Page 62 - Cyber Warnings

intervention necessary. Drag-and-drop correlation rule builders allow users to define attack
patterns and proactively prepare for any security threat with mitigation and vulnerability
scanners. More than ever, it’s important to be able to identify the cause and perpetrator of a
breach.

Threat 3: Insider Attack

• Insider attacks on an organization are orchestrated by someone within that organization,
such as a former employee, contractor or even a current employee. This person typically
takes valuable (often confidential) information, alters that information on security practices
and data, and can even sabotage computer systems.

• One of the most famous insider attacks occurred when Edward Snowden (computer
professional and former Central Intelligence Agency employee) leaked classified information
from the National Security Agency in 2013.

Threat 4: Pass-the-Hash Attack

• A pass-the-hash attack is defined by an attacker obtaining the password or password
hashes to an account through LM or NTLM authentication. This type of attack allows the
password hash to remain static for each session, until the password is changed.

• Pass-the-hash was one of the methods used in Yahoo’s 2016 breach, in which up to one
billion accounts were compromised.

Threat 5: Stolen Password

• Stealing passwords is essentially the process of extracting a password from data that has
been stored in or transmitted by a computer system. A stolen password gives someone
unauthorized access to a system that often contains confidential information.

• In 2012, 117 million passwords were stolen from LinkedIn, compromising user accounts. In
2016, those passwords and other critical account information, including password hashes,
were published online. Following the 2012 breach, LinkedIn implemented two-factor
authentication and salted hashes to avoid future calamity.

Combat: Defend Your Network from Internal Threats and Password Attacks

• The best way to protect your system from insider threats, pass-the-hash attacks and stolen
passwords is to create a secure, centralized vault for password storage and access.

62 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – May 2017 Edition
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