Common Mitigation 1: Password Policies
A password policy is a set of rules for creating and managing passwords to protect systems and data. Despite being inconvenient, passwords are widely used for security. However, people often choose weak passwords that are easy to guess. Here are some key points to consider for a strong password policy:
1. Length: Longer passwords are stronger. Short passwords are easily cracked using brute force or common password lists.
2. Complexity: Requiring a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols makes passwords harder to guess, though users often create predictable patterns.
3. Randomness: Randomly generated passwords are more secure than user-created ones.
4. History: Preventing password reuse for a certain number of changes helps avoid the risk of old passwords being compromised.
5. Expiration: Regularly changing passwords (e.g., every 90 days) keeps them up-to-date and secure.
Using passphrases (multiple words) can create longer passwords that are still easy to remember but hard to crack. Password managers can also help by generating and storing strong, unique passwords for each account securely.
Common Mitigation 2: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring multiple forms of identification to access an account. Typically, it involves at least two of the following:
Something you know: A password or PIN.
Something you have: A security token or smartphone.
Something you are: A fingerprint or facial recognition.
For example, logging in might require a password and a code sent to your phone, or a password and a fingerprint scan. This makes it much harder for attackers to gain access because they need more than just a password.
However, attackers can sometimes bypass MFA using methods like intercepting text messages, stealing credentials, or tricking users into approving fraudulent login attempts. It's essential to stay aware of these risks and use the most secure MFA methods available.
Common Mitigation 3: Privileged Account Management
Privileged account management involves creating, managing, and monitoring accounts with elevated permissions in a computer system or network. These privileged accounts, such as administrator, root, and service accounts, have higher access rights and can significantly impact the security and functionality of a network. Due to their elevated permissions, these accounts are high-value targets for cyber attackers. If compromised, they can be used to access sensitive data, manipulate systems, and execute malicious activities.
The main goal of privileged account management is to reduce the risk of security breaches by controlling access to sensitive data and resources. This involves implementing strict access controls like password policies, two-factor authentication, and limiting the number of privileged accounts.
Here are some best practices for managing privileged accounts:
Lock Down Admin Accounts
Use Separate Accounts: Require users with administrator accounts to have a separate account for day-to-day activities.
Avoid Risky Activities: Do not use administrative accounts to access the web or email.
Restrict PowerShell: Limit PowerShell execution policy to administrators only.
Minimize Local Admin Use: Only use local administrator accounts when absolutely necessary.
Standard User Logins: Administrators should log in as standard users and run their tools with administrator privileges using the built-in access token manipulation command.
Follow Processes: Set up and follow processes for the creation, modification, use, and permissions of privileged accounts.
Unique Passwords: Enforce unique passwords for both administrator and user accounts.
Least Privilege for User Accounts
Restrict PowerShell: Limit PowerShell execution policy to administrators only.
Remove Local Admin Rights: Remove users from the local administrator group on systems.
Avoid Service Account Privileges**: Do not create service accounts with administrative privileges.
Limit Admin Access: Restrict access to Administrator or root accounts.
Control Permissions: Limit permissions so that users and user groups cannot create tokens.
Secure Containers: Ensure containers are not running as root by default.
Common Mitigation 4: Disable or Remove Features or Programs
Disabling or removing features or programs involves identifying and addressing potential security vulnerabilities by either deactivating specific software functionalities or removing unnecessary programs. This proactive measure is crucial for minimizing an organization’s attack surface, reducing the likelihood of exploitation, and enhancing overall network security.
Vulnerability Reduction
Review and Identify: Regularly review all running features and programs to identify those that are not essential to business operations. Disabling or removing unnecessary features or programs reduces the number of potential entry points for attackers.
Mitigate Risks: Vulnerabilities within software components can serve as gateways for malicious activities. By mitigating these risks, organizations can significantly enhance their overall security posture.
Minimize Attack Surface
Reduce Attack Surface: Every enabled feature or installed program increases the attack surface. By disabling or removing unnecessary ones, you narrow this surface, making it harder for attackers to find and exploit vulnerabilities.
Defend Against Zero-Day Exploits: Zero-day exploits target unknown vulnerabilities. Proactively disabling unnecessary features or removing obsolete programs reduces the risk of these exploits, as attackers have fewer opportunities to exploit unknown vulnerabilities.
Implement Software Lifecycle Management
Lifecycle Management Process: Implement a process to review software and plan for upgrades or replacements. Over time, software features become obsolete or unsupported, increasing security risks. Regularly reviewing and mitigating security threats through the removal or disabling of outdated features and programs ensures that systems stay current and resilient against evolving threats.
