats. The C|ND modules teach you risk and vulnerability assessment to identify potential risks and vulnerabilities in your network, using tools like a network vulnerability scanner and UTM firewall. This knowledge will help you mitigate these risks and vulnerabilities, thereby protecting your organization’s data and resources.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

What Is Threat Modeling?

Data breaches cost companies USD 8.64 million on average (Johnson, 2021), but many companies report they don’t have adequate protection against these vulnerabilities because there aren’t enough IT security professionals to help. The shortage of cybersecurity professionals leaves these organizations vulnerable to costly data breaches.

Threat modeling is a technique cybersecurity professionals use to identify security vulnerabilities in a company’s IT infrastructure and develop techniques to protect its resources. This guide explores cyber threat modeling and explains which threat modeling skills and tools companies need most.

How Cybersecurity Professionals Use Threat Modeling

Cyberattacks are getting more sophisticated and causing more damage to companies’ systems by the day. Security professionals use a structured process to identify the threats that plague organizations.

A threat intelligence professional’s goal is to identify potential cyberthreats and determine their impact. Once the threat intelligence analyst has this information, they can strategize how to prevent each type of attack. Security teams use a process called threat modeling to identify the areas of the organization’s systems and networks that are most vulnerable to attack.

The Cyber Threat Modeling Process

Cybersecurity professionals have several objectives they must meet to evaluate whether they’ve successfully mitigated a risk.

Define Scope

Determining scope helps narrow the focus to a specific area. Attempting to tackle too broad an area may cause analysts to miss vulnerabilities. Often, analysts focus on one or two areas of the system at a time.

Decompose the System

The threat analysis itself starts with decomposing the system. Security analysts must understand every event or action that takes place in the system. Their research highlights the following information.

External Dependencies

External dependencies represent systems outside the target system. For example, an external dependency could be:

◉ A system within the organization, such as a customer relationship management or human resources information system

◉ A system at a third-party vendor or business partner that provides information to the target system, such as updated information from a supplier’s inventory database

Entry and Exit Points

Entry points represent the specific locations where an attacker could enter the system. An example entry point is input fields on a web form. Exit points define where data leaves the system. Entry and exit points define what is known as the “trust boundary.”

Assets

When an attacker targets a system, they have a goal in mind—often, this is access to a particular organizational asset. For example, a malicious hacker may want a list of a company’s customers and each customer’s personal information.

Trust Levels

Trust level represents specific access rights for the system. Threat intelligence analysts cross-reference these access rights against the entry points and exit points. This enables them to see what privileges an attacker needs to interact with to access the asset.

Data Flow

Threat intelligence professionals create data flow diagrams to obtain a high-level picture of the path of information as it flows through the system. These diagrams show analysts what happens to the data at each step.

Identify Threats

At this stage, the analyst chooses a threat model. A threat model represents the process analysts use to pinpoint weak spots in the system. Two of the most common threat models are:

◉ STRIDE. The STRIDE model—an acronym for six threat categories (Spoofing identity, Tampering with data, Repudiation of threat, Information disclosure, Denial of service, and Elevation of privilege)—applies a general set of rules to evaluate a system and identify common vulnerabilities (Geib et al., 2022).

◉ Attack trees. Attack trees represent a graphical way of attacking a system in tree form. The root is the goal, and leaves are possible methods of achieving that goal. Each branch represents a separate attack.

List and Prioritize Threats

In this stage, the analyst creates a list of threats based on the risks the threat modeling identifies. Each risk represents what the company must fix to secure the system.

Mitigate Risk

Cybersecurity professionals share the list created in the previous step with the appropriate parties in the organization to mitigate risks. Common fixes include:

◉ Operating system updates

◉ Code changes

◉ Hardware updates for the network

Validate Outcomes

After addressing risks, the analyst verifies that the solutions work. They perform another evaluation of the system to confirm the results.

