NC1707

SECURITYUPDATE
CYBER-INSANITY
RAJ SAMANI, CTO EMEA AT
INTEL SECURITY CONSIDERS
HOW CROWDSOURCED
THREAT INTELLIGENCE AND
COLLABORATIVE ANALYTICS
ARE HELPING BUSINESSES TO
DETERMINE FACT FROM
FICTION AND DODGE THE
DATA LANDMINE
From claims of fake news to allegations of
state-sponsored hacks, the role of data
security is on stark display. We're being
strongly reminded that data drives decisions,
and that those decisions affect world events.
In 2016, we saw allegations of stolen and
manipulated data being commissioned to
disrupt democracy and propagate fake news.
Nefarious actors are trying to make it difficult
to tell fact from fiction, weakening our ability
to make accurate decisions. This ranges from
reading a fake news article and taking it at
face value, to receiving a spear phishing email
and considering the senders sincerity.
THE WEAPONISATION OF
INFORMATION
Manipulation of data matters. After all, data
underlies everything from our national
economy to an organisation's business
model. We rely increasingly on big data
analytics to make decisions and this is why
businesses must pay attention to the data
which goes into those models. If the integrity
of the data has been manipulated then it can
be used against us.
Big data is not the problem. However,
when big data is manipulated by the
insertion of bad data, that small insertion
can become a huge issue for us all. This is
the next major threat vector: the
weaponisation of information.
Just consider the extent to which it could
disrupt our society. We already know
autonomous vehicles can be hacked, for
example, yet many of these vehicles will be
taking to the roads. Each vehicle will process
thousands of gigabytes of information each
day, and when considered in aggregate on a
global scale this presents a huge issue for the
data models being used. We will rely on them
for the regular and frequent safe transport of
people, yet criminals could even look beyond
the cars themselves and try inserting false data
directly into traffic systems.
PROTECTION AGAINST
MANIPULATED DATA
When Chris Young, SVP and GM of the Intel
Security Group described weaponised data as
the newest form of advanced persistent threat
it was no exaggeration. In a strange irony,
what we once protected, we must now look to
protect ourselves against. We've handed
cybercriminals the ultimate tool for attack by
staying connected 24/7 and deepening our
reliance on data. So what can businesses do
now that the game has changed so
dramatically?
To gain the upper hand, businesses must
reject conventional defence paradigms in
favour of radical new thinking. This means
working to be collaborative instead of
hoarding information. When carried out on a
large scale it makes life harder for
cybercriminals and ensures that data remains
more secure.
Threat intelligence sharing will need to make
significant strides in 2017 in order to combat
the threat of manipulated data. In many cases,
both this type of data and advanced stealthy
attacks can lay hidden, undetected, on a
network. If corporations collaborate
generously across a largely open ecosystem by
proactively sharing details of threats and
attacks, similar enterprises will be able to more
rapidly detect threats and correct their systems.
Integrating best-in-class features from
numerous cybersecurity providers across a
shared communications fabric is crucial to
sharing accurate threat intelligence and
orchestrating security operations across the
many tools every business uses. To ensure
defences remain current and effective,
organisations will need to ensure that they tap
into these intelligence sharing platforms to
take advantage of the pooled knowledge and
identify the maliciously manipulated data.
The threat landscape has never been bigger,
yet current defensive measures are not
sufficient. As Einstein allegedly once said,
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results." Today's
threats demand a different response from the
cybersecurity industry: cyber threat intelligence
sharing is a crucial aspect of this. NC
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