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Copyright 2001 Internet Security Systems (trademark) THE POWER TO
PROTECT

INTERNET THREAT & SOLUTIONS UPDATE for Oct 10th - Oct 12th, 2001
ISS X-Force Special Operations Group

- --------------------------------------
CURRENT THREAT ASSESSMENT & THREAT FORECAST
- --------------------------------------

AlertCon 1              Today, Oct 10th, 2001
AlertCon 1      For Oct 11th-12th, 2001 

This Week's Focus: Bulletproofing your networks
*************

- - We haven't seen or heard of any increase in the cyber threat as a
result of the coalition bombing in Afghanistan. We are also not seeing
any threat issue that requires any increased vigilance so we have
reduced our threat assessment to AlertCon 1. Of course AlertCon 1
assumes the general chaotic, unregulated, insecure nature of the
Internet so anyone connecting to it needs to be fully armored against
the relentless assaults associated with it. AlertCon 1 in no way means
'you can relax now'.

- - The appearance of Nimda.B has not had any adverse impact on our
monitored networks on four continents. The major AV vendors have
solutions on their sites. Worm and Virus activity associated with
Nimda, SirCam, and other malicious code continue to plague unprotected
networks. This is no time to be behind in updating anti-virus
software. 

- --------------------------------------
Security Focus This Week - Bulletproofing your networks
- --------------------------------------

- - Once again, bulletproof vests are not really bulletproof, but they
are bullet resistant. There's no such thing as an absolutely
bulletproof network either but we want your network to be resistant to
the most common forms of cyber attack. Since some cyber fallout from
the war on terrorism is a real possibility now is a good time to get
your 'bulletproofing' campaign started. 

- - Thanks to David Berlind of ZDNet for the 'bulletproofing' analogy. 

<http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/filters/rcplus/0,14178,6021509,0
0.html> 

- - Today we'll look at response solutions. Tomorrow we'll explore ways 
to improve the behavior of the people using our networks and on Friday
we'll wrap it all up.

- ---------------------------------------
SOLUTIONS
- ---------------------------------------

- - The most effective response is one you do in advance, to a threat,
not to an actual attack. Since we know that our networks and
information are vulnerable to everything from hackers to hurricanes to
terrorists it's imperative to do something before disaster strikes. 

- - OK, so much for the soapbox. Now back to the real world. 

- - Detecting attacks is only the beginning of the battle; as everyone
with IDS knows. It quickly dawns on people who install intrusion
detection that now they have to do something about all these alarms.

- - Assuming you have a focal point that is contacted by your detection
provider:

- -- Are call rosters up to date and deep enough to ensure that someone
will answer if the primary contact person is not available?

- -- Do the people manning the alarms know who to call (24x7) to get the
problem fixed in a hurry (e.g., Sys admin, Net admin, etc.)?

- -- Is the security team empowered to direct immediate countermeasures
(patch a system, take it off line, etc.)?

- -- Does your team or organization have the skill sets required to
combat a cyber emergency or investigate a compromise, or do you need
outside help like ISS' Emergency Response Team?

- -- Does your Security team have a list of other important
contacts/decision makers (e.g., your public relations shop, HR, legal
counsel)?

- -- Do you have an established procedure for contacting local law
enforcement? 

- -- Do you have a procedure in place for capturing and applying lessons
learned?

- - As you can see, beginning a response to cyber attack involves an
action checklist of immediate actions but there are also long term
solutions to consider. While these will differ from company to company
they should always include these elements: timely notification,
stopping the attack, assessing the damage, recovering any missing data
or functionality, determining and removing the reason the attack was
successful, preventing it from happening again. 

- - Everyone also gets around to the 'identify the hacker' issue,
assuming there is one. The FBI says that at least 80% of our cyber
threat comes from our own employees and yet we tend to assume it's
some hacker out there in anonymous cyberspace because we'd rather not
think it was somebody we work with. If you are serious about finding
the hacker and taking administrative and/or legal action, you should
call in a professional team of forensic investigators from either the
local or state police, the FBI, or some commercial firm that
specializes in this kind of mission (to include ISS). HR and legal
counsel need to be wrapped up in this line of inquiry from the outset.

- - You should have a recovery plan as part of your incident response
plan or as a separate document that addresses how often you back up
information critical to business continuity, where it is stored, and
how to access it when needed. The physical security of your storage
site and who can access it both physically and virtually also should
be very carefully addressed. 

- - The end of this trail is the acquisition of special insurance that
covers the loss of information systems and the data associated with
them.

- -------------------------------------
Attack Signatures - global IDS, midnight - midnight, previous day, %
of total
- -------------------------------------

Unauth Access Attempts       42.98%
Protocol Decode              25.13%
Denial Of Service            23.96%
Suspicious Activity          04.76%
Pre-Attack Probe             03.17%
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)              89.72%
25       (smtp)              04.10%
21       (ftp)               03.78%
443      (https)             00.98%
12754    (unassigned)        00.40%
139      (netbios-ss)        00.24%
15104    (unassigned)        00.21%
6723     (unassigned)        00.20%
69       (tftp)              00.19%
143      (imap)              00.18%

- ---------------------------------------
VIRUS, VULNERABILITY, NEWS UPDATES
- ---------------------------------------

- - Visit <http://www.iss.net>  under 'Global Internet Threat
Intelligence Service'

- - According to Sophos <http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/topten/> the
top ten viruses in September 2001 were:

1. Nimda-A         71.2%
2. Sircam-A        11.4%
3. Magistr-A       03.7%
4. Magistr-B       03.0%
5. Hybris-B        01.5%
6. Apology-B       00.7%
7. VBS/Kakworm     00.7%
8. Floss           00.7%
9. Bymer-A         00.5%
10. Badtrans-A      00.4%

- ---------------------------------------
Defacement Watch
- ---------------------------------------

- - Alldas.de stats show that since April, 2000, the most defaced OS is
Windows, with a total of 15,174 defacements reported, for 65% of the
total. Linux is a distant second with 3936 defacements for 17% of the
total.

- - Alldas reports 102 sites defaced yesterday. This is roughly twice as
many as the recent norm. Details can be seen at <http://www.alldas.de>
under 'current month'. 

- - A spot check of yesterday's defacements shows little political
content and the targets continue to show no real pattern other than
they have vulnerable OS. There was no apparent relationship between
the targets and the defacement messages.  
 
- ---------------------------------------
NOTES, COPYRIGHT NOTICE, and DISCLAIMER 
- ---------------------------------------

NOTE 1: Our web site has this information in more attractive format
and 
graphics available to the public at no cost at www.iss.net
<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'.

NOTE 2: 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]
<mailto:[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.




Dennis
Dennis Treece
Director, 
Global MSS Special Operations Group
Internet Security Systems (ISS)
6303 Barfield Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30328
404-236-4065
Cell 404-667-9345
Fax 404-236-2626

Internet Security Systems -- The Power to Protect

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