CIS (Center for Internet Security) has published an interesting guide on software supply chain security.
Even if you do not build software on your own, it still is useful to to pick the relevant security measures/controls as part of your information security management to protect yourself and your enterprise.
As we all learned from the log4j issue which impacted many generally used platforms, it has become very clear that you need to look beyond the first level of control (your own)…
It’s critical to manage 2nd (your suppliers) and even third level (suppliers of suppliers)
Highlights
In high level overview, the document discusses:
Source code
Code changes
Repository management
Contribution access
Third party
Code risks
Build pipelines
Build environment
Build worker
Pipeline instructions
Dependencies
Third party packages
Validate packages
Artifacts
Verification
Access to artifacts
Package registries
Origin traceability
Deployment
Deployment configuration
Deployment environment
Supply chain guide access (need to register on CIS)
I see more and more phishing exercise fatigue kicking in at my customers…
But it’s more than ever required to be vigilant for new techniques that try to circumvent the typical URL blocking and the other protection layers you put in place.
You’re the best firewall.
What is going on?
You know, these companies that first announce a #phishing test…
which go unnoticed because they are caught by the 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐦 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫…
And a few weeks later you get the 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐱 from the same company.
With ridiculous worse quality than the actual test… but still its in the inbox ready to click (DON’T!).
You assume phase 2 of the phishing test…another round, right? (you think: “yeah, right, not me.”).
Because the new mail comes with ridiculous bad quality (⚠️1) than the actual test…
Nowadays you expect smart mails from these criminals…
But still it doesn’t feel OK …you start to realize that this might the real stuff…
Checking for some more phishing indicators (⚠️)
A mail with you in bcc…. (⚠️2)
Addressed to a very strange (New-Zealand) mail address (⚠️3)
with a PDF alike icon image embedded (⚠️4)
via a google drive link (⚠️5)….
SPOILER: I crippled the link mentioned in previous screenshot to avoid any accidents…
SPOILER 2: DO NOT, EVER CLICK these links…
Still, If you can’t control your curiosity, you might peek into the link via alternative methods (see later).
The display of unrelated content, with payment instructions (⚠️6), isn’t really what you would expect.
Because if you even dare to click the links you get another link (⚠️7)… and this time the browser malware detection (Smartscreen filtering) kicks in .. at last… so I’ll stop the curiosity here…
Why is this an issue?
The main issue here is: the phishing links are pointing to well-known (like Google drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox…) for hosting malware, which usually escape or bypass the malware URL detection…
Security tips
Rule nr 1: Don’t click links in unexpected mails
Curiosity kills the cat: Please withstand the urge to click the links to satisfy your curiosity….
If you don’t expect the mail, be very cautions, don’t click the links.
Control your curiosity: test the links in isolated mode
If you can’t control your curiosity, don’t ever click the links on your main computer.
But copy the link and open it
in a Windows sandbox
virtual machines or test machine… not your production machine
mobile device
Use Windows Sandbox
Since Windows 10 (Pro) you can use Windows Sandbox (free), that is a virtual, isolated environment. So you can test some interesting things without damaging your production host machine.
By stopping the Sandbox, the machine forgets all settings and returns to default state, pristine.
Use Microsoft Hyper-V (free) or Oracle Virtual box (free) and install a client OS in the virtual machine. Snapshot the machine before the test, perform the test, return to snapshot to avoid any left overs of malware.
Run the link on a mobile phone
Less secure, but better than running malware on your most important machine, is running the link on a browser on your mobile device. There is lower risk of infection and less impact than loosing your primary working machine, although… be aware, there is still a small risk of infection even for smartphones…
Additional security measures
To permit some stupidity and protect against accidents, please make sure
to implement all the latest OS security updates, patch on a continuous basis
have an anti-malware and anti-virus that is updated continuously
keep the default OS security features enabled including local system firewall and malware detection
consider a paid antivirus subscription, it’s worth the money and keep it up to date every hour
get a mail protection against malware, tracking, phishing and ransomware (like Windows defender for 365) have regular backups (1 online and 1 offline) and test the restores
use cookie/tracking/advertisement blockers
use a DNS blackhole system to protect your network from accessing suspicious URLs (including tracking and phishing websites, advertisements, C&C Command and control malware domains, …)
In interesting set of reference material, that is regularly coming back in data protection, cybersecurity and information security discussions I lately had with peers and colleagues. May you can use it too…
Feel free to provide some feedback yourself, if you know additional pointers I should add.
You know where to find me.
Change history
2022-04-27 14:00: Added EDPB announcement to references section
2022-02: The Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security requested an analysis of US legislation in relation to the GDPR and Schrems II by GreenburgTraurig.
