Introduction to Cybersecurity

What is security?

• Critical characteristics of information,
• Components of an Information System,
• The system development life cycle,
• The security system development life cycle.

Cyber Security

critical characteristics

C.I.A are the

of Information,

• but there are other characteristics should be considered.
  • Confidentiality
  • Integrity
  • Availability
  • Accuracy
  • Authenticity
  • Utility
  • Possession The value of information comes from the
  • characteristics it possesses:

• Confidentiality – The quality or state of preventing disclosure or exposure to unauthorized individuals or systems.
  • Credit Cards, PII, Health records.
• Integrity – The quality or state of being accurate, complete, and authorised.
  • The integrity of information is threatened when the information is exposed to corruption, damage, destruction, or other disruption of its authentic state.
• Availability – Enables authorized users who need to access information to do so without interference or obstruction.
  • The information is said to be available to an authorized user when and where needed and in the correct format.

• Accuracy – Free from mistakes or errors and having the value that the end user expects.
  • If information contains a value different from the user’s expectations due to intentional or unintentional modification of the content, it is no longer accurate.
• Authenticity – The quality or state of being genuine or original, rather than a reproduction or fabrication.
  • Information is authentic when the information is the same as it was originally created, placed, stored, or transferred.
• Utility – The quality or state of having value for some purpose or end.
• Information has value when it serves a particular purpose. This means that if information is available, but not in a format meaningful to the end user, it is not useful.
• Possession – The quality or state of having ownership or control of some object or item.
• Information is said to be in possession if one obtains it, independent of format or other characteristic.

While a breach of confidentiality always results in

• a breach of ownership, a breach of ownership does not always result in a breach of confidentiality. Is it correct, how and why?

• In Cybersecurity, there are THREE dimensions
  • Security Goals: C.I.A.
  • Security measures/controls: policy, education/training, Technology.
  • Information States: Storage, Transmission, Processing
• McCumber Cube: graphical explanation to show the interconnections among the different Information security factors.

• McCumber Cube: Dimensions and attributes
  • Desired goals: C.I.A
  • Information states
    • Storage: Data at rest (DAR) in an information system, such as that stored in memory or on a magnetic tape or disk.
    • Transmission: transferring data between information systems - also known as data in transit (DIT).
    • Processing: performing operations on data in order to achieve a desired objective.
  • Security controls:
    • Policy and practices: administrative controls (plans and guidance)
    • Education: ensuring that the users of information systems are aware of their roles and responsibilities.
    • Technology: software and hardware-based solutions designed to protect information systems.

• There are five components work together to achieve the ultimate goal of any information system.
  • Software
  • Hardware
  • Data
  • People
  • Procedures
• Agreeable to say that all components have their strengths and weaknesses – but when in used all together it performs a good secure IS

Software

• Applications / operating systems / other utilities
  • Most difficult to secure
  • Bugs / errors are just too much to handle which
  • leads to having a insecure information SW is the most important component in IS – but
  • information security is often to not being considered at the first round of implementation – leads to having versions after versions of app. By this – it is an easy target to attack the IS

Hardware

• ❑ Physical technology that houses and executes the SW/ stores and transmit the data and provides interfaces to run the SW
  • Securing physical assets from harm / theft
    • Traditional and still mainly used – locks and keys
    • Biometrics access controls

Data

• ❑ Most valuable asset possessed by an organization and often intentional attacks the main target of

People

• ❑ User of the IS
  • Often threat or being threat for the data
  • Often being the weakest component in an IS environment
  • Policy, agreement, education and training plays important rules

Procedures

• ❑ Written instructions for accomplishing a specific task
  • If a unauthorized user obtains an organization s procedure – ’ this poses a threat to the integrity of the information
  • Most organization distribute procedures to their trustful employees so they can access the IS

• Is a methodology / approach for designing and implementing an IS
• Sequence of procedure to solve a problem
• Most common approach – waterfall model

Cybersecurity must be managed in a manner similar to any other system

• implementation One approach for implementing an cybersecurity system with security in
• place is to use a variation of the SDLC phases, named Security SDLC (SecSDLC)

Each phases in SecSDLC should consider the security of the system

• being assembled as well as the information it uses Each implementation done is secure and does not harm the C.I. A of the
• organization’s information assets

SecSDLC is basically following the exact phases

• as what the formal SDLC is doing In addition, SecSDLC identifies specific threats
• that possibly could happen to the IS and creates specific controls to counter those threats A well-observe and planning IS could be
• demonstrated if all possible threats been taken care off