Week 1 - Introduction to Security

Challenges of Securing Information

• Securing information isn’t easy.
• There’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
• We face a huge variety of attack types, and defending against them is often very difficult.

Biggest Cyber Attacks in History

• The Melissa Virus
• NASA Cyber Attack
• The 2007 Estonia Cyber Attack
• A Cyber Attack on Sony’s PlayStation Network
• Adobe Cyber Attack
• The 2014 Cyber Attack on Yahoo
• Ukraine’s Power Grid Attack
• 2017 WannaCry Reandomsware Cyber Attack
• A Cyber Attack on Marriott Hotels went unnoticed for years
• The biggest password leak yet

Difficulties in Defending Against Attacks

• These slides list the challenges faced by defenders:
  • increasingly connected devices
  • faster and more sophisticated attacks
  • readily available attack tools
  • rapid vulnerability discovery
  • delays in security update
• weak update distribution
• distributed attacks
• the rise of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), and user confusion.
• These obstacles make defending against attacks significantly harder.

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What Is Information Security?

• Core Goal: Protecting digitally stored, manipulated, and transmitted information.
• CIA Triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability.
• AAA: Authentication, Authorization, Accounting.
• Components: Hardware, software, communications, products, people, policies.

Information Security Terminology

• Asset: Anything of value.
• Threat: Potential harm.
• Threat Agent: Source of the threat.
• Vulnerability: System weakness.
• Threat Vector: How the attack happens.
• Threat Likelihood: Probability of an attack.
• Risk: Exposure to danger.
• Risk Management: Avoidance, acceptance, mitigation, deterrence, transference.

Who Are the Attackers?

• Hackers: Black hat, white hat, gray hat.
• Cybercriminals: Financially motivated.
• Script Kiddies: Use readily available tools.
• Brokers: Sell vulnerabilities.
• Insiders: Malicious employees.
• Cyberterrorists: Ideologically motivated.
• Hacktivists: Politically or socially motivated.
• State-Sponsored Attackers: Government-backed.

Attacks and Defenses; Steps of an Attack (Cyber Kill Chain)

• Reconnaissance
• Weaponization
• Delivery
• Exploitation
• Installation
• Command and Control
• Actions on Objectives

Defenses Against Attacks; Five Fundamental Security Principles

• Layering: Multiple defense mechanisms.
• Limiting: Restricting access.
• Diversity: Using different security methods.
• Obscurity: Hiding system details.
• Simplicity: Easy internal use, complex externally.