May 25 2010

Tips for building security organization

Category: Security organization — DISC @ 5:54 pm

Image representing Forrester Research as depic...
Image via CrunchBase

By: Brian Prince

Businesses have increased expectations on the security team in recent years, sometimes producing a disconnect between what is expected and what the security team can deliver. In a new report, Forrester Research lays out some advice for building an effective security organization.

As IT security has become a bigger part of business discussions, security teams have increasingly shifted their focus from operations to strategic business objectives.

For businesses building their security groups, there needs to be a balance between fulfilling operational and strategic goals, and a new report from Forrester Research offers advice on how businesses can find it.

“In a few cases we found that the strategic aspect of security was so important or was so highlighted in terms of the CISO [chief information security officer] role that the CISO was sometimes moved outside the IT organization, [and] sometimes wasn’t as connected with the operation [of] the IT…[but] much more connected with the business side and the strategy side,” explained Forrester analyst Khalid Kark. “What that does is basically creates an ivory tower for the chief security officers, and then they are not able to operate.”

To avoid that, there are several steps Forrester recommends organizations take. Here are a few of them.

— New Roles: To make your security practice more strategic, add these three positions: a business liaison to advocate for the business unit within the security team and communicate the security perspective to business; the third-party security coordinator to address outsourcing, assessments and cloud computing; and a security engineer focused on working with the enterprise architecture team to build security into the architecture and integrate specific infrastructure security components into the architecture.

— Understand IT security vs. information risk: “Many security organizations fail to get management attention because they’re always focused on the IT security activities, which the business doesn’t understand,” according to the report. “On the other hand, the business understands risk well, and if you articulate those same problems in the risk context, the business is much more likely to react and respond to them.”

— Develop a cross-functional security council: “Focus on ‘who’ not ‘how.’ Forrester has long professed the benefits of a security council, but one thing that is absolutely essential for the success of this council is its composition,” the report continues. “The trick is not to aim for the highest ranking businessperson but the one most interested in security and risk issues who has a reasonable level of visibility in the business. When you have a passionate team working on the security issues, the ‘how’ will be easy to determine.”

— Equip the business to perform risk assessments: “To meet the security and risk obligations effectively, you have to delegate, and risk assessments are ideal for this,” Forrester said. “Provide the checklists and basic training to the business to perform the basic risk assessment tasks so that it takes the pressure off your resources. Make it easy and seamless for the business to incorporate these into its existing processes.”

Complicating things is today’s economic environment in which businesses may be forced to reshuffle or even cut their security personnel. When that happens, organizations may have to refocus their attention from strategic projects and get back to basics, the report noted.

“As security organizations get leaner, delegation, formalized and documented processes, and good monitoring and metrics become key,” said Forrester analyst Rachel Dines, who worked on the report with Kark. “Security organizations don’t need to have direct ownership of all security-related processes, but they do need to monitor and control them.”

How to create a security culture in your organization: a recent study reveals the importance of assessment, incident response procedures, and social engineering … article from: Information Management Journal

Tags: Business, Chief Information Security Officer, Cloud computing, Consultants, Forrester Research, General and Freelance, Information Security, Security

May 11 2010

OCR draft guidelines for security risk analysis

Category: hipaa,Security Risk Assessment — DISC @ 12:42 am

US Department of Health & Human Services
Image by veeliam via Flickr

The Health & Human Services Department published draft guidance to help healthcare providers and payers figure out what is expected of them in doing a risk analysis of their protected patient health information.

The security rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that providers, payment plans and their business associates perform a risk assessment, but does not prescribe a method for doing so, according to draft guidance from HHS’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The HITECH Act directed that OCR oversee health information privacy.

Risk analysis is a technique used to identify and assess threats and vulnerabilities that may hamper the success of achieving bsuiness goals. In risk analysis determines if the security controls are appropriate compare to the risk presented by the impact of threats and vulnerabilities.

The guidance is not intended to provide a one-size-fits-all blueprint for compliance with the risk analysis requirement. Rather, it clarifies the expectations of the Department for organizations working to meet these requirements. An organization should determine the most appropriate way to achieve compliance, taking into account the characteristics of the organization and its environment.

Some of the content contained in this guidance is based on recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), OCR said

OCR guidance document explains several elements a risk analysis must incorporate, regardless of the method employed. So basically the auditor will be looking for all the elements required by the guidelines during an audit.

OCR dratf guigelines details

Information Security Risk Analysis, Tom Peltier

Tags: Business, Civil and political rights, Health care, health insurance, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Optical character recognition, Security

Jan 22 2010

If Your Password Is 123456, Just Make It HackMe

Category: Information Security — DISC @ 2:20 pm

by Ashlee Vance, NYTimes

Back at the dawn of the Web, the most popular account password was “12345.”

Today, it’s one digit longer but hardly safer: “123456.”

Despite all the reports of Internet security breaches over the years, including the recent attacks on Google’s e-mail service, many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug.

According to a new analysis, one out of five Web users still decides to leave the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat: they choose a simple, easily guessed password like “abc123,” “iloveyou” or even “password” to protect their data.

“I guess it’s just a genetic flaw in humans,” said Amichai Shulman, the chief technology officer at Imperva, which makes software for blocking hackers. “We’ve been following the same patterns since the 1990s.”

Mr. Shulman and his company examined a list of 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole last month from RockYou, a company that makes software for users of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The list was briefly posted on the Web, and hackers and security researchers downloaded it. (RockYou, which had already been widely criticized for lax privacy practices, has advised its customers to change their passwords, as the hacker gained information about their e-mail accounts as well.)

The trove provided an unusually detailed window into computer users’ password habits. Typically, only government agencies like the F.B.I. or the National Security Agency have had access to such a large password list.

“This was the mother lode,” said Matt Weir, a doctoral candidate in the e-crimes and investigation technology lab at Florida State University, where researchers are also examining the data.

Imperva found that nearly 1 percent of the 32 million people it studied had used “123456” as a password. The second-most-popular password was “12345.” Others in the top 20 included “qwerty,” “abc123” and “princess.”

More disturbing, said Mr. Shulman, was that about 20 percent of people on the RockYou list picked from the same, relatively small pool of 5,000 passwords.

That suggests that hackers could easily break into many accounts just by trying the most common passwords. Because of the prevalence of fast computers and speedy networks, hackers can fire off thousands of password guesses per minute.

“We tend to think of password guessing as a very time-consuming attack in which I take each account and try a large number of name-and-password combinations,” Mr. Shulman said. “The reality is that you can be very effective by choosing a small number of common passwords.”

Some Web sites try to thwart the attackers by freezing an account for a certain period of time if too many incorrect passwords are typed. But experts say that the hackers simply learn to trick the system, by making guesses at an acceptable rate, for instance.

