The heart bleed bug made it possible for attackers to steal data from a server including the keys to decode any encrypted contents. Shellshock a more serious bug made it possible for hackers to take control of millions of mahcines around the world queitly without notice. And now this new breed of bug, poodle, was found in a 15-year-old web encryption technology called SSL 3.0. SSL, which stands for Secure Sockets Layer, a technology that encrypts a user’s browsing session, making it difficult for anyone using the public Wi-Fi to eavesdrop. The Poodle bug makes it possible for hackers to hijack their victim’s browsing session and do things like take over their email, online banking, or social networking account.

Major players Microsoft, Google and Mozilla recommend disabling SSL 3.0. Security researchs feel that the Poodle bug is more innocuous than heartbleed or Sheelshock, as SSL 3.0 has been largely superceded by a newer encryption protocol called TLS (Transport Layer Security), and also in pulling off a poodle attack the victim has to be actively online and physically close to the attacker, say using the same public Wi-Fi.

Many TLS implementations provide backwards compatibility with SSL 3.0 to interoperate with legacy systems in the interest of a smooth user experience. The protocol handshake provides for authenticated version negotiation; normally the latest protocol version common to the client and the server will be used. However, even if a client and server both support a version of TLS, the security level offered by SSL 3.0 is still relevant since many clients implement a protocol downgrade to work around serverside interoperability bugs. Attackers can exploit the downgrade dance and break the cryptographic security of SSL 3.0. The POODLE attack will allow them, for example, to steal “secure” HTTP cookies (or other bearer tokens such as HTTP Authorization header contents).

Read more technical details at https://www.openssl.org/~bodo/ssl-poodle.pdf.

Aegify suite of tools – security, compliance and risk management provide a rich set of solutions for identifying vulnerabilities that continuously emerge and threaten businesses and indidividuals ensuring that such risks are properly identified and addressed, and all the while remaining compliant to various regulatory requirements.

Aegify Security Posture Management, an innovative and completely cloud-based automated and integrated security monitoring and compliance assessment tool helps enterprises to take away the complexity of maintining a secure posture and ensuring compliance. This tool simplifies the protection of their physical and virtual environment and IT infrastructure from security breaches by cyber attackers while also meeting regulatory requirements. Equipped with distinct features such as continuous security monitoring, vulnerability management engine, physical and virtual network scans, interoperability, re-mediation and multi-layered vulnerability analysis, Aegify’s security solutions provides a complete end-to-end and comprehensive solution to identify security gaps and help enterprises apply related patches or use virtual patching.

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Unlike the previous attacks seen recently, “Heart-bleed” doesn’t actually require any interesting cryptographic software. As the attacks leave no evidence in server logs, there is in reality no way of knowing if the bug has been actively exploited – thus making the effects more devastating than ever.  Regardless of whether you realize it, there is a lot of the security infrastructure you rely on that is dependent in some way on OpenSSL, and unfortunately the reliance on OpenSSL is only increasing. The risk with the OpenSSL Heart bleed vulnerability is bizarre, as there are a large number of private keys exposed on the Internet, leading to potential memory leaks in server-client interactions.

Detecting and Mitigating this Vulnerability

The new and improved Aegify Scanner from eGestalt, is the best answer to prevent a serious “Heart-bleed”. The heart-bleed bug is not a problem with OpenSSL’s innate design, but a result of a programming error. The updated Aegify Scanner from eGestalt, a leading provider of Cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for business IT security monitoring, vulnerability analysis, asset and risk management, penetration testing and compliance management, helps in detecting the bug. The latest updated Aegify Scanner helps in detecting the bug, regardless of whether it has been set on a manual update or a 64-bit system. Whatever may be the method, by following a few simple steps, the scanner will be able to detect the OpenSSL Heart-bleed vulnerability in the next scheduled scan. The latest heart-bleed vulnerability scan feature is also available the free Aegify Freemium Scanner. Put an end to all “Heart-bleed” issues once in for all – Get the latest Aegify Scanner from eGestalt today!

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Effective vulnerability management is therefore a perquisite for every business. But unfriendly economic conditions have compelled organizations to maintain a safe business environment, while also keeping costs low. This poses a major challenge since organizations today are spread across multiple geographic locations and time zones. In such a scenario vulnerability management can be a formidable task.

But with cloud-based security solutions offered by advanced GRC software, IT security compliance has assumed a new dimension. These solutions help streamline and automate vulnerability management processes and help patch security flaws.

Here are some other significant benefits of using a comprehensive security and vulnerability management solution:

Offers Complete Visibility- Vulnerability management solutions help in understanding the security posture of an organization, through comprehensive vulnerability assessment. This in turn helps in formulating security policies for IT Compliance with regulatory standards.

