Victims of latest global ransomware attack urged not to pay

June 28, 2017July 1, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

Victims of the latest global ransomware attack are urged not to pay, while some researchers claim to have found a local kill switch or vaccine.

Victims of the latest global ransomware attack are urged not to pay, while some researchers claim to have found a local kill switch or vaccine

The new ransomware, dubbed ExPetr by Kaspersky Lab, has been linked to Petya, because, like that family of ransomware, it also attempts to encrypt the hard drive’s master boot record (MBR), locking victims out of their computer – not just files.

Security researchers have also highlighted that for propagation the ExPetr is not relying only on the EternaBlue exploit that targets a known vulnerability in the server message block protocol in Microsoft Windows.

ExPetr is also being spread using the EternalRomance exploit targeting Windows XP to 2008 systems over TCP port 445 and through abuse of legitimate command line tools PsExec and Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC).

The ransomware also uses the publically available Mimikatz tool to obtain credentials of all Windows users in plaintext, including local administrators and domain users.

This means computers may still be vulnerable even if Microsoft patches issued by have been applied for the EternalBlue and EternalRomance expoits that are believed to have been developed by the NSA and subsequently stolen and leaked by the ShadowBrokers hacking group.

However, the immediate application of the Microsoft patches is still advised for any unpatched machines.

In light of the fact that the attackers’ email account for accepting ransom payments has been shut down, victims are also advised not to pay the $300 ransom as it is unlikely they will receive a key for decrypting affected files.

Security researchers monitoring the bitcoin wallet associated with the ransomware report that a few hours after the attack began, the wallet began receiving funds, indicating some victims were willing to pay almost immediately. However, only about 26 victims are believed to have paid on the first day.

To prevent the ransomware from spreading in the network, it is recommended to turn off computers that have not been infected, disconnecting the infected hosts from the network, and making images of compromised systems.

This approach could be useful for restoring data, the firm said, if researchers find a way to decrypt the files. In addition, these images can be used to analyse the ransomware.

Researchers at the firm also claim to have found a kill switch to disable the ransomware locally.

The researchers found that the ransomware checks if the perfc file is present in the C:\Windows\ folder before executing. They suggest creating a file with the correct name in this folder can prevent the substitution of the MBR and further encryption. Similarly, other researchers have suggested that blocking C:\Windows\perfc.dat from writing or executing could halt the ransomware.

Anti-ransomware recommendation for businesses

Use the Windows AppLocker feature to disable the execution of any files that carry the name “perfc.dat” as well as the PSExec utility from the Sysinternals Suite.
Isolate infected endpoints as soon as possible.
Use the indicators of compromise to update security systems.
Develop a system of regular training courses for employees to increase their awareness of information security issues by demonstrating practical examples of potential attacks on the company’s infrastructure.
Install antimalware software with self-protection that requires a special password for disabling or changing its settings.
Ensure regular updates of software and operating systems on all hosts of the corporate infrastructure, as well as an effective process of managing vulnerabilities and updates.
Conduct regular information security audits and penetration testing will allow timely detection of existing deficiencies in protection and vulnerabilities.
Monitor the corporate network perimeter to control network service interfaces accessible from the internet and correct the configuration of firewalls in a timely manner.
Monitor the internal network to detect and eliminate an attack that has already occurred.

To apply this local kill switch or vaccine, administrators need to locate the C:\Windows\ folder and create a file named perfc, with no extension name.

According to Kaspesky Lab, around 2,000 machines had been hit by the ransomware by the end of the first day of attacks, which appears to indicate ExPetr is spreading much more slowly than WannaCry.

Code analysis showed that the new ransomware does not attempt to spread itself beyond the network it is placed on, leading several experts to predict the attack will not spread significantly further than it did on the first day unless it is modified.

Known victims of the ransomware include Ukraine’s central bank, Ukraine’s Ukrenego electricity supplier, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, airport and metro services throughout the Ukraine, UK advertising firm WPP, US-based pharmaceutical company Merck, multinational law firm DLA Piper, Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk, Russian oil company Rosneft, Pennsylvania hospital operator Heritage Valley Health System, Netherlands-based shipping company TNT and French construction materials company Saint-Gobain.

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UK’s Parliament suffered cyber security attack over the weekend.

June 26, 2017July 1, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

Both Houses of Parliament sustained a determined cyber security attack to it’s networks.

