...Data Execution Prevention What is Data Execution Prevention or DEP? A set of hardware and software technologies that perform additional checks on memory to help prevent malicious code from running on a system. What that means is it is basically the virus scanner of your memory looking for intrusions into your computer. DEP can be enforced by both hardware and software applications. Some of the major benefits are to help prevent code execution from data pages. How this is accomplished is by checking where the code is running this is done by software enforced DEP. Code is not typically executed from a default heap and the stack, this is how the software application can detect if there is code running from an inappropriate area. The first type of DEP we will talk about is the Hardware-enforced DEP. Hardware-enforced DEP marks all memory locations in a process as non-executable unless the location explicitly contains executable code. A class of attacks exists that tries to insert and run code from non-executable memory locations. DEP helps prevent these attacks by intercepting them and raising an exception. Hardware-enforced DEP relies on processor hardware to mark memory with an attribute that indicates that code should not be executed from that memory. DEP functions on a per-virtual memory page basis, and DEP typically changes a bit in the page table entry (PTE) to mark the memory page. Software enforced DEP is the other side of the coin. An additional set of...
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...James A Bas IS 3230 Week 4 Discussion 1 Security Breach Evaluation Companies that have critical information assets such as customer data, birth dates, ethnicities, learning disabilities, as well as test performance data, the risk of a data breach is very likely than ever before. To monitor and protect information from hackers, malicious and well-meaning insiders, EducationS will need to select solutions based on an operational model for security that is risk-based and content-aware. Stop incursion by targeted attacks- To prevent incursions, it is necessary to shut down each of these avenues into the organization’s information assets. Core systems protection, IT compliance controls assessment automation, and endpoint management, in addition to endpoint, Web, and messaging security solutions, should be combined to stop targeted attacks. (Why) Because the top four means of hacker incursion into a company’s network are through exploiting system vulnerabilities, default password violations, SQL injections, and targeted malware attacks Identify threats by correlating real-time alerts with global intelligence- To help identify and respond to the threat of a targeted attack, security information and event management systems can flag suspicious network activity for investigation. (Why) The value of such real-time alerts is much greater when the information they provide can be correlated in real time with current research and analysis of the worldwide threat environment. ...
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...of identity theft and lead to consumers’ finances being stolen and used by the offenders. This also creates a financial burden to companies, as they could be liable for the financial damages to consumers, along with losing some of the trust that their consumers may have for them. Implications of a Security Breach Security breaches can be very damaging to an organization. Financially, it can be a nightmare, but a breach also means that the company will have to overhaul its website security practices and policies. For example, in August 2007, Monster Worldwide Inc., a company that runs Internet job boards Monster.com and USAJobs.gov, fell victim to a security breach that was very costly.(Hobson, 2014). According to NBC News, approximately 1.3 million people’s information was stolen. Normally, resumes do not contain any data that could be immediately damaging, such as Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers, but contact information can be used in phishing scams to gain more sensitive information. This security breach cost Monster $80 million in upgrades to improve the security of its site.(Bergstein, 2014). Target security breach. Target, one of the largest retailers in the United States, announced on December 19, 2013 that 40 million customers credit and debit cards had been compromised. According to The New York Times, Target ignored a hacker attack, which happened earlier in the year. Some would argue that Target should have made...
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...over $80 billion transactions a year, making Heartland the 5th largest payment processor in the United States and 9th in the world (Heartland, 2011). However, a data breach occurred last year in 2010 for Heartland which compromised tens of millions of credit and debit card transactions. Such figures make the Heartland incident one of the largest data breaches ever reported. In this paper I will analyze Heartland’s business, marketing, and security strategies and their response to this security breach as well as propose new methods of security to prevent future occurrences. Heartland is available to merchants 24/7 with a full customer support team. Additionally, their E3 end-to-end encryption solution is designed to protect cardholder data throughout the lifecycle of a payments transaction which helps business owners improve data security and reduce the cost of PCI compliance. Heartland uses end-to-end encryption because other technologies such as point-to-point encryption do not protect the data after the card is authenticated which leaves payment account data vulnerable to thieves who can use the data for fraudulent activity that does not require a card to be present. Heartland states on their website that only encryption technologies employing both hardware and software protections secure data in flight and data stored on subsystems. Unlike other solutions, E3 features layers of security using both software and tamper-resistant hardware, as well as Advanced Encryption Standard...
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... a hacker is someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or computer network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, challenge or enjoyment. There are master minded hacker criminals in the technology world that are able to breach any kind of security and take over your computer. Computer systems can be affected by viruses, and other types of malicious software causing them to perform ineffectively. Data breach protection and prevention requires a thoughtful, realistic, and proactive approach to security across your organization. Everything from your vulnerability to your risk tolerance must be assessed. The truth is that there is no such thing as 100-percent secure. As such, hard decisions need to be made around the different levels of protection needed for different parts of the business. Most companies have restrictions on how you access the internet from their network server. There are many steps you can take to prevent breaches such as securing your browser and testing your security configuration for weakness. You can stop transmission of data that is not encrypted and make sure to encrypt all data. Encryption is the conversion of data into a form (cipher text) that only the person responsible for creating it and affiliated parties have the keys needed to decrypt and understand it. Many companies are incorporating automatic...