To improve security, some Web sites are forcing users to mix letters, numbers and even symbols in their passwords. Others, like Twitter, prevent people from picking common passwords.

Still, researchers say, social networking and entertainment Web sites often try to make life simpler for their users and are reluctant to put too many controls in place.

Even commercial sites like eBay must weigh the consequences of freezing accounts, since a hacker could, say, try to win an auction by freezing the accounts of other bidders.

Overusing simple passwords is not a new phenomenon. A similar survey examined computer passwords used in the mid-1990s and found that the most popular ones at that time were “12345,” “abc123” and “password.”

Why do so many people continue to choose easy-to-guess passwords, despite so many warnings about the risks?

Security experts suggest that we are simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of things we have to remember in this digital age.

“Nowadays, we have to keep probably 10 times as many passwords in our head as we did 10 years ago,” said Jeff Moss, who founded a popular hacking conference and is now on the Homeland Security Advisory Council. “Voice mail passwords, A.T.M. PINs and Internet passwords — it’s so hard to keep track of.”

In the idealized world championed by security specialists, people would have different passwords for every Web site they visit and store them in their head or, if absolutely necessary, on a piece of paper.

But bowing to the reality of our overcrowded brains, the experts suggest that everyone choose at least two different passwords — a complex one for Web sites were security is vital, such as banks and e-mail, and a simpler one for places where the stakes are lower, such as social networking and entertainment sites.

Mr. Moss relies on passwords at least 12 characters long, figuring that those make him a more difficult target than the millions of people who choose five- and six-character passwords.

“It’s like the joke where the hikers run into a bear in the forest, and the hiker that survives is the one who outruns his buddy,” Mr. Moss said. “You just want to run that bit faster.”

Related articles by Zemanta

Tags: facebook, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Florida State University, Google, MySpace, RockYou, Security, Social network service

Jan 22 2010

How to manage risk in the cloud

Category: Cloud computing — DISC @ 3:06 am

What is Cloud Computing and does it provide more protection to your business?

  • Pre-order the Softcover;

  • Pre-order the eBook.

    • Cloud Computing will bring many benefits to organisations, some of which include reducing operating costs, reducing power consumption and freeing you up to focus on your core business.
    The concept of shifting computing to a shared service provider is not new. What may be new is that the cost of Cloud Computing is falling so dramatically that considering outsourcing to the Cloud is no longer rare, and it is now accessible enough that any individual or organisation can use it to their advantage.

    Above the Clouds: Managing Risk in the World of Cloud Computing
    For Cloud Computing to be a viable option, you need to be confident that your business information will be secure and that the service you offer to your customers will still be reliable. So if you want to adopt a Cloud Computing strategy, you need to make sure you carry out due diligence on the service provider before you entrust this firm with your vital data. However, the author challenges the assumption that Cloud Computing will offer less protection to your data than relying on an in-house server. Buy Now!>

    Cloud Computing not only allows you to make economies of scale; it can also offer you the increased security that comes from sharing the resource. The author argues that moving over to Cloud Computing can actually help to defend your organisation from threats such as denial of service attacks, viruses and worms.

    Cloud service providers will tell you that Cloud Computing is bound to be better, faster and cheaper. The reality is that before switching over to Cloud Computing, you need to think carefully about whether it will really work for your business. This book shows you what you need to do to ensure that with Cloud Computing you will continue to give the standard of service your customers require. It also offers you some valuable tips on how to choose your provider of Cloud services.

    Published date: 9th February 2010.

    Pre-order this book using Voucher Code: “cloud2010” to save 10%!

  • Pre-order the Softcover;

  • Pre-order the eBook.

    • Related articles by Zemanta

    Tags: Business, cloud, Cloud computing, cloud computing benefits, cloud computing concerns, cloud computing risks, cloud computing security, cloud security, cloud services, cloudcomputing, Computer Science, Denial-of-service attack, Distributed Computing, due diligence, Economy of scale, Outsourcing, Security

    Jan 12 2010

    Pop-Up Security Warnings Pose Threats

    Category: Malware — DISC @ 4:10 pm

    FBI Warning
    Image by Travelin’ Librarian via Flickr

    Malware: Fighting Malicious Code

    By FBI NPO

    The FBI warned consumers today about an ongoing threat involving pop-up security messages that appear while they are on the Internet. The messages may contain a virus that could harm your computer, cause costly repairs or, even worse, lead to identity theft. The messages contain scareware, fake or rogue anti-virus software that looks authentic.

    The message may display what appears to be a real-time, anti-virus scan of your hard drive. The scareware will show a list of reputable software icons; however, you can’t click a link to go to the real site to review or see recommendations. Cyber criminals use botnets—collections of compromised computers—to push the software, and advertisements on websites deliver it. This is known as malicious advertising or “malvertising.”

    Once the pop-up warning appears, it can’t be easily closed by clicking the “close” or “X” buttons. If you click the pop-up to purchase the software, a form to collect payment information for the bogus product launches. In some instances, the scareware can install malicious code onto your computer, whether you click the warning or not. This is more likely to happen if your computer has an account that has rights to install software.

    Downloading the software could result in viruses, malicious software called Trojans, and/or keyloggers—hardware that records passwords and sensitive data—being installed on your computer. Malicious software can cause costly damages for individual users and financial institutions. The FBI estimates scareware has cost victims more than $150 million.

    Cyber criminals use easy-to-remember names and associate them with known applications. Beware of pop-up warnings that are a variation of recognized security software. You should research the exact name of the software being offered. Take precautions to ensure operating systems are updated and security software is current. If you receive these anti-virus pop-ups, close the browser or shut down your computer system. You should run a full anti-virus scan whenever the computer is turned back on.

    If you have experienced the anti-virus pop-ups or a similar scam, notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) by filing a complaint at www.ic3.gov.

    Related articles by Zemanta

    Tags: anti virus, crime, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Identity Theft, Internet Crime Complaint Center, Malicious Software, Malware, pop-up, Security, Theft, trojan, United States

    Jan 11 2010

    Long Awaited ISO/IEC 27004:2009

    Category: ISO 27k — DISC @ 12:49 pm

    Security Metrics: Replacing Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

    The long awaited international standard on Information Security Measurement, ISO/IEC27004:2009, is now available.

    It’s a must have –
    To Download a copy of ISO27004 – Information Security Metrics

    Key Features and Benefits:

    • Provides guidance on the development, implementation use of metrics to measure the effectiveness of an ISO 27001-compliant ISMS, controls or groups of controls. Helping you to quantify the payback to your organisation of implementing an ISMS.
    • Covers not just the development, implementation and use of metrics, but also the communication of the results. Helping you to ensure management buy-in for future projects.
    • The use of this standard provides opportunities to identify areas in need of improvement, facilitating continual improvement. Thus leading more secure information, cost savings and increases in efficiency.

