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69-445: Interface deals with the topics of IT security , the data economy, state surveillance, digital fundamental rights and media transformation, as well as other Internet and technology-related topics. In 2021, Interface employed 19 experts from many disciplines. Interface concentrates on political and societal topic areas relating to digitization and other technological and societal disruptions. Such topics include digital infrastructure ,

138-413: A vulnerability that results in an unwanted impact to a computer system or application. A threat can be either a negative " intentional " event (i.e. hacking: an individual cracker or a criminal organization) or an " accidental " negative event (e.g. the possibility of a computer malfunctioning, or the possibility of a natural disaster event such as an earthquake , a fire , or a tornado ) or otherwise

207-587: A big impact on information security in organizations. Cultural concepts can help different segments of the organization work effectively or work against effectiveness toward information security within an organization. Information security culture is the "...totality of patterns of behavior in an organization that contributes to the protection of information of all kinds." Andersson and Reimers (2014) found that employees often do not see themselves as part of their organization's information security effort and often take actions that impede organizational changes. Indeed,

276-682: A circumstance, capability, action, or event ( incident is often used as a blanket term). A threat actor who is an individual or group that can perform the threat action, such as exploiting a vulnerability to actualise a negative impact. An exploit is a vulnerability that a threat actor used to cause an incident. A more comprehensive definition, tied to an Information assurance point of view, can be found in " Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 200, Minimum Security Requirements for Federal Information and Information Systems " by NIST of United States of America National Information Assurance Glossary defines threat as: ENISA gives

345-476: A colleague, which, when listened to by an attacker, could be exploited. Data transmitted across an "open network" allows an attacker to exploit a vulnerability and intercept it via various methods. Unlike malware , direct-access attacks, or other forms of cyber attacks, eavesdropping attacks are unlikely to negatively affect the performance of networks or devices, making them difficult to notice. In fact, "the attacker does not need to have any ongoing connection to

414-507: A compromise to occur. It is a term used to distinguish them from threat agents/actors who are those who carry out the attack and who may be commissioned or persuaded by the threat source to knowingly or unknowingly carry out the attack. Threat action is an assault on system security. A complete security architecture deals with both intentional acts (i.e. attacks) and accidental events. Various kinds of threat actions are defined as subentries under "threat consequence". Threat analysis

483-412: A consequence make a Cold boot attack possible, to hardware implementation faults that allow for access or guessing of other values that normally should be inaccessible. In Side-channel attack scenarios, the attacker would gather such information about a system or network to guess its internal state and as a result access the information which is assumed by the victim to be secure. The target information in

552-445: A feature of modern computers that allows certain devices, such as external hard drives, graphics cards, or network cards, to access the computer's memory directly." Eavesdropping is the act of surreptitiously listening to a private computer conversation (communication), usually between hosts on a network. It typically occurs when a user connects to a network where traffic is not secured or encrypted and sends sensitive business data to

621-745: A great extent was granted by non-profit organizations, foundations and public institutions. Corporate contributions comprised 12 percent of the total budget. 28 patrons finance the organization in total. In 2019, the SNV's largest patrons included the Open Society Foundations , Luminate, the Robert Bosch Foundation , the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation , the German Federal Foreign Office , and

690-512: A laptop. It is important to separate the concept of the event that a threat agent get in contact with the asset (even virtually, i.e. through the network) and the event that a threat agent act against the asset. OWASP collects a list of potential threat agents to prevent system designers, and programmers insert vulnerabilities in the software. Threat Agent = Capabilities + Intentions + Past Activities These individuals and groups can be classified as follows: Threat sources are those who wish

759-480: A malicious code inside a particular HTML or web page. HTML files can carry payloads concealed as benign, inert data in order to defeat content filters . These payloads can be reconstructed on the other side of the filter. When a target user opens the HTML, the malicious code is activated; the web browser then "decodes" the script, which then unleashes the malware onto the target's device. Employee behavior can have

