Securely implementing a home network

As we speak I am currently in the process of designing my new home, lucky enough myself and my wife to be are in the position where we get to build from scratch. The beauty with building from scratch is of course you start with a blank canvas. We are at the stage where all the necessities have been figured out such as heating systems, insulation, build type, house size etc so its time to get to the really fun part... the home network.

Having past my CCNA over 3 years ago, my networking has gone a tad off the boil so this is  a great excuse to get myself back up to scratch. The beauty with building a network from scratch is you can do whatever you want and that is exactly what I plan on doing. As I do work in security I won't be detailing the underlying hardware components but I will give the high level view.

My first consideration is cable type and at a little more expense I have decided to run with CAT 6A throughout the house, remember if you chose CAT 6A make sure your wall jacks are also CAT 6A and any other network hardware component that delivers connectivity throughout your home.
For flexibility I will be running with un-shielded pair CAT 6A and I am also going to run in some external cable in case I ever decide to run CCTV.

I aim to install approximately 26 ports internally and a number externally so I have chosen a 48 port managed switch to connected everything to.
Choosing your switch is important from a network security and stability perspective you should try get a switch that supports, multiple VLANS, QoS, Access Controls Lists, IP Source Guard, Port-level controls, Dynamic ARP inspection. This will cost a few bob but will give you great control over how your network works. The above are just examples of a few security features and if you want to know more about each I'm sure google will be an obliging teacher.

From a general helpfulness note when you pull in your cables label each one on the wall and give it a corresponding number of the switch. This practice can be a pain in the ass but you will thank yourself later. Once you have your ports labelled and patched its time to decide the function of each port and make a list.

I suggest grouping the ports that will carry the same traffic together such as:

- Wireless Access Point traffic
- VOIP traffic
- IOT devices
- Media and Smart TVs
- Home Heating System / Solar
- CCTV
- Office

Once you have worked out what ports are mapping to what service group these ports into VLANs, this will help protect your traffic  by segregating your services and helping to aggregate your network.

For ports where the devices wont change I suggest binding the MAC address to add a small bit of integrity. Switches with QoS options are great as you can now easily configure what traffic you want to give priority to such as VOIP or media. This gives you a more granular control over how your networked devices will work.

I suggest you also buy a switch that has a number of gigabit up-link ports so you can connect into your router.
For my choice of router I want something that is capable of holding a solid baseline and is powerful, I also want it to be able to handle VOIP traffic and run a VPN. Installing a VPN at the router level can cause issues so unless your technical I might skip this part remember I have no problem spending my weekends fluting around with this stuff till its fine tuned.

There is also the option to add in additional security such as firewalls or I could fire up SNORT to give me some intrusion detection capabilities all of which I have ample time to prepare for. The main point of this post is that implementing a home network should cause you to think about how you want it to work, what you want to use it for and how secure you want to be. If your not technical leave it to the pros but make sure you get someone who knows what there doing or you could be exposing yourself to a whole world hurt. 

NSA hacking tools enabling script kiddies and criminals

 

When you create an arsenal of powerful hacking tools to rip through the privacy rights of citizens with the goal of national security as the driver what could possibly go wrong? Well in the case that you lose all of those tools and they fall into the arms of criminals and script kiddies the dangers become all to real. 

Last week, the mysterious hacking group known as Shadow Brokers leaked a set of Windows hacking tools targeting Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 7 and 8, and Windows 2012, allegedly belonged to the NSA's Equation Group. 

 
As expected Microsoft quickly downplayed the security risks by releasing patches for all exploited vulnerabilities, but there are still risks in the wild with unsupported systems as well as with those who haven't yet installed the patches. And believe me knowing how a lot of companies tend to handle patch management that's a lot of servers that are quickly becoming targets. Just to back up that statement multiple security researchers have performed mass Internet scans over the past few days and found tens of thousands of Windows computers worldwide infected with DoublePulsar, a suspected NSA spying implant, as a result of a free tool released on GitHub for anyone to use.

The hackers news have done a good article on this explaining the ins and outs of the tools and the issues that organisation may face if effective patching does not take place which I have inserted below.

The impact? DoublePulsar is a backdoor used to inject and run malicious code on already infected systems, and is installed using the EternalBlue exploit that targets SMB file-sharing services on Microsoft's Windows XP to Server 2008 R2.

Therefore, to compromise a machine, it must be running a vulnerable version of Windows OS with an SMB service expose to the attacker.

Both DoublePulsar and EternalBlue are suspected as Equation Group tools and are now available for any script kiddie to download and use against vulnerable computers.

Once installed, DoublePulsar used hijacked computers to sling malware, spam online users, and launch further cyber attacks on other victims. To remain stealthy, the backdoor doesn't write any files to the PCs it infects, preventing it from persisting after an infected PC is rebooted. While Microsoft has already patched majority of the exploited flaws in affected Windows operating systems, those who have not patched are vulnerable to exploits such as EternalBlue, EternalChampion, EternalSynergy, EternalRomance, EmeraldThread, and EducatedScholar.

