Welcome Guest. | Log In | Register | Membership Benefits

SecurID Breach Warning Signs In The Audit Logs

SANS Internet Storm Center on what to look out for in your ACE server logs in the aftermath of the RSA SecurID breach

Mar 29, 2011 | 06:03 PM | 

By Kelly Jackson Higgins
Dark Reading
Most security experts caution RSA SecurID customers not to panic about the breach the security company revealed last week. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't plan for the worst-case scenario: The SANS Internet Storm Center has come up with a list of things to watch out for in audit logs -- just in case the bad guys got the keys to the kingdom, stole your token "seed" values, and were able to then acquire logins and PIN numbers for a full-blown breach of your two-factor authentication system.

SANS ISC handler Daniel Wesemann spelled out the specific audit log entries that could show up in your RSA ACE server for SecurID if there's trouble. But even if an attacker had grabbed seeds from an organization's SecurID tokens, he would still have to figure out the userID and PIN to log in, Wesemann said, so this is one of the worst-case scenarios. His post comes on the heels of fellow ISC handler Rob VandenBrink's, who explained in a post yesterday on the ISC SANS site just how bad it could be.

"Long story short, no matter how bad RSA's breach might or might not have been, System Administrators have it in their power to implement truly effective mitigations," VandenBrink wrote.

Here are some entries you hopefully won't find in your audit logs in the ACE server. But if you do, take heed:

AUTH_FAILED_BAD_PIN_GOOD_TOKENCODE
This log entry is probably nothing to worry about unless you see one or two of them per user and beyond, according to SANS ISC. This occurs when a user with the seed value mistypes his PIN or tries to guess it, for example. "You'll get quite a few of these in normal use, simply because authorized users sometimes forget or mistype their PIN. If you see a lot of these against one single userid, chances are it will lock after "n" failed attempts and no harm is done," Wesemann noted.

AUTH_PRINCIPAL_RESOLUTION / AUTH_ALIASES_NOT_FOUND
Once in a while, a user will mistype his userID. But if several of these show up in your audit logs, something fishy could be going on: "But if you get a lot of these, and especially if the username format is completely different than the userIDs in use, someone might be trying to guess your users from a phonebook or LinkedIn accounts," Wesemann said.

NEW_STATIC_PCODE_AUTH_SUCCESS
This entry comes when a user logs in with a static passcode because he lost his token or was given a static one. This should be rare, however: "There are legitimate emergencies for this kind of login, but it certainly is a dangerous option to have -- if someone can smooth-talk your help desk, they can get in, without needing a token," Wesemann said.

Have a comment on this story? Please click "Add Your Comment" below. If you'd like to contact Dark Reading's editors directly, send us a message.



Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:

Single tags

These tags can be used alone and don't need an ending tag.

<br> Defines a single line break

<hr> Defines a horizontal line

Matching tags

These require an ending tag - e.g. <i>italic text</i>

<a> Defines an anchor

<b> Defines bold text

<big> Defines big text

<blockquote> Defines a long quotation

<caption> Defines a table caption

<cite> Defines a citation

<code> Defines computer code text

<em> Defines emphasized text

<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form

<h1> This is heading 1

<h2> This is heading 2

<h3> This is heading 3

<h4> This is heading 4

<h5> This is heading 5

<h6> This is heading 6

<i> Defines italic text

<p> Defines a paragraph

<pre> Defines preformatted text

<q> Defines a short quotation

<samp> Defines sample computer code text

<small> Defines small text

<span> Defines a section in a document

<s> Defines strikethrough text

<strike> Defines strikethrough text

<strong> Defines strong text

<sub> Defines subscripted text

<sup> Defines superscripted text

<u> Defines underlined text

Dark Reading encourages readers to engage in spirited, healthy debate, including taking us to task. However, Dark Reading moderates all comments posted to our site, and reserves the right to modify or remove any content that it determines to be derogatory, offensive, inflammatory, vulgar, irrelevant/off-topic, racist or obvious marketing/SPAM. Dark Reading further reserves the right to disable the profile of any commenter participating in said activities.

Disqus Tips To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy.
Subscribe to RSS



Security Monitoring Reports

report Fundamentals of User Activity Monitoring
Benchmarking normal activity and then monitoring for users who stray from that norm is an essential strategy for getting ahead of potential data and system breaches. But choosing the right tools is only part of the effort. Without sufficient training, efficient deployment and a good response plan, attackers could gain the upper hand.

report Does SIEM Make Sense For Your Company?
A security information and event management system serves as a repository for all the security alerts and logging systems from a firm's devices. But this can be overkill for a company that is understaffed or has overestimated its security information needs. In this report, we discuss 10 questions to ask yourself in determining whether SIEM makes sense for you--and how to pick the right system if it does.

report Monitoring Tools and Logs Make All The Difference
It's no longer a matter of "if" you get hacked, but when. In this special report, we take a look at ways to measure your security posture and the challenges that lie ahead with the emerging threat landscape.

Other reports from the Security Monitoring Tech Center:

Related Content

Security Management 2.0: Time to Replace Your SIEM?
Is it time? Are you waving the white flag? Has your first gen SIEM failed to meet expectations despite your investment? If you are questioning whether your existing product or service can get the job done, you are not alone. Read this Securosis white paper to learn how easy it can be to replace your SIEM with a next generation solution.

IT Executive Guide to Security Intelligence: Transitioning from SIEM to Total Security Intelligence
Read this whitepaper to learn how adopting a next generation SIEM solution provides security intelligence, to allow organizations to maintain comprehensive and cost-effective information security. Discover how security intelligence enables critical concerns in five key areas: Data silo consolidation, threat detection, fraud discovery, risk assessment/risk management, and regulatory compliance.

The Return on Security of QRadar: Improving Operational Efficiencies in Federal Government
In this study, IANS interviewed two Q1 Labs customers using QRadar to assess their Return On Security (ROS). The two customers were providers of service to the U.S. Government and had highly secure environments dealing with extremely sensitive data. The data yielded from the interviews showed substantial benefit to the organizations for the cost, both in money and staff time.

SANS What Works Webcast: Worldwide Retailer Boosts Privacy with Security Intelligence
A leading retailer with stores worldwide was seeking a more innovative tool to protect customer privacy and intellectual property. PCI compliance mandated log collection, but a vast number of different tools generated an overwhelming amount of log data, making it difficult for the small security team to review it effectively. The solution the company chose had to fit into a diverse network, provide intelligent reporting and offer a centralized management console.

Learn How Security Intelligence Can Help Combat WikiLeaks Stuxnet and Advanced Threats
WikiLeaks and Stuxnet have illustrated a few fundamental IT security issues that have underscored the need for Total Security Intelligence to counter advanced threats and to detect anomalous behavior. See how government and commercial organizations are using QRadar as an integral component of their IT security program to identify emerging threats based on context and situational awareness.




Featured Webcasts
Featured Whitepapers
Featured Reports