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828-465: A mean to get in touch with people in charge of system administration or even system security, inducing them to reveal sensitive information. One famous case is Robin Sage . The most widespread documentation on computer insecurity is about technical threats such as a computer virus , trojan and other malware , but a serious study to apply cost effective countermeasures can only be conducted following

897-492: A mnemonic, STRIDE , from the initials of threat groups: Microsoft previously rated the risk of security threats using five categories in a classification called DREAD: Risk assessment model . The model is considered obsolete by Microsoft. The categories were: The DREAD name comes from the initials of the five categories listed. The spread over a network of threats can lead to dangerous situations. In military and civil fields, threat level has been defined: for example INFOCON

966-439: A new class of multi-vector, polymorphic cyber threats combine several types of attacks and change form to avoid cybersecurity controls as they spread. Multi-vector polymorphic attacks, as the name describes, are both multi-vectored and polymorphic. Firstly, they are a singular attack that involves multiple methods of attack. In this sense, they are “multi-vectored (i.e. the attack can use multiple means of propagation such as via

1035-422: A proactive approach to security and prioritize their resources to address the most significant risks. Threat intelligence is the practice of collecting and analyzing information about potential and current threats to an organization. This information can include indicators of compromise, attack techniques, and threat actor profiles. By using threat intelligence, organizations can develop a better understanding of

1104-417: A rigorous IT risk analysis in the framework of an ISMS: a pure technical approach will let out the psychological attacks that are increasing threats. Threats can be classified according to their type and origin: Note that a threat type can have multiple origins. Recent trends in computer threats show an increase in ransomware attacks, supply chain attacks, and fileless malware. Ransomware attacks involve

1173-482: A separate machine filtering network traffic. Firewalls are common amongst machines that are permanently connected to the Internet. Some organizations are turning to big data platforms, such as Apache Hadoop , to extend data accessibility and machine learning to detect advanced persistent threats . Threat (security) In computer security , a threat is a potential negative action or event enabled by

1242-400: A shift in the executive board at the end of 2014, SNV re-established itself as a think tank focusing on digitalization with a permanent, interdisciplinary staff. Financing thereafter was largely provided by grants from non-profit foundations or the public sector. IT security Computer security (also cybersecurity , digital security , or information technology (IT) security ) is

1311-601: A side channel can be challenging to detect due to its low amplitude when combined with other signals Social engineering , in the context of computer security, aims to convince a user to disclose secrets such as passwords, card numbers, etc. or grant physical access by, for example, impersonating a senior executive, bank, a contractor, or a customer. This generally involves exploiting people's trust, and relying on their cognitive biases . A common scam involves emails sent to accounting and finance department personnel, impersonating their CEO and urgently requesting some action. One of

1380-459: A similar definition: The Open Group defines threat as: Factor analysis of information risk defines threat as: National Information Assurance Training and Education Center gives a more articulated definition of threat : The term "threat" relates to some other basic security terms as shown in the following diagram: [REDACTED] A resource (both physical or logical) can have one or more vulnerabilities that can be exploited by

1449-705: A standard computer user may be able to exploit a vulnerability in the system to gain access to restricted data; or even become root and have full unrestricted access to a system. The severity of attacks can range from attacks simply sending an unsolicited email to a ransomware attack on large amounts of data. Privilege escalation usually starts with social engineering techniques, often phishing . Privilege escalation can be separated into two strategies, horizontal and vertical privilege escalation: Any computational system affects its environment in some form. This effect it has on its environment can range from electromagnetic radiation, to residual effect on RAM cells which as

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1518-556: A threat agent in a threat action. The result can potentially compromise the confidentiality , integrity or availability properties of resources (potentially different than the vulnerable one) of the organization and others involved parties (customers, suppliers). The so-called CIA triad is the basis of information security . The attack can be active when it attempts to alter system resources or affect their operation: so it compromises Integrity or Availability. A " passive attack " attempts to learn or make use of information from

