IT Issues Articles Analysis - Assignment Example

Article 1 First submission Article: Title: Two charged in theft of $40K from hacked Subway keypads. Author: Steven Musil. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): Two charged in theft of $40K from hacked Subway keypads, March 17, 2013 http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57574791-83/two-charged-in-theft-of- $40k-from-hacked-subway-keypads/ Security goals compromised: The hackers compromised with the confidentiality of the POS terminal during the breach. Threat/vulnerability/attack details: The hackers has preinstalled a remote software in the POS terminal they sold. This later gave them access to the system where they stole at least $40,000. For this submission: Suggested control measure and explanation: A control measure to prevent such cases of hacking could be the use of intrusion detection services. The hackers compromised the POS because they gained access via a remote login. With an intrusion detection system, it would have been possible for subways shop to detect the attack and perhaps thwart them in time. An intrusion detection device allows a system to track traffic, log, and raise alerts when an external intrusion occurs. Limitations of this control measure: Intrusion detection systems have a limitation if they lack particular signatures hackers use to gain access into a system. The control measure will be ineffective should the security agents fail to create a signature of the intrusion and save it on the system. Title: Data mining concepts and techniques. Author: Jiawei Han and Micheline Kamber. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): HAN, J., & KAMBER, M. (2006). Data mining concepts and techniques. Amsterdam, Elsevier. Article 2 First submission Article: Title: North Korea Complains of Cyberattacks from the U.S Author: Dashiell Bennett. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-complains-cyberattacks-u-132525644.html;_ylt=ApoZagTUz7UjCdXzS4XRMB5eG2FH;_ylu=X3oDMTQ2ZW5tbjYxBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBUZWNoU0Y gU2VjdXJpdHlTU0YEcGtnAzJhZjRmOWRkLTBlMzctMzk1Ni04ZTIwLTQxMjNkOWNiMTNlMARwb3MDMTgEc2VjA3RvcF9zdG 9yeQR2ZXIDZTQxNzhiYzAtOGQ3My0xMWUyLTllZGQtNzZiZjdlOGRiNTk5;ylg=X3oDMTFybHZtbGxkBGludGwDdXMEbGFu ZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN0ZWNofHNlY3VyaXR5BHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;ylv=3. Security goals compromised: From the report, it appears that the availability of North Korea webservers where compromised making them unavailable for some hours. Threat/vulnerability/attack details: The article does not provide specific details on the attacks. For this submission: Suggested control measure and explanation: An effective measure to control attacks on North Korean webservers would be the use of access list to restrict traffic to the country’s webservers. Access list allow servers to deny or allow client access depending on set rules. In this case, the North Korean can deny access IPs used in hacking their webservers. Consequently, future attacks from the same IP range will be unsuccessful Limitations of this control measure: The weakness of an access list is when a hacker uses another set of IP address or compromise a trusted system and use it as a proxy to launch new attacks. Title: Designing and Building Enterprise DMZs Author: Hal Flynn. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): Flynn, H. (2006). Designing and building enterprise DMZs. Rockland, Mass: Syngress Pub. Article 3 First submission Article: Title: Miami's Voter Fraud Is Only the Beginning of Election Hacking. Author: Rebecca Greenfield. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): http://news.yahoo.com/miamis-voter-fraud-only-beginning-election-hacking-155453930.html;_ylt=AtVhtir_i_db9NC_qXn3qkJeG2FH;_ylu=X3oDMTQ1ZHBvbG5qBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSB UZWNoU0YgU2VjdXJpdHlTU0YEcGtnAzRiMDE1ZTllLTQ3ZmItM2MxNy1hODlkLThkMTFjM2YyNjE4MgRwb3M DMQRzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgM1ODE4NzcxMC04ZmU0LTExZTItYmZlYy1lNzI0MGZhNjFhZGY-;_ylg=X3oDMTFybHZtbGxkBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN0ZWNofHNlY3Vy aXR5BHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3. Security goals compromised: The attack almost compromised the integrity of the voting machine as 2,500 ghost voters would have voted for their candidates of choice. Threat/vulnerability/attack details: The attacker made request to the voter registration site using data from people less likely to vote. The IP addresses of the request were foreign and appeared legit. For this submission: Suggested control measure and explanation: Reducing the likely hood of hackers compromising the voter registration site requires periodic monitoring and audit. The site relied on online registration, but the hackers rapidly generate request for 2,500 user. Consequently, monitoring user registration could help identify hacking as automated software can generate massive requests. This control can help detect illegitimate requests. Limitations of this control measure: While a strong control, hackers could bypass any audit or monitoring by making few requests and make their attack progressive. Title: Monitoring and Auditing for End Systems. Author: Microsoft. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): Accessed May 23, 2013 from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc750908.aspx Article 4 First submission Article: Title: LA Times hack: Security breach or harmless prank?. Author: GARANCE BURKE. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): BURKE, G. (2013, March 16). LA Times hack: Security breach or harmless prank? - Yahoo! News. Retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/la-times- hack-security-breach-harmless-prank-224741715.html Security goals compromised: The security breach at LA times comprised with the integrity of new the hackers altered in the website. Threat/vulnerability/attack details: A former employee of LA Times gave hackers access information into the newspaper’s website where they altered a news item. The hacker group changed the headline of one of the newspapers. For this submission: Suggested control measure and explanation: LA Times and other organizations could implement several layers of rules to allow editing of articles online. It is clear that Keys had the ability to change the headline of the news item, which he shared with the hacking group. Limiting the actions of users using security levels could prevent editors from making significant changes. This control will require several administrators to qualify changes of users with less privilege. Limitations of this control measure: This control protect information from change as long as the administrators check changes made. When administrators fail to cross check headlines, a similar breach could occur. Title: Users and Security. Author: Zope. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): Accessed May 23, 2013 from http://docs.zope.org/zope2/zope2book/Security.html Article 5 First submission Article: Title: Examining How Facebook Got Hacked Author: Eric Chabro. Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/examining-how-facebook-got-hacked-a-5518. Date accessed March 11, 2013 Security goals compromised: The confidentiality of Facebook data was compromised during the breach when hackers gained access to some laptop at Facebook using a malware. Threat/vulnerability/attack details: Some Facebook employees visited a mobile website, which hackers had compromised. The website installed an exploit on the laptops and accessed the data on the laptops. For this submission: Suggested control measure and explanation: Facebook should prevent the use of java version know to have the exploit. From the report, there is evidence that hackers used a java exploit to install a malware in the laptops affected. This implies that Facebook can pass a policy that requires removal of all versions of java vulnerable to the attack. This control measure can protect users from website that install malware. Limitations of this control measure: This control could be difficult to implement where there many computers, as it is time consuming. In addition, vulnerability of other java versions can also trigger similar threats. Title: How to Stop the New Java 7 Exploit from Installing Malware on Your Mac or PC Author: Taylor Gabriel Reference details (if online article, give URL and date accessed): Accessed on May 22, 2013 from http://null-byte.wonderhowto.com/how-to/stop-new-java-7-exploit-from-installing-malware-your-mac-pc-0138946/ Read More