10/17/2022

Network Security

About this course

• Course ID: IT4262E
• Course name: Network Security 2(2-0-0-4)
• Evaluation:
• Midterm (50%): Quiz
• Final exam(50%): Quiz

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References
1. Security in Computing, 5th edition,
Charles P. Pfleeger - Pfleeger Consulting
Group, Shari Lawrence Pfleeger, Prentice
Hall 2015
2. Cryptography and Network Security
Principles and Practices, Global edition,
William Stallings, Prentice Hall 2017
3. Security Engineering, 3rd edition, Ross J.
Anderson, Wiley 2020

About lecturer
Dr. Nguyen Duc Toan,
Computer Engineering Department, SoICT, HUST

Email: toannd@soict.hust.edu.vn
Working place: Room 801 – B1 – BKHN
Website: https://soict.hust.edu.vn/en/ph-d-nguyen-duc-toan.html

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Objectives
1. Describe the rationale for network security
2. Identify risks, threats, vulnerabilities and
countermeasures
3. Discuss the states of information, identify
threats and appropriate countermeasures for
each state
4. Differentiate between security policies,
standards and guidelines

1. Introduction

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What your choice?

Token Cards/Soft Tokens (OTP)

One-Time Password (OTP)
Security

S/Key (OTP for terminal login)

Username/Password (aging)
Username/Password (static)
No Username or Password

Convenience

What your choice?

When we have convenience,
we lose out on security

we continue to have attacks

Security

Convenience

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Number of data records exposed

Number of data breaches in million

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1307426/number-of-data-breaches-worldwide

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Information security

Act of protecting data and information from

unauthorized access, unlawful modification
and disruption, disclosure, and corruption,
and destruction.

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Information system security

Act of protecting the systems that hold and

process our critical data.

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1.1. Basic Concepts

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Information Security Properties

Confidentiality

Integrity

Availability

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Confidentiality in physical world

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Confidentiality in digital world

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Confidentiality – Balance view

Balance 0$

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Confidentiality - Balance change

Balance 1000$

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Integrity

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Integrity – User
Breach of integrity

Balance 1000$

Only the bank has the

authorization to change
the balance.

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Integrity – Bank

Balance 100.000$

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Integrity – Bank
Breach of integrity

Balance 10$

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Availability

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Goals of an Information Security Program

• Confidentiality
• Prevent the disclosure of sensitive information from unauthorized
people, resources, and processes
• Integrity
• The protection of system information or processes from
intentional or accidental modification
• Availability
• The assurance that systems and data are
accessible by authorized users when needed

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Information States

Processing

Storage

Transmission

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Security Measures

Policy and Procedures

Technology

Education, Training, and Awareness

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Information Security Model

Processing
Storage
Transmission
Confidentiality

Integrity

Availability

Policy and Procedures

Technology
Education, Training,
and Awareness

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Information Security Model

Information States

Information
Security
Properties

Security Measures

NSTISSI 4011: National Training Standard for Information Systems Security Professionals, 1994

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1.2. Network Security model

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What is Network Security?

Network security is the protection of

information, systems and hardware that use,
store, and transmit that information.

Network security encompasses those steps that

are taken to ensure the confidentiality, integrity,
and availability of data or resources.
National Security Telecommunications and
Information Systems Security Committee (NSTISSC)

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Network Security challenge

• Open system
• Distribution resource
• Anonymous
• TCP/IP was NOT designed for security
• No authentication
• No authorization, not all data are encrypted

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Network Security Architecture

• Authentication
• Who are you?
• “I am user student and my password validateme
proves it”
• Authorization
• What can you do? What can you access?
• “User student can access host NT_Server with Telnet”
• Accounting
• What did you do? How long did you do it?
How often did you do it?
• “User student accessed host NT_Server with Telnet 15
times”

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Authentication

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Authorization

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Accounting

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1.3. Why Network Security is

Important?

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Rationale for Network Security

• Network security initiatives and network security

specialists can be found in private and public, large and
small companies and organizations.
• The need for network security and its growth are driven
by many factors:
1. Internet connectivity is 24/7 and is worldwide
2. Increase in cyber crime
3. Impact on business and individuals
4. Legislation & liabilities
5. Proliferation of threats
6. Sophistication of threats

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What is Cyber Crime?

The adopted definition of Cyber Crime is:

• Cyber Dependent Crimes, where a digital system is the target as well as the
means of attack. These include attacks on computer systems to disrupt IT
infrastructure, and stealing data over a network using malware (the purpose of
the data theft is usually to commit further crime).

• Cyber Enabled Crimes. ‘Existing’ crimes that have been transformed in scale
or form by their use of the Internet. The growth of the Internet has allowed
these crimes to be carried out on an industrial scale.

• The use of the Internet to facilitate drug dealing, people smuggling and many
other 'traditional' crime types.

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Cyber element?

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Highest reported
incidents:

+ Online fraud
+ Mandate
+ Ransomware
+ Romance
frauds

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Which of these is a cyber threat?

POTENTIALLY ALL OF THEM!

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Current Scams
• Invoice emails – i.e. new vendors, changes to current vendors, Apple
[little mix]
• Vouchers - Supermarkets, on line stores
• Account updates – amazon, Sky, Virgin, Utilities.
• Advice – any unsolicited emails. Do not press that link; simply delete.
Go via normal website. Send to phishing email address for company
• Mandate fraud – Bedford company lost £100K put 27 staff at risk. £1M
in Luton in September. Bedford company had windows 365
compromised with poor PW. L/Buzzard company 17 fake invoices by
post in Jan17.
• Solicitor companies being targeted – Luton March 2017, Bedford Dec
• Advice - Slow down, check via second source. Get copy of our advice.
• Ransomware – Luton Hotel attacked over New year – pay and enter
suckers list

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Other cybercrime

• Identity Theft
• Child Pornography
• Theft of Telecommunications Services
• Electronic Vandalism, Terrorism and Extortion

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– An estimated

3.6 million households, or about 3
percent of all households in the nation,
learned that they had been the victim of
at least one type of identity theft during
a six-month period in 2004, according
to the Justice Department’s Bureau of
Justice Statistics

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What are some of the biggest threats?

• Insider Threat (theft/fraud/data breach)

• Malware by phishing attacks
• Data Breach
• DDoS
• Social Engineering leading to scams
• Theft/fraud by Customers or vendors.

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Some good news!!

80% is easily preventable

Ultimately it depends on the business, how it is set up, the infrastructure and the
policies and procedures, and protect mechanisms in place.

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Business Impact
1. Decrease in productivity
2. Loss of sales revenue
3. Release of unauthorized sensitive data
4. Threat of trade secrets or formulas
5. Compromise of reputation and trust
6. Loss of communications
7. Threat to environmental and safety systems
8. Loss of time

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Legislation

• Federal and local government has passed legislation

that holds organizations and individuals liable for
mismanagement of sensitive data.
• Luật an ninh mạng

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Proliferation of Threats

In 2001, the National Infrastructure Protection Center at the FBI

released a document summarizing the Ten Most Critical Internet
Security Vulnerabilities.
Thousands of organizations rely on this list to prioritize their efforts
so they can close the most dangerous holes first.
The threat landscape is very
dynamic, which in turn makes it
necessary to adopt newer
security measures.