    If you have not claibrated the model with measurement, only one thing is certain: You will either overspend or under-protect.

    Get your copy today >>
    To Download a copy of ISO27004 – Information Security Metrics

    Tags: Individual Standards, International Organization for Standardization, ISO, ISO 27004, ISO 27k, iso measurement, iso27004, Policy, Security, under-protect

    Dec 14 2009

    Viruses That Leave Victims Red in the Facebook

    Category: Malware — DISC @ 3:21 pm

    5 Ways to Cultivate an Active Social Network
    Image by Intersection Consulting via Flickr

    By BRAD STONE – NYTimes.com

    It used to be that computer viruses attacked only your hard drive. Now they attack your dignity.

    Malicious programs are rampaging through Web sites like Facebook and Twitter, spreading themselves by taking over people’s accounts and sending out messages to all of their friends and followers. The result is that people are inadvertently telling their co-workers and loved ones how to raise their I.Q.’s or make money instantly, or urging them to watch an awesome new video in which they star.

    “I wonder what people are thinking of me right now?” said Matt Marquess, an employee at a public relations firm in San Francisco whose Twitter account was recently hijacked, showering his followers with messages that appeared to offer a $500 gift card to Victoria’s Secret.

    Mr. Marquess was clueless about the offers until a professional acquaintance asked him about them via e-mail. Confused, he logged in to his account and noticed he had been promoting lingerie for five days.

    “No one had said anything to me,” he said. “I thought, how long have I been Twittering about underwear?”

    The humiliation sown by these attacks is just collateral damage. In most cases, the perpetrators are hoping to profit from the referral fees they get for directing people to sketchy e-commerce sites.

    In other words, even the crooks are on social networks now — because millions of tightly connected potential victims are just waiting for them there.

    Often the victims lose control of their accounts after clicking on a link “sent” by a friend. In other cases, the bad guys apparently scan for accounts with easily guessable passwords. (Mr. Marquess gamely concedes that his password at the time was “abc123.”)

    After discovering their accounts have been seized, victims typically renounce the unauthorized messages publicly, apologizing for inadvertently bombarding their friends. These messages — one might call them Tweets of shame — convey a distinct mix of guilt, regret and embarrassment.

    “I have been hacked; taking evasive maneuvers. Much apology, my friends,” wrote Rocky Barbanica, a producer for Rackspace Hosting, an Internet storage firm, in one such note.

    Mr. Barbanica sent that out last month after realizing he had sent messages to 250 Twitter followers with a link and the sentence, “Are you in this picture?” If they clicked, their Twitter accounts were similarly commandeered.

    “I took it personally, which I shouldn’t have, but that’s the natural feeling. It’s insulting,” he said.

    Earlier malicious programs could also cause a similar measure of embarrassment if they spread themselves through a person’s e-mail address book.

    But those messages, traveling from computer to computer, were more likely to be stopped by antivirus or firewall software. On the Web, such measures offer little protection. (Although they are popularly referred to as viruses or worms, the new forms of Web-based malicious programs do not technically fall into those categories, as they are not self-contained programs.)

    Getting tangled up in a virus on a social network is also more painfully, and instantaneously, public. “Once it’s delivered to everyone in three seconds, the cat is out of the bag,” said Chet Wisniewski of Sophos, a Web security firm. “When people got viruses on their computers, or fell for scams at home, they were generally the only ones that knew about it and they cleaned it up themselves. It wasn’t broadcast to the whole world.”

    Social networks have become prime targets of such programs’ creators for good reason, security experts say. People implicitly trust the messages they receive from friends, and are inclined to overlook the fact that, say, their cousin from Ohio is extremely unlikely to have caught them on a hidden webcam.

    Sophos says that 21 percent of Web users report that they have been a target of malicious programs on social networks. Kaspersky Labs, a Russian security firm, says that on some days, one in 500 links on Twitter point to bad sites that can infect an inadequately protected computer with typical viruses that jam hard drives. Kaspersky says many more links are purely spam, frequently leading to dating sites that pay referral fees for traffic.

    A worm that spread around Facebook recently featured a photo of a sparsely dressed woman and offered a link to “see more.” Adi Av, a computer developer in Ashkelon, Israel, encountered the image on the Facebook page of a friend he considered to be a reliable source of amusing Internet content.

    A couple of clicks later, the image was posted on Mr. Av’s Facebook profile and sent to the “news feed” of his 350 friends.

    “It’s an honest mistake,” he said. “The main embarrassment was from the possibility of other people getting into the same trouble from my profile page.”

    Others confess to experiencing a more serious discomfiture.

    “You feel like a total idiot,” said Jodi Chapman, who last month unwisely clicked on a Twitter message from a fellow vegan, suggesting that she take an online intelligence test.

    Ms. Chapman, who sells environmentally friendly gifts with her husband, uses her Twitter account to communicate with thousands of her company’s customers. The hijacking “filled me with a sense of panic,” she said. “I was so worried that I had somehow tainted our company name by asking people to check their I.Q. scores.”

    Social networking attacks do not spare the experts. Two weeks ago, Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a nonprofit research group, accidentally sent messages to dozens of his Twitter followers with a link and the line, “Hi, is this you? LOL.” He said a few people actually clicked.

    “I’m worried that people will think I communicate this way,” Mr. Rainie said. “ ‘LOL,’ as my children would tell you, is not the style that I want to engage the world with.”

    Related articles by Zemanta

    Tags: Antivirus software, Computer virus, facebook, Google, Kaspersky Lab, Malware, malware 2.0, Online Communities, San Francisco, Security, Social network, Social network service, Spyware, Twitter

    Dec 10 2009

    What is a risk assessment framework

    Category: Information Security,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 5:46 pm

    Computer security is an ongoing threat?!?
    Image by Adam Melancon via Flickr

    The Security Risk Assessment Handbook: A Complete Guide for Performing Security Risk Assessments

    Definition – A risk assessment framework (RAF) is a strategy for prioritizing and sharing information about the security risks to an information technology (IT) infrastructure.

    A good RAF organizes and presents information in a way that both technical and non-technical personnel can understand. It has three important components: a shared vocabulary, consistent assessment methods and a reporting system.

    The common view an RAF provides helps an organization see which of its systems are at low risk for abuse or attack and which are at high risk. The data an RAF provides is useful for addressing potential threats pro-actively, planning budgets and creating a culture in which the value of data is understood and appreciated.

    There are several risk assessment frameworks that are accepted as industry standards including:

    Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems (NIST guide) from the National Institute of Standards.

    Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE) from the Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

    Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association.

    To create a risk management framework, an organization can use or modify the NIST guide, OCTAVE or COBIT or create a framework inhouse that fits the organization’s business requirements. However the framework is built, it should:

    1. Inventory and categorize all IT assets.
    Assets include hardware, software, data, processes and interfaces to external systems.

