Organizational Data
Before you can start implementing best practices to
safeguard organizational data, you need to know what it
is. In organizations, there are two main types of data that
you should be aware of.
Traditional Data
Traditional data is typically generated and maintained by
all organizations, big and small. It includes the following:
• Transactional data such as details relating to buying
and selling, production activities and basic
organizational operations such as any information
used to make employment decisions.
• Intellectual property such as patents, trademarks
and new product plans, which allows an organization
to gain economic advantage over its competitors. This
information is often considered a trade secret and
losing it could prove disastrous for the future of a
company.
• Financial data such as income statements, balance
sheets and cash flow statements, which provide
insight into the health of a company.
Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data
• IoT is a large network of physical
objects, such as sensors, software and
other equipment. All of these ‘things’
are connected to the Internet, with the
ability to collect and share data. And
given that storage options are
expanding through the cloud and
virtualization, it’s no surprise that the
emergence of IoT has led to an
exponential growth in data, creating a
new area of interest in technology and
business called 'Big Data.'
The CUBE
The McCumber Cube is a model framework
created by John McCumber in 1991 to help
organizations establish and evaluate information
security initiatives by considering all of the
related factors that impact them. This security
model has three dimensions:
1.The foundational principles for protecting
information systems.
2.The protection of information in each of its
possible states.
3.The security measures used to protect data.
• Confidentiality is a set of rules that prevents
sensitive information from being disclosed to
unauthorized people, resources and processes.
Methods to ensure confidentiality include data
encryption, identity proofing and two factor
authentication.
•
Integrity ensures that system information or
processes are protected from intentional or accidental
modification. One way to ensure integrity is to use
a hash function or checksum.
•
Availability means that authorized users are able to
access systems and data when and where needed
and those that do not meet established conditions,
are not. This can be achieved by maintaining
equipment, performing hardware
repairs, keeping operating systems and
software up to date, and creating backups.
• Processing refers to data that is
being used to perform an operation
such as updating a database record
(data in process).
•
Storage refers to data stored in
memory or on a permanent storage
device such as a hard drive, solid-
state drive or USB drive (data at
rest).
•
Transmission refers to data
traveling between information
systems (data in transit).
• Awareness, training and education are the
measures put in place by an organization to ensure
that users are knowledgeable about potential
security threats and the actions they can take to
protect information systems.
•
Technology refers to the software- and hardware-
based solutions designed to protect information
systems such as firewalls, which continuously
monitor your network in search of possible
malicious incidents.
•
Policy and procedure refers to the
administrative controls that provide a foundation
for how an organization implements information
assurance, such as incident response plans and
best practice guidelines.
What do you think?
A concerned customer
has forwarded on what
they believe to be a
fraudulent email. It
looks as if it has been
sent by @Apollo but
something appears a
little 'phish-y.’
Take a look at the
email. What indicates
that it is in fact a
phishing email?
Is this for Real?
• Yes, phishing is very common and often works. For
example, in August 2020, elite gaming brand Razer
experienced a data breach which exposed the personal
information of approximately 100,000 customers.
• A security consultant discovered that a cloud cluster (a
group of linked servers providing data storage,
databases, networking, and software through the
Internet), was misconfigured and exposed a segment of
Razer’s infrastructure to the public Internet, resulting in
a data leak.
• It took Razer more than three weeks to secure the
cloud instance from public access, during which time
cybercriminals had access to customer information that
could have been used in social engineering and fraud
attacks, like the one you uncovered just now.
• Organizations therefore need to take a proactive
approach to cloud security to ensure that sensitive data
is secured.
Data security breaches
The implications of a data security breach are severe, but they are becoming all
too common.
The Persirai botnet
In 2017, an IoT botnet, Persirai, targeted over 1,000 different
models of IP cameras, accessing open ports to inject a command
that forces the cameras to connect to a site which installed
malware on them. Once the malware was downloaded and
execute, it deleted itself and was therefore able to run in memory
to avoid detection.
Over 122.000 of these cameras from several manufacturers were
hijacked and used to carry out DDoS attacks, without the
knowledge of their owners. A DDoS attack occurs when multiple
devices infected with malware flood the resources of a targeted
system.
The IoT is connecting more and more devices, creating more
opportunities for cybercriminals to attack
Equifax Inc.
In September 2017, Equifax, a customer credit reporting agency
in the US, publicly announced a data breach event: attackers had
been able to exploit a vulnerability in its web application software
to gain access to the sensitive personal data of millions of
customers.
In response to this breach, Equifax established a dedicated
website that allowed its customers to determine if their
information was compromised. However, instead of using a
subdomain of Equifax.com, the company set up a new domain
name, which allowed cybercriminals to create unauthorized
websites with similar names. These websites were used to try and
trick customers into providing personal information.
Attackers could use this information to assume a customer’s
identity. In such cases, it would be very difficult for the customers
to prove otherwise, given that the hacker is also privy to their
personal information
According to sources, a well known hotel
chain that operates across the world has
reported a massive data breach, with the
personal information of over three
million guests exposed to hackers.
The hotel discovered that hackers gained
access to its customer database by using
the login details of one of its employees.
At this point, the hotel doesn’t believe
that the hackers were able to access any
account passwords or financial
information. Recent guests are
encouraged to check the hotel chain’s
web portal to see if they have been
impacted by this breach.
If you are ever faced with a similar situation, quickly verify if
your information was compromised, so that you can minimize
the impact. Keep in mind that, in a time of crisis, you may be
tricked into using unauthorized websites.
Always be vigilant when providing personally identifiable
information over the Internet. Check your credit reports
regularly and immediately report any false information, such as
applications for credit that you did not initiate or purchases on
your credit cards that you did not make.
Despite the best of intentions and all the safeguards you can put
in place, protecting organizations from every cyberattack is not
feasible.
Cybercriminals are constantly finding new ways to attack and,
eventually, they will succeed.
When they do, it will be up to cybersecurity professionals, like
you, to respond quickly to minimize its impact.