Switzerland
In a recent article (In French) by ICT journal, the Canton of Zurich published a
Below is a short overview of the #Hexnode webinar, presented 2022-04-07 about data compliance.
The webinar recording is published at the Hexnode website (and embedded below). And the PDF version of the slide deck is published in full color and B/W print version on Slideshare, see links below.
Company and user data, and personal data is an important target and leverage in cybercrime lik
Phishing
Ransomware
not only encryption
data leak extortion
Reconnaissance & Hacking
Data breaches
Biometric data
Digital & Economical war
…
Now the question is… How do YOU get in control?
You can’t simply lock up your data… because data needs to flow. (You want to use it…)
Data management essentials to get grip
Ask yourself: how much €$ can you spend to protect your data? To answer that question, you’ll need to get grip of some basic data management principles, in relation to security:
You can only protect what you know you have
Without an owner there is no protection
Nothing is stable, everything has a lifecycle
Data lifecycle
Data lifecycle
The start of the cycle is mostly
short,
easy to manage,
low security risk. (if the creation fails… you have no data to keep under control)
The end of the cycle is mostly
long, (there are various reasons why you need to keep the data for a while, eg in archive before you dispose of it..)
difficult to manage (if the process fails, it’s difficult to track or keep under control)
high security risk. (risk of losing ownership, risk of leakages, …)
What is risk?
Assets have
Vulnerabilities (weaknesses/properties)
that can be exploited by
Threats (activities)
with impact ($$ cost).
You need to balance the protection against the impact. You don’t want to over-spend or under-protect.
Your boss (or insurance, of CFO ) needs a budget, spreading cost over a year, or 2..3..4..5.
[Risk management is calculating impact over the rate of occurrence/frequency…]
How to get started
Know the external context
International regulations (GDPR, …)
National regulations (SOC, …)
Sector regulations (PCI-DSS, ..)
Contractual obligations
Enterprise vs PII/personal data requirements
Know the internal context
Know your business (what)
Know your organization (organigram)
Make an inventory of processes and interfaces
Assign business ownership
For each process
For each asset
Know the processes
Know the data flow
Know your sources (IN)
Know the data processing
Know your receivers (OUT)
Know the data in the processes
Categorize your data – data types
Enterprise data
PII / Personal data (GDPR !)
Other ?
Categorization (define data classes)
Sensitivity = linked to business impact
Ask the owner : “What if data is …”
unavailable,
changed,
destroyed,
leaked,
accessed unauthorized, illegally, unlawfully,
…
Categorize your data sensitivity
Enterprise data, for example
Unclassified, Official, Restricted, Confidential, Secret, Top Secret (NATO)
Public, Company internal, Confidential, Strictly confidential
TLP RED, TLP Amber, TLB Green, TLP White (public)
Classification (apply the labels)
Responsibility of owner
Label all data
Label containers if you can’t label the data
Folder or File share
Database
mailbox
…
Mind the lifecycle
Get started
Keep going
Start over again
Think about security when
creating new processes
changing processes
removing processes
recheck on a regular schedule (even when nothing changes)
Set a default label for archived data that doesn’t change
DO NOT set “public” as default
Think about the support processes
Incident management (ISO 27035 & NIST)
Data breach management (GDPR & other …)
Business continuity (ISO22301)
Disaster recovery
Questions
How to identify regulations you should follow?
know and analyse the services you’re offering,
where is your data stored?
what kind of data you have (enterprise data, personal data, financial, …)
identify the local, national, regional, international regulations of sector legislations that apply to your business (check partners/competition, sector representatives, …)
…
Is there difference in regulation for small or large business?
very limited impact of size of company…
very likely some impact on financial and tax reporting,
some legislation only apply in large scale operations (eg GDPR only requires a DPO for certain type of operations, …)
In the midst of the #COVID19 corona pandemic, the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has unlocked free reading access to a bunch of relevant standards, including
ISO 22301:2019, Security and resilience – Business continuity management systems –Requirements
ISO 22316:2017, Security and resilience – Organizational resilience – Principles and attributes
ISO 22320:2018, Security and resilience – Emergency management – Guidelines for incident management
ISO 13485:2016, Medical devices — Quality management systems – Requirements for regulatory purposes
The general access page with all online, fully accessible standards can be found here: https://www.iso.org/covid19.
Important note:
these standards are available online, but not downloadable (for legitimate downloads you need to purchase your copy in the ISO shop or with your national standards organisation)
there is no guarantee for continued free access once the Covid pandemic is over, if ever. That’s the sole discretion of the ISO, of course.
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