Common Mitigation 5: Network Segmentation
Network Segmentation involves dividing enterprise networks into segments or subnetworks to enhance security by controlling access and restricting communications between different segments. This approach prevents lateral movement of threats, limits the impact of potential breaches, and improves overall network resilience.
Prevent Lateral Movement
Restrict Movement: In the event of a security breach, attackers often seek to move laterally within the network to escalate privileges and reach valuable assets. Network Segmentation acts as a barrier, preventing easy traversal across the network.
Compartmentalize Risks
Contain Incidents: By dividing the network into segments, organizations can compartmentalize risks. If a security incident occurs in one segment, it does not automatically compromise the security of other segments. This containment strategy reduces overall risk exposure and helps localize and address security issues more effectively.
Implement Granular Access Controls
Control Access: Network Segmentation enables organizations to implement more granular access controls based on user roles, device types, or specific security requirements. This ensures that users and devices only have access to the resources necessary for their functions, reducing the attack surface and potential points of vulnerability.
Isolate Critical Assets
Protect Critical Assets: Isolate critical assets and sensitive data from the broader network. Establish a list of critical assets and create segmented zones for those assets. This containment strategy helps prevent unauthorized access to vital resources and minimizes the impact of a breach.
Review IT and OT Connections: Regularly review connections between IT and Operational Technology (OT) networks. Ensure there are no unauthorized connections that could allow access from IT networks to OT networks despite assurances from local network administrators.
Common Mitigation 6: User Training
User training is essential because it educates users about risks and threats, reducing the likelihood of human error and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Training on topics such as safe browsing, email security, and password management equips users to identify and mitigate potential security risks.
Best Practices for User Training:
Password Reuse: Do not reuse the same password across multiple websites or applications. Each account should have a unique password to prevent a security breach in one account from compromising others.
Drive-by Compromise: Always lock your computer when not in use and, if applicable, remove your smart card. This prevents unauthorized access to your device.
Credentials in Clear-Text: Never store passwords in unencrypted files. Use secure methods to store credentials, such as password managers.
Spearphishing Links: Avoid clicking on unrecognized or suspicious links. These links can lead to malicious sites designed to steal your information.
Spearphishing Attachments: Do not open email attachments from unknown senders. These attachments may contain malware or other harmful software.
Domain Squatting: Be cautious of websites with certificate errors or unusual URLs, as they may be fake websites designed to steal your information.
Credential Harvesting: Always ensure you are on a legitimate website before entering your username and password. Check the URL and look for signs of authenticity.
Unauthorized Applications: Do not use unauthorized applications without proper approval. Unauthorized software can pose significant security risks.
Common Mitigation 7: Update Software
Regular software updates are crucial to mitigate exploitation risks. Key practices include:
Regular Updates: Perform regular updates for all software to mitigate exploitation risks.
Current Versions: Ensure operating systems and browsers are using the latest versions.
Patch Management: Regularly update password managers, system images, and software through effective patch management.
Migrate to SNMPv3: Update to Simple Network Management Protocol version 3 (SNMPv3) for better security.
Browser and Plugin Updates: Keep browsers and plugins updated and use modern browsers with security features enabled.
Firmware Updates: Patch the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) and other firmware to prevent exploitation of known vulnerabilities.
DLL Patching: Regularly update software to include patches that fix Dynamic Link Library (DLL) side-loading vulnerabilities.
Common Mitigation 8: Filter Network Traffic
Filtering network traffic enhances network security and management by providing the following benefits:
Protection: Safeguards the network and authorized users from malicious traffic.
Performance: Improves network performance, security, and monitoring.
Compliance: Enforces compliance requirements.
General Guidelines
Block Unauthorized Access: External unauthorized users should not access internal corporate systems.
DMZ Hosting: Host web servers/resources for external users in a DMZ with limited authorized protocols.
DDoS Protection: Protect against denial-of-service attacks and collaborate with your ISP for resolution.
Web Proxies: Implement web proxies for endpoints and dedicated servers to provide services like DHCP and DNS to avoid spoofing.
Port Management: Allow only necessary ports to enter and exit the network, blocking unnecessary protocols between security zones.
Disable Legacy Protocols: Disable legacy protocols to prevent Adversary-in-the-Middle (AITM) attacks.
Common Mitigation 9: User Account Management
User account management involves creating, using, and managing permissions associated with user accounts, following the principles of least privilege and separation of duties.
Common Attack Methods/Vectors
Access Token Manipulation: Exploiting access tokens to gain unauthorized access to systems or resources.