Just over the last few years, the

kinds of vulnerabilities that are
being exploited are very different
from the ones being exploited in
the past.

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What is Vulnerability

• A network vulnerability is a weakness in a system,

technology, product or policy
• In today’s environment, several organizations track,
organize and test these vulnerabilities
• Each vulnerability is given an ID and can be reviewed by
network security professionals over the Internet.
• The common vulnerability exposure (CVE) list also
publishes ways to prevent the vulnerability from being
attacked

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Vulnerability Appraisal tham^m? di.nh

• It is very important that network security specialists

comprehend the importance of vulnerability appraisal
• A vulnerability appraisal is a snapshot of the current
security of the organization as it now stands
• What current security weaknesses may expose the
assets to these threats?
• Vulnerability scanners are tools available as free Internet
downloads and as commercial products
• These tools compare the asset against a database of known
vulnerabilities and produce a discovery report that exposes the
vulnerability and assesses its severity

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Purpose of Security
• To protect assets!
• Historically done through physical security and closed
networks.

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The Network Today

• With the advent of personal computers, LANs, and the wide-open world
of the Internet, the networks of today are more open.

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What is Threat

• A potential danger to information or a system

• E.g: the ability to gain unauthorized access to systems or information in
order to commit fraud, network intrusion, industrial espionage, identity
theft, or simply to disrupt the system or network
• There may be weaknesses that greatly increase the likelihood of a
threat manifesting
• Threats may include equipment
failure, structured attacks, natural
disasters, physical attacks, theft,
viruses and many other potential
events causing danger or damage

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Threats
• There are four primary classes of threats to network security:
• Unstructured threats
• Structured threats
• External threats
• Internal threats

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Types of Attacks
Structured attack
Come from hackers who are more highly motivated and technically
competent. These people know system vulnerabilities and can
understand and develop exploit code and scripts. They understand,
develop, and use sophisticated hacking techniques to penetrate
unsuspecting businesses. These groups are often involved with the
major fraud and theft cases reported to law enforcement agencies.

Unstructured attack
Consists of mostly inexperienced individuals using easily available
hacking tools such as shell scripts and password crackers. Even
unstructured threats that are only executed with the intent of testing
and challenging a hacker’s skills can still do serious damage to a
company.

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Types of Attacks
External attacks
Initiated by individuals or groups working outside of a company. They
do not have authorized access to the computer systems or network.
They gather information in order to work their way into a network
mainly from the Internet or dialup access servers.

Internal attacks
More common and dangerous. Internal attacks are initiated by
someone who has authorized access to the network. According to the
FBI, internal access and misuse account for 60 to 80 percent of
reported incidents. These attacks often are traced to disgruntled
employees. ba^t' man~

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Types of Attacks

• Passive Attack
• Listen to system passwords
• Release of message content
• Traffic analysis
• Data capturing
• Active Attack
• Attempt to log into someone else’s account
• Wire taps
• Denial of services
• Masquerading
• Message modifications

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Specific Network Attacks

• ARP Attack
• Brute Force Attack
• Worms
• Flooding
• Sniffers
• Spoofing
• Redirected Attacks
• Tunneling Attack
• Covert Channels

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Attack Methodology

Stages - the methodology of network attacks is well

documented and researched. This research has led to
greater understanding of network attacks and an entire
specialization of engineers that test and protect networks
against attacks (Certified Ethical Hackers/Penetration
Testers)
Tools - penetration testers have a variety of power tools that
are now commercially available. They also have may open
source free tools. This proliferation of powerful tools has
increased the threat of attack due to the fact that even
technical novices can now launch sophisticated attacks.

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Stages of an Attack

• Today’s attackers have an abundance of targets. In fact

their greatest challenge is to select the most vulnerable
victims. This has resulted in very well- planned and
structured attacks. These attacks have common logistical
and strategic stages. These stages include;
• Reconnaissance
• Scanning (addresses, ports, vulnerabilities)
• Gaining access
• Maintaining Access
• Covering Tracks

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Tools of the Attacker

• The following are a few of the most popular tools used by

network attackers:
• Enumeration tools (dumpreg, netview and netuser)
• Port/address scanners (AngryIP, nmap, Nessus)
• Vulnerability scanners (Meta Sploit, Core Impact, ISS)
• Packet Sniffers (Snort, Wire Shark, Air Magnet)
• Root kits
• Cryptographic cracking tools (Cain, WepCrack)
• Malicious codes (worms, Trojan horse, time bombs)
• System hijack tools (netcat, MetaSploit, Core Impact)

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2. Risk managêmnt

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Risk Management

• Risk Analysis
• Threats
• Vulnerabilities
• Countermeasures

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Risk Management

Control physical access Password protection

Develop a Security Policy

• The process of assessing and quantifying risk and establishing

an acceptable level of risk for the organization
• Risk can be mitigated, but cannot be eliminated

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Risk Assessment

• Risk assessment involves determining the likelihood that

the vulnerability is a risk to the organization
• Each vulnerability can be ranked by the scale
• Sometimes calculating anticipated losses can be helpful
in determining the impact of a vulnerability

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Asset Identification
• Categories of assets
• Information Assets (people, hardware, software, systems)
• Supporting Assets (facilities, utilities, services)
• Critical Assets (can be either of those listed above)
• Attributes of the assets need to be compiled
• Determine each item’s relative value
• How much revenue/profit does it generate?
• What is the cost to replace it?
• How difficult would it be to replace?
• How quickly can it be replaced?

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Risk Management Terms

• Vulnerability – a system, network or device weakness
• Threat – potential danger posed by a vulnerability
• Threat agent – the entity that indentifies a vulnerability
and uses it to attack the victim
• Risk – likelihood of a threat agent taking advantage of
a vulnerability and the corresponding business impact
• Exposure – potential to experience losses from a threat
agent
• Countermeasure – put into place to mitigate the
potential risk

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Understanding Risk
Gives rise to

Threat
Exploits
Agent
Threat Leads to

Vulnerability

Risk
Directly affects

Asset
Can damage

Exposure Causes

Countermeasure
Can be safeguarded by

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Qualitative Risk Analysis

Exposure values prioritize the order for addressing risks

A new worm

Web site defacement

Fire protection system
Floods datacenter

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Quantitative Risk Analysis

• Exposure Factor (EF)
• % of loss of an asset
• Single Loss Expectancy (SLE)
• EF x Value of asset in $
• Annualized Rate of Occurrence (ARO)
• A number representing frequency of occurrence of a threat
Example: 0.0 = Never 1000 = Occurs very often

• Annualized Loss Expectancy (ALE)

• Dollar value derived from: SLE x ARO

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Countermeasures

• DMZ/NAT
• IDS/IPS
• Content Filtering/NAC
• Firewalls/proxy services
• Authentication/Authorization/Accounting
• Self-defending networks
• Policies, procedures, standards guidelines
• Training and awareness

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Countermeasure Selection

• Cost /benefit calculation

(ALE before implementing safeguard) – (ALE after implementing
safeguard) – (annual cost of safeguard) = value of safeguard to
the company
• Evaluating cost of a countermeasure

• Product costs - Testing requirements

• Design/planning costs - Repair, replacement, or
• Implementation costs update costs
• Environment modifications
- Operating and support costs
• Compatibility
• Maintenance requirements - Effects of productivity

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Managing Risks
Accept Transfer
Acknowledge that the Shift responsibility for
risk exists, but apply the risk to a third
no safeguard party (ISP, Insurance,
etc.)

