Cybersecurity Fundamentals Week 2 Quiz

Course Information

• Course Name: Cybersecurity Fundamentals
• Course Code: CSC 1029

Week 2 Agenda

• What is Cybersecurity and Types of Attacks
• Cybersecurity Objectives
• What are we protecting
• Cost of Cybersecurity
• Your Next Move: Software Developer Vulnerabilities
• Threat Model: STRIDE
• Types of Attacks
• Importance of Software Security
• TODO and Resources for Help

Objectives

• Understanding cybersecurity and its importance
• Knowing what is being protected from attackers
• Learning from historical and current events, emerging trends

What is Cybersecurity?

• Read CompTIA article (link provided).
• Watch YouTube video (link provided).

Objectives of Cybersecurity

• Read CompTIA resource on the State of Cybersecurity for 2024 Market Overview through to Policy (link provided).
• Students to determine top objectives for Cybersecurity.

What are we Protecting?

• Review 16 Critical Infrastructure Sectors (link provided).

Cost of Cybersecurity

• Estimated global cost of cybercrime in 2021: $6.1 trillion.
• Estimated global spending on cybersecurity in 2022: $172.5 billion.
• U.S. job openings requesting cybersecurity-related skills: 714,548 (Source: CyberSeek).

Your Next Move: Software Developer

• Read CompTIA blog on Your Next Move Software Developer (link provided).

Vulnerabilities

• Review the National Vulnerability Database (link provided).
• Explore visualizations of vulnerabilities.

Threat Model: STRIDE

• Spoofing
• Tampering
• Repudiation
• Information Disclosure
• Denial of Service
• Elevation of Privilege

Types of Attacks

• Social engineering (organization penetration, IT infrastructure exploration, phishing, spam, spoofing, man in the middle)
• Attacks on application's software (Cross-site scripting (XSS), Buffer overflows, SQL code injection, Time/logic bombs, Back door)
• Attacks on supporting infrastructure (Denial of Service (DoS), Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Spyware, Adware)
• Physical attacks (external drives, flash sticks, bringing down the system, stealing hardware)

Importance of Software Security

• Engineering software to function correctly under malicious attacks
• Addressing security vulnerabilities in early stages of development.
• Security as a risk management practice (link to article provided)
• Software Security refers to many aspects related to software including detecting malicious attack, Continuing function under attack, and maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and availability

Cybersecurity Principles

• Complete provided interactive lesson

SDL Secure Design Principles

• Safer applications start with secure design
• Assume all applications can be compromised
• Core SDL secure design principles: Attack Surface Reduction, Basic Privacy, Threat Modeling, Defense in Depth, Least Privilege, Secure Defaults.

Attack Surface Reduction

• Attack surface is any part of an application human or another program can access
• Minimize exposed attack surface - malicious users find and exploit

Basic Privacy

• Privacy vs Security (empowering users to control personal information and security establishing measures protecting confidentiality).
• Privacy and security are key factors in trusted applications.

Threat Modeling

• Process to understand threats to an application
• Threats and vulnerabilities different
• Vulnerabilities are specific ways a threat is exploitable (e.g., coding errors)
• Steps are identifying, defining, validating, mitigating, and validating.

Defense in Depth

• Assumes that software and hardware will fail
• Trusted applications (security and privacy features).
• Most applications can be compromised when only one layer is breached (firewall)
• Layers defend the application

Least Privilege

• If an application is compromised, the potential damage is contained and minimized
• Trust with reluctance, need-to-know
• Evaluate application minimally (default is no access)
• Minimum access level for application functions.
• Privileges elevated only when needed, release afterward.

Privilege Creep and Complete Mediation

• Gradual accumulation of access rights beyond what an individual needs for their job.
• Occurs when a job changes and new privileges are granted.
• Every access check must be efficient, restricting caching of information

Separation of Privilege or Duty

• Access based on multiple conditions (multi-factor authentication)
• Separation of duties/two-person rule
• Coding with limited global variables, local data and arguments
• Permission to access = Authorization
• Define access to objects and who should access them

Least Common Mechanism

• Minimize mechanism common to multiple users (dependence on all users)
• Every shared mechanism is a potential information path

Secure Defaults

• Deploy applications with secure configurations by default
• Ensures safer user experience from the start.
• Favor white-listing over black-listing (if some action fails, the default is deny-access)
• Simplicity is favored

Deny by Default and Fail-Safe

• Everything not explicitly permitted is forbidden (by default)
• Fail-safe engineering design responds in the event of a specific failure type, avoiding harm
• System design to prevent unsafe consequences

MGM Casino Cyberattack (2023)

• Read article on the attack (link provided)
• Evaluate if MGM followed secure design principles (Attack Surface Reduction, Basic Privacy, Threat Modeling, Defense in Depth, Least Privilege, Secure Defaults).

Pre-work Grade/TODO's

• Post weekly discussion question and research solution to D2L.
• Complete Week 2 Content Module to 100% in D2L.

Questions/Help/Clarification

• Student office hours (appointments and drop-ins).
• Email address
• RRCC on-campus tutoring
• 24/7 online tutoring available in D2L

Test your understanding of the key concepts covered in Week 2 of Cybersecurity Fundamentals. This quiz includes questions on types of attacks, cybersecurity objectives, and the importance of software security. Dive deeper into what we are protecting against cyber threats and the associated costs.