    2. Identify threats.
    Natural disasters or power outages should be considered in addition to threats such as malicious access to systems or malware attacks.

    3. Identify corresponding vulnerabilities.
    Data about vulnerabilities can be obtained from security testing and system scans. Anecdotal information about known software and/or vendor issues should also be considered.

    4. Prioritize potential risks.
    Prioritization has three sub-phases: evaluating existing security controls, determining the likelihood and impact of a breach based on those controls, and assigning risk levels.

    5. Document risks and determine action.
    This is an on-going process, with a pre-determined schedule for issuing reports. The report should document the risk level for all IT assests, define what level of risk an organization is willing to tolerate and accept and identify procedures at each risk level for implementing and maintaining security controls.

    Related articles by Zemanta

    Tags: Business, COBIT, Computer security, Data, Fire and Security, Information Technology, iso 27001, iso 27002, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, OCTAVE, Risk management, Security, security controls, Technology

    Dec 04 2009

    Five ways to lose your identity

    Category: Identity Theft — DISC @ 2:42 pm

    beconstructive12

    By Jaikumar Vijayan
    The rush by shoppers to the Web makes the season a great time for online retailers. It’s also a great time for hackers looking to steal data and money from the unwary millions expected to search for great deals online.

    Checkout huge savings on Today’s Hot Deals on Information Security Solutions for the holidays

    The growth of holiday hackers has annually prompted security analysts, identity theft awareness groups, and various government agencies to come up with lists of precautions that consumers can take to avoid becoming a victim of online fraud. Such lists can prove a benefit to consumers, but unfortunately some people ignore it.

    Below are the identity theft awareness tips which can help maximize your exposure to online fraud.

    Tip No. 1: Open all attachments from strangers and click on all embedded links in such e-mail messages. Such actions remain one of the most effective ways to provide thieves with personal information and financial data. All a hacker needs to do is find computer users who instinctively open e-mail messages from strangers, even those who write in a foreign language. The action can open the door to keystroke loggers, rootkits, or Trojan horse programs. Crooks can also easily install backdoors to easily steal data without attracting any attention. Once installed, hackers gain unfettered access to personal data and can even remotely control and administer systems from anywhere.

    Tip No. 2: Respond to Dr. (Mrs.) Mariam Abacha, whose name is used by many hackers who say they have close friends and relatives in Nigeria who have recently been widowed or deposed in a military coup and need your help to get their millions of dollars out of the country. Users are told they will undoubtedly be rewarded for helping to get their “well-packed trunk boxes” full of cash out of Nigeria. And to make sure to provide bank account information, login credentials, date of birth, and mother’s maiden name so that they can wire the reward directly into a checking account in time for the holidays.

    Tip No. 3: Install a peer-to-peer file-sharing client on your PC and configure it so all files, including bank account, Social Security, and credit card numbers, along with copies of mortgage and tax return documents, are easily available to anyone on the same P2P network. Your personal data will stream over the Internet while you check out what songs you can download for free without getting sued by the RIAA.

    Tip No. 4: Come up with passwords that are easy to crack. It saves hackers from spending too much time and effort trying to access your PC. Clever sequences such as “123456” and “abcdef” and your firstname.lastname all make fine, easy-to-remember default passwords for you and for hackers. For maximum exposure, keep passwords short, don’t mix alphabets and numerals, and use the same password for all accounts.

    Tip No. 5: Avoid installing the latest anti-malware tools and security updates. Keeping operating systems properly patched and anti-virus and anti-spyware tools updated make life hard for hackers. Users can help them out by making sure their anti-virus software and anti-spyware tools are at least 18 months out of date or by not using them at all. Either way, it’s very likely that your computer will be infected with a full spectrum of malware.

    For additional tips on how to shop securely on Christmas and holidays season:
    How to shop safely online this Christmas
    Identity theft tip-off countermeasure and consequence | DISC

    Please comment below regarding any other new and emerging threat which needs to be addressed during holiday’s season?

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: antivirus, Christmas and holiday season, Computer security, Credit card, File sharing, hacker, Identity Theft, Malicious Software, Malware, Online shopping, Personal computer, Security, shop safely, shop securely, Spyware, threats, trojan, Trojan horse

    Nov 30 2009

    Hackers steal credit-card numbers from restaurant customers

    Category: pci dss,Security Breach — DISC @ 2:44 am


    Here we have another unnecessary credit card data breach in a small organization which resulted in a loss of customers data demonstrating poor baseline security of small organization in this case a restaurant. Small organizations are not ready for PCI Compliance. Checkout why PCI Compliance is essential and why small merchants have to comply. Review my threats page and evaluate your current business and system risks to make sure this does not happen to you.
    Contact DISC for any question

    By Theodore Decker
    THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

    Diners who frequent a popular Downtown restaurant should review their charge-card statements because hackers broke into its computer system to loot debit- and credit-card numbers, police said today.

    Between 30 and 50 people have reported fraudulent charges on their accounts, and Columbus detectives said that anyone who used a charge card at Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails in July or August is at risk.

    Detective Wyatt Wilson of the Columbus police fraud/forgery unit said police began linking reports of credit-card fraud in October. Cross-checking the victims’ accounts revealed Tip Top, which is on E. Gay Street, as a common denominator, he said.

    The hackers have been traced to an overseas Internet address, and no Tip Top employees are involved, police said. Wilson said the business was as much a victim as its customers were.

    The hackers found a weak point in the restaurant’s computer defenses, wormed their way in, and installed “malware” that stripped the numbers, he said.

    The restaurant has fixed the problem, but customers who charged anything there in July or August should contact their credit-card companies or banks, cancel their cards and get new ones, even if they haven’t been victimized yet, police said.

    New fraud reports have rolled in periodically until a few days ago, Wilson said, indicating that the card numbers are still in criminal circulation.

    Elizabeth Lessner, the restaurant’s owner, said she has been told by investigators that the breach might have been the work of high-level hackers in Russia, and she wondered whether it was connected to a global case that surfaced this year.


    Most of the small companies have trouble justifying their investments when it comes to security. At the same time PCI DSS for the “brick & mortar” merchants have been a blessing for security firms who sell hardware solutions to small merchants. The problem is these hardware point solution does not address the business issues of a small merchant on daily basis.
    This is why small merchants need to build a security program and the in-house expertise with training and help of outside consultant to understand business issues related to information security clearly. You mature this process over time with an ongoing effort and full management support.
    Do you think it’s time for small merchants to take information security seriously as a business limiting risk?

