Charlie Waters
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Endpoint and Application Security vs The Soft Gooey Middle

Soft, Gooey, What?!

Still no Silver Bullet…

In this article we are going to distinguish between various areas of our defense-in-depth strategy.  If you have read our prior posts, you know security is not a single thing and there is no magic silver bullet, but good security is a combination of layers of defense.  So here is the problem with the traditional approach: much emphasis has been placed on the corporate network with its firewalls, intrusion detection, content filters, hard wired ethernet connections, and encrypted corporate wifi – except there is a paradigm shift toward mobility and this puts our endpoint devices and applications at a disadvantage. 

Safety outside the castle

Access is needed outside of the high castle (corporate) walls where the commoners gather.  Places like Starbucks or the now ubiquitous home office.  These external areas most often do not share the same security features of the traditional workplace network. So, what is “soft and gooey”?  Well, the truth is, even the corporate network is not as secure as we would like to believe.  Yes, it is more secure but with the ever-increasing threats of email phishing, zero-day attacks, and other threats, the constant cat and mouse game of securing the network is often a losing battle.  We still need to address these areas, but even more is needed.  And because of the trend to cut the corporate tether and leverage the advantages of mobility, the current best defense strategy is to assume the corporate network is an unsafe zone and beef up efforts to build security around the endpoint (more and more often a laptop or smart phone/tablet these days) and likewise the application itself.

Endpoint Protection

Not your average antivirus

Endpoint protection is generally reduced to signature-based antivirus.  The flaw is these products are ineffective against new threats that have not yet been cataloged by the software vendor and released as updates.  Also, threats evolve into different variants that are not detected by the antivirus engine and leave your device open to attack.  Installing operating system updates helps but still do not offer protection against unknown vulnerabilities.

More needs to be done.  New “next generation” antivirus products build on the traditional approach by using behavior monitoring and artificial intelligence.  These security products not only block known/cataloged threats but are able to detect unknown threats by looking for malicious behavior by the application running on your device.  Advanced heuristics establish a baseline of “normal” behavior and shuts down activity when a process misbehaves.

Even more is needed

An additional capability involves moving content filtering from the corporate firewall to the endpoint itself.  This can be accomplished with very little additional overhead as the filtering takes place on secure Internet DNS servers (hosted by the security vendor).  This is a valuable security measure when developing a mobility-first strategy.

Who has not seen a VPN commercial these days?!  There seems to be an endless number of companies selling virtual private network technology.  These can be used to extend the corporate network for secure access to on premise and/or cloud-hosted applications. Also, a VPN can be leveraged to encrypt general Internet traffic on an endpoint connected to unsafe/open wireless networks (like Starbucks).

Further, endpoint cloud backup is desirable when there is critical data on a laptop that is not saved frequently to servers. This trend is more common as we rely less on servers and move our data to cloud storage.

Application Protection

C squared = B + HS = I V

Reading a bit like a Phil Mickelson formula to defeat Tiger Woods, the alphabet soup of IT Security can be equally intimidating – we get something like HTTPS+VPN+2FA-MITM = GTG. Much like securing the endpoints in untrusted environments, the applications can be protected from unauthorized access.  Two-factor authentication along with forcing an encrypted connection is a common approach these days.  You will notice most web sites you visit these days use https instead of http.  The former is an encrypted connection while the latter is open to what is called “Man-in-the-middle” (MitM) attacks due to the lack of an encrypted session.  Essentially a hacker can read user passwords and other data sent back and forth over the unencrypted connections while it is much more difficult to do the same thing when the connection is secured using advanced encryption.  Cloud-hosted applications can also use software firewalls to enable many of the same security features traditionally found on the corporate hardware firewalls. 

M365 to the rescue

Microsoft 365 is a good example where application security can be enhanced.  Companies using 365 email have the mail transport encrypted end to end between internal and external parties running on the same Microsoft hosted platform.  Further, anti-phishing and cloud-to-cloud backup can be used to protect the documents and emails stored on the M365 system.  Additionally, Microsoft Teams communications through chat or voice/video calls are encrypted.  There are huge benefits to living within this ecosystem as much as possible as the number of security products needed to protect communication and collaboration can be reduced.  Less complexity also means greater security as there are fewer configurations needed to make the security work.  When combined with Microsoft Azure virtual server hosting, it is now possible to move niche line of business applications and critical company workflows to the secured Microsoft environment.

So What, Now What?

