Cybersecurity Engineering CSE210: Course Introduction

• Introduction to Cybersecurity Engineering, CSE210, Chapter 1
• Course assessments include assignments, quizzes, labs, a midterm, project, and a final exam.
• Assignments, quizzes, and labs are each worth 10%.
• The midterm is worth 20%.
• The project is worth 15%.
• The final exam is worth 35%.
• Required textbooks include:
  • "Computer Security: Principles and Practice" (4th ed.) by William Stallings and Lawrie Brown (2018).
  • "Cybersecurity for Beginners" (2nd ed.) by Raef Meeuwisse (2017).
• Week 1 Syllabus: Introduction to Cybersecurity Engineering
• Week 2 Syllabus: Attacks Concepts and Techniques
• Week 3 Syllabus: Introduction to Cryptography
• Week 4 Syllabus: Risk Assessment
• Week 5 Syllabus: Security Controls Plans and Procedure
• Week 6 Syllabus: Intrusion Detection System
• Week 7 Syllabus: Legal and Ethical Aspects
• Week 8 & 9 Syllabus: Physical Infrastructure Security/ Human Resource Security
• Week 10 Syllabus: Database Security
• Week 11 Syllabus: Software Security
• Week 12 Syllabus: Operating System Security
• Enrolment link for LABS: https://www.netacad.com/portal/web/self-enroll/m/course-1840732

Outline of Topics

• Cybersecurity and its origin
• Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity
• Definition of personal data
• Explanation of why personal data is profitable to hackers
• Types of data used by governments and organizations
• Impact of a security breach
• Characteristics and motives of an attacker
• Cybersecurity roles
• Cyberwarfare

Cybersecurity and its Origin

• The digital revolution is the most significant period of change in human history.
• Hospitals, transport, shops, electricity, and water rely on technology to function.
• The rate of technological change is accelerating
• Human activities have changed more in the past 10 years compared to any other 10-year period.
• A 2014 Ofcom report found that the average UK adult spends 8 hours and 41 minutes per day using a digital device.
• The lure of cost savings and higher earnings encourages rapid adoption of new technologies.
• Cybersecurity is relevant to everyone, and a lack of understanding poses personal and professional risks.
• Free software applications often come at the cost of access to information on devices.
• Smartphones, tablets and laptops come with pre-installed applications that have permission to access user data.
• Organizations collect information to build their power.
• Organizations use collected information to improve their products and services, better target customers, improve sales, collect competitive data, and sell information to other companies.
• Cybersecurity is defined as the protection of digital devices and their communication channels to keep them stable, dependable, and reasonably safe from danger or threat.
• Digital devices can create, modify, archive, retrieve, or transmit information in an electronic format, such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and internet-connected home devices.
• Early cybersecurity efforts focused on malicious and intentional threats to technology.
• Systems can be taken out of action because of process gaps, unexpected user actions, and rouge insider activities.
• In February 2017, AWS suffered a partial outage due to a minor typo by an employee debugging the billing system, affecting services like Netflix, Tinder, Airbnb, Reddit, and IMDb.
• Guarding against external and malicious threats is a priority due to the damage and cost they create.
• Most major cybersecurity incidents are due to criminal, state, or terrorist-led activities.
• Insider threats tend to create the most impact when they are intentional.
• Malicious attacks include the unauthorized removal or copying of information, leading to customer, brand, and share damage, as well as high redemption and compensation costs.
• A system outage can also create costs, but usually at a different and lower scale.
• The rise of cybersecurity threats is driven by faster, cheaper, and more widely adopted internet connections.
• Faster computer processing speeds and better web application programming have made providing mainstream services through the internet easier, more effective, and cheaper.
• Activities like banking, shopping, watching movies, and listening to broadcasts became more convenient online.
• Organizations that adopt new technologies experience lower costs, increased earnings, and enhanced socialization
• Organizations using traditional services are less competitive due to higher costs and lower benefits.
• Sensitive information and services are now routinely stored and transacted through networked devices.
• Credit cards and medical information are often stored online.
• The internet is the primary method of correspondence.
• A substantial amount of personal data is stored in connected devices.
• Before cloud computing, IT departments faced challenges, now businesses ask their technology departments to build custom software.
• Smaller companies unable to afford specialty software managed with manual processes or local spreadsheets and databases.
• Cloud computing has opened up the software market by offering a variety of choices and prices.
• Instead of paying large sums for software and waiting long periods for its arrival, users can now pay a lower price to try out software within minutes.
• Cloud opportunities shifted technology choice decisions away from IT departments, but left them responsible for securing externally-administered tools.
• Decision-making power in companies now lies with non-IT personnel, who dictate the software the company will use, requiring the IT department to integrate and support it.
• This shift has significantly changed the roles and skills required of technology departments.
• An information security person who stopped working in 2009 would barely recognize the functions of today's IT or cybersecurity department.

Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity

• The ability to hack or break into a computer system is not the same as cybersecurity.
• Ethical hacking is a valuable skill, it is not sufficient for securing a system.
• Criminal hackers need to find only one weakness to succeed.
• Effective cybersecurity requires addressing every significant potential point of weakness.

Personal Data

• Cybersecurity involves protecting networked systems and data from unauthorized use or harm.
• Individuals have both online and offline identifies.
• Offline identity refers to interactions at home, school, or work
• Online identity refers to the identity while in cyberspace
• Online identity should only reveal a limited amount of information.
• A username or alias should not include any personal information, should be appropriate and respectful, and should not attract unwanted attention.
• Personal data includes medical records (electronic health records, prescriptions), education records (grades, test scores, awards, attendance, disciplinary reports), and employment/financial records (income, tax records, past employment performance).
• Data is stored in medical records, store loyalty cards, and in online pictures.
• Data storage is performed by computer devices.
• Criminals may obtain money through online credentials that give them access to accounts or through creative schemes such as tricking people into wiring money to friends or family.
• Criminals want an identity for long-term profits, medical benefits, filing fake tax returns, opening credit card accounts, and obtaining loans.

Organizational Data

• Types of organizational data include traditional data, internet of things and big data, and confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
• Traditional data includes personnel information (application materials, payroll, employee agreements), intellectual property (patents, trademarks, product plans, trade secrets), and financial statements (income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements).
• The Internet of Things (IoT) involves a large network of physical objects, such as sensors, and the big data generated from the IoT.
• Confidentiality means privacy.
• Integrity refers to the accuracy and trustworthiness of information.
• Availability means that information is accessible.
• Security breaches can result in ruined reputation, vandalism, theft, revenue loss, and damaged intellectual property.
• LastPass is an example of an online password manager.
• LastPass suffered a security breach where email addresses, password reminder questions, and authentication hashes were stolen.
• The data states are in transit, in storage, or in process.
• The thee dimensions of cybersecurity are confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Profile of an Attacker

• Amateurs: Script kiddies with little or no skill use existing tools or instructions found online for attacks.
• Hackers: Break into computers or networks to gain access.
• White hats: Break into systems with permission to discover weaknesses for security improvement.
• Gray hats: Compromise systems without permission but have no malicious intent.
• Black hats: Take advantage of vulnerabilities for illegal personal, financial, or political gain.
• Organized hackers: Organizations of cyber criminals, hacktivists, terrorists, and state-sponsored hackers.
• Internal security threats can come from employees or contract partners, who may mis-handle confidential data, threaten internal servers or network devices, facilitate outside attacks via infected USB media, accidentally introduce malware, or cause great damage due to direct access.
• External security threats exploit vulnerabilities in networks/computing devices or use social engineering to gain access.

Cyber Security for Individuals

• Digital systems need tailored cybersecurity measures.
• Securing private accounts and devices involves using complex passwords with over 12 characters, keeping devices updated with software patches, installing anti-malware software, restricting software installation to a separate account, and avoiding unknown websites/links.

Cyber Security for Organizations

• As protection needs grow, so do asset diversity/scale.
• Protecting diverse assets needs specialists with diverse skills.
• Securing complex environments needs a longer list of skills.
• Protecting digital environments needs cybersecurity experts.
• Cybersecurity roles and 6 main groups include:
  • Management: Cheif Information Security Officer, Cyber Risk Manager, Cyber Security Architect
  • Cyber Audit and Assessment: Audit manger, Auditor, Assessment specialist
  • Event Monitoring and Alerts (reactive operations): Security incident and event manager, Security incident responder, Network intrusion analysts
  • Proactive operations: Access administrators, Security device, administrators (firewall and more), Cryptography consultant, Cybersecurity analysts
  • Environment testing: Attack ad penetration testers, Vulnerability Assessors
  • Specialists: Security control designers, external security specialist, Digital forensics specialists, Cryptologist, Cryptanalyst, Antimalware specialist

Cyberwarfare

• Cyberwarfare = technology use to attack nations, governments, and citizens, causing harm like actual warfare.
• Stuxnet malware was designed to damage Iran's nuclear enrichment plant.
• Stuxnet was delivered via an infected USB stick.
• The software controlling centrifuges was reprogrammed to spin dangerously fast and then slow.
• Wiper Attack is a notorious NotPetya malware designed to damage Ukrainian accounting software.
• The purpose of cyber warfare is to gain advantage over adversaries or competitors.
• Cyber warfare can sabotage infrastructure, blackmail governmental personnel, cause citizens to lose confidence in their government, and affect citizens' faith without physical invasion.
• Countermeasures and Safeguards:
  • Technological: Biometric Fingerprint Scanner, IDS/IPS Appliance, Electronic Badge System
  • Administrative: Acceptable Use Policy, Passwords Changed Every 30 Days, Remote Login Procedures
  • Educational: Security Awareness Training, Awareness Posters in the Office, "Securing Your Desktop" Video
• Reasons for becoming a Cybersecurity Specialist: High Earning Potential, Challenging Career, Service to the Public