Both Houses of Parliament sustained a determined cyber security attack to it's networks.

Remote access to the accounts of parliamentary network users was suspended on Saturday 24 June after unauthorised access attempts were detected.

This meant MPs and other staff were unable to access their accounts remotely, but IT services within the parliament building continued to functional normally.

Parliament said in a statement on Sunday that the parliamentary network and systems had been protected from the attack to ensure the Houses’ business could continue.

Although investigations are ongoing, the statement said that “significantly fewer” than 90 of the 9,000 accounts on the parliamentary network had been compromised as a result of the use of weak passwords that did not conform to guidance issued by the Parliamentary Digital Service.

“As they are identified, the individuals whose accounts have been compromised have been contacted and investigations to determine whether any data has been lost are under way,” the statement said, adding that Parliament was putting plans in place to resume its wider IT services.

In an email to parliamentary network account holders late on Friday, Rob Greig, director of the Parliamentary Digital Service, said unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyber attack had been discovered earlier in the day.

“Closer investigation by our team confirmed that hackers were carrying out a sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in attempt to identify weak passwords,” he said. “These attempts were specifically trying to gain access to users emails.”

Although the Parliamentary Digital Service was able to detect the unusual activity indicating that an attempted cyber attack was under way and took swift action to limit the potential impact by temporarily shutting down remote access to the network, it is unclear why password guidance was not enforced properly.

The statement issued by Parliament appears to blame to account holders for not following official password guidelines, but uncovers that fact that there is no mechanism for enforcing password policy.

UK security services believe the attack is more likely to be state sponsored than carried out by group of hackers, which cited an unnamed security source as saying it was a brute force attack that appeared to be state sponsored.

The incident comes just days after it emerged that the passwords and email addresses of MPs, parliamentary staff, diplomats and senior police officers had been sold, bartered and then made available for free on Russian-speaking hacking forums.

The Guardian reported that the Russian government was the top suspect in the parliamentary attack, but the paper’s source also said it was “notoriously difficult” to attribute an incident to a specific actor, and security commentators have said it is too early to say who was responsible.

“Such an attack is very simple and cheap to organise, and virtually any teenager could be behind it,” said Ilia Kolochenko, CEO of web security company High-Tech Bridge.

“I would abstain from blaming any state-sponsored hacking groups because with such an unacceptably low level of security, they have likely already been reading all emails for many years without leaving a trace.”

Kolochenko said this incident highlighted once again that cyber security fundamentals were being ignored even by the governments of leading countries.

“Today, two-factor authentication, advanced IP filtering and anomalies detection systems are a must-have for critical systems accessible from the internet,” he said.

“Strict password policies and regular audits for weak and non-compliant passwords are also vital for corporate security. However, apparently, none of these simple but efficient security controls were properly implemented.”

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Queen’s Speech praised for certainty on data protection

June 21, 2017July 1, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

The Queen’s Speech has been praised for removing any doubt about the UK’s commitment to data protection.

The Queen’s Speech has been praised for removing any doubt about the UK’s commitment to data protection

The government has promised a new data protection law aimed at incorporating the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into UK law.

This is a significant move that will provide businesses with certainty on the UK’s intention to meet the obligations of the GDPR.

The UK has long been a world leader in data protection. We have one of the strongest regulatory frameworks in the world and our system is highly respected. We can now build on these foundations to ensure the country continues to be a real destination for data-driven business post-Brexit.

Although the GDPR has been finalised and will come into effect in May 2018, it gives EU member states some leeway to introduce their own optional exceptions in areas such as crime prevention, and also to add their own provisions in areas such as staff data processing.

Countries such as Germany have already started this process, so it is in the UK’s interests that the government follows suit and gives businesses some certainty as soon as possible, given the high fines which will apply in this area in less than 12 months’ time.

While GDPR will be included into UK law post-Brexit, the proposed bill adds additional safeguards, including overhauling the powers of law enforcement and the powers of the information commissioner.

If the government is serious about making the UK the safest country in the world to be an online user, this legislation is another step towards that goal.

Establishing a world class data protection regime

Peter Carlisle, vice-president for Europe at Thales e-Security, said it was encouraging to see that the UK government will be placing a greater emphasis on establishing a world-class data protection regime.