Risk

Mitigate Avoid
Change the asset’s risk Eliminate the asset’s
exposure (apply exposure to risk, or
safeguard) eliminate the asset
altogether

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3. Security Policy

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What Is a Security Policy?

• A document that states how an organization plans to

protect its tangible and intangible information assets
• Management instructions indicating a course of action, a guiding
principle, or appropriate procedure
• High-level statements that provide guidance to workers who
must make present and future decisions
• Generalized requirements that must be written down and
communicated to others

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Change Drivers trinh` die^u` khie^n?

• Built into the information security program

• Events that cause us to revisit policies,
procedures, standards, and guidelines
• Changes in technology
• Changes in senior level personnel
thu mua • Acquisition of other companies
• New products, services, or business lines

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Documents Supporting Policies

• Standards – dictate specific minimum requirements in

our policies
• Guidelines – suggest the best way to accomplish certain
tasks
• Procedures – provide a method by which a policy is
accomplished (the instructions)

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Example: The Policy

• All users must have a unique user ID and

password that conforms to the company
password standard
• Users must not share their password with
anyone regardless of title or position
• Passwords must not be stored in written or any
readable form
• If a compromise is suspected, it must be
reported to the help desk and a new password
must be requested

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Example: The Standards

• Minimum of 8 upper- and lowercase

alphanumeric characters
• Must include a special character
• Must be changed every 30 days
• Password history of 24 previous passwords will
be used to ensure passwords aren’t reused

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Example: The Guideline

• Take a phrase
Up and At ‘em at 7!
• Convert to a strong password
Up&atm@7!
• To create other passwords from this phrase,
change the number, move the symbol, or
change the punctuation mark

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Example: The Procedure

Procedure for changing a password

1. Press Control, Alt, Delete to bring up the
log in dialog box
2. Click the “change password” button
3. Enter your current password in the top
box
4. …

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Policy Elements

• Statement of Authority – an introduction to the

information security policies
• Policy Headings – logistical information (security
domain, policy number, name of organization, effective
date, author, change control documentation or number)
• Policy Objectives – states what we are trying to achieve
by implementing the policy
• Policy Statement of Purpose – why the policy was
adopted, and how it will be implemented

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Policy Elements, 2

• Policy Audience – states who the policy is intended for

• Policy Statement – how the policy will be implemented
(the rules)
• Policy Exceptions – special situations calling for
exception to the normal, accepted rules
• Policy Enforcement Clause – consequences for violation
• Policy Definitions – a “glossary” to ensure that the target
audience understands the policy

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Policy Example

Subsection 6.1 PERSONNEL SECURITY Change Control #: 1.0

Policy 6.1.3 Confidentiality Agreements Approved by: SMH
Objectives Confidentiality of organizational data is a key tenet of our information security program. In support of this
goal, ABC Co will require signed confidentiality agreements of all authorized users of information systems.
This agreement shall conform to all federal, state, regulatory, and union requirements.

Purpose The purpose of this policy is to protect the assets of the organization by clearly informing staff of their roles
and responsibilities for keeping the organization’s information confidential.

Audience ABC Co confidentiality agreement policy applies equally to all individuals granted access privileges to an
ABC Co Information resources

Policy This policy requires that staff sign a confidentiality policy agreement prior to being granted access to any
sensitive information or systems.
Agreements will be reviewed with the staff member when there is any change to the employment or contract,
or prior to leaving the organization.
The agreements will be provided to the employees by the Human Resource Dept.

Exceptions At the discretion of the Information Security Officer, third parties whose contracts include a confidentiality
clause may be exempted from signing individual confidentiality agreements.

Disciplinary Violation of this policy may result in disciplinary actions, which may include termination for employees and
Actions temporaries; a termination of employment relations in the case of contractors or consultants; or dismissal for
interns and volunteers. Additionally, individuals are subject to civil and criminal prosecution.

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Network Security Organizations

www.infosyssec.com

www.sans.org

www.cisecurity.org

www.cert.org

www.isc2.org

www.first.org

www.infragard.net

www.mitre.org

www.cnss.gov

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SANS

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CERT

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ISC2

Information security certifications Offered by (ISC)2

Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SCCP)

Certification and Accreditation Professional (CAP)

Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP)

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

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4. Evolution of Hacking

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Hacker Titles
• Phreaker
• An individual that manipulates the phone
network in order to cause it to perform a
function that is normally not allowed such as
to make free long distance calls.
• Captain Crunch (John Drapper)

• Spammer
• Individual that sends large quantities of
unsolicited email messages.
• Spammers often use viruses to take control
of home computers to send out their bulk
messages.

• Phisher
• Individual uses email or other means in an
attempt to trick others into providing
sensitive information, such as credit card
numbers or passwords.

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Evolution of Hacking
• 1960s - Phone Freaks (Phreaks)
• 1980s - Wardialing (WarGames)
• 1988 - Internet Worm
• 1993 - First def Con hacking conference held
• 1995 - First 5 year federal prison sentence for hacking
• 1997 - Nmap released
• 1997 - First malicious scripts used by script kiddies
• 2002 - Melissa virus creator gets 20 months in jail

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Security firsts …

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First Email Virus

• The first email virus, the Melissa virus, was written
by David Smith and resulted in memory overflows
in Internet mail servers.
• David Smith was sentenced to 20 months in federal
prison and a US$5,000 fine.

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First Worm
• Robert Morris created the first Internet worm with
99 lines of code.
• When the Morris Worm was released, 10% of Internet
systems were brought to a halt.

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First SPAM

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First DoS Attack

• MafiaBoy was the Internet alias of Michael Calce, a
15 year old high school student from Montreal,
Canada.
• He launched highly publicized DoS attacks in Feb
2000 against Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Dell, Inc.,
E*TRADE, eBay, and CNN.

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Mafiaboy
• In 2001, The Montreal Youth Court
sentenced him on September 12, 2001
to eight months of "open custody," one
year of probation, restricted use of the
Internet, and a small fine.
• In 2005, Mr. Calce wrote as a columnist
on computer security topics for the
Francophone newspaper Le Journal de
Montréal.
• In 2008, he published Mafiaboy: “How I
Cracked the Internet and Why It's Still
Broken.”
• He has also made numerous TV
appearances.

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Trends Driving Network Security

Xu huong thu'c da^y? an ninh mang.
• Increase of network attacks
• Increased sophistication of attacks
• Increased dependence on the network
• Wireless access
• Lack of trained personnel
• Lack of awareness
• Lack of security policies
• Legislation
• Litigation

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Legal and Governmental Policy Issues

• Organizations that operate vulnerable networks will face increasing and

substantial liability.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_security#Laws_and_regulations

• US Federal legislation mandating security includes the following:

• Gramm-Leach-Blilely (GLB) bill financial services legislation
• Government Information Security Reform Act
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
• Children Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
• The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

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How to Keep on Top?