    Related articles by Zemanta

    Prevent and Protect from Credit Card Fraud and Scams

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_jCET-YFA&feature=related

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: Banking Services, Business, Credit card, crime, Financial services, fraud, hacker, Information Security, Malware, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, Point of sale, Police, Security

    Nov 19 2009

    Health Net healthcare data breach affects1.5 million

    Category: hipaa,Security Breach — DISC @ 2:10 pm

    Health Net, Inc.
    Image via Wikipedia


    Here we have another unnecessary major security breach in a large healthcare organization which resulted in a loss of patient data demonstrating poor baseline security. They clearly are not ready for the new HIPAA provision ARRA and HITECH. Review my threats page and evaluate your current business and system risks to make sure this does not happen to you.
    Contact DISC for any question or high level risk assessment.

    The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance

    By Robert Westervelt, News Editor
    19 Nov 2009 | SearchSecurity.com

    Health Net Inc. announced Wednesday that it is investigating a healthcare data security breach that resulted in the loss of patient data, affecting 1.5 million customers.

    The Woodland Hills, Calif.-based managed healthcare provider said the lost files, a mixture of medical data, Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information, were collected over the past seven years and contained on a portable external hard drive, which was lost six months ago. The company said the healthcare data was not encrypted, but was formatted as images and required a specific software application to be viewed. The hard drive contained data on 446,000 Connecticut patients.

    The company reported the breach Wednesday to State Attorneys Generals offices in Arizona, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Health Net said it was beginning the data security breach notification process of sending out letters to its customers. The company said it expects to send notification letters the week of Nov. 30.

    Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he was investigating the matter and why it took Health Net six months to report the healthcare breach.

    “My investigation will seek to establish what happened and why the company kept its customers and the state in the dark for so long,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “The company’s failure to safeguard such sensitive information and inform consumers of its loss — leaving them naked to identity theft — may have violated state and federal laws.”

    Blumenthal said the hard drive also contained financial data, including bank account numbers. He is seeking coverage for comprehensive, long-term identity theft protection for those customers affected by the breach.

    Health Net provides medical coverage for approximately 6.6 million people and its subsidiaries operate in all 50 states. In a statement, the company said the breach took place in its Connecticut office. So far there have not been any reports of fraud tied to the missing data..

    “Health Net will provide credit monitoring for over two years – free of charge – to all impacted members who elect this service, and will provide assistance to any member who has experienced any suspicious activity, identity theft or health care fraud between May 2009 and their date of enrollment with our identity protection service,” the company said.

    It is the second time in a month that a healthcare provider lost customer data. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut reported a stolen laptop was to blame for a breach compromising the personal information of 850,000 doctors, therapists and other healthcare professionals.

    Security experts have long been advocating that enterprises deploy encryption on laptops and other devices that contain sensitive data. Still, all the technology in the world won’t end employee mistakes and carelessness, said Mike Rothman an analyst with Security Incite.

    “You can do full disk encryption and all sorts of things to protect the device, but you are still fairly constrained by user sophistication,” Rothman said. “You have to start asking questions from a process standpoint relative to why this stuff was on an external drive in the first place.”

    In reality you could turn off all USB ports on your devices, but that could hinder employee productivity, Rothman said. Security always gets back to making sure you have the right processes and policies in place and the right training and awareness so that employees understand what those policies are and ways to audit those processes, he said.

    Experts say encryption should be used as a last resort when all other security policies and processes fail. While many enterprises have focused on encrypting laptops at the endpoint, encryption can be a bit trickier for portable hard drives and other removable media. If the drive is being shared between different systems people need to have some way to access the key, said Ramon Krikken, an analyst at the Burton Group.

    “A lot of these portable hard drives are older without built-in encryption and to the extent to which you can easily deploy encryption has been a challenge for enterprises,” Krikken said.

    Some USB makers market the devices with built-in encryption software. In 2008, Seate Technology extended full disk encryption technology to all its enterprise-class hard drives. The company also began pushing for standards for hard drive encryption in storage systems.

    Nagraj Seshadri, head of product marketing at Utimaco the encryption software division of Sophos Plc, said healthcare organizations need to be just as responsible as financial firms when it comes to protecting data.


    Perhaps healthcare management still doesn’t realize that they might be potentially liable for lack of reasonable safeguards to protect organization assets. Do you think it’s time for healthcare management to take information security seriously as a potential business risk?

    Related articles by Zemanta

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: arra and hitech, data loss prevention, data security, disk encryption and file encryption, Health care, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Identity Theft, identity theft and data security breaches, Personally identifiable information, Security, security awareness training

    Nov 13 2009

    Cyber criminals deface 50 to 60 Indian websites a day

    Category: Cybercrime — DISC @ 2:52 pm

    microsoft_fr_hacked
    Image by Clopin via Flickr

    Webnewwire.com report submitted on November 11, 2009

    Has your girlfriend blocked you and you cant see her on-line? Wondering how to keep your email account protected? Or want to hide files from your annoying siblings? MTV’s got Ankit Fadia – the coolest Ethical Hacker in the world to give you everything from tips, tricks to cheat codes that will help make your life on the world wide web a whole lot simpler. Learn cool stuff that you can with your computers, Internet, mobile and other technology in your life!

    This is India’s first tech show which does not review tech gadgets, websites or software instead it gives viewers a low down (or download!) on cool stuff that they can do with technology that will make their every day life cooler, simpler and stylish!

    I am hosting “MTV What the Hack!” show with MTV VJ Jose, informed Ankit Fadia who was in city on a private visit. Watch it on MTV India every Saturday @ 8:20 PM. Repeat Telecasts every day, he appealed to the people

    The show is a guy show with lots of typical MTV style humour. VJ Jose and Ankit Fadia shoot the episodes without a script and just naturally jam in front of camera and talk about technology. The show has got a very good response so far as it is being different from other shows. Most of the tech shows in India are review based shows where gadgets, software and websites are reviewed. This is the India’s first reach show that actually teaches viewers something. The show is on as part of MTV’s move to beyond music and beyond television. Since October 17 this year dropped ‘Music Television’ baseline which has been there in India for the past 13 years. Music contributes about 40 per cent of its programming and soon will go down to 25 per cent. This is happening as part of repositioning exercise MTV kicked off two years back. MTV is born of music, inspired by music, driven by music –but not limited by music. IT is now about new ideas, new formats, new ways of reaching people in new places they choose to live in.

    Addressing the press conference Ankit Fadia spoke on various issues concerning Cyber Security in India. Speaking about Cyber security issues India is facing today he said Pakistani cyber criminals are able to deface 50 to 60 Indian websites a day, but, in retaliation only 10 to 15 Pakistani websites are defaced. And this has been going on since 2001. Nodoubt, India is IT capital of the world, but, as far as security is concerned India is far lagging behind, informed Ankit.

