Turn Security Nightmares into Proactive Strategies

Security horror stories tend to wake and shake IT pros, forcing them to think about the safety of assets in their organizations. No one wants 15 minutes of fame on Internet security blogs as a prime example of what not to do. To prevent security disasters, the wise systems administrator avoids missing something obvious, watches out for the rogue colleague and the clueless CIO, quickly tackles user antics, and anticipates the unexpected. The shrewd IT leader also turns security nightmares into proactive strategies and follows tips, such as the ones I provide in this article, to protect valuable information.

Missing Something Obvious
One of the most common security mistakes is overlooking obvious threats. For example, I frequently hear stories about a stolen or lost laptop that holds thousands of confidential records or credit card data. Why is it possible to copy private data to a laptop computer in the first place? Why isn’t the data protected by some form of encryption?

Another common tale centers on the disgruntled employee who maliciously deletes business-critical data. If the company in question had set up file and folder permissions and had regularly secured file server backups, the amount of damage that such an employee could cause would be minimal. These obvious security holes are easy to plug.

Rogue Systems Administrators
Another security risk is that of the rogue systems administrator. IT managers should beware of laid-off and vengeful colleagues who have planted “dead-man switches” throughout the IT infrastructure. These switches could trigger a routine that deletes critical data. At other times the switches could activate scripts that do more damage, such as reconfiguring or deleting critical domain accounts, changing every password in the environment, and locking everyone in the company out of their computers.

These possibilities jar IT pros because of the infinite number of ways that someone who has complete access to the network can cause damage. The rogue systems administrator knows what he or she wants to do and how to bypass any security measures.

The Clueless CIO
Clueless CIOs, although not malevolent, can be dangerous nonetheless. Have you ever heard of a CIO who blindly ordered a change that ended up making the IT environment less secure? At one organization a CIO insisted on being added to the Enterprise Administrators group because, the CIO argued, managers are higher on the organizational chart than systems administrators. Unfortunately, the CIO brought his son to work with him on the weekend and logged the boy on to the network using privileged credentials. It took the company’s administrators two weeks to put everything back in order, including returning several explicitly labeled user accounts to their original names.

In another enterprise, a CIO acting on behalf of a CFO circumvented a policy restricting users from installing software on their own laptops. The CFO’s teenage son wanted to install games on his father’s powerful laptop to use at LAN parties. Unfortunately, the games were laden with viruses and worms. After the CFO reconnected the laptop to the corporate network, it infected other computers. Even CIOs acting in good faith can put your entire network at risk.

User Antics
IT pros have to keep a close eye on users, but you might not realize the extent to which users can unknowingly compromise your organization. Some have actually given their passwords to survey-takers in exchange for a bar of chocolate. Security guards have been known to disable the alarm on the emergency exit to a data center in order to prop open the outer door for a smoke break. Stories of user antics prove the adage “Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.” What IT pros can learn from such stunts is that the average worker can either be oblivious to or very creative about getting around security policies and restrictions.

Who Could Have Guessed?
Some security threats are almost impossible to anticipate. Even the most diligent, proactive security professionals can’t foresee horror stories that don’t fit into the usual paradigm. For example, a worm-infested antivirus update server could infect all the other computers in an organization. Likewise, laptop computers sent to a manufacturer for repair could return riddled with spyware. Although risks such as these are difficult to predict, IT managers should be on the lookout for them and ready to react at the first sign.

What To Do
In their eagerness to tackle any immediate concerns that might arise from other companies’ horror stories, IT pros should remember to continually and analytically examine their entire security configuration. If they become too focused on avoiding the threat of the moment, they could miss more dangerous security problems. Don’t be swayed by vendors offering a quick bandaid for a problem your organization might not have. Also, think about whether to use scare tactics to awaken end users to dangers that are lurking behind the scenes.

Shop wisely. Beware of consultants and salespeople who spread disaster tales and then peddle their own wares as the only answer to your potential nightmares. Such marketers might have only limited knowledge of your specific security environment.

For example, without looking too hard on the Internet you can find some frightening stories that involve SQL injection attacks. The way to protect against such attacks is to ensure that your web application validates input data. Some vendors sell software that does this. Protecting against SQL injection attacks is a priority if you are running a public-facing website that interacts with a database but is less urgent if the only web application in your organization is a seldom-used intranet site that contains little important data. In one case a decision-maker at a company purchased an expensive piece of data validation software although the only web-driven databases at the business were used by the HR department to schedule annual leave. To avoid such costly mistakes, look at your overall operations before making security decisions.

Scare the wits out of users. Although bombarding IT pros with horror stories can lead to misdirected resources, it’s OK to occasionally frighten non-IT staff members to help them understand the reasons behind your sometimes baffling security policies. They might learn, for example, from the experience of a financial institution that hired a company to test its security. The company scattered USB thumb drives around the institution’s parking lot. Workers passing through picked up the devices and promptly connected them to their desktop computers, curious as to the contents of the discarded items. Unbeknownst to the employees, the company had hidden Trojan horse software on each device that activated when users accessed what seemed to be a harmless collection of pictures and then transferred complete control of the user’s computer to outsiders.

Such a tactic illustrates why some organizations have a policy disallowing the connection of unauthorized USB storage devices to company computers. It brings a complicated policy into focus and makes security policies seem less arbitrary to the people they affect.

Another area in which scare tactics might help is in preparing non-IT staffers for social-engineering attacks. For example, someone phones an employee, pretending to be from the IT department and asking for the employee’s password. The employee reveals the information and suddenly loses control of his or her user account. You could use this kind of horror story to explain why IT staff members must present identification before being allowed to reset passwords.

Likewise, clever mischief-makers might go to a user’s workspace, pick up the phone there, and call the IT department for a password reset. This tactic could fool the IT department into thinking that the display of the incoming caller’s extension offered proof of identity. Telling your users stories such as these will make them more aware of security risks and less likely to fall for them.

Tips to Avoid Becoming Your Own Security Horror Story
Think sensibly about the risks your organization faces and deal with them in a structured manner. Avoid diverting all your funds to tackle a specific threat just because you’ve recently heard rumors about it. Consider thunderclouds in terms of how seriously they could affect your organization rather than how they already impacted a victim in a security nightmare. Good IT security practice is not only safeguarding an asset but also realizing why you must do so in the first place. When you understand why, you can prioritize the protection of more important assets over less important ones, thus best utilizing the resources you have available for security projects.

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