• Network security professionals must collaborate with professional
colleagues more frequently than most other professions.
• Attending workshops and conferences that are often
affiliated with, sponsored or organized by local, national,
or international technology organizations.
• Must also know about various security organizations which
provide help on:
• Detecting and responding to both established and
emerging information security threats.
• Operating system weaknesses, best practices for
security, and security training and certification
information is also available.

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5. Network Attacks

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Types of Attacks
• There are four categories of attacks:
• Malicious Code: Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses
• Reconnaissance Attacks
• Access Attacks
• Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks

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Malware
xam nhap
• “Malicious software” is software designed to infiltrate a computer
without the owner's informed consent.
su dong thuan, dong y
• Malware includes:
• Computer viruses
• Worms
• Trojan horses
• Rootkits
• Backdoors (Method of bypassing normal authentication
procedures and usually installed using Trojan horses or
worms.)
• For profit (Spyware, botnets, keystroke loggers, and dialers)

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Spyware
• Spyware is a strictly for-profit category of malware designed to:
• Monitor a users web browsing.
• Display unsolicited advertisements.
• Redirect affiliate marketing revenues to the spyware
creator.
• Spyware programs are generally installed by exploiting security
holes or as Trojan horse programs such as most peer-to-peer
applications.

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Why Write Malicious Code?

• Most early worms and viruses were written as
experiments or pranks generally intended to be
harmless or merely annoying rather than to cause
serious damage to computers.
• Young programmers learning about viruses and the
techniques wrote them for the sole purpose that
they could or to see how far it could spread.
thu? pham.
• In some cases the perpetrator did not realize how much
harm their creations could do.
• As late as 1999, widespread viruses such as the
Melissa virus appear to have been written chiefly
as pranks.

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Malicious Code Writing Today

• Malicious code writing has changed for profitable reasons.
• Mainly due to the Internet and broadband access.
• Since 2003 the majority of viruses and worms have been
designed to take control of users' computers for black-market
exploitation.
• Infected "zombie computers" are used to send email spam, to
host contraband data, or to engage in DDoS attacks as a form
of extortion.
• In 2008, Symantec published:
• The release rate of malicious code and other unwanted
programs may be exceeding that of legitimate software
applications.

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Viruses, Trojan horses, and Worms

• A virus is malicious software that is attached to another program to

execute a particular unwanted function on a user's workstation.
• A worm executes arbitrary code and installs copies of itself in the
infected computer’s memory, which infects other hosts.
• A Trojan horse is different only in that the entire application was written
to look like something else, when in fact it is an attack tool.

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Viruses
• A computer virus is a malicious computer program (executable file) that
can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge
of the user.
• A virus can only spread from one computer to another by:
• Sending it over a network as a file or as an email payload.
• Carrying it on a removable medium.
• Viruses need USER INTERVENTION to spread …

111

Viruses
• Some viruses are programmed to damage the computer by
damaging programs, deleting files, or reformatting the hard disk.
• Others are not designed to do any damage, but simply replicate
themselves and perhaps make their presence known by
presenting text, video, or audio messages.

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Worms ma~ thu` dich.

• Worms are a particularly dangerous type of hostile code.
• They replicate themselves by independently exploiting
vulnerabilities in networks.
• Worms usually slow down networks.
• Worms DO NOT NEED USER INTERVENTION!
• Worms do not require user participation and can spread
extremely fast over the network.

113

SQL Slammer Worms

• In January 2001, the SQL Slammer
Worm slowed down global Internet
traffic as a result of DoS.
• Over 250,000 hosts were affected
within 30 minutes of its release.
• The worm exploited a buffer overflow
bug in Microsoft's SQL Server.
• A patch for this vulnerability was released in
mid-2002, so the servers that were affected
were those that did not have the update
patch applied.

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giai? pha^~u
Anatomy of a Worm
• The enabling vulnerability
• A worm installs itself using an exploit vector on a vulnerable
system.
• Propagation mechanism
• After gaining access to devices, a worm replicates and selects
new targets.
• Payload
• Once the device is infected with a worm, the attacker has
access to the host – often as a privileged user.
• Attackers could use a local exploit to escalate their privilege
level to administrator.

115

The year's most-hacked software 2009

• “Kits that go by names like ‘T-IFramer,’ ‘Liberty Exploit Systems’

and ‘Elenore’ all turned up on underground markets selling for
$300 to $500, Kandek says, and allow the attacker to install a
Trojan program ready to download whatever malicious software a
cybercriminal wishes, from spyware to click-fraud software. All
three of those kits exploit three unique Adobe Reader bugs, along
with a smaller number of bugs in Internet Explorer, Microsoft
Office, Firefox and even Quicktime.”
Excerpt from the article at:
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/12/16/f-forbes-adobe-hacked-software.html

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Trojan Horse
• A Trojan horse is a program that appears, to the user, to perform a
desirable function but, in fact, facilitates unauthorized access to the
user's computer system.
• Trojan horses may appear to be useful or interesting programs, or at the
very least harmless to an unsuspecting user, but are actually harmful
when executed.
• Trojan horses are not self-replicating which distinguishes them from
viruses and worms.

117

Trojan Horse Classification

• Remote-access Trojan Horse
• Enables unauthorized remote access
• Data sending Trojan Horse
• Provides the attacker with sensitive data such as passwords
• Destructive Trojan Horse
• Corrupts or deletes files
• Proxy Trojan Horse
• User's computer functions as a proxy server
• FTP Trojan Horse (opens port 21)
• Security software disabler Trojan Horse (stops anti-virus
programs or firewalls from functioning)
• Denial of Service Trojan Horse (slows or halts network activity)

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Five Phases of a Virus/Worm Attack

• Probe phase:
• Vulnerable targets are identified using ping scans.
• Application scans are used to identify operating systems and vulnerable software.
• Hackers obtain passwords using social engineering, dictionary attack, brute-force, or network sniffing.
xa^m nha^.p
• Penetrate phase:
• Exploit code is transferred to the vulnerable target.
• Goal is to get the target to execute the exploit code through an attack vector, such as a buffer overflow, ActiveX or
Common Gateway Interface (CGI) vulnerabilities, or an email virus.

• Persist phase:
• After the attack is successfully launched in the memory, the code tries to persist on the target system.
• Goal is to ensure that the attacker code is running and available to the attacker even if the system reboots.
• Achieved by modifying system files, making registry changes, and installing new code.

• Propagate phase:
• The attacker attempts to extend the attack to other targets by looking for vulnerable neighboring machines.
• Propagation vectors include emailing copies of the attack to other systems, uploading files to other systems using file
shares or FTP services, active web connections, and file transfers through Internet Relay Chat.
te^ lie^.t
• Paralyze phase:
• Actual damage is done to the system.
• Files can be erased, systems can crash, information can be stolen, and distributed DDoS attacks can be launched.