1587-490: A way of filtering network data between a host or a network and another network, such as the Internet . They can be implemented as software running on the machine, hooking into the network stack (or, in the case of most UNIX -based operating systems such as Linux , built into the operating system kernel ) to provide real-time filtering and blocking. Another implementation is a so-called physical firewall , which consists of

1656-447: A wrong password enough consecutive times to cause the victim's account to be locked, or they may overload the capabilities of a machine or network and block all users at once. While a network attack from a single IP address can be blocked by adding a new firewall rule, many forms of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are possible, where the attack comes from a large number of points. In this case, defending against these attacks

1725-480: Is a threat level used by the US. Leading antivirus software vendors publish global threat level on their websites. The term Threat Agent is used to indicate an individual or group that can manifest a threat. It is fundamental to identify who would want to exploit the assets of a company, and how they might use them against the company. Individuals within a threat population; Practically anyone and anything can, under

1794-759: Is further amplified by the growth of smart devices , including smartphones , televisions , and the various devices that constitute the Internet of things (IoT). Cybersecurity has emerged as one of the most significant new challenges facing the contemporary world, due to both the complexity of information systems and the societies they support. Security is particularly crucial for systems that govern large-scale systems with far-reaching physical effects, such as power distribution , elections , and finance . Although many aspects of computer security involve digital security, such as electronic passwords and encryption , physical security measures such as metal locks are still used to prevent unauthorized tampering. IT security

1863-471: Is much more difficult. Such attacks can originate from the zombie computers of a botnet or from a range of other possible techniques, including distributed reflective denial-of-service (DRDoS), where innocent systems are fooled into sending traffic to the victim. With such attacks, the amplification factor makes the attack easier for the attacker because they have to use little bandwidth themselves. To understand why attackers may carry out these attacks, see

1932-518: Is not a perfect subset of information security , therefore does not completely align into the security convergence schema. A vulnerability refers to a flaw in the structure, execution, functioning, or internal oversight of a computer or system that compromises its security. Most of the vulnerabilities that have been discovered are documented in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database. An exploitable vulnerability

2001-439: Is one for which at least one working attack or exploit exists. Actors maliciously seeking vulnerabilities are known as threats . Vulnerabilities can be researched, reverse-engineered, hunted, or exploited using automated tools or customized scripts. Various people or parties are vulnerable to cyber attacks; however, different groups are likely to experience different types of attacks more than others. In April 2023,

2070-504: Is protected by standard security measures, these may be bypassed by booting another operating system or tool from a CD-ROM or other bootable media. Disk encryption and the Trusted Platform Module standard are designed to prevent these attacks. Direct service attackers are related in concept to direct memory attacks which allow an attacker to gain direct access to a computer's memory. The attacks "take advantage of

2139-425: Is spear-phishing which leverages personal or organization-specific details to make the attacker appear like a trusted source. Spear-phishing attacks target specific individuals, rather than the broad net cast by phishing attempts. Privilege escalation describes a situation where an attacker with some level of restricted access is able to, without authorization, elevate their privileges or access level. For example,

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2208-450: Is that it is the combination of the asset and type of action against the asset that determines the fundamental nature and degree of loss. Which action(s) a threat agent takes will be driven primarily by that agent's motive (e.g., financial gain, revenge, recreation, etc.) and the nature of the asset. For example, a threat agent bent on financial gain is less likely to destroy a critical server than they are to steal an easily pawned asset like

2277-446: Is the analysis of the probability of occurrences and consequences of damaging actions to a system. It is the basis of risk analysis . Threat modeling is a process that helps organizations identify and prioritize potential threats to their systems. It involves analyzing the system's architecture, identifying potential threats, and prioritizing them based on their impact and likelihood. By using threat modeling, organizations can develop

2346-481: The Information security management systems (ISMS), has been developed to manage, according to risk management principles, the countermeasures in order to accomplish to a security strategy set up following rules and regulations applicable in a country. Countermeasures are also called security controls; when applied to the transmission of information are named security services . The overall picture represents

