Insight

About a month ago, I wrote a blog about how COVID-19 was driving rapid and dynamic changes for CISOs. I followed this up with a second blog, detailing a number of subsequent cybersecurity phases CISOs are now pursuing to assess and mitigate COVID-19-based cyber risks.  

Both blogs describe some fundamental problems. Corporate cybersecurity now extends to home networks filled with insecure IP devices with little or no security protection whatsoever. Meanwhile, hackers are exploiting societal malaise with online scams, rogue websites, and phishing campaigns preying upon COVID-19 paranoia. A recent article in the Washington Post described research from Palo Alto Networks identifying more than 2,000 malicious COVID-19 web domains and another 40,000 it classifies as “high risk.”

So, work from home (WFH) initiatives have greatly expanded the attack surface AND pivoted traffic away from corporate networks instrumented with tried-and-true security controls. CISOs are struggling to figure out what’s out there and whether they are vulnerable to a growing barrage of COVID-19 cyber-attacks. 

What can be done? Just like COVID-19 itself, one way to address this situation is through testing, testing, testing. Rather than novel coronaviruses and antibodies, however, WFH security vulnerabilities can be assessed through new types of continuous automated penetration and attack testing (CAPAT) tools. 

These tools are provided as a SaaS offering so there’s no onsite hardware/software to install and operate. While CAPAT tools weren’t designed for WFH explicitly, I believe that CISOs may find them to be helpful for addressing current COVID-19 challenges by:

• Mapping the attack surface. Cybersecurity teams aren’t sure exactly what’s on the extended network right now. Old insecure PCs? Chatty gaming systems? Mirai botnet infected video cameras? Discovering what’s out there is an important step as experienced red teamers often find lots of assets that cybersecurity teams don’t know about but are still responsible for. Some CAPAT tools address this visibility gap by discovering and mapping the attack surface – a good starting point for risk assessment and mitigation. 
• Testing security controls. Organizations spend millions of dollars on endpoint security software, firewalls, and a potpourri of security controls sitting between the two. Do these things work? This basic question is worth pursuing – according to research from ESG and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA), 38% of cybersecurity pros say that one of the main implications of the global cybersecurity skills shortage is that their organization cannot fully learn or utilize their security technologies to their full potential. Thus, an overworked cybersecurity staff can lead to human error and misconfigured security controls languishing on the network. CAPAT tools can help CISOs assess whether their defenses work and whether they would know about it if they failed.   
• Pinpointing cyber risks. Armed with an attack surface map and CAPAT reports, CISOs can identify and address specific weaknesses with the right training, processes, and countermeasures. Yes, they do this already with penetration testing and red teaming exercises, but these tend to be expensive third-party services conducted once or twice per year. CAPAT tools replace costly service engagement with automation, providing a continual closed-loop cycle for risk assessment and mitigation. 
• Supplementing existing security programs and technologies. CAPAT tools tend to emulate cyber-adversaries by breaking attacks into kill chains over time. Each CAPAT automated tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) can then be mapped into the MITRE ATT&CK framework – a popular taxonomy that aligns security programs and tools to an ‘outside-in’ hacker perspective and timeline. I’ve also witnessed CAPAT tools used in conjunction with security information and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automation and response (SOAR) tools to fine-tune correlation rules and incident response runbooks. Finally, as CAPAT tools expose system configurations issues, these vulnerabilities can be programmed into deception technologies used to fool enemies and capture valuable threat intelligence.  

To be clear, CAPAT tools aren’t a panacea but they can help expose WFH blind spots by increasing attack surface visibility – as the old management principle states, “you can’t manage (or in this case, secure) what you can’t measure.” Additionally, CAPAT tools can help security professionals “think like the enemy,” another fundamental tenet of cybersecurity. Finally, CAPAT tools have the potential to democratize penetration testing and red teaming. While most organizations can’t hire and retain experienced FTEs in these areas, CISOs should be able to find affordable SaaS options.

