Information Security
Arfan Shahzad
{ [email protected] }
Course Outline
Text Books
Computer Security
• The NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Computer
Security Handbook [NIST95] defines the term computer security as follows:
• Computer Security: The protection afforded to an automated information
system in order to attain the applicable objectives of preserving the
integrity, availability, and confidentiality of information system resources
(includes hardware, software, firmware, information/data, and
telecommunications).
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability
• This definition introduces three key objectives that are at the heart of
computer security:
• Confidentiality,
• Integrity and
• Availability
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• Confidentiality: This term covers two related concepts:
1. Data confidentiality: Assures that private or confidential information is
not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals.
2. Privacy: Assures that individuals control or influence what information
related to them may be collected and stored and by whom and to whom
that information may be disclosed.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Privilege Escalation
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Privilege Escalation
• Privilege escalation is the process by which a user or program gains more
privileges than they are supposed to have, allowing them to perform
actions or access resources that are usually restricted.
• This can happen due to security vulnerabilities or misconfigurations in the
system, allowing an attacker to take advantage of these weaknesses to
escalate their privileges and gain more control over the system.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Evil Twin
• The Evil Twin attack is a type of wireless network attack where an attacker
sets up a rogue (rascal) access point that mimics a legitimate one (access
point) in order to trick users into connecting to it.
• Once the user connects, the attacker can intercept and capture the user's
network traffic, potentially gaining access to sensitive information such as
login credentials or personal data.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Evil Twin
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Rogue Access Point
• A rogue access point is a wireless access point that has been installed on a
network without authorization, often by an attacker looking to gain
unauthorized access to the network.
• A rogue access point may be set up in a public location or even in an office
or other private location, and can be used to intercept and steal sensitive
information or launch other attacks against devices connected to the
network.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Rogue Access Point
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Rogue Access Point
• Organizations can protect against rogue access points by
implementing wireless intrusion prevention systems (WIPS) and
conducting regular network security audits to detect unauthorized
devices.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Rogue Access Point vs. Evil Twin
• A rogue access point is simply an unauthorized access point, while an
evil twin is a specific type of rogue access point that is set up to
mimic a legitimate access point in order to deceive users into
connecting to it.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• Integrity: This term covers two related concepts:
1. Data integrity: Assures that information (both stored and in transmitted
packets) and programs are changed only in a specified and authorized
manner.
2. System integrity: Assures that a system performs its intended function
in an unimpaired manner, free from deliberate or inadvertent
unauthorized manipulation of the system.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Skimming
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Skimming
• Skimming is a type of fraud where criminals use a small device called
a skimmer to steal credit or debit card information when the card is
swiped at a point of sale terminal or an ATM.
• The skimmer is usually placed on the card reader, and it can be
difficult to spot because it looks like a legitimate part of the machine.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Skimming
• Once the card information is captured, the criminals can use it to
create a clone of the card or make fraudulent purchases.
• Skimming is a common tactic used by identity thieves and can result
in significant financial losses for individuals and businesses.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• Availability: Assures that systems work promptly and service is not
denied to authorized users.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Bots
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Bots
• Bots, short for “robots”, are automated software programs that perform
repetitive tasks on the internet.
• These bots can be beneficial or malicious, depending on their intended
purpose.
• Good bots are designed to crawl web pages and index them for search
engines, provide customer service, automate social media postings, etc.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Bots
• On the other hand, bad bots can perform various malicious activities,
such as web scraping, distributed denial-of-service attacks, account
takeover, and spreading malware.
• Botnets are networks of infected devices that can be controlled by a
single command and control server, making them a powerful tool for
cybercriminals.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Distribute Denial of Services (DDoS)
• Distributed Denial of Service is a type of cyber attack that aims to make a
website or online service unavailable to its intended users.
• In a DDoS attack, the attacker uses a network of compromised computers
(called a botnet) to flood the target website or service with a huge
amount of traffic, overwhelming its servers and causing it to crash or
become extremely slow, making it difficult or impossible for legitimate
users to access it.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Distribute Denial of Services (DDoS)
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
Distribute Denial of Services (DDoS)
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• These three concepts form what is often referred to as the CIA triad.
• The three concepts embody the fundamental security objectives for both
data and for information and computing services.
• For example, the NIST standard FIPS 199 (Standards for Security
Categorization of Federal Information and Information Systems) lists
confidentiality, integrity, and availability as the three security objectives for
information and for information systems.
FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards)
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• FIPS 199 provides a useful characterization of these three objectives in
terms of requirements and the definition of a loss of security in each
category:
• Confidentiality: Preserving authorized restrictions on information access
and disclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy and
proprietary information.
• A loss of confidentiality is the unauthorized disclosure of information.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• Integrity: Guarding against improper information modification or
destruction, including ensuring information nonrepudiation and
authenticity.
• A loss of integrity is the unauthorized modification or destruction of
information.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• Availability: Ensuring timely and reliable access to and use of
information.
• A loss of availability is the disruption of access to or use of
information or an information system.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• Although the use of the CIA triad to define security objectives is well
established, some in the security field feel that additional concepts
are needed to present a complete picture.
• Two of the most commonly mentioned are as follows:
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• Authenticity: The property of being genuine and being able to be
verified and trusted; confidence in the validity of a transmission, a
message, or message originator.
• This means verifying that users are who they say they are and that
each input arriving at the system came from a trusted source.
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability cont…
• Accountability: The security goal that generates the requirement for
actions of an entity to be traced uniquely to that entity.
• Systems must keep records of their activities to permit later forensic
analysis to trace security breaches or to aid in transaction disputes.
• Because truly secure systems are not yet an achievable goal, we must
be able to trace a security breach to a responsible party.