“The greater the volumes of data accessible online, the greater the potential for exposure and the increased chance of hackers taking advantage of systems that some have thought impregnable,” he said. “Ensuring that both individuals and businesses have as much control as possible over where and how their data is used is critical to the UK’s broader cyber security strategy.”

Beaming, a specialist business internet service provider also welcomed the government’s commitment to improving cyber security.

“Cyber security breaches cost businesses almost £30 billion last year, and small firms in particular are accelerating investment in security technologies to protect themselves and their customers from threats online,” said Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming.

“Making the UK the best place to start and run a digital business requires far more than a commitment to boosting security,” she said. “As customer expectations and data usage grow, factors such as speed and service resilience become ever more important, so it is vital that the Conservatives keep their manifesto pledge to accelerate rollout of the full-fibre technology that will improve service across the country and establish the clear path to national fibre coverage they’ve promised over the next decade.”

Research conducted for Beaming earlier this year revealed UK businesses were subjected to almost 230,000 cyber attacks each during 2016, on average, that 52% of UK businesses fell victim to some form of cyber crime in 2016 at a cost of £29.1bn, that viruses and phishing attacks were the most common corporate cyber threats faced by businesses impacting 23% of the businesses surveyed, and that just under a fifth of firms suffered some form or hack or data breach in 2016.

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How to prevent cyber security attacks and protect your organisation

June 15, 2017July 1, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

Taking action in 10 key areas can prevent cyber security attacks and protect your organisation against the risk of breaches.

A classic example of this is that attackers are relying less on malware and using administrative tools built into operating systems such as Microsoft Windows instead.

Similarly, fewer attackers are using round the clock communications with their command and control servers to avoid detection by security tools that monitor for such communications.

Attackers are also developing anti-forensics techniques, by determining what artefacts such tools are using and then either avoiding using them or ensuring that they wipe then as part of the attack.

Increasingly common ways of getting into organisations, include carrying out phishing attacks through compromised email accounts of the friend, partners, clients and colleagues of their target person and through subscribed mailing lists that tend to be trusted by recipients.

We are also seeing the use of publicly available information from a variety of sources to be able to reset account passwords to take control or to create subdomains of legitimate organisations to trick people into sharing their usernames and passwords.

Cyber defenders should also be aware that attackers are increasingly breaching branch or overseas office networks so they can use various techniques to hop over to the main network and exploiting undisclosed vulnerabilities in publicly available portals, such as password reset portals.

We are seeing attackers using a webshell on web servers to issue commands, using tools such as Mimikatz and Mimikittenz to extract passwords from computer memory, using task scheduler to execute commands, using tunnelling tools such as Tunna Webshell on a compromised webserver to hop around networks, and using signed binaries to run malicious code in dynamic link libraries (DLLs).

Steps to improve your cyber security protection

1) There needs to be a mindset shift. Organisations need to understand that if they have any data of value, attackers will come after them. Having a protection plan of highest risk assets is one thing, but organisations need to ask if they can detect unauthorised access to the assets.
2) Know where there is a security risk. We often hear that organisations are unaware of the existence of a server or that it contained sensitive data.
3) Organisations need to understand that it is not enough to secure the data on servers because there is a lot of sensitive data on endpoints. Organisations often overlook data in emails, spreadsheets, browser password and session cookies.
4) Avoid single factor authentication, not just for the main VPN access, but whatever other public portals an organisation has, such as Outlook Web Access (OWA).
5) Consider advanced threat detection systems to get more context on threats. Remember, real attacks start when attackers get inside the environment and pose like insiders.
6) Avoid burn out for cyber security administrators. When you hire top talent for security innovations, don’t give them the day to day stuff that consumes most of their time as continuity in a security team is a good thing as it ensures defenders know as much or more than attackers about their IT environment, instead of the other way around.
7) Pay attention to systems that have propagation capabilities. This includes security tools like antivirus servers, Microsoft SCCM and file integrity management servers because attackers like to use a victim’s security tools against them.
8) Whitelisting security systems are not enough. Defenders need to understand what built-in Windows applications could cause them harm. Monitor logs like you mean it, not just for compliance. Network metadata should be retained for monitoring and investigations.
9)Invest in a threat hunting programme to scan proactively for attackers’ techniques, tactics and procedures. The goal should be to stop attackers before they complete the full attack.

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UK firms buying bitcoins for ransomware attacks

June 9, 2017July 1, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

Large UK firms are prepared to pay out more than £136,000 on average to cyber criminals who launch ransomware attacks.