There are a host of innovative CAPAT vendors out there including AttackIQ, CyCognito, Cymulate, Randori, SafeBreach, Verodin (FireEye), and XM Cyber, amongst others. Some focus on attack surface discovery, some test controls, and some automate red teaming. I believe CAPAT tools will ultimately become a key technology in the SOC arsenal.

Last week, I wrote a blog describing 3 ways that COVID-19 is changing CISO priorities for 2020. COVID-19 drove large scale work from home (WFH) initiatives where the priority was getting users up and running as quickly as possible. Security leaders were then forced into an unanticipated follow on sprint to deliver elementary security safeguards for remote employees (i.e., VPNs, endpoint security controls, network security controls, etc.).

This is the new reality and it’s an ongoing scramble, but what comes next? 

Let’s call the current situation phase 1, which is about employee access, network communications confidentiality/integrity, and basic endpoint security. 

Since posting my last blog, I’ve heard of additional IT efforts to address network performance and user productivity (phase 1A). Some organizations are implementing split tunneling so key employees can access VPNs and the internet simultaneously. Some are paying to upgrade employee bandwidth, especially for executives spending their days on Zoom/WebEx meetings while their children use the same networks for home schooling. My colleague Bob Laliberte also tells me about companies instrumenting key employee systems with WAN optimization software. Back at corporate, there’s also lots of load balancing and SD-WAN activity.

From a security perspective, forward-thinking CISOs are now on to phase 2 focused on situational awareness and risk assessment. This is directly related to the fact that a lot of LAN traffic has been rerouted to WANs and internet connections. The goal? Scope out the new realities of usage patterns and the attack surface.

To gain this level of visibility, organizations are deploying endpoint security agents to assess device posture and system level activities. Think Tanium agents and EDR software from vendors like Carbon Black, CrowdStrike, and Cybereason. Security pros also recognize that employee home networks may be populated with insecure IoT devices, out-of-date family PCs, etc., so I’ve heard of instances where security teams are doing home network scans here as well. Finally, there is an increased focus on network traffic monitoring travelling back and forth on VPNs or directly out to SaaS providers and the public cloud. 

Leading organizations are also ramping up monitoring of cyber-adversaries and threat intelligence, looking for targeted attacks, COVID-19 tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), IoCs, etc. I’ve also heard that threat analysts are more actively sharing intelligence and participating in ISACs. In other words, I’m seeing an increase in collaboration within the cybersecurity community. 

In about 4 weeks, organizations will have visibility and enough historical data to proceed to phase 3, a full risk assessment and a board-level report. These reports will examine the WFH infrastructure, new traffic patterns, perceived vulnerabilities, rising threats, etc. They will also dig into a more thorough look at emerging WFH issues like insider threats, expansive privileges, data security exposures, insecure cloud application configurations, and others. The goal? Quantify risk and then work with executives to prioritize actions.

This leads to phase 4, which is all about risk mitigation. Based upon my conversations, the goal is to address this by mid-May at the latest. During the risk mitigation phase, organizations will likely employ controls for data privacy/security, assign least privilege to networks and applications, and segment home network traffic to protect WFH assets from gaming systems, smart refrigerators, security cameras, and the like. We’ll see more deployment of technologies like multi-factor authentication (MFA), zero trust networking tools, privileged account management, and DLP/eRM at that point. Process automation will also be added during this period. 

At the end of phase 4, WFH should be set up for threat prevention, detection, and response at scale.

A few final things I’ve heard:

• While the four phases are a general project plan, CISOs are also busy patching tactical holes like blocking Zoom bombing by using meeting IDs and issuing passwords. Issues like this come up daily.
• Another issue I’m hearing about is securing “shotgun” applications, developed and deployed quickly to support remote workers, business partners, and customers.
• Security will continue to play catch-up, with IT leading on network performance and service availability. User support and productivity is paramount while security remains behind the scenes.
• The need for speed is causing CISOs to have a “SaaS first” mentality.
• CISOs are taking a long-term approach since no one can tell how long the lockdown will last. Many also feel like this is a game changer for the future of IT and security. 

I’ll continue to report on what’s happening in the CISO trenches as desperate times call for desperate measures. Your feedback, inputs, and suggestions are most welcome.