Making an IMPACT on Cyber-terrorism

Malaysia hopes to make an impact in the global war against cyber terror with the setting up of an international centre that will have leading names in the IT industry serving on its advisory board. The Government has approved RM43mil to set up the centre, aptly called Impact (International Multinational Partnership Against Cyber Terrorism), in Cyberjaya. The non-profit organisation will be the world’s first international public-private sector collaborative institution against cyber terrorism. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi mooted the idea at the World Congress on Information Technology in Austin, United States, last year. Impact management board chairman Mohd Nor Amin told The Star the Cabinet agreed and approved the seed funding for the centre last month. “Impact aims to bring governments and international private sectors together to deal with the increasing threats in cyberspace. “The centre will offer the world the best brains and facilities to help fight cyber security threats. “Currently, there is no such organisation in the world that could fulfil the role,” he said. He said Impact would also allow governments to exchange notes and ideas as well as share skills and best practices towards countering such threats. Impact will be able to respond to emergencies and early warnings to help governments worldwide that face an imminent cyber threat or those already in emergency situations, Mohd Nor said. Some leading names in the IT industry such as Symantec Corporation (United States), Trend Micro (Japan), F-Secure (Finland) and KaperskyLab (Russia) have agreed to be key partners and serve on Impact's international advisory board.

Cyber terrorism: fact or fiction?

US President Barack Obama is sufficiently concerned about it to order a root and branch review of computer security. The issue, of course, is cyber terrorism. Some say it’s a potential threat not just to governments but also to the entire western economic system and infrastructure. Others say that if it were going to happen, it would have occurred already.
In 2000, a disgruntled employee rigged a computerised control system at a water treatment plant in Australia and released 200,000 gallons of sewage into parks, rivers and the grounds of a major hotel. Hackers have already gained access to the American air traffic control system — in fact, they caused a partial shutdown of the system in Alaska. And the Office of the Inspector General has warned that further modernisation of air traffic control, using internet protocol technologies, will create more opportunities for those intent on mischief.
In a security audit, it identified no fewer than 763 potential vulnerabilities that would allow an intruder to execute remote commands or introduce malicious software. The jury is still out on whether cyber terrorism will be a major threat in the short to medium term. But in the meantime it does no company or organisation any harm to beef up its network security.
Even the great Jack Bauer in the current series of 24 wasn’t able to stop terrorists from infiltrating air traffic control and putting two planes on collision course.
What’s science fiction today often becomes science fact tomorrow.

How can I protect myself from cyber-terrorism ?

Currently there are no foolproof ways to protect a system. The completely secure system can never be accessed by anyone. Most of the militaries classified information is kept on machines with no outside connection, as a form of prevention of cyber terrorism. Apart from such isolation, the most common method of protection is encryption. The wide spread use of encryption is inhibited by the governments ban on its exportation, so intercontinental communication is left relatively insecure. The Clinton administration and the FBI oppose the export of encryption in favor of a system where by the government can gain the key to an encrypted system after gaining a court order to do so. The director of the FBI's stance is that the Internet was not intended to go unpoliced and that the police need to protect people's privacy and public-safety rights there. Encryption's draw back is that it does not protect the entire system, an attack designed to cripple the whole system, such as a virus, is unaffected by encryption.

Others promote the use of firewalls to screen all communications to a system, including e-mail messages, which may carry logic bombs. Firewall is a relatively generic term for methods of filtering access to a network. They may come in the form of a computer, router other communications device or in the form of a network configuration. Firewalls serve to define the services and access that are permitted to each user. One method is to screen user requests to check if they come from a previously defined domain or Internet Protocol (IP) address. Another method is to prohibit Telnet access into the system.

Here are few key things to remember to pretect yourself from cyber-terrorism:

1.All accounts should have passwords and the passwords should be unusual, difficult to guess.
2.Change the network configuration when defects become know.
3.Check with venders for upgrades and patches.
4.Audit systems and check logs to help in detecting and tracing an intruder.
5.If you are ever unsure about the safety of a site, or receive suspicious email from an unkown address, don't access it. It could be trouble.

CSI

About CSI:

Computer Security Institute (CSI) is the leading membership organization and provider of education for the information security community. CSI serves the needs of security professionals worldwide through conferences, educational events, research and publications, blogs, podcasts and awareness tools.

CSI 2010: Security. Strategy. Success.
CSI 2010 is the leading IT security management conference and the largest security event on the East Coast. The comprehensive program focuses on both technological as well as management solutions. The CSI Annual is designed for information security and IT professionals of all levels: executives, directors, managers and staff, and anyone needing to gain an understanding of both the technical aspects of security, and how security fits into the overall business plan.