The amount firms with 250 employees or more are willing to pay ransomware attackers is up nearly four times compared with a year ago, according to a survey of 500 IT decision makers by One Poll.

The survey, commissioned by secure connectivity firm Citrix, also shows that more than two-fifths are stockpiling bitcoins in case of a ransomware attack, compared with a third a year ago.

On average, UK firms are stockpiling bitcoin cryptocurrency worth around £46,000, while a third have bitcoins worth more than £50,000 on standby.

The survey also shows that smaller companies are more likely to keep a supply of cryptocurrency such as bitcoin on hand than larger businesses.

Half of the businesses with 250-500 employees polled said they were stockpiling digital currency, up from 36% of this group a year ago. In comparison, just a quarter of businesses with 1,000 or more employees are accumulating cryptocurrency, which is unchanged from 2016.

The decision to stockpile digital currency reflects a widespread attitude that paying a ransom may be necessary. Only 22% of businesses polled said they would be unwilling to pay anything if struck by a ransomware attack, down from 25% a year ago.

UK firms unprepared for ransomware cyber security attack

The 2016 research revealed that one-fifth (20%) of companies with 250-500 employees did not have any contingency measures in place in case of a ransomware attack, however this has fallen to just 7% in 2017.

While many businesses are preparing to block ransomware attacks or pay out if hit, others are missing out on simple cyber hygiene procedures which can limit the impact of a ransomware attack. For instance, over half of large UK firms (55%) still do not back up their data at least once a day.

“Cyber criminals are resorting to ransomware to exploit the vulnerabilities that exist within UK organisations,” said Chris Mayers, chief security architect at Citrix.

“This is no secret, with global attacks hitting the headlines, yet many businesses are still being caught out. Organisations must ensure they’re prepared for the reality of this threat and take action to safeguard the IT network for an attack and protect mission-critical data,” he warned.

Stockpiling a potential ransom may alleviate concerns about ensuring constant access to data, but Mayers said there was no guarantee that data would be returned once a ransom had been paid.

“Instead, committing to robust cyber security techniques and ensuring specific contingency measures are in place to deal with an attack can reduce the chances of falling prey to ransomware in the first place.”

“While more companies are preparing to pay out, many still fail to back data up each day. Organisations should look at dedicated techniques, from encryption to virtualisation, to keep data and apps safe across all devices and desktops – and out of reach of today’s persistent cyber attackers,” he said.

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People can be strongest link in cyber security, says NCSC

May 26, 2017June 9, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

People are often seen as the weakest link when it comes to cyber security, but that must change, says the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Information security has traditionally been led by technology and, as a result, the role and value of people has been overlooked. That is the view of Emma W, people-centred security team lead at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.

From a hacker perspective, many organisations are still leaving the front door open and the windows unlocked. Failure to protect and handle data correctly can also result in punitive actions for companies participating in the digital economy. Wake up and get the knowledge to get protected.

The perception of people as the weakest link is unfair and a natural consequence of a technology-led security culture.

“We have not always had people working in cyber security with a deep understanding of human behaviour or the input of psychologists, social scientists and the like to tell us why people behave the way they do.

“As a result, organisations tend to treat users as people who should do as they are told, but they don’t always, and often the reason is because they can’t.

“However, these reasons are often not recognised, and instead users are seen as either being unco-operative or stupid, but this is not true and is a perception that we have to turn around,” she said.

An example of where end-users are typically blamed for failures is around passwords, but many organisations have unreasonable expectations.

Most people find it challenging to remember multiple passwords, especially when organisations insist on long and complex passwords that must be changed regularly.

Instead of being critical of employees who fail to adhere to unreasonable password policies, organisations need to have a more sophisticated understanding of how humans can be a security asset, she said.

“They need to understand that if humans appear to be poor at security, it is because they are being required to do things that are difficult or impractical to do.”

The NCSC believes this indicates a need to reshape the relationship between the IT security team in an organisation and users of the IT systems.

While some information security professionals understand that their role is to support and enable the business, Emma W said less progress has been made in understanding how to relate to end-users.

Users still commonly see security as policing role, she said, and do not feel confident enough or too afraid to talk to security teams about the challenges they have and where they feel the need to bend or even flout security rules in order to get their jobs done, for fear of being sanctioned in some way.

