Cybersecurity (the Nitty-Gritty; and what is Cyberspace?): A Different, Flexible Approach.
December 9, 2011
Currently, there is a lot of chatter in military, civilian, political, and business circles on “Cybersecurity” and how best to exploit and secure the cyber-realm or “Cyberspace”. I wrote in an earlier blog post on the big picture of Cybersecurity, and avoiding data disasters, in general.[1]
Unfortunately, however, while everyone may “think” they are talking about the same thing, I dare say that they are not. It is, of course, important to know and understand what we are all talking about, before we attempt to secure it with any hope of success. So, then, what is Cyberspace, we ask? The answer: almost anything, and nearly everything. Let me explain, as Cyberspace in its totality, comprises 5 Domains, multiplied by 3 Bundles, to give 15 “e-Compartments”; which e-Compartments should be the focal points of and for, specific protective and exploitative techniques and technologies, as appropriate. This is a different, flexible approach better attuned to the rapidly changing world of technology. It will take an extremely momentous event or series of events closely related in time and space, to change and re-align all e-Compartments at once, or to render techniques and technologies used for exploitation and security in more than a handful of these, all obsolete at one and the same time. I will also discuss cyber-breach consequences, and make commonsense recommendations.
5 DOMAINS:
(a) The Internet (“Net”) is its own domain, and comprises all systems and services accessible through same, as well as being the catch-all category for everything “online”.
(b) A second domain is the telecommunications networks (“Telco”), which cover phone, fax, voicemail, voice over I.P., videoconferencing, webcasting, and so forth. The Net and Telco are becoming increasingly intertwined and to a large extent, near indistinguishable.
(c) Third, is that complex of computers, servers, and thin and thick clients (“I.T.”) that drive and serve and access the above 2 (“two”), and the remaining 2 (“two”) domains
(d) The fourth domain, is that of mobile devices (“Mobile”), or the plethora of “steadily richer clients” in smartphones, PDAs, Notebooks, Tablets, and so forth; along with all the portable drives with capacities ranging from a few megabytes to many terabytes (or even “quigaflops”, as I have also blogged, elsewhere).[2]
(e) The fifth domain of Cyberspace may well surprise some of you, but it shouldn’t. It includes paper! Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are not the first times that people will walk critical papers, performances, paintings and portraits, and other personal or positive assets including intellectual property out of monitored or even secure locations, by taking their pictures. This is the world of “P2ED”, where those papers, performances, paintings and portraits, and other personal or positive assets (collectively being the “P”), can be converted into Electronic Documents (meaning “2ED”), and thereby, in essence: “made to move, to order.” Modern rapid scanning technologies, the camera-capture tools on almost every mobile data device now available on the market, and the staggering storage capacity of portable drives as earlier stated, mean that almost anything can be relocated in time and space almost instantly and quite completely; often without the victim or “targeted subject” being the wiser. When you add-in the abilities of three-dimensional printers working with multiple pictures from multiple angles, or simple panned video footage, that “P” can be very easily reproduced in and as an “infringing facsimile”, in any place, at any time, and very many times.
An Electronic Document, I would therefore and expansively, define as: 1 (“one”) or more items of data that may include meta data, created or collected or compiled by electronic means from a paper source or sources, an electronic or other source or sources, or a combination of these and that is:
(i) organized in the same or substantially the same way as the original source or that otherwise characterizes and represents or presents the data in a cognizable format; and
(ii) capable:
(1) of being provided or published or posted or displayed or distributed or otherwise transferred by or to, or retained or reviewed as appropriate, by its creator or compiler, or by any other party or parties possessing the appropriate access permissions and utilities, or by both of the creator or compiler and others; or
(2) of being received or retrieved or acquired or accessed or analyzed or processed or altered as appropriate, by its creator or compiler, or by any other party or parties possessing the appropriate access permissions and utilities, or by both of the creator or compiler and others;
in such a way that makes it capable of being stored and therefore used for subsequent reference; and
(iii) capable of being replicated as is or in an alternate format by its creator or compiler, or by any other party or parties with the appropriate access permissions and utilities, or by both of the creator or compiler and others.
3 BUNDLES:
The three bundles by which to multiply each of the five domains, are: Hardware (“HA”), Software (“SO”), and Services (“SE”).
15 E-COMPARTMENTS:
A full treatment of this multiplication into the 15 e-Compartments, would take a very long time; and so, I gladly leave it to the reader. However, and as a much abbreviated series of examples:
(i) securing one compartment of the hardware (HA) in any or many domains may include access barriers or credentials verification, whether with keys and passes, or by biometric or other technical means.