Threat Modeling Tools

Manual threat modeling is generally too time consuming for threat intelligence analysts. Instead, they rely on cyber threat modeling tools to speed up the process. These tools make the process more efficient and create accurate documentation of the outcome. Analysts have a variety of options for tools to help with this process.

Cairns

Cairns is a web-based tool that enables users to create attacker personas. The persona includes information such as attack goals, resources the hacker may use, and possible attack paths. The tool automatically spots attack patterns and recommends mitigation strategies.

IriusRisk

IriusRisk is a questionnaire-based system that asks analysts a set of questions to collect data about the system. IriusRisk uses the information from the questionnaire to create a list of potential threats, including suggested mitigation strategies for each threat. IriusRisk integrates with issue trackers such as Jira as well as Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery tools to run as a part of a DevOps pipeline.

Threagile

Threagile is an integrated developer environment (IDE) tool. It focuses on threat modeling at the coding level. Developers input infrastructure information and risk rules into the tool. Threagile generates models that identify potential weak points. That way, developers can address these weak points before releasing code.

Start Your Threat Modeling Career

From 2020 to 2021, deployment of security technologies rose from 15% to 84% in response to the rise in security threats (Gartner, 2021). This increased investment signals the strong demand for trained threat intelligence professionals equipped to address cyberthreats.

Investing in cybersecurity training is important for success in this field. EC-Council’s Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (C|TIA) certification is an excellent step in your cybersecurity career journey. The C|TIA program equips learners with skills in threat intelligence data collection, complete threat analysis process methodologies, understandings of various cyberthreats and attack types, and more.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

Potential Security Threats To Your Computer Systems

A computer system threat is anything that leads to loss or corruption of data or physical damage to the hardware and/or infrastructure. Knowing how to identify computer security threats is the first step in protecting computer systems. The threats could be intentional, accidental or caused by natural disasters.

More Info: 312-50: Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

In this article, we will introduce you to the common computer system threats and how you can protect systems against them.

What is a Security Threat?

Security Threat is defined as a risk that which can potentially harm computer systems and organization. The cause could be physical such as someone stealing a computer that contains vital data. The cause could also be non-physical such as a virus attack. In these tutorial series, we will define a threat as a potential attack from a hacker that can allow them to gain unauthorized access to a computer system.

What are Physical Threats?

A physical threat is a potential cause of an incident that may result in loss or physical damage to the computer systems.

The following list classifies the physical threats into three (3) main categories;

◉ Internal: The threats include fire, unstable power supply, humidity in the rooms housing the hardware, etc.

◉ External: These threats include Lightning, floods, earthquakes, etc.

◉ Human: These threats include theft, vandalism of the infrastructure and/or hardware, disruption, accidental or intentional errors.

To protect computer systems from the above mentioned physical threats, an organization must have physical security control measures.

The following list shows some of the possible measures that can be taken:

◉ Internal: Fire threats could be prevented by the use of automatic fire detectors and extinguishers that do not use water to put out a fire. The unstable power supply can be prevented by the use of voltage controllers. An air conditioner can be used to control the humidity in the computer room.

◉ External: Lightning protection systems can be used to protect computer systems against such attacks. Lightning protection systems are not 100% perfect, but to a certain extent, they reduce the chances of Lightning causing damage. Housing computer systems in high lands are one of the possible ways of protecting systems against floods.

◉ Humans: Threats such as theft can be prevented by use of locked doors and restricted access to computer rooms.

What are Non-physical Threats?

A non-physical threat is a potential cause of an incident that may result in;

◉ Loss or corruption of system data

◉ Disrupt business operations that rely on computer systems

◉ Loss of sensitive information

◉ Illegal monitoring of activities on computer systems

◉ Cyber Security Breaches

◉ Others

The non-physical threats are also known as logical threats. The following list is the common types of non-physical threats;

◉ Virus

◉ Trojans

◉ Worms

◉ Spyware

◉ Key loggers

◉ Adware

◉ Denial of Service Attacks

◉ Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

◉ Unauthorized access to computer systems resources such as data

◉ Phishing

◉ Other Computer Security Risks

To protect computer systems from the above-mentioned threats, an organization must have logical security measures in place. The following list shows some of the possible measures that can be taken to protect cyber security threats

To protect against viruses, Trojans, worms, etc. an organization can use anti-virus software. In additional to the anti-virus software, an organization can also have control measures on the usage of external storage devices and visiting the website that is most likely to download unauthorized programs onto the user’s computer.