“This is the relationship we need to reshape, and a critical part of that is enabling two-way communication between security teams and the rest of the organisation, rather than users’ current common perception that security just sits in its own silo and tells everybody else what they need to do,” she said.

“In reality, security professionals don’t have all the answers and users have a contribution to make in supplying some of the answers. Security professionals need to start listening to what users are trying to do and understand that they can be the strongest, not the weakest link in security.”

End-users should be viewed as a positive asset who have information that security professionals do not have about how the business runs and how it needs to run, rather than be seen as a liability that has to be managed, said Emma W.

“Security professionals need to review how they gather information about security, so they can get the right support to discover the real problems facing their business and fix them,” she said.

Security professionals also need to understand that occasional security awareness training and a poster-based awareness campaign are no substitute for meaningful two-way communication that enables them to know what people need from security and how security can help to support the business.

“It is about security teams finding out what is really going on in an organisation, and why people are not doing the things the security team want them to do – and it is probably not because people are weak, stupid or deliberately trying to sabotage security efforts,” said Emma W.

“Mostly people are well-intentioned and know what they are supposed to be doing, but they are trying to get a work task done and the organisation is not giving them the right way to do it,” she said, with the result that the task may be getting done, but not in the most secure manner possible.

Where employees feel they cannot work within the system or that they are running the risk of being punished for things beyond their control, they will look for alternative ways of working and that is what gives rise to shadow IT and real work processes being driven underground, she said.

For this reason, the NCSC is championing the view that people are potentially organisations’ strongest link when it comes to cyber security and are encouraging organisations to move towards generating positive, collaborative solutions that give users a chance to show that they are the greatest assets in security, as much as they are in business.

Users are typically blamed for failings around passwords, but this is mainly because most people find it difficult to follow company policies on passwords.

Almost a quarter of UK and US firms likely to miss GDPR deadline

May 23, 2017June 10, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

Some 24% of companies polled in the UK and US expect to miss the GDPR compliance deadline of 25 May 2018

Only 15.7% of more than 200 UK and US companies polled are in the advanced planning stages of complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

It is not just western countries such as the US and the UK that are being targeted by hackers, as the rapidly developed and wealthy nations of the Middle East become targets of both politically and financially driven attacks. Discover how cyber security expertise can help businesses in the Middle East navigate digital transformations and keep cyber criminals at bay.

Some 17.8% said they were in the moderate planning stages and 11% said they were only in the initial stages of implementing processes to ensure compliance, according to the survey by security firm Guidance Software.

But 24% of the organisations surveyed said they would not be ready by the 25 May 2018 deadline, and 30.6% said they had no timetable for being GDPR compliant, which could expose them to fines of up to €20m or 4% of their annual global turnover, whichever is greater.

Some 14.2% said they would divest EU operations instead of attempting to become compliant with the GDPR.

The survey revealed that bigger companies have made the most progress towards compliance. Some 43% of organisations with revenues of $1bn or more claimed to have processes in place already that can identify data records of any EU citizen and determine where that data is being processed, in comparison to just 26.8% of organisations with under $100m in sales.

The GDPR requires all organisations doing business in EU member countries to comply with new regulations governing the data privacy rights of EU citizens.

However, more than half of the companies surveyed have not yet begun to evaluate third-party products or developer processes to identify the data records of EU citizens.

When asked to prioritise the recruitment and training of a qualified data protection officer, 23.7% ranked it as a high priority, 18.1% said it was a medium priority, and 15.4% named it a low priority.

For all companies, the top three activities to becoming GDPR compliant are:

Use and maintain policies and procedures for the anonymisation and de-identification of personal data (24.9%).
Conduct a full audit of EU personal data manifestation (22.8%).
Evaluate all third party operational partners that access personal data transfers (21.4%).

“With nearly five billion data records exposed in the past four years alone, there is a clear trend towards stronger protection of consumer data, and GDPR is a major first step in that direction,” said Anthony Di Bello, senior director, products, at Guidance Software.

“This data suggests that many organisations are, on the whole, behind schedule for compliance. Security leaders must make GDPR a priority over the next year to avoid major financial penalties,” he said.

To prepare for GDPR compliance, organisations are advised to:

Understand and acknowledge the requirements of GDPR for each specific business.
Conduct an internal audit to determine internal practices that need to change.
Create an incident response plan, including testing and updating procedures.
Identify gaps in technology.
Appoint a qualified data protection officer (DPO).
If there is not already a plan for GDPR compliance, start now.