(ii) Exploiting one compartment of the software (SO) in any or many domains may include knowing and using the vulnerabilities found and from time to time exposed in certain types of programs, where updates and antiviral or other protections are lacking, and in people, by means of social engineering.
(iii) Services (SE), you can further divide into at least 6 (“six”) sub-elements to create “sub-compartments” after the multiplication, of: (a) internal; (b) contracted; and (c) outsourced accredited service personnel, and then the same 3, once again, for actual services performed. To secure your internal personnel, you would of course, have conducted background checks, and engage in some sort of “lawful” ongoing and periodic monitoring. Securing contracted services, would involve due diligence of the providers, perhaps additional checks and balances on the personnel to do the actual work, and then of course, there is insurance, appropriate contractual terms including warranties and indemnifications from the provider, and other steps as are reasonable, and sometimes seen as unreasonable by the other side. When they protest, it can be reassuring to see that they are paying attention and not so desperate for your business as to accept any and all conditions without a word. Similar steps can also be taken to secure outsourced services, with additional precautions where offshoring or a sensitive industry (such as healthcare, or involving personal information or an especially vulnerable and protected class of persons like children, the disabled, the mentally-challenged, or the elderly), is involved.
(iv) If one were to look at Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) and Near-field Communications (NFC) for example, it becomes obvious how one size does not fit all e-Compartments when trying to secure HA (smart phone passwords), SO (against hacking, tampering, and redirection of funds or data sent or received), and SE (challenge and handshake protocols, and perhaps using geolocation – to the extent lawful – to guard against someone’s account being accessed with the same credentials, and apparently from the same device, in two or more jurisdictions at the same time, as spoofed, or in less time than one could reasonably be expected to travel between them). Each Domain must therefore have and maintain its own set of techniques and technologies to secure Ha, So, and Se in RFID and NFC, as and where applicable, inter alia.
3 CONSEQUENCES OF CYBER-BREACH:
Remediation: This can include the costs of any combination of cash settlements; credit monitoring; credentials replacement for the impacted parties or persons; and changes in the compromised (or absent or insufficient) policies, procedures, personnel, and platforms.
Reputation: Reputational damage can be felt by its effects on clients, who may leave or reduce their business dealings; labor markets where it may become harder to get the best and brightest talent; media and social media circles, not just the late night talk shows, which may all combine to continue and compound a storm that would otherwise have passed-by and been forgotten more quickly; and of course, insurance deductibles paid and heavier premiums going forwards. Depending on the specific facts of the situation, the insurer may or may not seek to decline coverage or reduce the available benefits under the applicable policy or policies for errors and omissions, general liability, privacy, and otherwise. Additional economic impacts may also be felt by issuers in greater “activism” of their shareholders. The share prices may take a hit, impacting upon debt covenants, debt to equity ratios, leverage ratios – with or without ensuing margin calls – solvency, and directors and officers liability insurance policies, as well. This, again, could build upon itself in a negative direction if not properly and timely managed.
Regulatory: The possibility of heavy fines and penalties is always there, whether before or after grueling regulatory investigations that sap time, and resources, and money. An entity may also face ongoing monitoring and operational restrictions that may go as far as mandatory supervision or takeover. Suits at law or in equity, or both, may also accrue at a very fierce pace.
4 KEY COMMONSENSE RECOMMENDATIONS:
Systemic Security: Secure the systems, and those who use and maintain the systems. This involves the personnel security, the access controls, and educating everyone in the organization on the benefits of compliance with policies, as it could impact upon their salaries and bonuses, the viability of the business, and their jobs. Where there is a tie-in to their personal realities, stakeholders who see and appreciate potential downsides will be more likely to buy-in to those business practicalities.
Active Management: Have an Active (and not reactive) Management. It is never a good recommendation to wait until something bad happens, before thinking about what you will do and how you will react when something bad happens. More and more jurisdictions are enacting breach notification laws, and so this luxury is no longer an option; even if your jurisdiction has been slow to follow-suit. Business, today, is hardly so uni-locational as to allow you to be ignorant of global best practices, and still expect to compete and succeed against the competition. Join and form reputable local industry groups; develop a relationship with a good Public Relations firm; find and retain inside and/or contract and/or outside legal counsel that can cover you on the 3 (“three”) prongs of litigation and e-Discovery, regulatory compliance in your industry, and your contracting and labor practices – in all jurisdictions where you operate; have a solid Social Media presence and policy; and adopt and prepare and plan for, an all-hazards disaster response.