Unauthorized access to computer system resources can be prevented by the use of authentication methods. The authentication methods can be, in the form of user ids and strong passwords, smart cards or biometric, etc.

Intrusion-detection/prevention systems can be used to protect against denial of service attacks.There are other measures too that can be put in place to avoid denial of service attacks.

Source: guru99.com

Continue reading

What Are The Most Important Types Of Cyber Threats?

A cyber threat is a malicious act that seeks to steal data, damage data, and disrupt digital life in general. Being said that, the different types of cyber threats include data breaches, computer malware, and viruses, and Denial of Service attacks among others. Cyber threats also aim to gain unauthorized access to systems and networks to steal, damage, or disrupt intellectual property or other forms of sensitive data. Thus, making it necessary for a business leader to have a basic understanding of the cyber threat.

In this article, we will discuss the cyber threat, different types of cyber threats, and various sources of cyber threats.

What Is Cyber Threat?

The internet has evolved exponentially over the last decade or two. With businesses around the world going digital and putting their resources, information, and sensitive data on the internet, many people are looking to get their hands on it through malicious techniques. This process of getting access to the organizational information and system in an unauthorized manner is referred to as a cyber threat. Being said that, the organization makes use of cyber threat intelligence to deal with and stop such malicious attempts at their networks and systems.

Types of Cyber Threats

The following are the different types of cyber threats that various organizations have to deal with daily using different threat modeling and threat intelligence models.

1. Malware

Malware is malicious software such as ransomware, spyware, worms, and viruses. Such a type of cyber threat is activated when the user clicks on the malicious link sent to them through an email attachment. Therefore, leading to the installation of damaging software on their system. Being said that, once the malware is activated, it can block access to key network components, disrupt system operation and covertly obtain sensitive information among others.

2. Denial of Service

It is a type of cyber threat that floods the network or the computer so that it cannot respond to different requests. Denial of Service is very much similar to Distributed Denial of Service attack. However, in this case, the attack originates from the computer network. Being said that, attackers often use a flood attack for disrupting the handshake process and carries out a Denial of Service attack. However, other techniques might also be used for disrupting the service of the network.

3. Phishing

Phishing is another type of cyber threat which is commonly used by attackers to gain access to confidential information and data. In this technique, attackers make use of fake communication such as email to trick users into the opening and carrying out the instructions inside the email. For instance, providing them with credit card numbers. The overall goal of this type of cyber threat is to steal the sensitive information of the user.

4. Advanced Persistent Threats

This is another type of cyber threat that organizations monitor continuously using threat modeling and threat intelligence. In such types of attacks, unauthorized users gain access to the network or system and remain there without being detected for an extended period.

Sources of Cyber Threats

While identifying a cyber threat, more than the technology used in attack, important is to know who is behind the threat? Though the technology is ever evolving, the sources of cyber threat have remained the same. Someone falling for a clever trick suggests that there is always a human element involved. The real source of cyber threat would be a motive that lies behind every attack.

With the evolving role that the internet is playing in the growth of businesses around the world, cyber threats can originate from a variety of places, people, and contexts. Being said that, the following are the most common sources of cyber threats that one should know about.

1. Individuals who create attack vectors using their tools and techniques

2. Criminal organizations which look like normal corporations but develops attack vectors and executes attacks

3. Terrorists

4. Nation-states

5. Business competitors

6. Organized crime groups

7. Industrial spies

These are some of the most important sources of cyber threats that one should look after and know about.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

OCTAVE Threat Modeling – All You Need to Know

With the increase in advanced persistent threats (APTs), defenders are constantly trying to safeguard an organization’s information systems by tailoring their defense mechanisms to preempt future attacks. As a result, organizations are recognizing the value of cyber threat intelligence and are planning to increase threat intelligence spending in upcoming quarters.