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...Tricare/Data Breach……………………………..4 Stolen medical price/Chart…….……………..5 Hackers Motivation………..……………………..6 Conclusion…………………………………………….7 Reference……………………………………………..8 Abstract Hackers, while this term originally referred to a clever or expert programmer, it is now associated commonly in reference to someone who can gain unlawful access to other computers. A hacker can "hack" his or her way through the security levels of a computer system or network. This can be as simple as figuring out somebody else's password or as complex as writing a custom program to break another computer's security software. Hackers are the reason software manufacturers release periodic "security updates" to their programs. While it is unlikely that the average person will get "hacked," some large businesses and organizations receive multiple hacking attempts a day. In this instance the organization falls under health care, with digital medical records becoming more and more common this allow massive amounts of personal data to become vulnerable to hackers. This paper will cover not only hackers but the motivations of the hackers and ways to help defend and prevent. Medical records have become similar to finding gold during the California gold rush for identity thieves. This is exactly why healthcare provider’s cyber-attacks have become more and more frequent. These data breaches exposes millions of records that are used by cyber criminals for illegal activities. But why is the data in health...
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...systems handling health-related data, are increasingly targets of cybercriminals because of the information those systems contain, which ranges from Social Security numbers to health insurance identification numbers. What are healthcare entities' key struggles? What are they doing to step up compliance while also improving overall protection of patient data? We conducted our third annual Healthcare Information Security Today survey to find out. The 2014 survey sheds light on seven hot topics: * HIPAA Omnibus: Compliance is Challenging * Breach Prevention: Trend Analysis * Risk Assessments: Getting Better or Cutting Corners? * Encryption and Authentication: Room for Improvement * Mobile Tech: Inadequate Protection * Web Portals: Work in Progress * Priorities, Investments and Staffing Keeping records secure is a challenge that doctors, public health officials and federal regulators are just beginning to grasp. And, as two recent incidents at Howard University Hospital show, inadequate data security can affect huge numbers of people. On May 14, federal prosecutors one of the hospital’s medical technicians with violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. The employee used her position at the hospital to gain access to patients’ names, addresses and Medicare numbers in order to sell their information. Just a few weeks earlier, the hospital advised more than 34,000 patients that their medical data had been compromised. A contractor...
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...Data breaches are among the most frequent and expensive security failures in many organizations across the world. In fact, studies have shown that companies are attacked tens of thousands of times per year. With today's data moving freely between internal and external networks, mobile devices, the Internet and the cloud, the disturbing data breach trend is on the rise. Poor network security and inadequate traffic segmentation were chief causes of data breaches in 2013 and 2014, compromising countless data records and costing corporate hacking victims, financial institutions, retailers and credit card issuers billions of dollars to resolve. The Latest Breach... In February, Anthem Inc., the nation’s second largest health insurance company,...
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...application of policy, education, training and awareness, and technology.’’ (Whitman, Mattord, 2011). Information security is the protection of information and information systems from unauthorised access, modification, disruption, destruction, disclosure, or use. In other words it handles the risk management. The definition of information security is based on the concept that if there is a loss of CIA (confidentiality, integrity and availability) of information, then the person or business will suffer harm. What are the goals of information systems security? Regardless of the form the data is, the biggest concern for information security is CIA - confidentiality, availability and integrity of data. The main three goals explained: Confidentiality is controlling the access to information either during transmission or in storage. Confidentiality means the ability to hide the data and information of all sorts from...
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...information. Vulnerabilities are the root of all hacks. For businesses, they result in a decline in reliability. If an individual or a group wants to breach information, they will almost always find a way. With the increasing need for information databases, businesses have to weigh the risks of hacks. When an individual allows their information to be stored in a database, with or without their knowledge they are at risk. When this information enters the database, it becomes the business's responsibility to protect this information. With the amount of sensitive data being stored in databases, current cyber security measures and laws are not up to par. Infamous Data Breaches In 2015, there were 781 data breaches according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). One of these infamous breaches being with Anthem, otherwise known as BlueCross BlueShield insurance company. In this breach, hackers stole over 80 million social security numbers and other sensitive information of customers was obtained by the hackers. Similar to Anthem, Target experienced a breach. However, this breach was considerably worse. From November 27 until approximately December 15, hackers stole nearly 70 million credit card numbers from Target’s database. This security breach is widely known, as it happened during prime retail season for Target. This breach opened the public's eye to the cyber flaws. However, not all hackers involve the theft of financial...
