COVID-19 and Security

#WFH, SaaS-y migrations and more tdhc.uk/covidtalk

COVID-19

3,871,825 cases and 109,335 deaths in the UK
10,021,471 (first dose) vaccinations

Up to Tuesday, 2 February 2021

#WFH

Started a new job
Interviewed at home

* Code test at home * Onboarded at home * Started at home * Still at home

Beyond the Edge

Outside of corporate environment
Difficult to protect beyond the edge network
Heterogenous devices
Difficult to monitor users and their devices
60% of data stored on employee endpoints

The Good

Cheaper to have people outside the office
Decentralises physical security - good and bad?
Easier to concentrate?

The Bad

Wider attack surface
Almost no control over physical security
Insecure Wi-Fi, use of public networks
Personal use of corporate devices

The Solution

Better training, focus on security
FixHorseErrorsBetterSecurity
Privacy concerns around employee monitoring
Better to focus on network traffic
Use a Corporate VPN
Should be no such thing as a security guy Malwarebytes: Organisation survey - 18% cybersecurity not a priority, 5% went further -- admitting their staff were oblivious' to best security practices. Volunteering with charity story

Head In The Clouds

The great migration to SaaS platforms

The Good

Easier to deploy and scale that on-prem
More economically and environmentally sustainable
Services rapidly evolving and are updated automatically?

The Bad

Limited visibility of assets
Overprovisioning of access permissions
Lack of auditing
Need to consider: provider's security controls, where data is held, what they can do with it
"Zoom Bombing", Microsoft 365 Supply-Chain Attacks
Zero-trust cloud? End-to-end encryption Mimecast Certificate Hacked in Microsoft Email Supply-Chain Attack "These products would access customers Microsoft 365 exchange servers in order for them to provide security services (backup, spam and phishing protection). Since these certificates were legit, an adversary would have been able to connect without raising suspicions to eavesdrop and exfiltrate email communications"

The Ugly

Poorly implemented APIs (e.g. Microsoft privileges)
Crimeware as a service (e.g. Emotet)
On average, 2.8 cloud security incidents
Phishing attacks (40%)
Ransomware et al. (24%)
Accidental Data Leakage (17%)
Account Compromise (16%)
Difficult to track down issues
Don’t assume anything

Misinformation

Phishing - personal and professional (e.g. Lancaster)
Anti-mask, Anti-vax, Anti-COVID?!
"Voter Fraud", Lockdown Protests,
Protests (many violent): South Africa, Brazil, India, Kosovo, Malawi Lockdown: Yellow Vests Movement in Paris Myanmar (Burma): The armed forces had backed the opposition, who were demanding a rerun of the vote, claiming widespread fraud Phishing is the easiest vector

The Solution

Monitoring private messaging - can/should we introduce a backdoor?
Using artificial intelligence (e.g. Re:scam)
Discussions to have
Platform or Publisher?
Censorship or Sensible?

Looking Ahead

Artificial Intelligence (Darktrace, CrowdStrike)
Attacks on Industrial Control Systems
Cyber Warfare (e.g. Stuxnet) and Nation State Attacks
Widening influence of China and Russia

Stuxnet - (US allegedly attacked Iranian Missile Silo) Zero Days

Nation States - China, Russia, North Korea (Bangladesh Bank Heist, Bank of England guy)

Solarwinds, Malwarebytes, Mimecast…

Your Career

Cyber is not suffering - over half of businesses have staff shortages [in security] continue to put their organisation at risk"
Cyber is so much wider than you may think
No such thing as “the” cybersecurity qualification!
Do your research! I personally enjoy: Darknet Diaries, Dark Reading, Krebs on Security, Reddit, Hacker News, NCSC and Whitepapers and Reports
You have plenty of time!

56% of businesses

WCIT

100th livery company of the City of London
Four pillars of activity
Charity
Education
Industry and Commerce
Fellowship
Fantastic opportunity to meet people from all over who work in the IT industry

Journeyman Scheme

Get involved with the company early
Work with a mentor for 3+ years
Get involved in our charitable efforts
Dress up fancy and go to dinners!

Any questions?

You can get in touch with me here.

COVID-19 and Security #WFH, SaaS-y migrations and more tdhc.uk/covidtalk

Slides
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COVID-19 and Security
COVID-19
#WFH
Beyond the Edge
The Good
The Bad
The Solution
Head In The Clouds
The Good
The Bad
The Ugly
Misinformation
The Solution
Looking Ahead
Your Career
WCIT
Journeyman Scheme
Any questions?