psilva's prophecies: cyber threat

Showing posts with label cyber threat. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

F5 SIRT's Top Threats for Spring 2020

Find out what threats topped F5 Security Incident Response Team's (f5.com/SIRT) emergency response list for Spring 2020. Last year we gave you the F5 SIRT’s Top Threat for Summer 2019 – Credential Stuffing – so let’s start the clock to see how things are shaping up as we make our way into 2020. And, if you're under attack F5 SIRT can help: f5.com/sirt

#f5SIRT #90SecondsOfSecurity

Thursday, April 24, 2014

A Decade of Breaches

Whales Not Included

Being from the Hawaiian Islands, the annual gathering of the Kohola (humpback whales) is always a spectacular view. They can get over half their body out of the water and administer a cannonball body slam splash like you've never seen before. Most of the internet thinks they breach to either see what's up (so to speak), let other whales know they are around (if the haunting squeal isn't doing it) and most common, to relieve the body of lice, parasites and barnacles.

While nature's breaches are unmatched, many internet security breaches are run of the mill leakages.

The Verizon 2014 Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR) found that over the last 10 years, 92% of the 100,000 security incidents analyzed can be traced to nine basic attack patterns. The patterns identified are:

Miscellaneous errors like sending an email to the wrong person
Crimeware (malware aimed at gaining control of systems)
Insider/privilege misuse
Physical theft or loss
Web app attacks
Denial of service attacks
Cyberespionage
Point-of-sale intrusions
Payment card skimmers

The really cool thing about the 9 attack patterns is that Verizon has also charted the frequency of incident classification patterns per industry vertical. For instance, in financial services 75% of the incidents come from web application attacks, DDoS and card skimming while retail, restaurants and hotels need to worry about point-of-sale intrusions. Utilities and manufacturing on the other hand get hit with cyber-espionage. Overall across all industries, only three threat patterns cover 72 percent of the security incidents in any industry.

Once again, no one is immune from a breach and while media coverage often focuses on the big whales, the bad guys are not targeting organizations because of who they are but because a vulnerability was found and the crooks decided to see if they could get more. This means that companies are not doing some of the basics to stay protected. For the 2014 analysis, there were 1,367 confirmed data breaches and 63,437 security incidents from 50 global companies.

For the most part, the fixes are fairly basic: Use strong authentication, patch vulnerabilities quickly and encrypt devices that contain sensitive information. I've barely scratched the surface of the report and highly suggest a through reading.

Photo: Protected Resources Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, California.

Technorati Tags: f5,dbir,breach,attack,cyber,verizon,ddos,security,silva

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Ride The Crime Coaster

Now that would be a fun amusement park ride - the Crime Coaster - with the hills and valleys designed based on crime statistic charts. You can even get a digital photo of yourself as you fly thru the Tunnel of Turmoil. Muuhahahahahahahahahah!

With all the dire warnings of how cybercrime is the nation's top priority, I was wondering how other crimes have been faring. And NO, this is not a for/against 'gun control' rant but for instance, is burglary loosing its luster to smashing a server's window? Since cyber crime is a billion dollar business will the door-to-door thief change tactics? Probably not for now but as physical, non-cyber crimes drop, does digital crime go up? Or, since 'stealing something' is the ultimate goal, as more available methods (like cyber) to accomplish the goal become available, does all crime go up? I should also note that crime stats should be taken with a grain of salt since law enforcement can only comment on the crimes that have been reported to them. Crimes like car theft are often reported due to insurance claims while other crimes, like domestic disputes, are under reported due to embarrassment or other hindering factors. Add to that, different jurisdictions have various scales of classification, penalties and measurement. Plus, the recent report that says few companies report that cybercrime results in big losses only adds to the confusion.