Moreover, systems that are still using end-of-life platforms like Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and IIS 6.0, which no longer received security updates, are also vulnerable to the in-the-wild exploits.

Since it takes hackers roughly a few hours to download the Shadow Brokers dump, scan the Internet with the tool released on Monday, and deliver hacking exploits, researchers are expecting more vulnerable and unpatched computers to fall victims to DoublePulsar.

After this news had broken, Microsoft officials released a statement saying: "We doubt the accuracy of the reports and are investigating."

Meanwhile, Windows users who haven't applied MS17-010 by now are strongly advised to download and deploy the patches as soon as possible.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) need to knows

In January 2012, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of data protection rules in the EU. On 4 May 2016, the official texts of the Regulation and the Directive have been published in the EU Official Journal in all the official languages. While the Regulation will enter into force on 24 May 2016, it shall apply from 25 May 2018. The Directive enters into force on 5 May 2016 and EU Member States have to transpose it into their national law by 6 May 2018.

So what does the above mean for everyone? Well for every business big or small handling data on European citizens it means much stricter rules backed up by heavy fines for non compliance and carelessness around the processing, handling and storage of data. And when I say big fine I mean BIG fines 4% of your annual turnover or 20 million depending on which is greater. So if your a big offender on the data front you have approx 1 year to get your s**t together. 

So what are the key points for Business I hear you ask? Well lets go through them with this lovely breakdown from EUGDPR.

Increased Territorial Scope (extra-territorial applicability)Arguably the biggest change to the regulatory landscape of data privacy comes with the extended jurisdiction of the GDPR, as it applies to all companies processing the personal data of data subjects residing in the Union, regardless of the company’s location. Previously, territorial applicability of the directive was ambiguous and referred to data process 'in context of an establishment'. This topic has arisen in a number of high profile court cases. GPDR makes its applicability very clear - it will apply to the processing of personal data by controllers and processors in the EU, regardless of whether the processing takes place in the EU or not. The GDPR will also apply to the processing of personal data of data subjects in the EU by a controller or processor not established in the EU, where the activities relate to: offering goods or services to EU citizens (irrespective of whether payment is required) and the monitoring of behaviour that takes place within the EU. Non-Eu businesses processing the data of EU citizens will also have to appoint a representative in the EU. 

PenaltiesUnder GDPR organizations in breach of GDPR can be fined up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 Million (whichever is greater). This is the maximum fine that can be imposed for the most serious infringements e.g.not having sufficient customer consent to process data or violating the core of Privacy by Design concepts. There is a tiered approach to fines e.g. a company can be fined 2% for not having their records in order (article 28), not notifying the supervising authority and data subject about a breach or not conducting impact assessment. It is important to note that these rules apply to both controllers and processors -- meaning 'clouds' will not be exempt from GDPR enforcement.

ConsentThe conditions for consent have been strengthened, and companies will no longer be able to use long illegible terms and conditions full of legalese, as the request for consent must be given in an intelligible and easily accessible form, with the purpose for data processing attached to that consent. Consent must be clear and distinguishable from other matters and provided in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language. It must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.​


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The best part of all from this new regulation is the Data subject rights which are going to become a real pain in the ass for companies. And I personally will be keen to watch how some of the more demanding requests will be processed by business especially the beautiful new "Right to be Forgotten".


Data Subject Rights
Breach Notification
Under the GDPR, breach notification will become mandatory in all member states where a data breach is likely to “result in a risk for the rights and freedoms of individuals”. This must be done within 72 hours of first having become aware of the breach. Data processors will also be required to notify their customers, the controllers, “without undue delay” after first becoming aware of a data breach. 

Right to AccessPart of the expanded rights of data subjects outlined by the GDPR is the right for data subjects to obtain from the data controller confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning them is being processed, where and for what purpose. Further, the controller shall provide a copy of the personal data, free of charge, in an electronic fromat. This change is a dramatic shift to data transparency and empowerment of data subjects.

Right to be ForgottenAlso known as Data Erasure, the right to be forgotten entitles the data subject to have the data controller erase his/her personal data, cease further dissemination of the data, and potentially have third parties halt processing of the data. The conditions for erasure, as outlined in article 17, include the data no longer being relevant to original purposes for processing, or a data subjects withdrawing consent. It should also be noted that this right requires controllers to compare the subjects' rights to "the public interest in the availability of the data" when considering such requests.

Data Portability
GDPR introduces data portability - the right for a data subject to receive the personal data concerning them, which they have previously provided in a 'commonly use and machine readable format' and have the right to transmit that data to another controller.