    Speaking further he added that Terrorists are using most advanced technologies for communication. Which include mainly VOIP(Voice Over Internet Protocol) Chats, hiding messages inside photographs, draft emails, encrypted pen drives etc are some of the techniques to communicate with each other, he informed.

    Cyber laws in India are quite good, b ut the problem is that the police who enforce those laws are ill equipped and are not trained properly. And he challenged media to visit the nearest police station and lodge a cyber crime complaint. And you will shocked that 9 out of 10 times, the officials attending you won’t follow what you are saying, said Ankit.

    The biggest problem that the police worldwide face while solving cyber crime is the fact that the Internet has no boundaries, however, while investigating a cyber crime case a number of geographical, political, social and diplomatic boundaries come into the picture.

    The next big security threat could be from Social Networking, Ankit declared. Everybody in India is on the social networking bandwagon. Even Karan Johar, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai, Shashi Tharoor, Barack Obama and many other celebrities are updating Twitter daily. The latest viruses, worms, spyware and malware spread through social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook, Orkut and Myspace.

    You will receive a private message from one of your friend (who is already infected) containing a link to a Youtube video. Halfway through the video, it will prompt you to download some Video Plugin or Code. Since the message came from your friend, most people tend to trust it and get infected!, said Ankit.

    There are many financial scams and frauds happening on social networking websites. Get rich quick schemes, Earn Money Online Scams and various money laundering attacks now come to you through a Twitter update or a Facebook wall post!. Since Social Networking websites are all about your friends, many people are susceptible to the attack, Ankit said and added that Antivirus companies need to gear up to have a social networking aspect to them. People need to be made aware of the threats of social networking!

    Another next big security threat could be People Hacking, he informed. People Hacking is all about sweet talking people to get things done. Especially things that they would normally don’t do or should not do!. People Hacking happens around us all the time. In the office, with your friends, at the check in counters at the airport or on the phone with the call centre. To carry out People Hacking you need to know what to say to whom and more importantly how to say it. Inducing fear, guilt, sympathy or just overpowering the victim with your words can lead to People Hacking, informed Ankit Fadia.

    When asked about advise like Dos and Don’ts for average internet user he listed out the following.

    – Use an Antivirus. More importantly, update it every week.

    – Use an Anti Spyware. Update it every week.

    – Use a Firewall. They are not as technical as they sound. A very good firewall that I recommend is Zone Alarm. Just do a Google search to download it.

    – Use a strong password for all your accounts—a combination of alphabets, numbers and special characters. Use both lowercase and uppercase.

    – Use Windows Update every fortnight to patch Windows.

    – Use a Key Scrambler—a software the scrambles your keys in such a way that key loggers & other spying tools cant record what you type on your computer.

    – Use a password on your Wi Fi network.

    Related articles by Zemanta

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: Aishwarya Rai, Ankit Fadia, Barack Obama, cyber security, facebook, Google, MySpace, pakistan, Priyanka Chopra, Security, social engineering, Social Networking, Twitter, World Wide Web, YouTube

    Nov 06 2009

    Laptop Heist Exposes Doctors’ Personal Data

    Category: hipaa,Security Breach — DISC @ 6:50 pm

    doctor

    Another stolen laptop puts thousands of people’s personal data at risk but this time it’s the caregivers — not the patients — who are at risk.

    November 6, 2009
    By Larry Barrett:

    More than 10,000 physicians’ and dentists’ personal data was exposed last week in New Hampshire after an employee at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield transferred the health care providers’ Social Security numbers and other data to a personal laptop that was later stolen.

    Anthem spokesman Christopher Dugan said the security breach took place at the national level and the files did not include any patients’ personal data.

    The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said the employees’ ill-fated decision to transfer the sensitive information to a personal laptop violated the insurer’s security policies.

    Just last week, more than 33,000 patients receiving care from a Daytona Beach, Fla. medical center were notified that their data may have been compromised when a laptop was stolen from an employee’s car.
    New Hampshire is one of 43 states that require companies and organizations to notify people when their personal or financial information is accidentally or deliberately compromised.

    Anthem officials said it will provide free credit-monitoring services to all the affected physicians and dentists for a year.

    It’s not been the best of months for the insurer.

    On Oct. 5, Blue Cross warned another 39,000 doctors that a yet another laptop stolen from the company’s Chicago headquarters could have potentially exposed an assortment of personal information including Social Security numbers and tax identification numbers.
    A Ponemon Institute by Traverse City, Mich.-based data security researcher Ponemon Institute estimates that more than 12,000 laptops are stolen or lost at airports alone each week.

    It also found that the average large company has 640 laptops, 1,985 USB memory sticks, 1,075 smart phones and 1,324 other various data devices stolen or lost each year — ;a total of 800,000 data-sensitive memory devices a year.

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: arra and hitech, crime, data breach, data security, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, hipaa, laptop, Physician, Security, stolen laptop

    Nov 03 2009

    Healthcare Organizations May Not Be Prepared for HITECH and Other Security Challenges

    Category: hipaa — DISC @ 6:22 pm

    medical-symbol
    Healthcare Organizations May Not Be Prepared for HITECH and Other Security Challenges
    HIMSS News
    The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society releases its 2nd Annual Security Survey, sponsored by Symantec

    CHICAGO (November 3, 2009) – With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act underway, healthcare organizations face new challenges to maintain privacy and security of patient health data. However, data gathered from healthcare IT and security professionals indicate that many organizations may not be ready to meet some of the HITECH components of the ARRA legislation and other security challenges, according to the results of the 2009 HIMSS Security Survey, sponsored by Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC).

    While healthcare organizations recognize that patient data must be protected, the survey results show that:

  • Security budgets remain low
  • Organizations often don’t have a response plan for threats or a security breach
  • A designated Chief Security Officer or Chief Information Security Officer is not in place

    • In addition, the survey reveals that healthcare organizations are not using the current security technologies available to keep patient data safe. Respondents to this survey widely use audit logs with data from firewalls, application logs and server logs as common information sources. Yet, when analyzing the log data, only 25 percent of respondents reported electronic analysis of that data. Respondents indicate they are using firewalls and user access controls, but are not implementing all available technologies to secure data. Only 67 percent of responding organizations use encryption to secure data in transmission, and fewer than half encrypt stored data.

    “Healthcare organizations are continually looking for ways to save money,” said David Finn, health IT officer, Symantec Corp. “One of the best ways to accomplish these goals is through investing in technologies that will automate and reduce the risks of a security incident and lower the chances of a compliance issue. Although awareness about these issues is high, many providers have not yet made significant moves to the address these concerns.”

    Other key survey results include:

    Security Budget: Approximately 60 percent of respondents reported that their organization spends three percent or less of their organization’s IT budget on information security. This is consistent to the level of spending identified in the 2008 study.