Account Manipulation: Altering account details or permissions to gain unauthorized privileges.
Brute Force Attacks: Attempting to crack passwords or encryption through exhaustive trial-and-error methods.
Remote Services: Exploiting remote services like SSH or RDP to gain unauthorized access to systems.
General Guidelines
Follow Least Privilege and Implement Separation of Duties:
Separate standard user accounts from administrator accounts.
Keep local administrator accounts separate from other user accounts.
Distinguish domain administrator accounts from other administrative accounts.
Enforce Logging and Monitoring:
Enable logging, especially for administrative actions, and regularly monitor logs.
Define Group Membership Criteria:
Establish clear criteria for group memberships and assign a group owner to monitor them.
Regularly Review User Accounts:
Periodically review user accounts and immediately disable accounts for users no longer affiliated with the organization.
Review and Enforce Standard User Permissions:
Regularly review standard user permissions and use Group Policy to enforce them.
Reset Compromised Accounts:
Immediately reset accounts if passwords or credentials are compromised.
Limit Specific Services to Necessary Accounts:
Restrict specific services to only the accounts that need them.
Enforce Strong Passwords for Service Accounts:
Ensure strong passwords are used for service accounts and restrict their use to the affiliated service only.
Common Mitigation 10: Audit Systems
Auditing systems is a fundamental cybersecurity practice involving regular reviews of systems to evaluate vulnerabilities, configurations, and access controls. The primary goal is to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of information.
Vulnerability Audits
Regular Checks: Conduct regular vulnerability checks to identify potential security issues within the organization’s infrastructure.
Automated Scans: Use automated vulnerability scanning products to improve audit timeliness, scheduled during off-hours to minimize impact.
Configuration Audits
Policy Enforcement: Audit system configurations to ensure enterprise-wide policies are enforced and systems are secured as expected.
Access Control: Audit local access controls to prevent unauthorized users from maintaining persistent access.
Detection of Anomalous Activities
Log Audits: Review system performance, access records, and user activities through local log audits.
Configuration Monitoring**: Monitor changes in system configurations to identify and address unauthorized or unintended changes promptly.
Summary of Mitigation Strategies for Maritime Cybersecurity
1. Password Policies
Implementing strong password policies is essential to prevent unauthorized access. In the maritime environment, where remote systems control critical operations, ensuring passwords are long, complex, and unique helps protect against cyber threats.
2. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Using MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring multiple forms of identification. This is crucial in maritime operations to secure access to critical systems and prevent unauthorized entry even if passwords are compromised.
3. Privileged Account Management
Managing privileged accounts reduces the risk of security breaches. In the maritime sector, controlling access to systems with elevated permissions ensures that only authorized personnel can perform sensitive operations, thereby protecting vital systems and data.
4. Disable or Remove Unnecessary Features or Programs
Disabling or removing non-essential software minimizes the attack surface. For maritime vessels, this means fewer opportunities for cyber attackers to exploit vulnerabilities, ensuring smoother and safer operations.
5. Network Segmentation
Dividing networks into segments limits the impact of potential breaches. In maritime cybersecurity, this prevents threats from spreading across the entire network, protecting critical assets and maintaining operational integrity.
6. User Training
Educating users about cybersecurity threats and best practices reduces human error. For maritime personnel, training on topics like email security and safe browsing helps them recognize and avoid cyber threats, enhancing overall security.
7. Update Software
Regularly updating software patches vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit. Keeping maritime systems up-to-date ensures that known security flaws are fixed, protecting against cyber attacks that could disrupt operations.
8. Filter Network Traffic
Filtering network traffic helps protect against malicious activities and improves performance. In maritime operations, this ensures that only legitimate traffic reaches critical systems, reducing the risk of cyber attacks.
9. User Account Management
Managing user accounts according to the principle of least privilege limits access to sensitive systems. This is vital in the maritime industry to ensure that users only have access to the resources necessary for their roles, preventing unauthorized access.
10. Audit Systems
Regular system audits identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and unauthorized access. Conducting audits in maritime environments helps ensure the integrity and security of critical systems, allowing for timely detection and mitigation of security threats.
In the maritime environment, cybersecurity is paramount due to the critical nature of operations and the increasing reliance on digital systems for navigation, communication, and control. Implementing these mitigation strategies helps protect against cyber threats that could compromise vessel safety, operational efficiency, and the confidentiality of sensitive information. By adopting these best practices, maritime cybersecurity personnel can ensure robust defenses against cyber attacks, maintaining the security and integrity of maritime operations.