Privacy by Design
Privacy by design as a concept has existed for years now, but it is only just becoming part of a legal requirement with the GDPR. At it’s core, privacy by design calls for the inclusion of data protection from the onset of the designing of systems, rather than an addition. More specifically - 'The controller shall..implement appropriate technical and organisational measures..in an effective way.. in order to meet the requirements of this Regulation and protect the rights of data subjects'. Article 23 calls for controllers to hold and process only the data absolutely necessary for the completion of its duties (data minimisation), as well as limiting the access to personal data to those needing to act out the processing.

Data Protection Officers
Currently, controllers are required to notify their data processing activities with local DPAs, which, for multinationals, can be a bureaucratic nightmare with most Member States having different notification requirements. Under GDPR it will not be necessary to submit notifications / registrations to each local DPA of data processing activities, nor will it be a requirement to notify / obtain approval for transfers based on the Model Contract Clauses (MCCs). Instead, there will be internal record keeping requirements, as further explained below, and DPO appointment will be mandatory only for those controllers and processors whose core activities consist of processing operations which require regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a large scale or of special categories of data or data relating to criminal convictions and offences. Importantly, the DPO:

• Must be appointed on the basis of professional qualities and, in particular, expert knowledge on data protection law and practices
• May be a staff member or an external service provider
• Contact details must be provided to the relevant DPA
• Must be provided with appropriate resources to carry out their tasks and maintain their expert knowledge
• Must report directly to the highest level of management
• Must not carry out any other tasks that could results in a conflict of interest.​

Security Meets Cost

I was recently asked by a small business how could they secure their IT on a budget this made me stop to think about that tricky subject "security meets cost". It is in these terms that a business must be practical, you need to stand back and identify your actual financial loss were a cyber attack or unforeseen event to occur resulting in the loss of data. And to be quite honest if your spending thousands on perimeter controls and don't have anyone in your business who can properly configure, monitor and maintain these devices then your really just throwing money down the drain.

After going through the business I advised them to put in place a number of steps that would go a long way towards protecting them. It must be noted that the business in question did not deal with any payments card information (PCI), personally identifiable information (PII) or personal health information (PHI) if your business is dealing with the above then you will need to put more controls in place.

My plan for the business was pretty simple and I will lay it out below.

1) Education:
This is one of the fundamental roles that small businesses neglect, there are hundreds of services out there that will do training days on different areas in an easy to understand and education manner. If you can train staff to identify Phising, Smishing and other everyday threats then you are starting to win a war on the front line. Education helps get employees to think before opening an attachment or giving out "harmless" information over the phone. For the more adventures small business there are packages available for you to run harmless attacks that contain educational videos when clicked. PhishMe would be one such company that comes to mind in that regard.

2) Backups:
This one is quite simple but often forgotten, with the rise of ransomware every small business should keep daily or weekly backups. These backups should be occasionally tested to ensure that they can restore systems in the event of an emergency such as a ransomware infection.

3) Business Continuity Plan:
 Every business should have one and should test it, you can work on building this up over a period of time but you need to start somewhere. EG. if the building floods are our desktops on the floor? Maybe we should elevate them to mitigate this problem. During this flood do employee have the ability to work from home? Yes we have remote access to the building over our companies VPN.

The above are just suggestions but you get the drift if you start to disect your company and compare it to potential events you might be surprised what you come up with. Fail to prepare then prepare to fail.

4) Virus and Anti- malware protection:
Again this is simple but neglected in many small businesses, buy a good antivirus and anti-malware package and set the updates to times you know your employees wont shut them down eg lunch time or after working hours. A good antivirus and malware solution is like having a security guard in your network throwing out all the bad guys.


5) Enable Bit-locker or the equivalent:
Bit-locker encrypts your disk so if someone breaks in and robs your physical machine in theory bit-locker will keep that information safe, unless of course the thief is Homeland security or the equivalent in which case your data is the least of your worries.

6) Password Policy:
Put in place a robust password policy that includes the rotation of passwords regularly and password history check to prevent the re-use of passwords.

7) Third party checks:
If you are using a third party to store data or to provide remote support ask them to provide you with a list of controls that are in place to protect you from a security point of view. If they tell you they are super secure and you need to trust them get worried because this means they haven't got anything to give you and your cloud solution is some guy with a laptop and 15 housemates that use it to stream illegal movies.

8) Document everything!
You should document all of your procedures and workflows because if one guy has all this information and gets hit by a bus your knowledge is dead. Good documentation is key to smooth transition and helps aid security through clarity.



If you get all the above in order you will have made a decent move towards securing your business at a minimal cost, of course there is plenty of room to do more but the hardest part is always to make a start.

Pokemon Go grants itself "full access" to your Google account

In one of the most bizarre events in recent history Nintendo's new location-based augmented reality game Pokémon GO has been making the news since it launched a few days ago. People are so excited to catch 'em all that Nintendo's market-value has jumped to $7.5 Billion (£5.8 Billion) in just two days – the highest surge since 1983.