In cybersecurity, no prediction is perfect, but if we have the correct threat modeling protocols in place, then it provides a context to the gathered intelligence and helps analysts to identify, classify, and prioritize threats.

What Is the OCTAVE Threat Model?

OCTAVE is a threat modeling framework to assess and manage risks in an organization in the event of a data breach. It follows a comprehensive assessment methodology that allows an organization to identify the assets that are important and the threats and vulnerabilities in those assets. What information is at risk can be determined by putting the information on assets, threats, and vulnerabilities together. This helps the organization to design and implement a defense strategy to minimize the overall risk exposure of its information assets.

OCTAVE Threat Model Background

OCTAVE was developed in 2001 at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in collaboration with CERT for the U.S. Department of Defense. It’s useful for creating a risk-aware corporate culture and is highly customizable as per the organization’s specific security objectives and risk environment. There are 2 versions of OCTAVE:

1. OCTAVE-S, a simplified methodology for smaller organizations that have flat hierarchical structures, and

2. OCTAVE Allegro, a more comprehensive version for large organizations or those with multilevel structures.

Importance of OCTAVE Threat Model

OCTAVE is a flexible and self-operated risk assessment method. People from the business units and the IT department work together to address the security needs of the organization. The team defines the current state of security, identify risks to critical assets, and create a security strategy. Unlike other risk assessment methodologies, the OCTAVE model is driven by operational risk and security practices — not technology. The purpose of the OCTAVE model is to allow organizations to:

1. Assess and manage information security risks.

2. Take decisions based on the risks.

3. Protect key information assets.

4. Effectively communicate security information.

How to Implement the OCTAVE Threat Model

Phases of the OCTAVE Threat Model

OCTAVE threat modeling is implemented in three phases:

1. Build an asset-based threat profile

In this phase, the team determines what IT assets are important to the organization and how they are safeguarded. Next comes selecting those assets that are critical and highly important to the organization and establishing security requirements for each asset. Last is identifying threats to each asset, creating a threat profile based on that.

2. Identify infrastructure vulnerabilities

In this phase, the analysis team identify important infrastructure vulnerabilities and develop policies and practices to address these vulnerabilities. This is done by:

◉ Examining the organization’s information infrastructure configuration, data flows, and network access paths.

◉ Performing infrastructure vulnerability assessments by selecting and analyzing intrusion scenarios.

3. Develop security strategies and plans

During this phase, the team of analysts identify and prioritize the risks based on how critical the asset is for the organization. This is achieved by determining vulnerable points in potential intrusion scenarios and examining assets exposed by these vulnerabilities. Finally, the team creates a protection strategy for the organization and defines mitigation plans to address the risks to the critical assets, based upon on the analysis of the intelligence gathered.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

Trike Threat Modeling as a Risk-Management Tool

With everything moving online, it has become necessary for organizations to stay up to date on the latest cybersecurity threats to their organization. A cybersecurity threat is any malicious activity whose intent is to damage or disrupt digital systems. Common cyber threats include computer viruses, data breaches, and Denial of Service attacks. This is where threat modeling, an important component of the Cyber Threat Intelligence program, comes into play. Threat modeling is a risk analysis method where potential threats are identified, enumerated, and countermeasures developed. The primary purpose of threat modeling is to provide a systematic analysis of what needs to be included in the policies formed to mitigate the threat.

Now that you realize the need for it, how does one go about threat modeling? Currently, there exist numerous threat modeling methodologies, each with its pros and cons. These can be combined in order to provide a more complete overlook of the entire system. One of the major keys to an effective risk management policy is the identification of risks relative to business goals and assets.

Why Trike?