    Maturity of Environment: Respondents characterized their environment at a middle rate of maturity, with an average score of 4.27 on a scale of one to seven, where one is not at all mature and seven is a high level of maturity.

    Formal Security Position: Fewer than half of respondents indicated that their organization has either a formally designated CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) or CSO (Chief Security Officer).

    Patient Data Access: Surveyed organizations most widely implement user-based and role-based controls to secure electronic patient information. Approximately half of respondents reported that their organization allows patients/surrogates to access electronic patient information. Patients/surrogates are most likely to be granted access to high level clinical information, such as diagnosis or lab results.

    Management of Security Environment: Nearly all respondents reported that their organization actively works to determine the cause/origin of security breaches. However, only half have a plan in place for responding to threats or incidents related to a security breach.

    Security Controls: Most respondents reported that they use the information generated in their risk analysis to determine which security controls should be used at their organization. About 85 percent of respondents reported that they monitor the success of these controls and two-thirds of these respondents measure the success of these controls.

    Risk Analysis: Three-quarters of surveyed organizations conduct a formal risk analysis (only half of these conduct this assessment on a yearly basis or more frequently), which has remained the same in the past year. Three-quarters of organizations that did conduct risk assessments found patient data at risk due to inadequate security controls, policies and processes. Conducting this analysis positions organizations to identify gaps in their security controls and/or policies and procedures.

    Security in a Networked Environment: Nearly all respondents reported that their organizations share patient data in electronic format. Respondents are most likely to report that they share data with state government entities. Respondents also reported that the area in which they are most likely to share data in the future is with Health Information Exchanges (HIEs)/Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs). Approximately half of these organizations (41 percent) indicated that these sharing arrangements have resulted in the use of additional security controls beyond those that were already in place at their organization. This is consistent with the data reported in the 2008 survey.

    Future Use of Security Technologies: E-mail encryption and single sign on and were most frequently identified by respondents as technologies that were not presently installed at their organization but were planned for future installation.

    Medical Identity Theft: One-third of respondents reported that their organization has had at least one known case of medical identity theft at their organization. However, only a handful of these organizations experienced direct consequences from the breach.

    “Healthcare organizations must approach all IT activities, including data security, with effective management and efficient use of their budgets, staff and technologies,” said Lisa Gallagher, HIMSS Senior Director, Privacy and Security. “IT and security professionals must recognize the need for securing patient data by using available technologies and preparing for compliance with current ARRA laws and future regulations. This complex operating environment, as well as our national goals for health IT, demands such action to ensure quality, safety and improved healthcare delivery.”

    Targeting Chief Information Officers and Chief Security Officers and other Information Technology (IT) executives, the 2009 HIMSS Security Survey focused on an assessment of 196 information technology (IT) and security professionals in the healthcare field of their own readiness for today’s risks and security challenges.

    About Symantec
    Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

    About HIMSS
    The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is a comprehensive healthcare-stakeholder membership organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., Brussels, Singapore, and other locations across the United States, HIMSS represents more than 23,000 individual members, of which 73% work in patient care delivery settings. HIMSS also includes over 380 corporate members and nearly 30 not-for-profit organizations that share our mission of transforming healthcare through the effective use of information technology and management systems. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare public policy and industry practices through its educational, professional development, and advocacy initiatives designed to promote information and management systems’ contributions to ensuring quality patient care. Visit www.himss.org for more information.

    For more information, contact:
    Joyce Lofstrom/HIMSS
    312-915-9237 – jlofstrom@himss.org

    Pamela Reese/Symantec
    424-750-7858 – pamela_reese@symantec.com

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: arra and hitech, arra hitech provisions, arra hitech security "business associate", Chief Information Security Officer, Chief security officer, Computer security, Health care, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, hipaa laws, Information Technology, Security, status of arra and hitech, Symantec

    Aug 24 2009

    Vulnerability management and regulatory compliance

    Category: Security Compliance — DISC @ 8:09 pm

    Threat and Vulnerability Management in the Ent...
    Image by Michele Mondora via Flickr

    Information security requirements are growing for financial, healthcare and government sectors. Especially a new ARRA and HITECH provision for HIPAA mandates compliance for business providers/vendors.
    The business owners have seen growing number of government and industry specific regulations for protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data from ever growing threat landscape. Now most of the regulatory compliance has some teeth, organizations who may not fully comply shall face serious penalties which include but not limited with fines, civil and criminal penalties.

    Those days are gone when manual vulnerability management use to be sufficed to satisfy the auditors. Vulnerability management can assist management in operational compliance. Most of vulnerability management organizes vulnerabilities by severity level. Severity level is determined by business impact and how easily the attacker can exploit the vulnerability. Remediation can be prioritized based on the asset categorization. Asset categorization is based on company scale (L,M,H) which is associated with overall business impact of an asset to the company.
    The best way to automate vulnerability management is to use software as a service (SAAS). SAAS vendor run their application on a secure server (web, database), which user operate with a web browser on a secure SSL connection. SAAS provider handles all the maintenance of SAAS infrastructure. Organization security staff can spend most of their time on remediation rather than running manual vulnerability management. Automated vulnerability management shows ongoing compliance with standards and regulations and provides documentation for audits.


    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: Security, Security Scanners, vulnerability

    Jul 28 2009

    PCI DSS Law and State of Nevada

    Category: Information Security,pci dss — DISC @ 12:09 am

    Information Security Wordle: PCI DSS v1.2 (try #2)
    Image by purpleslog via Flickr

    45 States followed California when they introduced “SB1386”, the Security Breach Information Act, which has specific and restrictive privacy breach reporting requirements.

    Similarly to the SB1386 Law, California, Massachusetts & Texas are already looking at making PCI DSS Law and history tells us that when California moves, everyone else follows!

    From the 1st January 2010, ALL businesses that collect or transmit payment card information, will be legally obliged, by Navada Law, to comply with PCI DSS.

    Not only does this effect Navada-based organisations, it affects EVERY organisation that collect or transmit payment card information about any person who lives in Nevada.

    Where One leads – others WILL follow!


