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Script Kiddie:
- Unskilled individuals who use programs developed by others to attack computer systems
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Attributes:
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Internal/External:
- External to their target
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Level of Sophistication:
- Typically have limited resources.
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Resources/Funding:
- The amount, sophistication, and extent of their attacks is constrained.
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Intent/Motivation:
- Motivated by prestige.
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Hacktivist:
- Individuals or members of (typically small) groups
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The term hacktivist is often applied to a range of different activities:
- Hacking for social change
- Hacking to promote political agendas
- Cyberterrorism
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Attributes:
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Internal/External:
- Hacktivists could be internal or external to their target, but are typically external.
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Level of Sophistication:
- Hacktivists widely vary in their skills.
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Resources/Funding:
- Hacktivists vary in resources and funding.
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Intent/Motivation:
- Motivated by anger, justice, or sometimes a political or social cause
- Seek to embarrass or deface their target
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Organized Crime:
- Groups that send spam and phishing emails, ransomware, and spyware, and generally do not have targets; instead seek as many targets as possible.
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Attributes:
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Internal/External:
- External to their target. May target channels internal to an organization, such as company email.
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Level of Sophistication:
- Can be highly sophisticated
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Resources/Funding:
- Often well-funded
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Intent/Motivation:
- Motivated by money
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Advanced Persistent Threat (APT):
- Nation-state operations that slowly gather information, use covert methods, and are rarely discovered.
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Attributes:
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Internal/External:
- May be both internal and external to their attack target.
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Level of Sophistication:
- Rarely use flashy tactics. Attack surfaces used by APTs are well-tested and rarely discovered.
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Resources/Funding:
- An APT entity has the highest level of resources, including open-source intelligence (OSINT) and covert sources of intelligence.
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Intent/Motivation:
- Motivated by knowledge (information)
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Insiders:
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Three categories:
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Uneducated Trusted Insiders:
- This individual is likely to be taken advantage of by social engineering techniques, or unwittingly initiate a backdoor or privilege escalation attack.
- The success of such an attack depends on your security policy and employee training.
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Educated Trusted Insiders:
- System Administrators
- CEOs
- Other IT Personnel
- HR (Access to Personnel Information)
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Educated Untrusted Insiders:
- Disgruntled Employees
- An employee with a history of mental illness or disciplinary problems
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Triggered by a stressful event:
- Personal issues
- Unfavorable performance review
- Passed over for promotion
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Risk Mitigation:
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These controls can protect from insider attacks:
- Implement Job Rotations
- Separation of Duties
- Mandatory Vacations for Critical Staff
- Perform Background Checks
- Onboarding and Offboarding
- Use the Principle of Least Privilege
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Behavioral Indicators (Source: FBI) of a Potential Insider Attack:
- Taking work materials home
- Odd interest in issues outside his/her responsibility
- Duplication of office material without explanation
- Strange patterns of network activity
- Using personal hardware and software in the office
- Working odd hours
- Unexplained foreign contacts/trips
- Unexplained affluence
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In all cases, these two strategies are key:
- Proper employee education (training)
- Identifying key assets and points of interest to an attacker