Trike is a unified methodology for carrying out security threat modeling. This is accomplished through the generation of threat models from a risk management perspective. This allows for a more accurate description of the system from the lowest technologies to the highest architecture. Trike is divided into the following stages:

Requirement Model

In this stage of the model process, an understanding of the user application is developed. The security team looks at the people interacting with the system, the things it interacts with, and the actions it is expected to support. The actors are the people and members of staff who interact with the system. This must be in the scope of security threats. The security analysis assets are the data entities or physical objects catered for in the system’s business rules. Actions are things done to assets by the business processes. These are defined to gain an understanding of the system. This is used to generate an Actor-Asset-Action matrix representing and analyzing the modeling process’ requirement model.

Risk Assessment

Once a full understanding of both the application’s implementation and capabilities are determined, a threat model can be generated. This is used to analyze the various risks to the application’s security. The application’s execution is researched for flaws in the technologies and components used to create the system. Once all the potential threats have been identified, the security team begins creating an attack graph and examining the system’s actual vulnerabilities.

Data Flow Diagram

Once the threats have been assessed, there needs to be a reconstruction of how the vulnerabilities would affect the system and its assets. This can be reconstructed using data flow diagrams. The data flow diagram entities could consist of processes, data stores, the flow of data, and external interactions with the environment and external entities. The top level of the DFD would consist of every actor and processes used by the system. As the DFD expands in the lower levels, trust boundaries need to be defined, with the markup being defined to capture as much necessary information as possible.

Assigning Risk Values

Once a DFD has been created, associated risk values can be calculated based on the threat’s severity. An analysis of the impact of the vulnerability on the entire system can rank the vulnerabilities. Using this, the organization’s security team can know what to focus on and what is not urgent. Once the risk values have been assigned, it becomes possible to generate a conclusive security vulnerability report on the application. Policies and mitigations can then be implemented to counter the highlighted threats.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

Threat Data Collection Through Cyber Counterintelligence (CCI)

Introduction

Cyberspace is an unpredictable domain, with cybercriminals constantly devising advanced techniques and technologies to exploit system vulnerabilities and networks.

In a recent Microsoft survey, 22% of organizations across the world ranked cyber risks to be the top concern over other significant business risks. A lack of robust cyber defense led to companies being extorted by cybercriminals. To this end, many organizations have started to explore threat intelligence to better understand the motive/techniques behind an attack and mount a counterattack before it escalates.

As the famous saying goes, “The best defense is a good offense.” In this article, we will breakdown everything you need to know about cyber counterintelligence and how to implement it.

What Is Threat Intelligence?

Threat intelligence is essentially data analysis using tools and techniques to gather information about existing and emerging cyber threats that might target an organization and mitigate risks. Furthermore, cyber intelligence provides organizations with a faster and more informed security decision in an effort to change their behavior from reactive to proactive for combatting attacks.

Cyber Threat Data Collection

Data acquired on IOC systems may be malicious and can compromise the network security system of an organization, which can leave sensitive data compromised. That’s why organizations need to routinely collect real-time intelligence data from both internal and external sources. One of the important steps for creating cyber threat intelligence is to gather relevant data threats for analysis and processing.

The data collection is conducted via several sources by using the predefined TTP (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures).

Sources of Threat Data

Internal Sources:  These are network logs, security lapses, reports on past cyber incidents, risk analysis reports, etc.

External sources: These include threat feeds from communities and forums, the dark web, open web, and other online sources.

Tools & Techniques for Data Collection

Here are some tools that you can use to gather data for threat intelligence.

◉ Human intelligence such as interrogation, interviews, and social engineering.

◉ Open-source intelligence (OSINT) such as web services, emails, search engines, URL/IP/DNS lookup, website footprinting, etc.

◉ Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) like internal, external, and custom built IoCs.

◉ Cyber counterintelligence such as passive DNS monitoring, malware sinkholes, honeypots, adversary’s infrastructure, YARA rules, etc.

◉ Existing malware analysis.

