Network Vulnerability Assessments

Why perform a network vulnerability assessment or review?

because there are certain individuals that will take any weakness in your computers and networks (firewalls, switches) and exploit it to their own ends.

What can an enterprising evil hacker do? Minimally use your computers and networks that you have bought and paid for to attack other machines.

Besides using your resources, the evil hacker can steal your data, your customer information, anything that can be pieced together to be sold on the criminal market.

To give an example of hacker prowess and ingenuity: the Cap’n Crunch whistle for example There were these whistles in Cap’n Crunch cartons, and they happened to whistle at 2600Hz frequency

Cap'n Crunch whistle

Story at jetcityorange.com

Before the phone systems were run by digital computers, the analog systems could be fooled in giving unlimited calls (long distance etc) at payphones.

I know it is stealing and a bad ethical thing, but look at the pure “hacking” ingenuity of the action finding of a whistle in a box, using it in a payphone and then trying various methods to steal calls.

 

Today’s hackers are just as ingenious with many different types of attacks.

after upgrading systems check for new services running

After upgrading check for new services as the Internet Storm Center noted after a firewall operator noted new streaming data coming to/through firewall.

Upgrading the NAS server caused a media streaming service to turn on.

 

And that is how it starts. After an upgrade some months ago a service is turned on, even though one does not notice.

Then some time goes by and a vulnerability opens within the system.

Now the hackers can target the system.

Check your systems with Alpha or Sigma(Σ)

 

 

Keep an eye on CERT – New website look

CERT – Community  Emergency Response Center  for computers was created in 1988 in response to the Morris worm.

The CERT organization I am talking about is based out of Carnegie Mellon(Software Engineering Institute), and has helped the computer industry with their insight and tools

The CERT tools link.  There are some good tools to use in combating various issues, including finding insecure application instances,

forensic tools, virtual machine reboot recovery, and more.

New Google Chrome vulnerability

Patch your Google Chrome –

From cve.mitre.org

Why would a Google Chrome vulnerability be important? because if you happen to bump into a nefarious website

(unbeknown to you) it will affect your Google Chrome  and then little by little the hacker will gain more information.

Pretty soon there will be open ports that you may not know about and those ports are “phoning home” to the master.

 

Scan your systems(with A or Σ) to see if you have rogue applications on your systems.