    Related articles by Zemanta

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: california, Credit card, Nevada, Payment card, pci dss, privacy, Security, Texas

    Jul 16 2009

    Common Information Security lapses

    Category: Information Security — DISC @ 4:36 pm

    Information Security Wordle: RFC2196 - Site Se...
    Image by purpleslog via Flickr
    User Security
  • Opening email attachments with integrated email clients

  • Not updating client software

  • Downloading untrusted software

  • Not creating or testing backups

  • Using wireless router connected inside the LAN

    • Strategic Security

  • Not providing training to security personnel

  • Only addressing physical security, neglecting data security

  • Not validating security fixes

  • Relying on firewall for all security needs

  • Not evaluating impact on reputation and data of security breach

  • Not implementing long term security decisions, relying on hot fixes to put out fires

  • Not addressing issues, neglecting security as policy

    • Operational Security

  • Not hardening internet connected host

  • Connecting test systems to the internet

  • Not updating systems on a regular and emergency basis

  • Using unencrypted protocols for management, reporting

  • Choosing bad default user passwords, changing passwords in insecure manner, or notifying users in insecure manners

  • Not testing or maintaining backups, not understanding the intricacies of backup software and procedures


    • Tags: Backup, Information Security, poor security, Security, security mistakes

    Jun 04 2009

    Virtualization and compliance

    Category: Cloud computing,Virtualization — DISC @ 1:04 am

    Virtualization madness
    Image by lodev via Flickr

    The core technology utilized in the cloud computing is virtualization. Some organization may not want to jump into cloud computing because of inherent risks can take a shot at virtualization in their data centers. Virtualization can be utilized to reduce hardware cost and utility cost. Organization that might have 100 servers can consolidate into 10, where each physical machine will support 10 virtual systems will not only reduce the size of data center, but also hardware cost, and huge utility bill savings.

    Virtualization was being utilized to increase efficiency and cost saving, which is now turning into centralized management initiative for many organizations. In centralized management patches, viruses and spam filter and new policies can be pushed to end points from central management console. Policies can be utilized to impose lock out period, USB filtering and initiate backup routines, where policies can take effect immediately or next time when user check in with the server.

    The way virtualization works is OS sits on an open source hypervisor which provides 100% hardware abstractions where drivers become irrelevant. With OS image backed up at management console, which allows virtualization technology a seamless failover and high availability for desktop and servers.

    As I mentioned earlier, virtualization allows enforcing of policies on end points (desktops). As we know compliance drive security agenda. If these policies are granular enough which can be map to existing regulations and standards (SOX, PCI and HIPAA) then virtualization solution can be utilized to implement compliance controls to endpoints. It is quite alright if the mapping is not 100% that is where the compensating controls come into play. The compliance to these various regulations and standards is not a onetime process. As a matter of fact standard and regulation change over time due to different threats and requirements. True security requires nonstop assessment, remediation’s and policy changes as needed.

    Related articles by Zemanta

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

    Tags: Cloud computing, Data center, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, hipaa, Hypervisor, Open source, PCI, Security, sox, Virtualization

    May 28 2009

    PCI compliance is essential and why you have to

    Category: pci dss — DISC @ 3:18 pm
    Image result for pci dss compliance

     

    During this down turn economy organized cyber crime is a booming underground business these days. Most of the security expert and FBI agree that cybercrimes are on the rise and pose a biggest threat to US vital infrastructure. Cybercriminals are thieves in cyberspace who will swipe the sensitive data and sell to other criminals in their community, who might turn around and ask for ransom to keep the data private or perhaps resell to the highest bidder again in the black market. The risk of getting caught is minimized by legal jurisdiction and neglected by huge monetary gains. Motivated by potential gains, cybercriminals are determined to exploit the vulnerabilities of the target rich environment. Another issue to this problem is that our personal and private information has potential to be exploited at various locations such as banks, credit card companies, credit debit card processor, credit report companies and merchants etc…

    Level 1, 2 and 3 merchants usually follow security best practice, allocate enough resources and try to maintain PCI compliance. On the other hand level 4 merchant are usually not compliant and have security vulnerabilities which are easy picking for cybercriminals, which is a primary reason why more security breaches happens to level 4 merchants. PCI was apparently created to safeguard the credit card and debit card data. PCI DSS standard are managed by PCI Security Standard Council.

    The most significant reason to comply with PCI is because you have to.

     

    PCI DSS address the baseline security for payment card infrastructure and ROI is a total cost of ownership. PCI DSS cannot guarantee absolute security but making organization to adhere to due care security justify its cost and use. As far as liability goes the security breach will be very detrimental in the state of non compliance which will include fines, legal fee and possibly lose the credit card processing ability. To motivate themselves, merchants should also remember that their customer’s data is worth a lot of money to cyber criminals.

    The trick is keeping the state of compliance – true security of credit card holder data requires nonstop assessment and remediation to ensure that likelihood and impact of the security breach is kept as low as possible. PCI compliance is not a project; it’s an ongoing process of assessment. PCI assessor utilized defined set of controls objectives to assess the state of compliance. PCI provides an option of doing internal assessment with an officer sign off.
    Merchants should monitor and assess to keep compliance on ongoing basis. Implement defense in depth mechanism and apply security control at every layer (network, application, operating system, and data). The idea is to make their job hard enough so the attacker moves on to easier target.

    Check my previous posts regarding PCI DSS.
    pci-dss-misconceptions-and-facts
    pci-dss-significance-and-contractual-agreement

    Vulnerability Scanner that scans your machine, reports back on vulnerabilities, and provides solutions to fix them

     

    Recommended books to implement PCI DSS compliance process

     

    Tags: Credit card, defense in depth, level 4 merchant, Merchant Services, pci dss, PCI Security Standard Council, roi, Security, Total cost of ownership

    May 06 2009

    Rise of cybercrime and management responsibility

    Category: Information Security,Information Warfare — DISC @ 5:08 pm

    ITIL Security Management
    Image via Wikipedia
    According to SF Chronicle article by Deborah Gage (May 8, 2009, c2) consumer reports magazine’s annual “State of the Net” survey finds that cybercrimes has held steady since 2004, with one out of five consumers becoming victims in last two years at a cost to economy of $8 billion. Consumer report can be found on at www.consumerreports.org

    Uncertain economic time brings new threats and scams and most of the security experts agree that there’s a possibility of increase in cybercrime for this year. Survey also found that around 1.7 million people were victims of identity theft and 1.2 million had replaced their computers because of infected software.

    First why all the signs are showing uptick in cybercrimes and second what are we going to do about it.

    Management should start considering security as total cost of ownership instead of wasting time on what is ROI of information security. If there is a security breach, somebody in the management should be held accountable not an IT or security personnel. Management will keep demonstrating lax attitude toward data protection and security in general unless there are serious consequences like spending time in jail for lack of security controls (basic due diligence) and not taking appropriate actions for the risks that posed a significant threat to the organization.

    PCI, HIPAA and SOX compliance are a good start in a right direction for management to take information security into consideration, but these compliance initiatives don’t address the security of a whole organization. They address security risks of a business unit in an organization. If management is really serious about security then ISO 27002 code of practice is one of the option which should be considered to address the security of the whole organization and ultimately organization should achieve ISO 27001 certification which will build a comprehensive information security management system to manage ongoing risks.

    [TABLE=2]

    Related articles by Zemanta

    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]




    Tags: Information Security, International Organization for Standardization, isms, iso 27001, iso 27002, Operating system, Policy, Security

    « Previous Page — Next Page »