Dark Reading is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them.Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Database Security
Authentication
Mobile
Privacy
Compliance
Careers and People
Identity & Access Management
Security Monitoring
Advanced Threats
Insider Threats
Vulnerability Management
Comments
Targeted Attacks: A Defender's Playbook
Threaded  |  Newest First  |  Oldest First
andregironda
andregironda,
 User Rank: Strategist
12/15/2014 | 12:50:16 PM
Vendors
Kick your vendors out! They provide increasingly negative value -- they are the sources of your problems.

Vet your own internally-developed SIEM, firewall management, HIPS, and DLP solutions, e.g., OSSEC.

The article mentions a high signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio -- don't you mean low? The newest snort++ offers quite a lot of interesting functionality -- combine with a Passive DNS solution such as FarSight Security and/or internal solution such as Bro. Another way to raise SNR would be to implement STIX sharing (e.g., via TAXII-enabled solutions such as CRITs or Soltra Edge) with organization partners as well as other collaborators in your industry.

A comprehensive and constantly-maturing program built on a foundation such as the Cyber Operations Maturity Framework is the way to go given the increasing targeted-threat landscape. ISO 27000 or IT COBIT aren't going to cut it. Old frameworks just don't make the grade, so it's time to replace them.
aws0513
aws0513,
 User Rank: Ninja
12/15/2014 | 1:40:47 PM
Re: Vendors
As much as I would love to be able to build a vendor free shop, it is not a reality for us and many other organizations I work with.

Many vendor products do work well, but the challenge that everyone is facing is finding enough talented people to keep solutions, vendor or open source, running as effectively as they should AND sort through all of the events that the solutions encounter.  False positives are a constant issue even in a mature solution.  This activity can take up more manhours to address than actual incidents.
Managing security solutions effectively is a particular set of skills that many people are just not getting into for various reasons.  Thus the entire world of organizations out there are willing to pay extra for vendor solutions that reduce the amount of talent requirements and manhours to implement and maintain.  If you think about it, that is the only reason many vendors exist: to provide "easier to maintain" products that do the same thing that many standard tools already are capable of providing.

I will be honest in that I do NOT rely on one tool for a single task.  Where possible, I have "second eyes" solutions in place to double check things.  Sometimes one tool is more commonly used, but in other cases the combinations of solutions seeem to cast a wider net that one way or another snags those odd fish that end up in our part of the ocean.

This article is more about the targeted, well planned and well executed attack on a specific person. 
If the attack is very well planned and the attacker is patient and has done their homework, very few security solutions will likely prevent the initial compromise. 
It will be the mature, well maintained defense-in-depth security program that will capture an interloper after that initial compromise.  Of course, not all organizations have a mature and effective security program to catch that activity in a timely manner...  if at all.  This all goes back to what I said earlier...  having the talent on hand to do the job right.

 
ODA155
ODA155,
 User Rank: Ninja
12/16/2014 | 3:38:38 PM
Re: Vendors
I kinda want to agree, but only if it's a vendor(s) that only want to sell\upgrade everything, and everyone may not have that luxury, or talent. I think before you invest in anything you really do need to do your homework. Just don't look at the the stuff all of the cool kids are buying (the "Magic Quadrant") or something that someone saw at a vendor sponsored conference.

Whatever you decide I recommend:
  • Think very hard before buying that thing that does "everything", and nothing particularly well
  • Make a list of requirements
  • Features that you'd like to see
  • Possible Trade-offs if a feature isn't available
  • Prioritize you list in order of how well it meets your requirements, not cost
  • Narrow your list down to two maybe three in-house POC's
  • Determine what you want to see from a POC
    • Setup and training
    • Operations
    • Support\Maintenance
    • Talk to other organizations using the product

 Most importantly, stick to YOUR priorities, not those of the guy trying to sell you that thing you need.

The Internet is your friend.


Edge-DRsplash-10-edge-articles
I Smell a RAT! New Cybersecurity Threats for the Crypto Industry
David Trepp, Partner, IT Assurance with accounting and advisory firm BPM LLP,  7/9/2021
News
Attacks on Kaseya Servers Led to Ransomware in Less Than 2 Hours
Robert Lemos, Contributing Writer,  7/7/2021
Commentary
It's in the Game (but It Shouldn't Be)
Tal Memran, Cybersecurity Expert, CYE,  7/9/2021
Register for Dark Reading Newsletters
White Papers
Video
Cartoon
Current Issue
Creating an Effective Incident Response Plan
Security teams are realizing their organizations will experience a cyber incident at some point. An effective incident response plan that takes into account their specific requirements and has been tested is critical. This issue of Tech Insights also includes: -a look at the newly signed cyber-incident law, -how organizations can apply behavioral psychology to incident response, -and an overview of the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework.
Flash Poll
Twitter Feed
Dark Reading - Bug Report
Bug Report
Enterprise Vulnerabilities
From DHS/US-CERT's National Vulnerability Database
CVE-2022-4194
PUBLISHED: 2022-11-30
Use after free in Accessibility in Google Chrome prior to 108.0.5359.71 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: Medium)
CVE-2022-4195
PUBLISHED: 2022-11-30
Insufficient policy enforcement in Safe Browsing in Google Chrome prior to 108.0.5359.71 allowed a remote attacker to bypass Safe Browsing warnings via a malicious file. (Chromium security severity: Medium)
CVE-2022-4175
PUBLISHED: 2022-11-30
Use after free in Camera Capture in Google Chrome prior to 108.0.5359.71 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)
CVE-2022-4176
PUBLISHED: 2022-11-30
Out of bounds write in Lacros Graphics in Google Chrome on Chrome OS and Lacros prior to 108.0.5359.71 allowed a remote attacker who convinced a user to engage in specific UI interactions to potentially exploit heap corruption via UI interactions. (Chromium security severity: High)
CVE-2022-4177
PUBLISHED: 2022-11-30
Use after free in Extensions in Google Chrome prior to 108.0.5359.71 allowed an attacker who convinced a user to install an extension to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted Chrome Extension and UI interaction. (Chromium security severity: High)