Ensures Compliance- Compliance audits are carried out at regular intervals to assess the actual degree of compliance in the organization. This helps in effective compliance management software by enforcing compliance best practices and ensuring fully compliant processes and procedures.

Facilitates Risk Management- By proactively detecting vulnerable areas within the network, and identifying exposure to potential threats, these software solutions help in effective risk management.

Offers Holistic View & Prompt Reporting- Vulnerability management solutions help gain complete control over risks and vulnerabilities by offering total visibility through a centralized view. Their advanced reporting capabilities enable organizations to take prompt corrective and preventive action before security gaps are exploited.

Improves Productivity & Lowers Cost- Since these security solutions are completely automated, they allow IT departments to focus on more critical tasks, thereby enhancing productivity. And they also help reduce administrative costs and management overhead, as a single efficient software solution, can effectively replace multiple disparate applications.

Managing a diverse network environment can be quite overwhelming. But a proactive, integrated, vulnerability assessment and management solution can dramatically simplify this by offering a complete GRC framework that can patch vulnerabilities, mitigate risks, and improve productivity.

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Like in any other industry, division of labor and specialization, have taken shape making the hacking industry more structured than ever before. The 3 key players in the hacking community are:

-Researchers: Otherwise known as exploit developers, researchers are not actually involved in exploiting systems, but look for vulnerabilities in frameworks and applications.

-Farmers: These are people who write botnet software to infect systems, and also maintain and increase the presence of botnets in the cyberspace. They probe applications to extract valuable data, execute password attacks, disseminate spam, and distribute malware.

-Dealers: They distribute malicious payloads. They also rent botnets for repeated, persistent attacks or targeted one-time attacks to extract sensitive information.

The sophisticated nature of today’s cyber attacks is a definite product of ‘hacking industrialization’. And the use of advanced hacking techniques has also contributed to a focus shift from stealing personal information and credit card numbers to stealing application credentials, for which 3 attack techniques have been identified as commonly used:

SQL Injections: Data theft is most commonly administered through this technique. IBM reported around 250,000 SQL injection attacks on websites around the world, everyday, between January and June 2009.

Denial of Service: This is an attack which is usually executed by blackmailing application owners to pay a ransom to free their application from an invasion of unwanted traffic.

Business Logic Attacks: In this type of attack, hackers target vulnerabilities in business logic. Unlike attacks targeted at application codes, these attacks often remain undetected. These attacks are not usually apparent and are too diverse to be expressed in vulnerability scanner tests.

These highly advanced security attacks make it increasingly difficult for organizations to fight threats and remain protected. Today, no web application is out of reach of hackers. Attack campaigns are quite common, not only against applications but against any available target. Therefore data protection is a must, and effective vulnerability scanning tools along with application-level security solutions may be very helpful in effective threat management and overall security.

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Whatever the reason, cybercrime has been increasingly affecting the performance and productivity of companies. IT security is a matter of serious concern now, and companies are trying to adopt best practices to overcome this challenge. Here are some measures that you can take, to protect your company’s backup data:

1. Integrate backup security measures with the rest of the infrastructure. Make storage security a part of the overall information security policy. Even if the storage security responsibility lies with the storage team, they should integrate their security measures with the rest of the infrastructure, physical and virtual, in order to build in-depth protection.

1. Assess risk in terms of security. Ensure that a risk analysis of your entire backup process is done. Vulnerability management is crucial for every business and therefore it is essential to evaluate the backup methodology used by the company to identify security vulnerabilities in the process. For example, questions such as, can an administrator make copies of the backup tapes, are end-point devices easily accessible, and is there end-to-end custody for backup data, etc, need to be addressed to avoid security attacks.

1. Modify your security approach. If you do not have a comprehensive approach, adopt one. A multi-layered approach to security works well in most cases. Add different layers of protection such as authentication with anti-spoofing techniques, authorization based on roles and responsibilities as against complete access, encryption for data to be stored or copied, and auditing, along with log maintenance and log analysis, to ensure traceability and accountability.

1. Build awareness about data security. Communicate to your staff and managers, the risks involved in handling backup data and train them to abide by your backup security policies and regulations. Most often data loss is a result of ignorance or negligence of employees. If employees are made aware of the consequences of data leak, security lapses can be avoided to a large extent.

Secure data backup begins with formulating strategic policies. And implementing these policies requires proper planning and preparation. To fully protect a company’s critical data, complete control, continuous effort and constant monitoring are crucial. It’s important to understand that data security is as much a product of awareness, as it is an enforced directive. And it is your responsibility to create such awareness to ensure overall data protection.

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