2415-653: The United Kingdom Department for Science, Innovation & Technology released a report on cyber attacks over the last 12 months. They surveyed 2,263 UK businesses, 1,174 UK registered charities, and 554 education institutions. The research found that "32% of businesses and 24% of charities overall recall any breaches or attacks from the last 12 months." These figures were much higher for "medium businesses (59%), large businesses (69%), and high-income charities with £500,000 or more in annual income (56%)." Yet, although medium or large businesses are more often

2484-576: The automation of human work, IT and cyber security , and digital surveillance . It focuses primarily on current policy developments and ongoing societal debates. Analyses or practical guidelines geared toward policymaking are made available as policy papers, which include suggestions for stricter controls on the German Federal Intelligence Service , broadband policies and IT-security policies. Scenario studies investigate future technological and societal developments, like

2553-439: The risk factors of the risk scenario. The widespread of computer dependencies and the consequent raising of the consequence of a successful attack, led to a new term cyberwarfare . Nowadays the many real attacks exploit Psychology at least as much as technology. Phishing and Pretexting and other methods are called social engineering techniques. The Web 2.0 applications, specifically Social network services , can be

2622-436: The "practice of designing computer systems to achieve security goals." These goals have overlap with the principles of "security by design" explored above, including to "make initial compromise of the system difficult," and to "limit the impact of any compromise." In practice, the role of a security architect would be to ensure the structure of a system reinforces the security of the system, and that new changes are safe and meet

2691-407: The 'attacker motivation' section. A direct-access attack is when an unauthorized user (an attacker) gains physical access to a computer, most likely to directly copy data from it or steal information. Attackers may also compromise security by making operating system modifications, installing software worms , keyloggers , covert listening devices or using wireless microphones. Even when the system

2760-551: The Mercator Foundation. The executive board is responsible for the leadership of SNV. Members of the board are Anna Wohlfarth and Dr. Stefan Heumann. SNV was founded in 2008 with the original goal of offering young professionals from corporations, research institutions and civil-society organizations a platform to work on societal issues, publish and build relationships in Berlin for one year. Among its supporters at

2829-524: The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2020, which examined 3,950 security breaches, discovered 30% of cybersecurity incidents involved internal actors within a company. Research shows information security culture needs to be improved continuously. In "Information Security Culture from Analysis to Change", authors commented, "It's a never-ending process, a cycle of evaluation and change or maintenance." To manage

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2898-561: The Web, email and applications." However, they are also multi-staged, meaning that “they can infiltrate networks and move laterally inside the network.” The attacks can be polymorphic, meaning that the cyberattacks used such as viruses, worms or trojans “constantly change (“morph”) making it nearly impossible to detect them using signature-based defences.” Phishing is the attempt of acquiring sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details directly from users by deceiving

2967-512: The best form of encryption possible for wireless networks is best practice, as well as using HTTPS instead of an unencrypted HTTP . Programs such as Carnivore and NarusInSight have been used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and NSA to eavesdrop on the systems of internet service providers . Even machines that operate as a closed system (i.e., with no contact with the outside world) can be eavesdropped upon by monitoring

3036-656: The encryption of a victim's files and a demand for payment to restore access. Supply chain attacks target the weakest links in a supply chain to gain access to high-value targets. Fileless malware attacks use techniques that allow malware to run in memory, making it difficult to detect. Below are the few common emerging threats:- ●      Computer viruses ●      Trojan horses ●      Worms ●      Rootkits ●      Spyware ●      Adware ●      Ransomware ●      Fileless malware Microsoft published

3105-416: The entire computer." Backdoors can be very hard to detect and are usually discovered by someone who has access to the application source code or intimate knowledge of the operating system of the computer. Denial-of-service attacks (DoS) are designed to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Attackers can deny service to individual victims, such as by deliberately entering