119

How Do You Mitigate Viruses and Worms?

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Viruses and Trojan Horses - Mitigation

• The primary means of mitigating virus and Trojan horse attacks is anti-
virus software.
• For total protection, host-based intrusion prevention systems
(HIPS), such as Cisco Security Agent should also be deployed.
• HIPS protects the OS kernel.
• Anti-virus software helps prevent hosts from getting infected and
spreading malicious code.
• However, antivirus software must be used properly.
• Always update with the latest antivirus .dat and application
versions.
• Consider that it requires much more time to clean up infected
computers than it does to maintain up-to-date anti-virus
software and anti-virus definitions on the same machines.

121

Mitigating an Active Worm

• Worm attack mitigation requires diligence on the part of system and
network administration staff.
• There is a four-phase process to mitigate an active worm attacks.

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Worms - Mitigation
• Containment Phase:
• Limit the spread of a worm infection to areas of the network
that are already affected.
chia ngan
• Compartmentalize and segment the network to slow down or
stop the worm to prevent currently infected hosts from
targeting and infecting other systems.
• Use both outgoing and incoming ACLs on routers and firewalls
at control points within the network.
tie^m chung?
• Inoculation Phase:
• Runs parallel to or subsequent to the containment phase.
• All uninfected systems are patched with the appropriate
vendor patch for the vulnerability. tuoc' doat.
• The inoculation process further deprives the worm of any
available targets.

123

Worms - Mitigation
• Quarantine Phase:
• Track down and identify infected machines within the
contained areas and disconnect, block, or remove them.
• This isolates these systems appropriately for the Treatment
Phase.
• Treatment Phase:
• Actively infected systems are disinfected of the worm.
• Terminate the worm process, remove modified files or system
settings that the worm introduced, and patch the vulnerability
the worm used to exploit the system.
• In more severe cases, completely reinstalling the system to
ensure that the worm and its by products are removed.

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Example: Mitigating SQL Slammer

• The SQL Slammer worm used UDP port 1434.
• This port should normally be blocked by a firewall on the
perimeter.
• However, most infections enter internally and therefore, to
prevent the spreading of this worm it would be necessary to
block this port on all devices throughout the internal network.
• When SQL Slammer was propagating, some organizations could not
block UDP port 1434 because it was required to access the SQL Server
for legitimate business transactions.
• Permit only selective access to a small number of clients using
SQL Server.

125

Types of Attacks
• There are four categories of attacks:
• Malicious Code: Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses
trinh sat
• Reconnaissance Attacks
• Access Attacks
• Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks

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Reconnaissance A reconnaissance attack is a type of security attack that an attacker uses to gather all
possible information about the target before launching an actual attack. An attacker uses a
reconnaissance attack as a preparation tool for an actual attack.

• Reconnaissance also known as information gathering is the

unauthorized discovery and mapping of systems, services, or
vulnerabilities. xay? ra truoc
• In most cases, precedes an access or DoS attack.
• Reconnaissance attacks can consist of the following:
• Internet information queries
• Ping sweeps
• Port scans
• Packet sniffers

127

Internet Information Queries

Domain Name System
• DNS queries can reveal information such as who owns a
particular domain and what addresses have been assigned to that
domain.
• Use tools such as whois, nslookup, …

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Ping Sweeps and Port Scans

• A ping sweep, or ICMP sweep, scans to determine which range of
IP addresses map to live hosts.
• A port scan consists of sending a message to each port, one port
at a time.
• Response received indicates whether the port is used
and can therefore be probed for weakness.

129

Ping Sweeps and Port Scans

• As legitimate tools, ping sweep and port scan applications run a
series of tests against hosts to identify vulnerable services.
• The information is gathered by examining IP addressing and port
data from both TCP and UDP ports.

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Packet Sniffing danh' hoi

• A packet sniffer is a software application that uses a network adapter
card in promiscuous mode to capture all network packets that are sent
across a LAN.
• Packet sniffers can only work in the same collision domain as
the network being attacked.
• Promiscuous mode is a mode in which the network adapter
card sends all packets that are received on the physical
network wire to an application for processing.
• Wireshark is an example of a packet sniffer.

131

Packet Sniffing
• Some network applications (FTP, Telnet, TFTP, SNMP, …)
distribute network packets in plaintext.
• The packets can be processed and understood by
packet sniffing applications.
• Numerous freeware and shareware packet sniffers are
available that do not require the user to understand
anything about the underlying protocols.

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Types of Attacks
• There are four categories of attacks:
• Malicious Code: Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses
• Reconnaissance Attacks
• Access Attacks
• Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks

133

Access Attacks
• Access attacks exploit known vulnerabilities in authentication
services, FTP services, and web services to gain entry to web
accounts, confidential databases, and other sensitive information
for these reasons:
• Retrieve data
• Gain access
• Escalate their access privileges

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Access Attacks
• Access attacks can be performed in a number of different ways,
including:
• Password attacks
• Trust exploitation
• Port redirection
• Man-in-the-middle attacks
• Buffer overflow

135

Password Attacks
• Hackers implement password attacks using the following:
• Brute-force attacks
• Trojan horse programs
• IP spoofing
• Packet sniffers

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Password Attack Example

• L0phtCrack (“loft-crack”) takes the
hashes of passwords and generates the
plaintext passwords from them.
• Passwords are compromised using one
of two methods:
• Dictionary cracking
• Brute-force computation

137

Trust Exploitation
• Trust exploitation refers to an individual taking advantage of a
trust relationship within a network.
• An example of when trust exploitation takes place is when a
perimeter network is connected to a corporate network.
• These network segments often contain DNS, SMTP, and
HTTP servers.
• Because these servers all reside on the same segment,
a compromise of one system can lead to the
compromise of other systems if those other systems also
trust systems that are attached to the same network.

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Trust Exploitation
• Another example of trust exploitation is a Demilitarized Zone
(DMZ) host that has a trust relationship with an inside host that is
connected to the inside firewall interface.
• The inside host trusts the DMZ host.
• When the DMZ host is compromised, the attacker can
leverage that trust relationship to attack the inside host.
ta^n. dung.

139

Trust Exploitation
• A hacker leverages existing trust relationships.
• Several trust models exist:
• Windows:
• Domains
• Active directory
• Linux and UNIX:
• NIS
• NIS+

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Port Redirection
• A port redirection attack is a type of trust exploitation attack that
uses a compromised host to pass traffic through a firewall that
would otherwise have been dropped.
• Port redirection bypasses the firewall rule sets by
changing the normal source port for a type of network
traffic.
• You can mitigate port redirection by using proper trust
models that are network-specific.
• Assuming a system is under attack, an IPS can help
detect a hacker and prevent installation of such utilities
on a host.

141

Port Redirection

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“Man-in-the-Middle” Attacks
• Man-in-the-middle attacks have these purposes:
• Theft of information
• Hijacking of an ongoing session to gain access to your
internal network resources
• Traffic analysis to obtain information about your network
and network users
• DoS
• Corruption of transmitted data
• Introduction of new information into network sessions
• An example of a man-in-the-middle attack is when someone
working for your ISP gains access to all network packets that
transfer between your network and any other network.

