Just like Lucifer, the Dark Net is known by many names with only subtle differences in meaning: the Dark Web, the Digital Underground, and the Deep Web, to name a few. Dark Net sites are difficult to find because they do not show up in normal search engines, but they are accessible through TOR or Tails. At their core these sites are meant to serve one purpose: enable privacy and free speech on the Internet. Unfortunately, they also provide fertile ground for illegal activities, such as selling contraband drugs, firearms, and stolen data, as well as much worse crimes.
When you hear a news story about yet another data breach, you can be confident the stolen data will be available on the Dark Net, on information brokerage sites known as Dark Markets. Some of these Dark Markets trade in stolen data (credit cards, Social Security numbers, personally identifiable information, protected health information, and so forth). Figure 1 below depicts….. READ the full paper
Where are the IPv6 vulnerabilities? What you need to do.
Remember when you installed Windows 7 or 8? Or maybe it was Mac OSX? Well, when you installed one of those, you received an IPV6 stack for free! Indeed, the IPv6 protocol was installed and automatically enabled to prepare you for the next generation of IP protocols.
Currently your IPv6 traffic is “tunneled” across an existing IPv4 network because we live in an IPv4-dominated world. This tunneling creates an entry point for many vulnerabilities yet to be discovered, although quite a few have already been discovered. The majority of our network traffic monitoring tools are also based on IPv4 computer networking. Focusing on IPv4 protocols without an equal emphasis on IPv6 traffic puts us at risk in this mixed-IPv6 world. We may only be seeing part of the picture.
The truly disquieting aspect of IPv6 is that it is constantly looking for configuration information from network routers. This information is easily falsified and may be used to auto-configure IPv6 stacks. There are also many opportunities to “fuzz” the IPv6 protocol to find weaknesses specific to stack implementation. While IPv6 is not currently accessible outside of the local network, this means that the local network may be vulnerable to attack from within, while IPv4 monitoring tools sit idly by.
Further, stack-level compromises do not require services to be enabled on a target machine, exposing a vulnerability at a level below web, ftp, and other network services. Therefore, a machine with no network services whatsoever may become a victim of an IPv6-based attack. So for those networks that don’t need IPv6 – disable it! For those that do, consider securing your IPv6 implementation:
Make sure that IPv6 routing information is authoritative for your IPv6 domain
Make sure that IPv6 naming services are authoritative for your IPv6 domain
Ensure that IPv6 parameters applicable to your stack are configured and not open to auto-configuration
Ensure that firewalls that support IPv6 are configured properly
Keep in mind that IPv6 traffic is often tunneled over IPv4
Many broadband networks (cable providers in particular) today support IPv6. These gateway devices may have filtering rules in their firmware permitting the user to limit and filter IPv6 traffic. Make sure that you have enabled as much of this as possible to protect your internal network.
While most security companies tend to focus only on the IPv4 network, essentially missing some vulnerabilities that experienced attackers may use to compromise your network, VIMRO actively examines IPv6 as a component in our network assessments. Contact VIMRO now for the complete protocol picture for your networked systems.services@vimro.com (800) 272-0019
Any reference to cybersecurity in the Payment Card Industry (PCI) context strikes fear into the hearts of professionals across the globe. Its nebulous requirements and their extensive drain on both IT and business efforts can eat up resources faster than an F22 fighter jet gulping down jet fuel. Worse yet are the constantly changing standards! The latest incarnation of the Data Security Standard (PCI DSS 3.0) contains new language that leaves a considerable gap in understanding the changes to the requirements imposed on organizations. READ MORE
How do you truly know that your critical data and infrastructure are secure? VIMRO can answer this question with our Security Testing and Assessment (ST&A) services. According to NIST SP 800-115 – Technical Guide for Security Testing and Assessment, an information security assessment is the process of determining how effectively an entity being assessed (e.g., host, system, network, procedure, person, etc—known as the assessment object) meets specific security objectives.
VIMRO uses three types of assessment methods to accomplish this: testing, examination, and interviewing.
Testing is the process of exercising one or more assessment objects under specified conditions. This is used to compare actual and expected behaviors.
Examination is the process of checking, inspecting, reviewing, observing, studying, or analyzing one or more assessment objects to facilitate understanding, to achieve clarification, or to obtain evidence.
Interviewing is the process of conducting discussions with individuals or groups within an organization to facilitate understanding, achieve clarification, or identify the location of evidence. Assessment results are used to determine security control effectiveness over time.
VIMRO has extensive experience in ST&A for both commercial and government enterprise and clouds-based ecosystems.
“VIMRO’s Security and Networking Solutions and Services focus on measurable results and outcomes. Leveraging multidisciplinary teams comprised of handpicked experts, we design and implement a strong security and networking strategy. We are dedicated to delivering solutions and services that deliver the greatest business value for our clients.”
“Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the first quarter (that is, from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014), according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent.” source: www.bea.gov
For FCI and GLG clients, schedule your consult to review how this specifically impacts current and expected tech spending in the enterprise space.