3174-468: The faint electromagnetic transmissions generated by the hardware. TEMPEST is a specification by the NSA referring to these attacks. Malicious software ( malware ) is any software code or computer program "intentionally written to harm a computer system or its users." Once present on a computer, it can leak sensitive details such as personal information, business information and passwords, can give control of

3243-457: The following sections: Security by design, or alternately secure by design, means that the software has been designed from the ground up to be secure. In this case, security is considered a main feature. The UK government's National Cyber Security Centre separates secure cyber design principles into five sections: These design principles of security by design can include some of the following techniques: Security architecture can be defined as

3312-490: The information security culture, five steps should be taken: pre-evaluation, strategic planning, operative planning, implementation, and post-evaluation. In computer security, a countermeasure is an action, device, procedure or technique that reduces a threat, a vulnerability, or an attack by eliminating or preventing it, by minimizing the harm it can cause, or by discovering and reporting it so that corrective action can be taken. Some common countermeasures are listed in

3381-449: The life-threatening risk of spoofing in the healthcare industry. Tampering describes a malicious modification or alteration of data. It is an intentional but unauthorized act resulting in the modification of a system, components of systems, its intended behavior, or data. So-called Evil Maid attacks and security services planting of surveillance capability into routers are examples. HTML smuggling allows an attacker to "smuggle"

3450-527: The main techniques of social engineering are phishing attacks. In early 2016, the FBI reported that such business email compromise (BEC) scams had cost US businesses more than $ 2 billion in about two years. In May 2016, the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team was the victim of this type of cyber scam with a perpetrator impersonating the team's president Peter Feigin , resulting in the handover of all

3519-473: The nature of backdoors, they are of greater concern to companies and databases as opposed to individuals. Backdoors may be added by an authorized party to allow some legitimate access or by an attacker for malicious reasons. Criminals often use malware to install backdoors, giving them remote administrative access to a system. Once they have access, cybercriminals can "modify files, steal personal information, install unwanted software, and even take control of

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3588-560: The openness of the Internet. These strategies mostly include phishing , ransomware , water holing and scanning. To secure a computer system, it is important to understand the attacks that can be made against it, and these threats can typically be classified into one of the following categories: A backdoor in a computer system, a cryptosystem , or an algorithm is any secret method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls. These weaknesses may exist for many reasons, including original design or poor configuration. Due to

3657-552: The potential for productivity loss resulting from a destroyed or stolen asset depends upon how critical that asset is to the organization's productivity. If a critical asset is simply illicitly accessed, there is no direct productivity loss. Similarly, the destruction of a highly sensitive asset that does not play a critical role in productivity would not directly result in a significant productivity loss. Yet that same asset, if disclosed, can result in significant loss of competitive advantage or reputation, and generate legal costs. The point

3726-414: The project criticized the relaxation of net neutrality rules, and argued for more state intervention in the area of IT security, as well as for greater cooperation between civil society and government. SNV consistently take the positions of strengthening the protection of fundamental rights and privacy. According to its website, Interface had a budget of approximately 1.62 million euros in 2019, of which

3795-421: The protection of computer software , systems and networks from threats that can lead to unauthorized information disclosure, theft or damage to hardware , software , or data , as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide. The significance of the field stems from the expanded reliance on computer systems , the Internet , and wireless network standards . Its importance

3864-428: The real website. Preying on a victim's trust, phishing can be classified as a form of social engineering . Attackers can use creative ways to gain access to real accounts. A common scam is for attackers to send fake electronic invoices to individuals showing that they recently purchased music, apps, or others, and instructing them to click on a link if the purchases were not authorized. A more strategic type of phishing

3933-606: The reform of the German Intelligence Service Act in 2016 and 2020, Thorsten Wetzling, the head of the SNV "Digital Fundamental Rights, Surveillance and Transparency" project, advocated for stricter controls on the Federal Intelligence Service . Along with administrative modernization, demands were made for more data from authorities and administrative bodies to be made publicly available to citizens and startups. In other papers,