Cyber Counterintelligence

Cyber counterintelligence (CCI) is the umbrella term for the efforts taken by an organization to prevent cyberattacks on its infrastructure from adversaries. These include competitor intelligence advances, malicious actors, nation-states, or criminal organizations that are involved in sensitive information gathering and exploitation of an organization’s IT weaknesses.. Furthermore, while the major objective of cyber counterintelligence is to defend, much of the methods are usually offensive.

This simply means that for cyber counterintelligence to be effective, it must be on both the defensive and offensive sides.

Data Collection Through Cyber Counterintelligence

CCI’s main purpose is to identify, degrade, neutralize, and protect organizations from adversarial intelligence activities. This can be done by utilizing both passive and active counterintelligence approaches to gather data.

Defensive cyber counterintelligence

Defensive cyber counterintelligence is used to identify and understand cyber threats and minimize the threat landscape a cyber attacker can exploit. This helps protect the organization against vulnerabilities from internal and external threats. Cyber intelligence analysts can gather data through a variety of venues, such as penetration testing, threat hunting, vulnerability assessment, threat management, etc.

Offensive cyber counterintelligence

Offensive cyber counterintelligence is a term used for active interaction with attackers. This includes gathering information about the hostile intelligence gathering process, capabilities, and techniques, and devising deceit tactics to trick attackers into thinking they have successfully accessed confidential information.

There are numerous ways of data collection using offensive cyber counterintelligence like honeypots, honeynets, sock puppets, false flags, publishing false reports and information to deceive adversarial intrusion attempts, and so on. Moreover, these efforts can be performed from both inside and outside your networks.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

How to Build a Cyber Threat Intelligence Team

Nowadays, cyber threats are rapidly evolving because of the increased sophistication of attacks and motivations behind an attack. However, organizations can protect themselves from cyber threats by hiring expertise available outside of the organization. Security professionals and executives need threat intelligence to get more information about cyber threats that go beyond the physical edge of your network.

What Is Cyber Threat Intelligence?

Cyber threat intelligence is a cybersecurity branch that deals with collecting and analyzing information about potential attacks currently targeting the organization. A cyber threat intelligence analysis’s major goal is to get in-depth information on threats that can cause greater risk to an organization’s infrastructure.

What Is Cyber Threat Analysis?

Cyber threat analysis is how the knowledge of an organization’s internal and external information weakness is tested against real-world cyberattacks. The cyber intelligence analysis will provide the organization with the best practices to maximize their security tools without turning back to usability and functionality conditions. It is the method that cybersecurity threat analysts use to determine the components of a system that needs protection and the type of security threats to protect the component from. Information from threat analysis is also used to determine the strategic locations in network architecture and design to implement security effectively.

How Do You Implement Cyber Threat Intelligence?

Certain challenges are associated with implementing cyber threat intelligence data processes. However, it is possible to carry out a cyber threat analysis. Furthermore, cybersecurity threat analysts can easily accelerate the detection and response to control potential threats proactively. Some of the rules that cybersecurity threat analysts can follow are stated below.

◉ Prepare a plan

◉ Identify the assets you want to protect

◉ Build the right team

◉ Deploy the right tools and techniques

◉ Integration with existing systems

◉ Disseminate the intelligence with the appropriate stakeholders

How to Build a Threat Intelligence Team?

You can build a cyber threat intelligence team and define their roles and responsibilities according to their skillsets and core competencies. You can create a talent acquisition strategy and define the needed skill set, professional certifications, qualifications, and positioning of the threat intelligence team.

Role of a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst

Cybersecurity threat analysts are the security professionals that help an organization analyze security incidents data to produce threat intelligence feeds and then make a report to help in decision-making regarding an organization’s security.

What Makes a Skilled Cyber Threat Intelligence Professional?