143

Types of Attacks
• There are four categories of attacks:
• Malicious Code: Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses
• Reconnaissance Attacks
• Access Attacks
• Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks

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Denial of Service Attack (DoS)

• Among the most difficult to completely eliminate because they
require so little effort to execute.
• Types of DoS attacks include:
• Ping of death
• Smurf Attack
• TCP SYN flood attack
• Others include packet fragmentation and reassembly, E-mail
bombs, CPU hogging, Malicious applets, Misconfiguring routers,
the chargen attack, out-of-band attacks such as WinNuke,
Land.c, Teardrop.c, and Targa.c.

145

DoS Attacks

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Denial-of-Service Facts

• Commonly used against information Uh-Oh. Another

stores like web sites DoS attack!
• Simple and usually quite effective
• Does not pose a direct threat to
sensitive data
• The attacker tries to prevent a service
from being used and making that
service unavailable to legitimate users
• Attackers typically go for high visibility
targets such as the web server, or for
infrastructure targets like routers and
network links

147

Denial-of-Service Example

If a mail server is capable of receiving and

delivering 10 messages a second, an attacker
simply sends 20 messages per second. The
legitimate traffic (as well as a lot of the malicious
traffic) will get dropped, or the mail server might
stop responding entirely.
• This type of an attack may be used as a diversion
while another attack is made to actually compromise
systems
• In addition, administrators are likely to make mistakes
during an attack and possibly change a setting that
creates a vulnerability that can be further exploited

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Types of Denial-of-Service Attacks

• Buffer Overflow Attacks

• SYN Flood Attack
• Teardrop Attacks
• Smurf Attack
• DNS Attacks
• Email Attacks
• Physical Infrastructure
Attacks
• Viruses/Worms

149

DoS - Buffer Overflow Attacks

The most common DoS attack sends more traffic to a

device than the program anticipates that someone
might send Buffer Overflow.

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DoS - SYN Flood Attack

• When connection sessions are initiated between

a client and server in a network, a very small
space exists to handle the usually rapid "hand-
shaking" exchange of messages that sets up a
session.
• The session-establishing packets include a SYN
field that identifies the sequence order.
• To cause this kind of attack, an attacker can
send many packets, usually from a spoofed
address, thus ensuring that no response is sent.

151

DoS - Teardrop Attack

• Exploits the way that the Internet

Protocol (IP) requires a packet that
is too large for the next router to
handle be divided into fragments.
• The fragmented packet identifies an
offset to the beginning of the first
packet that enables the entire packet
to be reassembled by the receiving
system.
• In the teardrop attack, an attacker's
IP puts a confusing value in the
second or later fragment. If the
receiving operating system cannot
cope with such fragmentation, then it
can cause the system to crash.

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DoS - Smurf Attack

The attacker sends an IP ping

request to a network site.
The ping packet requests that it
be broadcast to a number of hosts
within that local network.
The packet also indicates that the
request is from a different site, i.e.
the victim site that is to receive the
denial of service.
This is called IP Spoofing--the victim site becomes the address of
the originating packet.
The result is that lots of ping replies flood back to the victim host.
If the flood is big enough then the victim host will no longer be
able to receive or process "real" traffic.

153

DoS - DNS Attacks

• A famous DNS attack was

a DDoS "ping" attack. The
attackers broke into
machines on the Internet
(popularly called "zombies")
and sent streams of forged
packets at the 13 DNS
root servers via intermediary
legitimate machines.
• The goal was to clog the servers, and communication links on the way
to the servers, so that useful traffic was gridlocked. The assault is not
DNS-specific--the same attack has been used against several popular
Web servers in the last few years.

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DoS - Email Attacks

• When using Microsoft Outlook, a script reads your

address book and sends a copy of itself to everyone
listed there, thus propagating itself around the Internet.
• The script then modifies the computer’s registry so that
the script runs itself again when restarted.

155

DoS - Physical Infrastructure Attacks

• Someone can just simply snip your cables! Fortunately

this can be quickly noticed and dealt with.
• Other physical infrastructure attacks can include recycling
systems, affecting power to systems and actual
destruction of computers or storage devices.

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DoS - Viruses/Worms

• Viruses or worms, which replicate across a network in

various ways, can be viewed as denial-of-service attacks
where the victim is not usually specifically targeted but
simply a host unlucky enough to get the virus.
• Available bandwidth can become saturated as the
virus/worm attempts to replicate itself and find new
victims.

157

Malicious Code Attacks

• Malicious code attacks refers to

viruses, worms, Trojan horses,
logic bombs, and other
uninvited software
• Damages personal computers,
but also attacks systems that
are more sophisticated
• Actual costs attributed to the
presence of malicious code
have resulted primarily from
system outages and staff time
involved in repairing the
systems
• Costs can be significant

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Packet Sniffing Attacks

• Most organization LANs are Ethernet networks

• On Ethernet-based networks, any machine on the network can see
the traffic for every machine on that network
• Sniffer programs exploit this characteristic, monitoring all traffic and
capturing the first 128 bytes or so of every unencrypted FTP or Telnet
session (the part that contains user passwords)

159

Information Leakage Attacks

• Attackers can sometimes get data without having to

directly use computers
• Exploit Internet services that are intended to give out
information
• Induce these services to reveal extra information or to
give it out to unauthorized people
• Many services designed for use on local area networks
do not have the security needed for safe use across the
Internet
• Thus these services become the means for important
information leakage

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Social Engineering Attacks

• Hacker-speak for tricking a person into revealing some

confidential information
• Social Engineering is defined as an attack based on
deceiving users or administrators at the target site
• Done to gain illicit access to systems or useful
information
• The goals of social engineering are fraud, network
intrusion, industrial espionage, identity theft, etc.

161

Ping of death
• Legacy attack that sent an echo request in an IP packet larger
than the maximum packet size of 65,535 bytes.
• Sending a ping of this size can crash the target
computer.
• A variant of this attack is to crash a system by sending ICMP
fragments, which fill the reassembly buffers of the target.

162

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DoS and DDoS Attacks and

Mitigation
• A DDoS attack and the simpler version of a DoS attack on a
server, send extremely large numbers of requests over a network
or the Internet.
• These many requests cause the target server to run well
below optimum speeds.
• Consequently, the attacked server becomes unavailable
for legitimate access and use.
• By overloading system resources, DoS and DDoS
attacks crash applications and processes by executing
exploits or a combination of exploits.
• DoS and DDoS attacks are the most publicized form of
attack and are among the most difficult to completely
eliminate.

163

DDoS Attack Example

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DDoS Attack Risks

• DDoS attack risks include:
• Downtime and productivity loss
• Revenue loss from sales and support services
• Lost customer loyalty
• Theft of information
• Extortion
• Stock price manipulation
• Malicious competition

165

Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DoS)

• DDoS attacks are designed to saturate network links with spurious data
which can overwhelm a link causing legitimate traffic to be dropped.
• DDoS uses attack methods similar to standard DoS attacks but
operates on a much larger scale.
• Typically hundreds or thousands of attack points attempt to
overwhelm a target.
• Examples of DDoS attacks include the following:
• Tribe Flood Network (TFN)
• Stacheldraht

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Reconnaissance Attacks -
Countermeasures

• Implementing and enforcing a policy directive that forbids the use of

protocols with known susceptibilities to eavesdropping.
• Using encryption that meets the data security needs of the organization
without imposing an excessive burden on the system resources or the
users.
• Using switched networks.