Guidance Software also advises organisations to:

Monitor efforts at EU level and in member states to prepare for enforcement of the GDPR.
Establish familiarity with the supervising authority or authorities most relevant to operations.
Monitor technical guidance and codes of conduct from relevant EU authorities.
Establish where customer personal data is located, why it is used, and how long it is kept.

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Russian cyber espionage highlights need to improve email security

May 6, 2017June 3, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

Security experts are advising political parties and businesses to pay more attention to email security after the latest revelations about a Russian cyber espionage group.

Email’s renewed popularity as a means of attack is driven by the fact that it does not rely on vulnerabilities and uses simple deception to lure victims into opening attachments, clicking links or disclosing credentials, according to Symantec’s latest threat report.

In particular, credential phishing has been a key part of many cyber attacks by Pawn Storm on armed forces, the defence industry, news media, politicians and dissidents, according to a report by security researchers at Trend Micro.

They have found that the group is creating phishing emails that are highly sophisticated, almost perfectly replicating legitimate URLs and using a technique called “tabnabbing” which swaps inactive open tabs with a phishing site.

Pawn Storm was widely linked to cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the 2016 US presidential election, and more recently was found to be targeting French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, the report said.

Pawn Storm is also believed to have targeted the German political party Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Turkish parliament, the parliament in Montenegro, and the World Doping Agency (WADA).

These activities have raised concerns about the cyber security of political parties, with several elections due across Europe in 2016, including the UK in June.

At a minimum, there is no excuse not to implement the Dmarc (domain-based message authentication, reporting and conformance) email authentication policy to help identify and block malicious emails impersonating trusted domains.

Implementation of Dmarc is mandatory for public sector bodies as part of the active cyber defence programme led by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

However, other advanced precautions also need to be taken, with an emphasis on verifying the identity of the sender.

Candidates for public office and political parties, like businesses, create and store a lot of data in vulnerable places, he said.

According to the 2017 Varonis Data Risk Report, on average organisations have 20% of folders open to every employee, and 47% have at least 1,000 or more files containing sensitive personal or financial data accessible to every user.

One compromised account or system can compromise a massive amount of data, and possibly an election.

If the highly targeted phishing attacks on French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron’s campaign had been successful in stealing credentials, the attackers would have become virtual “insiders”, gaining access to files and emails that could influence the election.

The Trend Micro report on Pawn Storm recommends that organisations improve the security of their email and defend against credential theft by considering the following:

Even though two-factor authentication improves security, it does not make social engineering impossible because all temporary tokens can be phished by an attacker.
Even when two-factor authentication is used, an attacker only has to phish for the second authentication token once or twice to get semi-permanent access to a mailbox. They can set up a forwarding address or a token that allows third-party applications full access to the system.
Mandatory logging in to a company VPN network does raise the bar for an attacker. However, VPN credentials can also be phished, and targeted attackers may specifically go after VPN access credentials.
Authentication with a physical security key makes credential phishing virtually impossible unless the attacker has physical access to the target’s equipment. When a target uses a physical security key, the attacker either has to find an exploit to get unauthorised access, or has to get physical access to the security key and the target’s laptop.
To add to authentication methods that are based on what you know and what you have, authentication can be added is based on what you are: fingerprints or other biometric data. Biometrics have already been used by some laptops and phone suppliers, and have also been a common authentication method in datacentres for more than a decade.

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Data breaches cost tens of millions off UK firms’ market valueData breaches cost tens of millions off UK firms’ market value

April 22, 2017May 17, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

Security experts say the fact that data breaches at FTSE 100 firms cost on average £120 million in market value should be a wake-up call for boards to ensure they have an adequate cyber security strategy.

Cyber attacks on top UK companies are leading to losses of 1.8% of share price or £120 million on average, according to a study on the effects of data breaches on share prices.

This has doubled in the past 18 months, according to the report released by global advisory firm Oxford Economics and IT and business process services firm CGI.

The report is based on a study of 65 severe or catastrophic breaches at FTSE 100 companies in the past four years and indicates that investors are now punishing companies more harshly for cyber attacks.

The cyber value connection report, which is aimed at helping senior business people understand the impact of cyber breaches on company market value, reveals that investors have lost at least £42bn since 2013 due to the severe public domain cyber security incidents used for the study.