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...Case Study 3: Boss, I Think Someone Stole Our Customer Data Evaluate the obligation Flayton Electronics has to its customers to protect their private data. Develop the communication strategy you would take to notify the customers of the potential security breach. Recommend procedures that Flayton Electronics should take to prevent future security breaches http://hbr.org/product/boss-i-think-someone-stole-our-customer-data-harva/an/R0709A-PDF-ENG Flayton Electronics is showing up as a common point of purchase for a large number of fraudulent credit card transactions. It's not clear how responsible the company and its less than airtight systems are for the apparent data breach. Law enforcement wants Flayton to stay mute for now, but customers have come to respect this firm for its straight talk and square deals. A hard-earned reputation is at stake, and the path to preserving it is difficult to see. Four experts comment on this fictional case study in R0709A and R0709Z. James E. Lee, of ChoicePoint, offers lessons from his firm's experience with a large-scale fraud scheme. He advises early and frank external and internal communications, elimination of security weaknesses, and development of a brand-restoration strategy. Bill Boni, of Motorola, stresses prevention: comprehensive risk management for data, full compliance with payment card industry standards, and putting digital experts on staff. For the inadequately prepared Flayton, he suggests consulting an established...
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...Consulting Company is a team of professional project managers, who are hired to assist organizations with known network integrity issues after a cyber attack or data breach. The Greet Team is an investigative firm that specializes in a high quality, detailed analysis of the breach, development of a project mitigation plan, evaluation of any legal implications that may result in the future, and implementation strategies of new systems and workflows that will ensure future network security. Walter Harris, the Chief Operations Officer of the Food and Drug Administration or FDA, has contracted with the Green Team after a critical data breach that exposed confidential information. The data that was exposed includes but is not limited to: employee records, new pharmaceutical drug proposals, clinical trial results, and complaints filed about products the FDA regulates. The three main goals of this project will be to target the cause of the data breach, review the consequences this breach will have on vendors, employees and products that were exposed, and implement upgrades, patches, or new software and procedures within the FDA to ensure prevention of the issue in the future. In the Discovery phase of this project, Green team members on the Data Breach Resolution team will begin the investigation as to why and how this breach may have happened. The goal in the Discovery phase...
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...On January 29, 2015, Anthem Healthcare learned of a cyber attack on their Information Security systems. This affected almost 80 million customers and employees. The information they believed that has been hacked are names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, health care ID numbers, home addresses, email addresses, employment information, including income data. They have no reason to believe credit card or banking information was compromised, nor is there evidence from this time that medical information such as claims, test results, or diagnostic codes, was targeted or obtained (anthemfacts.com) Anthem showed concern by contacting the FBI immediately and reporting the issue. The FBI praised their follow-up efforts. I believe this is showing credibility; an expression of sympathy such as this reduces the number of claims against an organization (Cardon, 2014). Anthem has created a website, www.anthemfacts.com that their customers and previous customer's pertinent information regarding the breach. They have also teamed up with All Clear ID, a leading and trusted identity protection provider, to offer 24 months of identity theft repair and credit monitoring services to current or former members of an affected Anthem plan dating back to 2004 (anthemfacts.com). AllClear ID is ready and standing by if you need identity repair assistance. This service is automatically available to you with no enrollment required. If a problem arises, simply call and a dedicated investigator will...
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...[pic] Incident Response Plan Template for Breach of Personal Information Notice to Readers Acknowledgments Introduction Incident Response Plan Incident Response Team Incident Response Team Members Incident Response Team Roles and Responsibilities Incident Response Team Notification Types of Incidents Breach of Personal Information – Overview Definitions of a Security Breach Requirements Data Owner Responsibilities Location Manager Responsibilities When Notification Is Required Incident Response – Breach of Personal Information Information Technology Operations Center Chief Information Security Officer Customer Database Owners Online Sales Department Credit Payment Systems Legal Human Resources Network Architecture Public Relations Location Manager Appendix A MasterCard Specific Steps Visa U.S.A. Specific Steps Discover Card Specific Steps American Express Specific Steps Appendix B California Civil Code 1798.82 (Senate Bill 1386) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Appendix C Escalation Members (VP Level of Management) Auxiliary Members (as needed) External Contacts (as needed) Notification Order Escalation Member Notification List Notice to Readers Incident Response Plan – Template for Breach of Personal Information does not represent an official position of the American Institute...
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...Business Fraud Amber Boltze ACCT451 November 8, 2013 David Adu-Boateng In April 2011, a number of lawsuits were filed against Sony Corporation for the theft of user data from the PlayStation game network. The lawsuits accuse Sony of negligence and breach of contract for allowing the personal data of more than 100 million on-line video game users to be compromised (Tauriello, 2011). A hacker stole the names, birth dates and possibly credit-card numbers for millions of people who play online videogames through Sony’s sne in Your Value Your Change Short position PlayStation console. This could rank among the biggest data breaches in history. Sony is being criticized for not alerting customers in a timely manner of the possibility that their personal information may be compromised. The main control issue in this case was the lapse of security. Sony was attacked in a number of areas including their website, network, and gamming platform. Several security problems began simply by entering specific searches in Google. Cyber investigators identified numerous loopholes in various pages from Sony websites that were exposed to being exploited. The Java security console alone was easily accessible on several web pages. This provides access to underlying functions of the website including information. This is normally unavailable on a secure website server. The information extracted from this negligence could be used to access servers, databases, and other security resources....
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