167

Port Scan and Ping Sweep Mitigation

• Port scanning and ping sweeping is not a crime and there is no

way to stop these scans and sweeps when a computer is
connected to the Internet.
• There are ways to prevent damage to the system.
• Ping sweeps can be stopped if ICMP echo and echo-reply are
turned off on edge routers.
• When these services are turned off, network diagnostic
data is lost.

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Ping Sweeps and Port Scans Mitigation

• Can’t be prevented without compromising network capabilities.
• However, damage can be mitigated using intrusion prevention
systems (IPS) at network and host levels.

169

Packet Sniffer Mitigation

• Authentication
• Strong authentication is a first line for defense.
• Cryptography
• If a communication channel is cryptographically secure, the
only data a packet sniffer detects is cipher text.
• Anti-sniffer tools
• Antisniffer tools detect changes in the response time of hosts
to determine whether the hosts are processing more traffic
than their own traffic loads would indicate.
• Switched infrastructure
• A switched infrastructure obviously does not eliminate the
threat of packet sniffers but can greatly reduce the sniffers’
effectiveness.

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Password Attack Mitigation

• Password attack mitigation techniques include:
• Do not allow users to use the same password on multiple
systems.
• Disable accounts after a certain number of unsuccessful login
attempts.
• Use OTP or a cryptographic password is recommended.
• Use “strong” passwords that are at least eight characters long
and contain uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and
special characters.
• Do not use plain text passwords.

171

Trust Exploitation Attack Mitigation

• Trust levels within a network should be tightly restrained by
ensuring that systems inside a firewall never absolutely trust
systems outside the firewall.

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Man-in-the-Middle Mitigation
• Man-in-the-middle attacks can be effectively mitigated only
through the use of cryptography (encryption).

A man-in-the-middle attack can

only see cipher text

IPSec tunnel
Host A Host B

Router A ISP Router B

173

DoS and DDoS Attack Mitigation

• Anti-DoS features on routers and firewalls:
• Proper configuration of anti-DoS features on routers and
firewalls can help limit the effectiveness of an attack.
• These features often involve limits on the amount of half-open
TCP connections that a system allows at any given time.
• Anti-spoof features on routers and firewalls:
• Proper configuration of anti-spoof features on your routers and
firewalls can reduce your risk of attack.
• These features include an appropriate filtering with access
lists, unicast reverse path forwarding that looks up the routing
table to identify spoofed packets, disabling of source route
options, and others.

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DoS and DDoS Attack Mitigation

• Traffic rate limiting at the ISP level:
• An organization can implement traffic rate limiting with its
Service Provider.

175

IP Spoofing Attack Mitigation

• The threat of IP spoofing can be reduced, but not eliminated, using
these measures:
• Access control configuration
• Encryption
• RFC 3704 filtering
• Additional authentication requirement that does not use IP address-
based authentication; examples are:
• Cryptographic (recommended)
• Strong, two-factor, one-time passwords

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10 Best Practices
1. Keep patches up to date by installing them weekly or daily, if possible,
to prevent buffer overflow and privilege escalation attacks.
2. Shut down unnecessary services and ports.
3. Use strong passwords and change them often.
4. Control physical access to systems.
5. Avoid unnecessary web page inputs.
• Some websites allow users to enter usernames and passwords.
• A hacker can enter more than just a username.
• For example, entering "jdoe; rm -rf /" might allow an attacker
to remove the root file system from a UNIX server.
• Programmers should limit input characters and not accept
invalid characters such as | ; < > as input.

177

10 Best Practices
6. Perform backups and test the backed up files on a regular basis.
7. Educate employees about the risks of social engineering, and develop
strategies to validate identities over the phone, via email, or in person.
• http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/091610-social-
networks.html?source=NWWNLE_nlt_daily_pm_2010-09-16
• http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/1519804/Phishing-
attacks-target-users-of-Facebook-other-social-
networks?asrc=EM_NLN_12420860&track=NL-
102&ad=784799&
8. Encrypt and password-protect sensitive data.
9. Implement security hardware and software such as firewalls, IPSs,
virtual private network (VPN) devices, anti-virus software, and content
filtering.
10. Develop a written security policy for the company.

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6. Thinking Like a Hacker

179

Know Thine Enemy

• "If you know yourself but not your
enemy, for every victory gained you will
also suffer a defeat."
• Sun Tzu – The Art of War

• Before learning how to defend against

attacks, you need to know how a
potential attacker operates.

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Hacking a Network
• The goal of any hacker is to compromise the intended target or
application.
• Hackers begin with little or no information about the intended target.
• Their approach is always careful and methodical—never rushed and
never reckless.
• The seven-step process outlined on the next slide is a good
representation of the method that hackers use – and a starting point for
an analysis of how to defeat it.

181

Seven Steps to Hacking a Network

• Step 1 — Perform footprint analysis (reconnaissance).
• Step 2 — Detail the information.
• Step 3 — Manipulate users to gain access.
• Step 4 — Escalate privileges.
• Step 5 — Gather additional passwords and secrets.
• Step 6 — Install back doors.
• Step 7 — Leverage the compromised system.

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Step 1 - Footprint Analysis

(Reconnaissance)
• Gain knowledge of acquisitions using Web pages, phone books, company
brochures, subsidiaries, etc.
• Use commands to develop a more detailed footprint:
• nslookup command to reconcile domain names against IP
addresses of the company’s servers and devices.
• traceroute command to help build topology.
• Use program and utilities:
• WHOIS queries (http://www.who.is/)
• Port scanning to find open ports and operating systems
installed on hosts.
• Nmap: Network Mapper (Nmap) is a free open source utility
for network exploration or security auditing.

183

How to Defeat Footprinting

• Keep all sensitive data off-line (business plans, formulas, and proprietary
documents).
• Minimize the amount of information on your public website.
• Examine your own website for insecurities.
• Run a ping sweep on your network.
• Familiarize yourself with one or more of the five Regional Internet
Registries – such as ARIN for North America – to determine network
blocks.

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Step 2 - Detail the Information

• Find your server applications and versions:
• What are your web, FTP, and mail server versions?
• Listen to TCP and UDP ports and send random data to each.
• Cross-reference information to vulnerability databases to look
for potential exploits.
• Exploit selected TCP ports, for example:
• Windows NT, 2000, and XP file sharing using SMB protocol
which uses TCP port 445.
• In Windows NT, SMB runs on top of NetBT using ports 137,
138 (UDP), and 139 (TCP).