CSI 2009 was held October 24-30 ,2009 in Washington,D.C .

CSI 2010 will be held October 25-29,2010 in Washington,D.C.

CSI Computer Crime and Security Survey 2009

This survey marks the 14th annual edition of the CSI Computer Crime and Security Survey, making it the longest-running project of its kind in the security industry.

Several new questions were added to the CSI survey this year, but the survey continues to describe what kinds of attacks respondents' organizations experienced and how much security incidents cost those organizations. The survey includes information about targeted attacks, incident response and the impacts of both malicious and non-malicious insiders. It contains details about respondents' security programs, including budgeting, policies implemented, tools used, satisfaction with security tools and budgets, degree of outsourcing, use of metrics and effects of compliance requirements.

Also new this year, the comprehensive edition of the survey compares CSI's findings to those of the Verizon Business RISK Team Data Breach Investigations Report, the Ponemon Institute's Cost of a Data Breach report and the Symantec Global Internet Threat Report.

Respondents reported big jumps in incidence of password sniffing, financial fraud, and malware infection.

One-third of respondents' organizations were fraudulently represented as the sender of a phishing message.

Average losses due to security incidents are down again this year (from $289,000 per respondent to $234,244 per respondent), though they are still above 2006 figures.

Twenty-five percent of respondents felt that over 60 percent of their financial losses were due to non-malicious actions by insiders.

Respondents were satisfied, though not overjoyed, with all security technologies.
Most respondents felt their investment in end-user security awareness training was inadequate, but most felt their investments in other components of their security program were adequate.

When asked what actions were taken following a security incident, 22 percent of respondents stated that they notified individuals whose personal information was breached and 17 percent stated that theyprovided new security services to users or customers.

When asked what security solutions ranked highest on their wishlists, many respondents named tools that would improve their visibility—better log management, security information and event management, security data visualization, security dashboards and the like.

Respondents generally said that regulatory compliance efforts have had a positive effect on their organization's security programs.

This year's survey results are based on the responses of 443 information security and information technology professionals in United States corporations, government agencies, financial institutions, educational institutions, medical institutions and other organizations. Their responses cover the security incidents they experienced and security measures they practiced from the period of July 2008 to June 2009.

Fighting cyber terrorism

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has approved a US$13 million grant to lay the foundation of IMPACT, a not-for-profit global organisation, to rally efforts from governments, the private sector, and academia worldwide, against the growing threat of cyber terrorism. IMPACT, or International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Terrorism, is the first global public-private initiative against cyber terrorism. It drives collaboration among governments, industry leaders and cyber security experts to enhance the global community’s capacity to prevent and respond to cyber threats.

The start-up grant will be used to construct the IMPACT building in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, and operations are expected to start in December.

The fund will also finance the infrastructure for the four centres of IMPACT: the Centre for Training & Skills Development; the Centre for Security Certification, Research & Development; the Centre for Global Response; and, the Centre for Policy, Regulatory Framework & International Co-operation.

Currently chaired by the Malaysian PM, the leadership of the International Advisory Board of IMPACT will be handed over to other member countries after the initial three-year term. “From the standpoint of the Malaysian government, their contribution is a gift to the global community. Someone has to start. They feel they’re just giving the seed,” said Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman, Management Board, IMPACT.

Warning System

IMPACT is currently building two systems for its member countries. One is an early warning system. which will aggregate ‘feeds’ from IMPACT’s security partners and member countries, which will be redistributed across the world to member countries.

Another is a collaboration system that, according to Amin, is a secure electronic platform enabling experts from member countries to collaborate with one another based on their specialty and niche areas.

Al-Ihsal Ishak, Acting COO and Head of the IMPACT Centre for Training and Skills Development, shared his expectations of IMPACT’s new systems and its network of partnerships across the globe.. “We actually are looking at first-hand interaction with the Cyber Crime Convention where we believe 14 countries have signed, or will sign,” said Ishak, adding that INTERPOL was represented at the first IMPACT World Cyber Security Summit, held in Malaysia, May 20-22. At press time, 30 countries had confirmed participation and representation at ministry-level of the summit, including the secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, a member of IMPACT’s International Advisory Board.

Worldwide Attention

Amin said that IMPACT is more concerned more about the consequences of cyber terrorism than whether the threats are initiated by individuals or organised groups. “We are talking about threats that are far more serious, for instance, the ability to bring down the airport traffic control systems, the stock market systems, or to tamper with medical records,” he said.