Due to the huge interest surrounding Pokémon GO, even hackers are using the game's popularity to distribute malicious versions of Pokémon GO that could install DroidJack malware on Android phones, allowing them to compromise user's devices completely. Now I have watched the videos of grown men running around with this game and I must say this might just be the end for society. If you do actually care this app also comes with a huge privacy concern that if your not to busy trying to catch imaginary Pokemon then you should take a break and fix it. The latest threat is related to the privacy concerns raised about the iOS version of the official Pokémon GO app.

According to an article via The Hackers News: Adam Reeve labeled the game "malware," saying that Pokémon GO is a "huge security risk" as the game, for some reason, grants itself "full account access" to your Google account when you sign into the app via Google on iPhone or iPad.

Any app, according to Google's own support page, that granted Full account access, can:

"See and modify nearly all information in your Google Account (but it can't change your password, delete your account, or pay with Google Wallet on your behalf)."

What exactly this means is quite unclear, but Reeve claimed that the Nintendo's Pokémon GO – developed by Niantic – can now:

• Read all your email.
• Send email on your behalf.
• Access your Google Drive documents (including deleting them).
• Look at your search history as well as Maps navigation history.
• Access your private photos stored in Google Photos.
• And a whole lot more.

Although Reeve, who reported the issue on his Tumblr blog, said this issue appears to mostly affect iOS users, some Android users are reporting that their devices are also being affected.

If you want to fix this there are two things that you can do:
 

1. Head onto your Google account permission page and look for Pokémon GO.
2. Select Pokémon GO Release and click "REMOVE" button to revoke full account access.
3. Launch Pokémon GO on your device and confirm it still works.

This will immediately revoke the Pokémon GO app's access to your Google account, but the downside is that users may lose their game data.

The second and simplest approach is to use a burner Google account. For this, create an all new Google account, with nothing in it, and use this account to sign into Pokémon GO as well as other apps that you may find doubtful.  

Hackers can use smart watch motion sensors to steal your ATM pin

As you constantly add the latest gadgets to your daily life be it fitness trackers, smart watches, timed networked heating, networked toasters etc.. do you ever stop to think that with such convince also comes risk? Well I can safely tell you that the more connected you become the wider you make the threat surface that is your personal security. A recent study from Binghamton University cites that it may be possible for hackers to obtain your ATM password from your smart watch or fitness tracker.

The risk lies in the motion sensors used by these wearable devices. The sensors also collect information about your hand movements among other data, making it possible for "attackers to reproduce the trajectories" of your hand and "recover secret key entries." 
And just in case you are doubtful the paper, titled "Friend or Foe?: Your Wearable Devices Reveal Your Personal PIN," computer scientists from the Stevens Institute of Technology and Binghamton University used a computer algorithm that can guess your password and PIN with about 80% success rate on the first attempt, and over 90% of the time with 3 tries.

Now I'm not sure about you but an 80-90% success rate within 3 tries seems pretty dam high to me. The paper also goes on to state that their "Backward PIN-Sequence Inference" algorithm can be used to capture anything a person type on any keyboard – from automatic teller machine or ATM keypads to mobile keypads – through infected smartwatches, even if the person makes the slight hand movements while entering PINs. The paper also states that at this time there is no way to avoid such an attack but have made the suggestion that manufacturers add random white noise to there devices in order to disorient patterns that can capture sensitive information. 

Find out how much Google knows about you using "My Activity" Dashboard

It is widely understood that Google as a company holds masses of information on the majority of us. If you have ever wanted to know just how much information Google knows about you this is now possible. Google tracks the majority of what you do on the Internet, including your searches, music you listen to, videos you watch, and even the places you travel to, and it does this for targeting relevant ads to its users and better improve its service. Now the technology giant has a plan to make it easier to control all the data the company collects throughout all your different devices.

So how are Google going to make this information easier for you to access and control? The answer to this is through the roll out of there new "My Activity" page that shows a searchable history of pretty much everything you do online, including previously visited websites, voice searches, searched things and places, watched Netflix programs, and all activities you did on each of its products. These activities are sorted by most recent and broken down into individual items some items may be part of groups that bundle similar activities together. You can log into this page here.

The feature along with been terrifying is beneficial for those who want more granular control over how ads work across all their devices linked with Google account and gives them the ability to block some ads they don't want to see. However, thankfully the feature also offers you an option to delete items as well — everything in a particular date range or by specific topics.

If you are privacy conscious, you can adjust your settings in the Privacy Checkup. You can change your settings for ultimate privacy, depending on how much of your online activity you allow Google to track. I would recommend that you do this but if you like targeted adds and a super computer giant knowing everything you do online, well then don't change a thing.