Internal Controls: Active Management must monitor and verify the Systemic Security through internal controls, inter alia. Your people must be following these wonderful policies and procedures, otherwise you have just been wasting paper in employee handbooks and handouts, and storage space on your intranet or bulletin board system. Is Social Media being used responsibly during work time, and regarding work but outside the office? Are employees following your portable data policies and mobile device policies? Are contractors being properly segregated from physical areas, online accounts, and specific data that they are not authorized to access? Are those with authority acting within and not exceeding their access, alteration, and audit authorities? These and other questions must be asked and answered. Industry-specific internal controls should include, for any entity with developers writing software or an I.T. department, a policy on Open Source Software (OSS), as I will further explain, below.
Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Compliance is also very important. If and when something goes wrong, it always helps to show that you did or were doing the right things, in accordance with law. The hammer generally tends to fall harder on those who were lax in their compliance, as the weight of culpability becomes significantly harder to avoid. This is especially important for entities that do not have any in-house legal personnel, which could mean that there is nobody keeping a regular eye on practices and policies that may well slip or dip from time to time, in the ordinary course of business. The value of regular legal audits becomes that much greater, for a periodic “compliance fine-tuning”. One area that requires careful scrutiny, tracking, and audits, is Open Source Software (OSS), which is far from being the “free software” that so many may think it is. Incorporating someone else’s Intellectual Property in company products, or inadvertently contributing the employer’s Intellectual Property to an outside product, through off-time or online collaboration projects, could have dire results. Some open source licenses will then require that you post all the source code for free and further use by all and sundry; damming a revenue stream and giving away valuable I.P. rights. Employees and contractors who’se contracts state that all they create belongs to the employer, should be made aware of this “significant risk area”, and have some restrictions placed on what they can and cannot do in terms of OSS, collaboration, and their skills as co-mingled with employer property. The penalties for I.P. infringement, whether of copyright, patent, trademark, or trade secrets, can be severe.
SUMMARY:
This different, flexible approach to Cyberspace and its 15 e-Compartments should serve as a roadmap, in guiding your conceptual approach to the issues in a logical, and step-by-step or compartment by compartment strategy. As the fields of e-Commerce, Cyberspace, and Cybersecurity grow by leaps and bounds and expand into, above and beyond the “Clouds” – at least until we are all hardwired to be and remain online, at the same time, and all the time – the above basic typologies should suffice and remain the same; and the 5 Domains of Cyberspace, as set out and identified so far, should hold fast, again absent any “category-killer-app” as a caveat.
Happy (belated) Cyber-Monday; and Merry Christmas, 2011!
Author:
Ekundayo George is a Sociologist, Lawyer, and Strategic Consultant, with experience in business law and counseling, diverse litigation, and regulatory practice. He is licensed to practice law in Ontario, Canada, as well as multiple states of the United States of America (U.S.A.); and he has published in Environmental Law and Policy (National Security aspects).
Hyperlinks to external sites are provided as a courtesy and convenience, only, and no warranty is made or responsibility assumed for their content, accuracy, or availability.
This article does not constitute legal advice or create any lawyer-client relationship.
[1] Ekundayo George, Cybersecurity (the Big Picture): Avoiding “Destabilizing Data Disaster” (D3). Published on September 1, 2011. Available at: http://ogalaws.wordpress.com/category/strategic-consulting/cybersecurity/
[2] Ekundayo George, “M”edia Effectiveness. (Blog Tab). Available at http://ogalaws.wordpress.com/media-effectiveness/
Introduction.
Hurricane Irene of late August, 2011, has come and gone, devastating the Eastern seaboard of the United States of America– especially Vermont and the Carolinas, and also causing damage in Quebecand the Canadian Maritime Provinces (Eastern Canada).[1] As Hurricane Irene came at the start of hurricane season and shortly after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake of Tuesday, August 23, 2011, centered some 40 miles to the Northwest of the City of Richmond, in the State of Virginia,[2] this is as good a time as any to discuss and promote a more comprehensive approach to our collective Cybersecurity. I will cover the specific topic of portable data security in another post.
In addition, 2011 has witnessed successful Cyber-hacks on notable businesses, national governments, and government agencies and departments that were thought to be tech-savvy, very well protected, and up to date in their Cybersecurity practices.[3] However, we should distinguish the “hacktivists”[4] from the “covert snoops”[5] and from the “news-related snoops”;[6] even though they may all look and sound and feel the same, to the hacked. In essence, we must all realize and always remember that “Destabilizing Data Disaster” (D3) can actually touch anyone, anytime, and as a result of almost any cause or event. Fortunately, destabilizing need not mean or equal debilitating, if adequate, reasoned, directed planning and preparation have been done; as do BIRDS for the BEES.
BEES & BIRDS.
