Looking at Information Security from different

perspectives

Edgard ChammasUniversity Of Balamand

Byblos Startup Weekend – March 1, 2013

Outline* How users see it?

* How hackers see it?

* How developers see it?

* How companies see it?

* How the media sees it?

* How governments see it?

* The current state in Lebanon

* Some security incidents and facts in Lebanon

* For a better digital Lebanon

How users see it?* Not all people have a good technical background

* Most of them are not security aware

* They are prone to attacks such as “Social Engineering”

* Security is always an end-to-end solution

=> If you fail at any point, you FAIL!

* Securing a process from Source to Sink is a big challenge

=> You can't blame Facebook when your password is your

phone number :)

* Security awareness for users is inevitable

How hackers see it?* Simply. It's a “game”

* They can be any anyone. No exceptions.

* They are human => prone to errors

* But, they have an advantage over you

=> They think “out of the box”

=> A single bug is enough for a hacker to break in

* Security is a chain; it's only as secure as the weakest link

* Relying on the fact that nothing is 100% secure

* They seek for vulnerabilities that can be exploited to pwn you!

How hackers see it?

How developers see it?* It's hard to build a product that meets security standards

* Some developers aren't security aware

=> Sometimes it is not enough to just look “sexy”

* Some developers tend to secure their product at the testing stage

=> You will FAIL! Especially in big and complex systems

* Some of them take the role of a penetration tester

=> Can psychologists diagnose their own mental health

problems? No.

* Some of them adopt Security Through obscurity practices

Security Through Obscurity depicted...

How companies see it?* Companies only care about making profit

* They start investing in security as soon as they realize they risk

loosing money

=> This often happens right after a security incident

* Big companies invest millions of dollars to secure their Infrastructure

against all know attacks

Q: What about 0-day attacks?

A: Proactive solutions? Hmm...

* Some of them went further by creating “Bug Bounty” programs!

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Facebook Bug Bounty program

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How the media sees it?* It says the truth most of the times

* Most of the times it goes wrong on details

* Nevertheless, It does the job of highlighting security incidents

=> Pushing companies and governments to improve security

* Sometimes it goes mad. It abuses security for other purposes

=> You most probably heard of WikiLeaks

=> Most of its leaks donors are hackers

* Obviously, the media is part of the “game”

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How the governments see it?* They want to know everything about anyone

* But they absolutely don't want you to get into their business

=> Wikileaks for governments, is what Jerry is to Tom

* They hire hackers of different colors (the good and the bad)

1) to take care of internal security

2) or take part of the global cyber war

=> Haven't you heard of Flame, Duqu and Stuxnet? ;)

* Now we have a war taking place on the internet!

=> It's not a cold war. A real one!

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The current state in Lebanon* Poor security!

* Leading companies and parties in the public and private sectors

(internet, telecommunication, education, e-commerce,

financial... etc) are vulnerable to primitive and basic types of

attacks

=> Absence of minimal security measures

* This tragic state is influencing the outcome of the internet while it

was essentially made for our benefits

=> We need a move!

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Some security incidents and facts in Lebanon* Good amount of bad security practices by the major ISPs

* WEP can be cracked in 5 minutes. But some deployed routers

passwords can be retrieved instantly with a small Python code

=> Privacy invasion, abuse of the internet resources

* Clone a DSL router configuration in Saida, connect it in Batroun

then hack everyone without a proxy ^^

=> The next day you hear about the cyber crime team

investigating in Saida

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Some security incidents and facts in Lebanon* Clone your SIM card, appear in two different locations at the

same time and no one cares (+1 for Telecom companies)

=> National Security agencies, good luck

trying to track foreign agents and terrorists

when they use time machine

* A database containing thousands of phone numbers information

and their IMSIs has been leaked online

=> Tracking mobile users for fun and profit!

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Some security incidents and facts in Lebanon* One of the biggest companies for online e-commerce having its

admin panel login page injectable via 'OR 1=1--

=> Information disclosure and compromise of

hundreds of credit cards

* Serious vulnerabilities in Telecom companies web services

=> Privacy invasion, and abuse of web and mobile services

* A number of government websites main pages defaced

=> 4 shared-hosting servers, hundreds of websites penetrated

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Some security incidents and facts in Lebanon* We keep hearing about local websites being hacked

=> among them are for media, universities and big parties...

* Some ISP companies are abusing customer's data traffic

=> eg: hijacking Facebook accounts

* Tried to approach a number of big Lebanese companies about

security weaknesses in their systems

=> No reply. Silence. They don't care?!

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For a better digital Lebanon* Need for a cyber crime law

* Need for skilled personnel at the different parties involved in

cyber crime in Lebanon

* Need for a good coordination between the ISPs and the

government agencies

* Need obligations by the government on ISPs about a clear and

strict policy for their operation

* Where is the media? We need awareness!

* Need a call for a Lebanese Hacking group. Are you in?

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Thank You!

Looking forward to see you at the

Web Security Workshop :)

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