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Software Tools
• A great deal of hacker tools are available:
• Netcat: Netcat is a featured networking utility that reads and
writes data across network connections using the TCP/IP
protocol.
• Microsoft EPDump and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Dump:
These tools provide information about Microsoft RPC services
on a server:
• The Microsoft EPDump application shows what is running and waiting
on dynamically assigned ports.
• The RPC Dump (rpcdump.exe) application is a command-line tool that
queries RPC endpoints for status and other information on RPC.
• GetMAC: This application provides a quick way to find the MAC
(Ethernet) layer address and binding order for a computer
running Microsoft Windows 2000 locally or across a network.
• Software development kits (SDKs): SDKs provide hackers with
the basic tools that they need to learn more about systems.

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Step 3 - Manipulate Users to Gain Access

• Even with the most sophisticated security in place, a company is still
vulnerable because of securities weakest link: People!
• The first thing that hackers need is a password and there are two ways to
get that password:
• Social engineering
• Password cracking attacks

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Step 3 - Manipulate Users to Gain Access

• Social engineering is a way to
manipulate people inside the network
to provide the information needed to
access the network.
• A computer is not required!!
• Social engineering by telephone
• Dumpster diving
• Reverse social engineering

• Recommended reading:
• “The Art of Deception: Controlling the
Human Element of Security”
• Mitnik, KD and Simon, WL; Wiley; New Ed
edition

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Social Engineering Example #1

• Call in the middle of the night:
• ‘Hi this is ______ from Bell. I’m very sorry to wake you up but we’ve
noticed some very unusual activity on your Bell calling card and
we’re wondering if you’re using it to call Baghdad, Iraq for the last 6
hours?’
• ‘Well, we have a call that’s actually still active right now and it’s now
well over $2,000 worth of charges. I’ll terminate that call right now
but unfortunately you are responsible for the charges made on your
card.’
• ‘Look I sympathize with you and can see that you’ve been victimized
here, but if I get rid of that charge I can loose my job.’
• ‘Okay … but you’ll have to confirm some details first. What is your
full name and address?’
• ‘Can you confirm the Bell calling card number?’
• ‘Finally, please confirm your PIN number?’
• ‘Great. Everything matches. I’ll get rid of that charge for you.’
• ‘You’re welcome and thank you for being a Bell Canada client.’

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Social Engineering Example #2

• The facilitator of a live Computer Security Institute neatly illustrated the
vulnerability of help desks when he “dialed up” a phone company, got
transferred around, and reached the help desk:
• ‘Who’s the supervisor on duty tonight?’
• ‘Let me talk to _____.’ (he’s transferred)
• ‘Hi _____, this is _____ from security in the IT center. Having a bad
day?’
• ‘No, why?...Your systems are down.’
• Response: ‘my systems aren’t down, we’re running fine.’
• ‘Hmmm … Really? Do me a favor then and sign off and on again.’
• ‘We didn’t even show a blip, we show no change. Sign off again.’
• ‘There’s something funny going on here. I’m going to have to sign on
with your ID to figure out what’s happening. Let me have your user
ID and password.’

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Other Social Engineering Examples

• A confused and befuddled person will call a clerk and meekly request a
password change.
• People identifying themselves as executives, will telephone a new
system administrator and demand access to their account
IMMEDIATELY!
• Somebody will call and confidently instruct a computer operator to type
in a few lines of instruction at the console.
• At an airport, somebody will look over a shoulder, ‘shoulder surfing,’
(sometimes even using binoculars or camcorders) as telephone credit
card numbers or ATM PINs are keyed.

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Common Social Engineering Methods

• Posing as a fellow employee, as an employee of a vendor, partner company, or law
enforcement, as someone in authority, as a new employee requesting help, as a vendor or
systems manufacturer calling to offer a system patch or update.
• Offering help if a problem occurs, then making the problem occur, thereby manipulating
the victim to call them for help.
• Sending free software or patch for victim to install.
• Sending a virus or Trojan Horse as an email attachment.
• Using a false pop-up window asking user to log in again or sign on with password.
• Leaving a USB stick, or CD around the workplace with malicious software on it.
• Using insider lingo and terminology to gain trust.
• Offering a prize for registering at a Web site with username and password.
• Dropping a document or file at company mail room for intra-office delivery.
• Modifying fax machine heading to appear to come from an internal location.
• Asking receptionist to receive then forward a fax.
• Asking for a file to be transferred to an apparently internal location.
• Getting a voice mailbox set up so call backs perceive attacker as internal.
• Pretending to be from remote office and asking for email access locally.

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Warning Signs of an Attack

• Refusal to give call back number
• Out-of-ordinary request
• Claim of authority
• Stresses urgency
• Threatens negative consequences of non compliance
• Shows discomfort when questioned
• Name dropping
• Compliments or flattery
• Flirting

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Password Cracking
• Hackers use many tools and techniques to crack passwords:
• Word lists
• Brute force
• Hybrids
• The yellow Post-It stuck on the side of the monitor, or in top of desk
drawer
• Password cracking attacks any application or service that accepts user
authentication, including those listed here:
• NetBIOS over TCP (TCP 139)
• Direct host (TCP 445)
• FTP (TCP 21)
• Telnet (TCP 23)
• SNMP (UDP 161)
• PPTP (TCP 1723)
• Terminal services (TCP 3389)

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Step 4 - Escalate Privileges

• After securing a password for a user account and user-level privileges to
a host, hackers attempt to escalate their privileges.
• The hacker will review all the information he or she can see on the host:
• Files containing user names and passwords
• Registry keys containing application or user passwords
• Any available documentation (for example, e-mail)
• If the host cannot be seen by the hacker, the hacker may launch a Trojan
application such as W32/QAZ to provide it.

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Step 5 – Gather Passwords and Secrets

• Hackers target:
• The local security accounts manager database
• The active directory of a domain controller
• Hackers can use legitimate tools including pwdump and lsadump
applications.
• Hackers gain administrative access to all computers by cross-referencing
user names and password combinations.

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Step 6 - Install Back Doors and Port Redirectors

• Back doors:
• Provide a way back into the system if the front door is locked.
• The way into the system that is not likely to be detected.
• Back doors may use reverse trafficking:
• Example: Code Red which used TCP port 80 to instruct
unpatched web servers to execute a TFTP connection from the
server.
• Port redirectors:
• Port redirectors can help bypass port filters, routers, and
firewalls and may even be encrypted over an SSL tunnel to
evade intrusion detection devices.

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Step 7 - Leverage the Compromised System

• Back doors and port redirectors let hackers attack other systems
in the network.
• Reverse trafficking lets hackers bypass security mechanisms.
• Trojans let hackers execute commands undetected.
• Scanning and exploiting the network can be automated.
• The hacker remains behind the cover of a valid administrator
account.
• The whole seven-step process is repeated as the hacker
continues to penetrate the network.

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Best Practices to Defeat Hackers

• Keep patches up to date.
• Shut down unnecessary services and ports.
• Use strong passwords and change them often.
• Control physical access to systems.
• Avoid unnecessary web page inputs.
• Some websites allow users to enter usernames and passwords.
• A hacker can enter more than just a username and programmers should
limit input characters and not accept invalid characters (| ; < >).
• Perform system backups and test them on a regular basis.
• Educate users about social engineering.
• Encrypt and password-protect sensitive data.
• Use appropriate security hardware and software.
• Develop a written security policy for the company.

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Q&A

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