Will legislation force all of our hands?

Responsibility is being placed on the Managed Services Provider to enforce these security measures.  For example, Louisiana Act 117 – Senate Bill 273 requires MSPs that manage infrastructure or end-user systems for “public bodies” to register with the state.  Additionally, MSPs are now required to disclose cyber incidents to the state. 

It is expected for similar legislation to make its way to other states and there will be an increased top-down accountability between regulated organizations and their technology vendors.  This means MSPs will continue to up its security game or be left behind.  Also, managed service providers will become more selective when choosing its clients to ensure there is a closer alignment of operational maturity levels (OML), otherwise there will be constant tension between the MSP obligations versus the organization’s cooperation to improve security.

Follow the leader

The best approach is when a security-minded MSP articulates the reasons behind the need and the client trusts the advice of its technology partner and follows their lead.  For those who refuse to take security seriously, MSPs may be eventually forced to document the opt-out on the client’s part by issuing a legal letter advising of the dangers of not implementing the needed defenses.  This will strain relationships where there is a mismatch of OML or where trust is lacking.  What this means for all of us is the cost of doing business will continue to go up as more products and time will be needed to implement these solutions.  But the risk is too high to ignore the warnings and being wrong about security can result in a higher cost to business due to downtime, stolen data, or potential fraudulent wire transfers.  Be sure your organization has implemented the latest and greatest security tools and services by having a conversation with your trusted security advisor.

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Charlie Waters
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Extra! Extra!

Back to the future

Eight years ago around this time, I was busy in my secret lab cooking up my latest and greatest geeky tech project. A little scripting here, some hardware and networking there…not unlike the countless other times I’ve done this since my Dad bought my first computer (Commodore 64) when I was twelve. Except this time I was doing a proof of concept for a magazine article while working as the Senior Consultant for a Managed Service Provider. I guess that investment in my first computer paid off. Thanks, Dad!

Hakin9 Extra – Guide to Kali Linux: Kali Scanning for HIPAA

I was asked by Hakin9 Magazine to write an article for their (then) upcoming “Guide to Kali Linux”. But before we get to that, some background first – Linux is a popular free and open source operating system developed by Linus Torvalds. He created the new platform because he did not want to pay the expensive licensing fees for Unix, which was the operating system used in his university computer science courses. Today, Linux is the operating system that runs most of the Internet services we use every day. While many in the community debate whether “free” means “as in beer” or “as in speech”, Linux can be downloaded at no cost which makes it perfect for tech-savvy IT professionals who are seeking to build low-cost systems for niche applications. Windows and Microsoft Office are the business standard so Linux is not a recommended alternative for general business computing.

Kali Linux is what is called a Linux distribution or “distro” for short. Basically, it is a version of Linux with preinstalled applications and tools. Distros run the gamut from general purpose computing to niche applications. Kali, for example, is a security distribution and comes with computer forensic, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning tools. It is the latter that was the focus of writing the magazine article. Specifically, how a low-cost, distributed system running Kali Linux on top of Raspberry Pi hardware (low cost non-Intel PC) could be used in the Healthcare industry to support HIPAA compliance. I chose OpenVAS as the application for vulnerability scanning.

The results from the proof of concept demonstrated the RPi+(Kali) Linux+OpenVAS combination was viable as an ad-hoc tool and could be further developed into an integrated, distributed reporting system. The gory technical details from the article can be found here: Hakin9 Extra – Guide to Kali Linux: Kali Scanning for HIPAA.

Back to the present

So what’s changed in the last eight years? In some ways, not much. In other ways, everything. Tools like Kali Linux are still useful and part of the solution. What has changed is the ever-evolving threat landscape and the cost of doing business due to the added layers of security needed to maintain business as usual. We have written other articles on defense-in-depth so I won’t get in the weeds on that topic here, but it is no longer the medical and financial industries (or other regulated business), but all businesses large and small that must invest in security to reduce risk and protect their business operations and data. The phrase often attributed to Vince Lombardi comes to mind, “Hope is not a strategy.”

Call to action

Great, we’ve identified a business problem…so now what?! Here’s the high level recipe for building an effective security strategy:

  1. Discuss the need for addressing security with the top levels of the organization. This cannot be a bottom-up initiative. Too much is at stake.
  2. Work with a trusted technology/security partner to explore options.
  3. Invest in educating yourself and your team about the risks and how implementing security tools and best practices help mitigate these risks.
  4. Measure the effectiveness of your security program to understand residual risk.
  5. Rinse and repeat.