4002-438: The right circumstances, be a threat agent – the well-intentioned, but inept, computer operator who trashes a daily batch job by typing the wrong command, the regulator performing an audit, or the squirrel that chews through a data cable. Threat agents can take one or more of the following actions against an asset: Each of these actions affects different assets differently, which drives the degree and nature of loss. For example,

4071-476: The right foundation to systematically address business, IT and security concerns in an organization. A state of computer security is the conceptual ideal, attained by the use of three processes: threat prevention, detection, and response. These processes are based on various policies and system components, which include the following: Today, computer security consists mainly of preventive measures, like firewalls or an exit procedure . A firewall can be defined as

4140-432: The security requirements of the organization. Similarly, Techopedia defines security architecture as "a unified security design that addresses the necessities and potential risks involved in a certain scenario or environment. It also specifies when and where to apply security controls. The design process is generally reproducible." The key attributes of security architecture are: Practicing security architecture provides

4209-448: The software at all. The attacker can insert the software onto a compromised device, perhaps by direct insertion or perhaps by a virus or other malware, and then come back some time later to retrieve any data that is found or trigger the software to send the data at some determined time." Using a virtual private network (VPN), which encrypts data between two points, is one of the most common forms of protection against eavesdropping. Using

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4278-443: The system but does not affect system resources: so it compromises Confidentiality. OWASP (see figure) depicts the same phenomenon in slightly different terms: a threat agent through an attack vector exploits a weakness (vulnerability) of the system and the related security controls causing a technical impact on an IT resource (asset) connected to a business impact. A set of policies concerned with information security management,

4347-677: The system to the attacker, and can corrupt or delete data permanently. Another type of malware is ransomware , which is when "malware installs itself onto a victim's machine, encrypts their files, and then turns around and demands a ransom (usually in Bitcoin ) to return that data to the user." Types of malware include some of the following: Man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM) involve a malicious attacker trying to intercept, surveil or modify communications between two parties by spoofing one or both party's identities and injecting themselves in-between. Types of MITM attacks include: Surfacing in 2017,

4416-428: The team's employees' 2015 W-2 tax forms. Spoofing is an act of pretending to be a valid entity through the falsification of data (such as an IP address or username), in order to gain access to information or resources that one is otherwise unauthorized to obtain. Spoofing is closely related to phishing . There are several types of spoofing, including: In 2018, the cybersecurity firm Trellix published research on

4485-472: The threat landscape and improve their ability to detect and respond to threats. Threat consequence is a security violation that results from a threat action. Includes disclosure, deception, disruption, and usurpation. The following subentries describe four kinds of threat consequences, and also list and describe the kinds of threat actions that cause each consequence. Threat actions that are accidental events are marked by "*". A collection of threats in

4554-575: The time of its founding were the German Academy of Science and Engineering (Acatech), the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities , and the former German Sports Confederation. The organization was financed through donations from corporations, including Friedhelm Loh , Beisheim Holding, EnBW, Bosch and Giesecke & Devrient . Following

4623-426: The transformation of the labor market through automated technologies, robotics and intelligent software. Other publications deal with the effects of technology on social cohesion. In addition to publications, Interface hosts events for public discussion. Guests have included The SNV staff regularly participates in public academic debates and contributes to newspapers and online media outlets as guest experts. During

4692-427: The users. Phishing is typically carried out by email spoofing , instant messaging , text message , or on a phone call. They often direct users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. The fake website often asks for personal information, such as login details and passwords. This information can then be used to gain access to the individual's real account on

4761-616: The victims, since larger companies have generally improved their security over the last decade, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) have also become increasingly vulnerable as they often "do not have advanced tools to defend the business." SMBs are most likely to be affected by malware, ransomware, phishing, man-in-the-middle attacks , and Denial-of Service (DoS) Attacks. Normal internet users are most likely to be affected by untargeted cyberattacks. These are where attackers indiscriminately target as many devices, services, or users as possible. They do this using techniques that take advantage of

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