‘You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off’

There are three distinctive elements to a cyber-attack. The first is access, the second, the plant of malware in one form or another and the final, is data theft or extortion. This is a typical Modus Operandi of cyber criminals be their attack with Ransomware or for data or IP theft.

If we look at this simply, you can try to avoid falling foul by securing the only one of the three you have any control over. The second and third are readily available to purchase and make demands upon once the proverbial has hit the fan. They are as follows:

1. The Access. The single most critical and important element is your security facing the internet which, when it is Not Secure, it can enable access, shadow copies, cyber or typo squatting and so on.
2. The Plant. Malware, is readily available to buy, reuse and re purpose readily by any cyber-criminal and is frighteningly cheap. Turnkey cyber crime.
3. The Extortion. Bitcoin for data, IP theft or PII information. It is a tough call and is awful, but becoming a more frequent position.

To make it crystal clear, No 1 is the only element of any such attack that you, as a security professional or organisation, can prevent or have any control over. Once access is achieved it can literally take seconds for malware to move laterally and spread. Malware may and often does, go undetected for months sometimes years, so an impact may not be seen or felt immediately. This is an area that is frequently left wide open and ignored, allowing cyber criminal activity to flourish. People are overlooking the basics including governments and agencies.

When it gets to point No. 2, this is when it typically becomes known as a sophisticated or targeted attack. Elements No.2 and No.3 will follow and are now in play. As we say in a motor racing accident, you are simply a passenger. Truth be told the actual attack may not be sophisticated at all, access certainly wasn't. Typically your organisation was targeted because it clearly displayed the fact that your internet facing server is, directly or indirectly via a DNS or CDN, was flagged up as Not Secure, you placed the roundel target on your own back and didn't even know.

Ignorance is not coincidental, it was deliberate.

You must now ask the question: ‘Are we 100% confident that we are totally secure at our Internet facing servers and domain including all sub domains, our DNS and CDN?’ It is absolutely the fundamental cyber basics yet continually overlooked time and time again leaving a company vulnerable and well, Not Secure.

There are currently around 25% of the 1.2 billion domains and internet facing DSN and CDN’s that are Not secure and that includes governments, CI’s and Fortune 5000 companies. You do not leave your front door open so why would you leave your digital door open and Not Secure for your organisation, when you know the cyber criminals are constantly checking for doors to bust?

Cybersec Innovation Partners originally developed Whitehorn? to provide unrivalled Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) following a NATO Military breach in a similar vain to Stuxnet. We developed and added Whitethorn Shield? to provide unrivalled Internet facing, digital governance and assurance so you can avoid No 2 and 3.

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