According to the FBI, violent crimes in the US are down for the 5th year in a row. Granted, for now, cybercrime is probably more property related than violent but that could change. Cities like Los Angeles, are reporting that crime - violent and property- is down significantly even though, overall, LA is much higher than the rest of California and violent crime in LA occurs at a rate higher than in most communities of all population sizes in America, according to neighborhoodscout.com. Most criminologists agree that several factors are contributing to the decline. We have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world; there has been an increased police presence; there are security cameras everywhere; the aging population; and programs to help both the youngsters and those in need can all be attributed to the decline.

So while our physical bodies and personal property in the material world are safer, our identity, privacy, passwords, infrastructure, and other digital collateral are more at risk than ever. On a daily basis, companies are getting probed and breached yet might not know or simply might not report it. I bet, however, if someone threw a rock smashing their lobby window, a couple Five-O's will be on the scene taking statements. The company, local employees and the police will have a BOLO issued and everyone will be on heightened alert. There might also be additional security measures taken, tempered glass, CCTV, key card entry and other physical protection mechanisms.

We readily deploy layered security for our physical property with locks, alarms, dogs, cameras, window bars, weapons, panic rooms, etc all within the context of what we are trying to protect. We should do the same for our digital assets. Imagine if we took the same safeguards (or paranoia in this case), albeit with different technologies, to protect our bits and bytes. Yes, there will still be breaches but maybe things like D/DoS, SQLi and other well known vulnerabilities can be greatly reduced since we do have the technology to protect against such attacks. It just has to be deployed.

We thwart criminals and protect our personal physical property with a vast array of mechanisms and we feel/are secure...maybe we should take that same focus, fear and fever in protecting our digital self. Then, as you peel off the pixilated mask you'll hear, '...and I would've gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling firewalls!'

Technorati Tags: crime,cyber security,risk,safety,ddos,breach,attacks,digital,physical,personal,police,law enforcement,afm,silva,security

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

In 5 Minutes or Less: BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager

I show you the new BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager as part of the BIG-IP v11.3 release in around 5 minutes...or so.

Technorati Tags: f5,big-ip,afm,advanced firewall,in 5,video,silva,security,dos,ddos,v11.3

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Friday, July 13, 2012

Infographic: Protect Yourself Against Cybercrime

Maybe I’ll start doing an ‘Infographic Friday’ to go along with Lori’s F5 Friday. This one comes to us from Rasmussen College's School of Technology and Design Cyber Security Program and shows the online risks and offers some good tips on how to better protect your computer and avoid being a victim of cybercrime.

Technorati Tags: F5, smartphone, integration, byod, Pete Silva, security, business, education, technology, application delivery,ipad,mobile device, context-aware,android, iPhone, web, internet, security

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Monday, June 11, 2012

The Changing Security Threat Landscape Infographic

In conjunction with a new video and a security white paper, this F5 infographic validates the need for organizations to rethink security practices. The global security threat landscape is rapidly evolving and has changed dramatically in ways unfathomable just a few years ago. Due to this growing complexity and the rise of many unknown forces in the battle for information and causes, customers must rethink how they protect their network, applications, and data from ever-changing threats.

(you can reuse within your own blogs, etc)

Resources:

Technorati Tags: F5, security research, botnet, threat landscape, Pete Silva, security, business, technology, cloud, compliance,regulations, web,internet

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

2011 Telly Award Winner - The F5 Dynamic Data Center

Founded in 1978 to honor excellence in local, regional, cable TV commercials along with non-broadcast video and TV programs, The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring the finest film and video productions, groundbreaking web commercials, videos and films, and outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs. Produced in conjunction with Connect Marketing, we are proud to share that F5’s video, The Dynamic Data Center, is a Silver Winner for the 32nd Annual Telly Awards.

This video sets the stage for IT having to manage multiple networking challenges when faced with a natural disaster causing their data center to shut down. With careful planning, the evolution of the network and application delivery allows the single point of control to automate, provision and secure their virtual and cloud environments.

The F5 Dynamic Data Center