Although threat intelligence analyst plays several roles and has more responsibilities to do in an organization, some of the skills that cyber threat analyst needs to have are:

◉ Analyze the current threat landscape

◉ Understanding of threat intelligence frameworks

◉ Understands cyber threats, kill chain methodology, and Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

◉ Data collection from various sources and feeds

◉ Planning a threat intelligence program

◉ Skills to perform data collection, analysis and modeling

◉ Creating threat reports and sharing with the appropriate team

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading

How to Identify Network Security Threats and Vulnerabilities?

Today, network security threats are becoming more rampant. The efficiency of these threats cascading into full-blown attacks and consequent breaches hangs on the level of vulnerability of the organization’s network systems. Data protection and the data itself are significant considerations for organizations. Based on the openness of today’s software-based systems, using the correct security testing techniques is becoming more significant and critical to identifying and mitigating network security threats and vulnerabilities.

It is no secret that no system, device, website, or network, are above network security threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. Network security is a critical aspect of any organization, and it is possible to become careless with your security approach as time goes by. This is why there is a growing need for Certified Network Defenders.

Every business needs a Certified Network Defender that is capable of executing a thorough analysis, through specific techniques and technology that would be exclusive to each organization. EC-Council offers a number of certification programs in the field of Ethical Hacking, so your organizational data is as safe as possible from threats and potential malicious attacks.

What are network security threats?

A network security threat is an effort to obtain illegal admission to your organization’s network, to take your data without your knowledge, or execute other malicious pursuits. Your network security is at risk or vulnerable if or when there is a weakness or vulnerability within your computer network.

Some network security threats are intended to upset your organization’s processes and functionality instead of noiselessly collecting information for espionage or financial motives. With the extensive use and accessibility of the internet, comes the increase in all kinds of threats. The most prevalent technique is the Denial of Service (DoS) attack.

Having the essential mechanisms and tools to identify and categorize network security threats and irregularities in your system or network is critical. You don’t know the importance of a Certified Network Defender, until your computer network and other systems fall victim to an unidentified attack.

What is the difference between active and passive attacks?

There are two broad categories of network security attacks. They include passive and active attacks.

Active Attacks

In this type of attack, malicious hackers gain unsanctioned access to a computer system or network. They also make amendments to the data, either by encrypting, removing, or compromising it.

Passive Attacks

Here, malicious hackers obtain access to a computer network to steal and monitor delicate information. In this approach, attackers cannot make alterations to the data, so they usually leave it undamaged.

Thus, the main difference between passive and active attacks is that the attacker in an active attack can interrupt the transferred information with the aim of intercepting the connection and adjusting the information. However, in a passive attack, the attacker can only intercept the information to read or analyze it, without making any alterations to it.

What are network vulnerabilities?

Network vulnerabilities are known flaws or weaknesses in hardware, software, or other organizational assets, which can be exploited by attackers. When your network security is compromised by a threat, it can lead to a severe security breach. Most network security vulnerabilities are often abused by computerized attackers rather than human typing on your network.

For instance, when a significant member of your staff or IT security is laid off or resigns when you forget to change their login details, disable their contact with your nonphysical assets, or delete their usernames or user ID from your business credit cards, your organization becomes vulnerable to both planned and unplanned threats.

Testing your network security vulnerabilities is essential if you must enjoy constant security within your networks or systems. To find out more about how to secure your networks from vulnerabilities, sign-up for our bespoke Certified Network Defender program now!

What are the four main types of network security threats?

1. Structured threats

A structured threat is a more concentrated or organized form of attack executed by one or more perpetrators with savvy hacking proficiencies. The attackers actively work to cause a network or system breach to a known victim. The intended network might have been specifically selected or identified through some random search approach.

The motives for a structured attack include political or racial motives, ransom or extortion, personal motives, or state-motivated attacks. The major drive is that the assaults are not causally linked to the hacker.

2. Unstructured threats

An unstructured threat usually covers disorganized attacks on one or more unknown networks, by amateurs or attackers with restrictive skills. The motives for these attacks are often boredom or people with unscrupulous intent. The intent may or may not be malicious, but there’s always an insensibility to the ensuing impacts.