With an intentional focus on security and developing a plan to monitor and assess its effectiveness over time, your business can reduce risk of data loss and downtime. Much like how Linux is not for the faint of heart, Information Security can be tough to understand, so IT professionals are happy to work with you to formulate a winning game plan. Be like Lombardi and don’t just hope the problem will go away on its own!

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Charlie Waters
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Silver Bullet or Gatling Gun?

Often labeled as a “gun guy”, it was only a matter of time before a firearms analogy made it from pen to paper.  So, what better material to draw from (the puns write themselves) than the famed Silver Bullet or the iconic Gatling Gun?!  Using Wikipedia as our trusty reference, the silver bullet is described this way: “In folklore, a bullet cast from silver is often one of the few weapons that are effective against a werewolf or witch. The term is also a metaphor for a simple, seemingly magical, solution to a difficult problem.”  We will borrow from the latter part and avoid the complications of debating the efficacy on werewolves and witches for now.  I will excuse you if you thought we were going Lone Ranger and Tonto with the silver bullet reference.

As for the Gatling gun, the image that comes to mind is the scene in The Outlaw Josey Wales where the gun is used to great effect.  Admittedly, any connection to an Eastwood western is the path of least resistance for how my brain is wired.  Inside family joke – I refer to myself along with my brother and sister-in-law collectively (and proudly) as “The Outlaws”, so trust me when I say Clint’s classics run deep with me.  Borrowing from Wikipedia once again, “The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon.”  The modern implementation is best represented by the flying tank also known as the U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog” equipped with the 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger rotary cannon aka BRRRTTTTT (from the sound it makes when fired).

Personal note: As someone who grew up as an Air Force “brat”, I had an up close view of the sacrifices our military men and women (and their families) make to secure our freedoms. I have great respect for our armed forces and consider it a privilege to have planted my family’s roots alongside our military community at Robins Air Force Base. Another honor was to have my first paying (summer) job working for tips at my Dad’s squadron snack bar on Davis–Monthan AFB (He was in EC-130s at the time). It was there that I was able to watch the A-10s fly around the Tucson desert sky, hence my bias for these beasts of the air.

With our firearms references intact, let us consider how our analogy applies to Security.  Many in business wrongly assume there is some solitary “seemingly magical” solution to information security…the silver bullet.  The problem is the silver bullet in security is as imaginary as the ever-elusive werewolf.  It simply does not exist!  To start with, we cannot manage security in a vacuum.  There are three business constraints that must be managed together – Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (aka the CIA model).  I often tell clients that I can make their network 100% secure and of course they look at me with a healthy bit of skepticism – even they don’t REALLY believe in a silver bullet it seems.  I simply say, “Let me unplug everything from the network and shut your computers down.”  This is followed quickly by, “VERY SECURE, right?!  But not very available.”  And that is about as close as we can get to a true silver bullet.  With that extreme shot down, what can be done?  Now we can discuss degrees of security, risk tolerance, accessibility and, ultimately, cost.

Instead of thinking about security as a single magical thing, we need to embrace the idea that an effective security strategy incorporates a variety of tools and processes.  We need a Gatling gun approach.  The industry term for this is Defense in Depth.  We must deploy multiple security mechanisms and controls that create a layered defense against the endless barrage of external threats.  These layers may include firewalls, intrusion prevention, endpoint detection and response, network segmentation, least privilege access, encryption, strong passwords, patch management, data recovery, breach awareness, and end-user training.  Unlike the silver bullet, if one system fails, another is in place to potentially stop the threat.  Consider end-user training, an often-forgotten security measure – if a user is trained to properly identify phishing email attacks and avoids clicking on the malicious link, the endpoint security or firewall never have to defend against the threat.  Even better, if there is anti-phishing security around the email service, the user never receives the email in the first place.

Is your organization overconfident in a single security product?  Are the security best practices and product features like reading Greek?  Not quite sure how to balance the C-I-A equation for your business?  Partner with a technology vendor who understands the nuances of security and has the experience to build an effective defense in depth strategy right sized for your business.  So, do silver bullets stop werewolves?  Maybe, maybe not.  Give me a Gatling gun, or better yet, an A-10 with its rotary cannon any day.  BRRRTTTTT!

–Charlie Waters, COO – Total Computer Solutions, Inc.

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