However, the report notes that this figure includes only 65 publicly known severe breaches, which means the true amount of company value lost due to cyber attacks is likely to be far higher.

The report examines factors such as how new regulations for mishandling data will also strongly impact the public visibility of future breaches and therefore how organisations will plan for, manage and report cyber crime as incidents continue to rise.

A good example of the effects of data breaches on company value is Yahoo, which was forced to discount by $350 million the sale price of its core business to Verizon after revelations of data breaches in 2013 and 2014 affecting one billion and 500 million accounts, and of hackers forging cookies to gain access to customer accounts.

The cost of cyber attacks to investors is likely to skyrocket in the near future, said Rogoyski, as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Network Information Security (NIS) directive mean that firms dealing with European citizens’ data must disclose all breaches of that data.

They estimate that only around 10% to 20% of the major breaches companies suffer in Europe are currently made public, so lost shareholder value across European markets could rise by as much as a factor of 10 when the new regulations take effect in May 2018.

CGIís recommends eight steps to achieve effective cyber security governance:

1. Appoint someone at board level to be responsible for cyber security with the authority and know-how to address the risks and demonstrate leadership during times of crisis.

2. Include cyber security on every board agenda, reporting on: risk to the business, nature of sensitive data and mitigation progress at a minimum.

3. Treat cyber security as a company-wide business risk and assess as you would with other key business risks such as major safety issues, environmental disasters and accounting scandals,

4. Ensure that the company understands the rapidly developing legal landscape that applies to cyber risk ñ in particular, begin preparing for the GDPR and NIS directive now.

5. Get specialist expertise to advise and inform the board, whether from internal teams or external advisors.

6. Set a programme of work to manage cyber risk, allowing a realistic time and budget.

7. Encourage discussion about risk appetite, risk avoidance, risk mitigation and cyber security insurance.

8. Assume you have already been breached but you might not yet know about it. Take action to reassure yourself no such attack has taken place, but plan on the assumption that they have.

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GCHQ-developed phone security open to surveillance

April 5, 2017May 17, 2017 By Cyber SecurityNo Comments

A security researcher has said software developed by the UK intelligence agency GCHQ contains weaknesses making it possible to eavesdrop on phone calls.

The security protocol is used to encrypt Voice Over Internet Protocol (Voip) calls.

In a blog, University College London researcher Steven Murdoch said the encryption process was vulnerable.

GCHQ said it was “totally wrong” to suggest there was a “backdoor” into conversations.

Dr Murdoch did not say that the vulnerability would give direct access to conversations, but that it would make it possible to undermine the system’s security.

The network operator could listen in to calls, or authorise someone else to, and anyone who hacked the system would be able to eavesdrop, he said.

One of Dr Murdoch’s chief concerns was that the security standard has “key escrow” by design – meaning, for example, that a third party has access to data sent between two people in a conversation.

This, he said, is an example of a backdoor. In this case, it could allow an intelligence agency, or the organisation which is using the standard, to intercept phone calls, Dr Murdoch said.

“I think this comes from a conflict of interest within GCHQ in that they are there to prevent spying but they are also there to spy – so they facilitate spying,”

Dr Murdoch added that he was aware of two products which use the standard, both of which are government certified. “They could be in use inside government,” he said.

The protocol in question is known as Mikey-Sakke (Sakai-Kasahara key encryption in multimedia internet keying).

It works by generating encryption keys that are used to encrypt and decrypt voice conversations. Although it is technically possible to create these keys on two separate computers and only share part of those keys publicly, the Mikey-Sakke protocol does not do this.

Instead, keys are distributed by a third party to the conversation participants – the process known as key escrow – meaning that they are much more vulnerable to interception.

It was up to GCHQ, he said, to make the scope of the protocol clear.

“If you don’t explain how you’re going to use it, what systems it’s going to be used in, what the scope and limit of the escrow facility is, then you’re going to get bad publicity,” he said.

A spokesman for GCHQ said: “We do not recognise the claims made in this paper.

“The Mikey-Sakke protocol enables development of secure, scalable, enterprise grade products.”

In a statement, GCHQ added: “Organisations using Mikey-Sakke do not share a common Key Management Server, so it is totally wrong to suggest there is a secret master key or ‘backdoor’ that would allow GCHQ or any other third party to access real time or historic conversations.