3. External threats

An external threat is a form of attack executed by perpetrators outside the organization, usually through dial-up access or the Internet. These malicious hackers often don’t have permission to traverse these networks.

4. Internal threats

An internal threat stems from perpetrators who have had contact with authorized access to a network or those with knowledgeable insight about the system network. Internal attacks are significant both in the size and number of losses. This type of attack is executed by unsatisfied, disgruntled, or employees who still have active access.

If vindictive employees can pilfer company money and assets, what’s stopping them from learning about how to hack your network or computer for malicious motives? With a Certified Network Defender training and certifications, you can easily identify and mitigate network security threats.

What is the difference between a threat, vulnerability, and risk?

Correctly grasping the differences among these security factors will assist you in becoming more successful in crafting an effective strategy for identifying potential network security threats, discover and resolve your vulnerability issues, and also mitigate possible risks.

We’ve defined network security threats and vulnerabilities earlier in this article. However, we are yet to define security risks. Network risks are the possible damages or loss your organization can suffer when a threat abuses a vulnerability. Risk can be so severe that you suffer reputational damage, financial losses, legal consequences, loss of privacy, reputational damage, or even loss of life.

To understand the differences among these security components, let us use the COVID-19 pandemic as a guide. The COVID-19 is an external threat that is beyond your control. However, the series of epidemics that have occurred and knowing that a natural disaster can happen to anyone can assist organizations with evaluating their flaws and weaknesses as well as formulating a plan to mitigate such impacts.

The vulnerability here would be a lack of an effective incidence response plan, a business continuity plan (BCP), or an effective network security policy. This would help your organization in case your nonphysical assets are affected, such as employee performance, finances, remote operations, and so on. The potential risk for your organization would be the loss of valuable information and data or a disturbance in your business operation because you did not address your vulnerability issues.

What is the most common cause of network security threats?

Regardless of the type of network security threat, there are different motives for executing network attacks and they are often malicious. Individuals, businesses, and nations have different reasons for executing an attack. The most common are hacktivism, extortion, cyber warfare, business feuds, and personal reasons.

The most common network security threats are Computer viruses, Computer worms, Trojan horse, SQL injection attack, DOS and DDOS attack, Rootkit, Rogue security software, Phishing, Adware and spyware, and Man-in-the-middle attacks. Computer viruses are the most common network threats for everyday internet users, with approximately 33% of PCs being affected by malware, most of which are viruses.

How do you identify network security threats?

If you want to defend your network security effectively, you need a Certified Network Defender that can properly identify and mitigate the vulnerabilities within your network.

1. Enable your network visibility

The first step for preparing your network defender and other members of your security team to identify network threats and vulnerabilities is to enable your whole network visibility. The only way you can detect a threat is when it is visible. You can use the existing structures on your network devices to achieve visibility.

You can also design a strategic network diagram to exemplify your packet flows and the possible places where you can activate security procedures that will identify, categorize, and alleviate the threat.

2. Set up computer and network access

You need to construct your computer and network access to control who can access your network and the level of access they can have. Not every user should be given access to the whole network. Your network security policies will determine the appropriate ways to protect treasured assets, evaluate potential risks, lessen vulnerability channels, and craft a recovery plan in case of an incident.

3. Firewall configuration 

Setting up a network firewall thwarts unauthorized access and internet-based attacks from dispersing into your computer networks. Your network firewall oversees the flow of computer data traffic permitted to traverse your network. They can also obstruct reconnaissance assaults, including IP scanning or port sweeps. Your internal firewall can restrict this, but you need to configure it.

4. Limit access to updates and installations

Malicious hackers can penetrate your computer network through out-of-date software for antivirus, operating systems, device drivers, firmware, and other endpoint mechanisms. Access control in network security is critical. Network defenders can mitigate the risk of random assaults by restricting the number of people who can install or update software. Your IT team should only be allowed to activate updates and installations only via their admin access.

Source: eccouncil.org

Continue reading