BEES:
Destabilizing Data Disaster (D3), can be caused by 3 (“three”) main event groupings and 5 (“five”) specific elements, under a “BEES” typology. These are: (i) Breach Entries; (ii) Environmental, or Economic, or Exported Strictures; and (iii) Engineering Social.
(i) Breach Entries, are intentional intrusions that may or may not be targeted at data retrieval. The breach factor, refers to the intentional circumvention or disabling of security protocols and barriers to entry. Examples include denial of service, defacing after gaining administrator privileges, and physical removal, alteration, or destruction of critical hardware, software, or information. This category also covers the actions of disgruntled employees or contractors; the actions of whom exceed their authority, occur outside the law, or appear to be lawful and legitimate but are done with malicious intent.
(ii)(a) Environmental Stricture, is defined as a compromised functionality due to an environmental event, be it flooding (such as with a swollen river), loss of power due to some weather-related incident (such as with a snowstorm that takes-down power lines), or extreme heat that compromises a power substation or transformer to the point of failure, where there is no backup power, or there is insufficient backup power, on hand.
(ii)(b) Economic Stricture, is defined as a compromised functionality due to an economic event, whether or not foreseeable, such as a bank foreclosure on one’s own premises and assets for non-payment of debt; a dispute with a critical vendor that has a delayed or immediate operational impact; being the subject of a legal injunction; or, being the target of any government action of a regulatory or enforcement nature, including but not limited to investigation or nationalization, with a delayed or immediate data operational impact.
(ii)(c) Exported Stricture, is defined as the impact suffered by the subject entity, when any or all of the other 4 (“four”) other BEES options here listed, befall a critical vendor, a critical customer, or a group of vendors or customers to the point of criticality, such that the stricture cascades in data impact and is exported one or more times along the chain.
(iii) Engineering Social, is defined as the tools and technologies that lure people into sharing or divulging critical access information, or otherwise personal or confidential information that can lead to access or identity theft, phishing, or data mining in the hands of a knowledgeable recipient with malicious intent. The result can be a loss of secret, confidential, or otherwise proprietary information, which will certainly cause great embarrassment; which may bring legal action from aggrieved parties; and, which may ultimately need to be reported and publicly disclosed across multiple jurisdictions in accordance with then applicable data retention and protection laws.[7]
BIRDS.
As the BEES can occur and swarm in combination, the means to guard against them must be similarly flexible and comprehensive. From my consultations with and work for corporations and executives in various jurisdictions, I have been able to use a variety of privacy impact assessments of events, reactions, advances in technique and technology, and adaptations, to devise a “BIRDS” Cybersecurity typology for dealing with the BEES. Individual client circumstances will, however, vary, as the steps must be specifically tailored with additional, custom inputs. In addition, a comprehensive Cybersecurity policy must be well-structured, well entrenched, well managed, and actively monitored with comprehensive follow-up, in order to have optimum results. This general scheme, below, though, should get the appropriate Cybersecurity professionals, employees, and managers with budgetary authority, all on the right train of thought, and at the same time.
The 5 (“five”) below points must be taken and comprehensively assessed and addressed in the order that best fits the entity, in light of its then current position, its future plans, and other custom metrics and analyses beyond the scope of this basic introduction. Presented here simply in the order that gives them their name, these points, are:
Point 1: “Backup and hardening”, mean it is vital to ensure that any data farm always has an adequate system for emergency power and management, and offsite data backup. Remote operation and re-boot, as well as using cloud technologies, may be considered.
Point 2: “Imperatives of full compliance with law”, should be paramount for the entity concerned. There may be legal and regulatory requirements specific to the industry (such as data retention and protection laws), there may be industry or professional standards or best practices that have the force of law (such as with self-regulatory professional and licensing bodies), or, there may be specific requirements related to investigations or legal proceedings (such as for search warrants and document production in Discovery), or in relation to specific corporate events (as with due diligence on a merger or acquisition).
Point 3: “Rights of verification and correction”, for the data gathered, data held, and data that must or may be disclosed, should be specifically assigned and well-known across the entity. To the extent prescribed by law in the applicable jurisdiction, the persons on whom and on behalf of whom the data is held, may also have a right to verify and correct.
Point 4: “Data integrity”, as a mandate, makes it similarly vital to follow industry best practices to the extent that they exist, and ensure that all employees know them and are trained to stay up to date (which may give some protection against legal claims, and perhaps, a reduction in premiums from insurers).[8] This point also involves having, using, and maintaining reliable systems and protocols for input management regarding the data, intrusion prevention and detection, incident management, and then following-up to push through the requisite improvements in policies and procedures from lessons learned.
