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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Copyright 2001 Internet Security Systems (trademark) THE POWER TO PROTECT INTERNET THREAT & SOLUTIONS UPDATE for Oct 4th - Oct 8th, 2001 ISS X-Force Special Operations Group - -------------------------------------- CURRENT THREAT ASSESSMENT & THREAT FORECAST - -------------------------------------- AlertCon 1 Today, Oct 4th, 2001 AlertCon 1 For Oct 5th-8th, 2001 This Week's Focus: Preparing for Cyber Attacks During the War on Terrorism ************* - - We continue to see reduced Nimda and Code Blue activity on our monitored networks but there are no new threats out there of this magnitude to alert you to - except perhaps some evidence that SirCam Worm is making something of a comeback, which calls for more attention on getting antivirus software up to date. The various vendor solutions for this worm have been out since the middle of July. Here's the Trend Micro solution:<http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VNam e=TROJ_SIRCAM.A> - - Recent history says we don't have long to wait before the next major or minor Internet and Network crisis so it's best to use this time of relative quiet to get back to the basics of making sure OS are all on the latest version, security patches and anti-virus are up to date. - - We also remind you that while AlertCon 1 is our lowest alert level but it is not 'low'. Another way to say this is that the Internet on its best day is inherently insecure with all the malicious code in the wild, all vulnerabilities, all misconfigured and unpatched machines, all overworked and under trained network staffs, all weak passwords (or no passwords), all insider mischief, and the 24 x 7 assaults of the world's hacker community. In essence, the Internet itself is its own biggest enemy because if you can do business through it, you can do malicious business through it. - -------------------------------------- Recommended Security Focus This Week - -------------------------------------- - - Preparing for Cyber Attacks During the War on Terrorism. The link below takes you to an excellent threat analysis by a group at Dartmouth College's Institute for Security Technology Studies. It makes excellent reading for Internet and Network security professionals at this time. Every one of us should be developing contingency plans for worst case scenarios to protect against, detect, and respond to everything from politically motivated script kiddies to aggressive cyber attacks specifically designed to deny services or damage files in your company. <http://www.ists.dartmouth.edu/ISTS/counterterrorism/cyber_attacks.htm> Our thanks to Dartmouth College for permission to cite this link. - --------------------------------------- SOLUTIONS - --------------------------------------- Defense Against Cyber Attacks During the War On Terrorism: - - The Dartmouth analysis suggests reasonable security measures for all network security operations and security teams to focus on. - - Another consideration strikes to the core of your perimeter defense--inbound and outbound traffic are not threat equals, and you should not treat them equally. Clearly, rules for inbound traffic should be tighter. Either your router access control lists or your firewalls should not be accepting inbound ports you don't use, or accepting IP addresses you don't do business with. - - Consider these two models: Allow everything, deny by exception OR Deny everything, allow by exception. In this potentially threatening era, it might be time to look real hard at the second of these two choices. Most networks today are basically are designed in the 'allow everything' mode. Is this still wise? Ask yourself this question: If we're not doing business with central Asia (for example), why am I accepting traffic from the region? Extend that thought to any region not on your customer list or routine legitimate traffic logs. Strongly consider denying those IP blocks at your gateways. Some research will need to be done to find the domains and address blocks that define those areas but this is not difficult. The rule of thumb to adopt in times like these is 'deny everything you don't need'. If you go this route, you may want to consider allowing e-mail from these address blocks so any legitimate customer can let you know they are having trouble getting in. While it's true that a determined attack can come from a spoofed address coming from a region that is not blocked, that's an extra step that needs to be taken just to reach you. For certain, you will be blocking the bulk of the automated, broadcast threats from regions of the world you can safely ignore. - - Ports are just as important in your defensive strategy as IP Addresses. You have to decide how much potential there is for legitimate traffic from ports you don't normally use but allow by default. BTW, the known Trojan ports <http://home.tiscalinet.be/bchicken/trojans/trojanpo.htm> should be blocked. Unusual ports should also be blocked unless there is a clearly established need for them in your network. The link that defines the common port assignments is noted here: <http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers> - - Microsoft's web site has the full solution set for its products at this site: <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/sec urity/topics/Nimda.asp> - ------------------------------------- Attack Signatures - global IDS, midnight - midnight, previous day, % of total - ------------------------------------- Protocol Decode 31.41% Unauthorized Access Attempts 30.05% Denial Of Service 21.44% Suspicious Activity 11.21% Pre-Attack Probe 05.90% Back Doors 00.00% - ------------------------------------- Top Ten Destination Ports - global IDS, midnight - midnight, previous day, % of top ten (ports found at <http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers> - ------------------------------------- 80 (http) 86.31% 21 (ftp) 05.53% 25 (smtp) 05.27% 143 (imap) 00.64% 443 (https) 00.46% 69 (tftp) 00.38% 123 (ntp) 00.38% 12754 (unassigned) 00.37% 6723 00.34% 139 (netbios-ss) 00.32% - --------------------------------------- VIRUS, VULNERABILITY, NEWS UPDATES - --------------------------------------- - - Visit <http://www.iss.net/> under 'Global Internet Threat Intelligence Service' - --------------------------------------- Defacement Watch - --------------------------------------- - - Alldas.de stats show that since April, 2000, the most defaced OS is Windows, with a total of 15,068 defacements reported, for 65% of the total. Linux is a distant second with 3751 defacements for 16% of the total. - - Alldas reports 42 web defacements yesterday, Oct 3rd. These numbers are still below average. Details can be seen at www.alldas.de <http://www.alldas.de> under 'current month'. - - A check of yesterday's defacements shows another mixed bag of groups, targets, and messages. While most showed no political message or targets, there were more anti-terrorism or anti-Bin Ladin or simply pro-USA messages today than those in support of Bin Ladin. - --------------------------------------- NOTE, DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT NOTICE - --------------------------------------- NOTE: Our web site has this information in more attractive format and graphics available to the public at no cost at <http://www.iss.net/> under 'Global Internet Threat Intelligence Service'. Screen captures (Control/PrtSc) of the site's pages dropped into PowerPoint can be an effective way to communicate various aspects of the Internet threat, e.g. the graph depicting 'AlertCon Trends'. We provide this information on Internet threat metrics, viruses, vulnerabilities, patches, and breaking news, in the spirit of PDD 63, to help security professionals wage the war against Internet threats more effectively. Information in this update derived primarily from global, real time, 24 x 7 IDS feeds, ISS X-Force R&D Team research, and professional liaison. Other sources as noted. AlertCon 1 reflects the global, malicious, determined, 24 x 7 attacks experienced by all networks. AlertCon 2 means increased vigilance/action recommended due to a specific threat or concern. AlertCon 3 means increased attacks against specific targets or vulnerabilities on a scale that is unusually high, action required. AlertCon 4 reflects an Internet emergency for a target or group of targets whose business continuity may depend on some sort of immediate, decisive action. All summaries cover 24 hours the previous workday, GMT. Monday summaries may cover some weekend activity. Copyright 2001 Internet Security Systems, Inc. Permission is granted for the redistribution of the Internet Threat Update electronically. It is not to be sold or edited in any way without express consent of ISS. Refer comments or questions to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> . Disclaimer: This information is subject to change without notice. Use of this information constitutes acceptance for use in an 'as is' condition. There are no warranties with regard to this information. In no event shall the author be liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of or in connection with the use or spread of this information. Any use of this information is at the user's own risk. No other use authorized. FOIA Exemption 4.