Point 5: “Site and System access protocols”, should, likewise be paramount for the entity. Passwords, became pass keys, then combinations and security tokens,[9] and now, the field is being populated by an ever-expanding array of biometric applications. Here, again, it is important to know the local law of the applicable jurisdiction. In Canada, for example, certain occupations and procedures can mandate a Certified Criminal Record Check.[10] In all cases, it remains vitally important for an entity to control who has access to the data system and from where. Staggered edit authorities and segregated levels of both physical area access and system and subsystem access, are and will ever remain, highly advisable.
Summary.
The writing is on the wall, and everyone, as data consumer, handler, and producer, should take personal data security and the collective Cybersecurity, very seriously; especially as we see that top corporations and governments with access to significant technical talent and financing, have been and continue to be, hacked on an alarmingly frequent basis. The above, however, are some steps and “BIRDS” that any entity may take in hand, alone, or a group of entities or industry may take in hand together, as a “flock”, in order to guard against “Destabilizing Data Disaster” (D3), and to hold off and discourage those troubling swarms of “BEES” gathering, ominously, on the horizon – at least for a time.
Author:
Ekundayo George is a Lawyer and Strategic Consultant. He is a published author in Environmental Law and Policy; licensed to practice law in multiple states of the United States of America, as well as Ontario, Canada; and has over a decade of solid legal experience in business law and counseling, diverse litigation, and regulatory practice.
Hyperlinks to external sites are provided as a courtesy and convenience, only, and no warranty is made or responsibility assumed for their content, accuracy, or availability.
This article does not constitute legal advice or create any lawyer-client relationship.
[1] http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/Eastern+Canada+cleans+after+Irene+causes+chaos/5326874/story.html (Hurricane Irene of late August, 2011).
[2] http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/23/national/main20096120.shtml (Virginia earthquake ofAugust 23, 2011).
[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13686141 (“A Brief History of Hacking”).
[4] Id.
[5] http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/02/17/Canadian-government-computers-hacked/UPI-21551297945502/ (Government of Canada suffers major hack attack); http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13626104 (Top United States Government employees and private sector company executives suffer email hacks).
[6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14685622 (Public figures in theUnited Kingdom suffer from the intentional hacking of their voicemails).
[7] Many jurisdictions operate under highly complex webs of privacy and data retention laws and regulations covering such areas as: banking information, health information, law enforcement and national security, employment-related information, tax information, electoral rolls, and so forth. It is important to know the laws of the jurisdiction or jurisdictions within which one operates, or more frequently nowadays – “is deemed to be operating”. You should always consult competent local legal counsel for specific guidance that is pertinent to your situation, and the facts.
[8] Numerous industries in North America, Canada, and Europe, have specific industry groups – and lobbyists – that enable the meeting of stakeholders and governments on a regular basis to formulate best practices, establish limits on liability, and otherwise shape applicable legislation and regulations in a way that protects the consumer, provides a degree of legal certainty, and enables the industry to thrive by ensuring direct participants that a given level of risk-taking will not be unduly thwarted, and ensuing investors that their investments will be both protected and rewarded.
One example of a health and safety standard is the concept of ALARA (“As Low As Reasonably Achievable”), which received a detailed analysis at the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee, 464 U.S. 238 (1984), in reference to workplace radiation exposure in the nuclear energy field. The concept has since been adopted across other industries using radioisotopes, such as the medical field (See, for example the Health Canada Guidelines on using diagnostic ultrasound): http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/radiation/01hecs-secs255/rec-eng.php
The concept is also used, as modified, in the field of health and safety in the United Kingdom, where it is termed “As Low as Reasonably Practicable” (ALARP) http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/theory/alarp.htm, or “So Far as Is Reasonably Practicable” (SFAIRP). The two are often used interchangeably http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/theory/alarpglance.htm
Similarly, in a Report published on June 8, 2011, the Internet Policy Task Force of the United States Department of Commerce proposed best practices for the Internet, that, if followed, would reduce an entity’s Cybersecurity insurance premiums due. That report is available at: http://www.nist.gov/itl/upload/Cybersecurity_GreenPaper_FinalVersion.pdf
Additional background on the thinking behind this initiative, can be found here http://www.darkreading.com/cloud-security/167901092/security/security-management/230500089/commerce-department-proposes-voluntary-security-best-practices-for-businesses.html
[9] Of note, is the embarrassing fact that a purveyor of security tokens used to protect banking and corporate network access, was recently hacked http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12784491 (“Hackers tackle secure ID tokens”).
[10] http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cr-cj/fing-empr2-eng.htm (Background information on the Certified Criminal Record Check procedure, from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)).
