National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

Computer Security – The New Threats

Stephen LauNERSC Center Division, LBNLJune 24, 2004

Overview

• New Threats

• Identity Theft

• Email scams and viruses

• Grid Security

• Combating Threats

New Threats

• Threats are evolving– Response to protection measures

• Increased use of encryption• Deployment of anti-virus

– Increased use of social engineering

• Security has become everybody’s responsibility

• Important Defenses– Host level protection– User education

Identity Theft

• Someone uses your login credentials without your knowledge

• Very difficult for system admins to detect– They look like you!

• Feeds off of collaborative nature of high performance computing– Users have multiple accounts on massively

shared systems

SSH Basic Overview

• Uses private/public keys

• Encrypted authentication

• Uses passphrase

HomeSystem

Remote

System

Remote

System

Private

Key

Public

Key

Public

Key

How Does It Happen?

Internal System

Unsuspecting User

Attacker

Sniffed Traffic

CompromisedHost

Internet

Imposter

HomeSystem

Combating Identity Theft

• Reduce amount of stepping stone behavior– Not always possible

• Be mindful of login times and hostnames

• Don’t share accounts and passwords

• Don’t place private keys and certificates on public systems or public directories

• Report suspicious behavior

Encrypt All The Way!

HomeSystem

NERSCRemote

System SSH

Telnet

rlogin

rsh

SSH

Use SSH across ALL connections

One Time Passwords

• Token based system– Many systems available

• Many sites pushing ahead with deployment

• NERSC actively investigating impact on users– Ideally, one token works across multi-labs– No active plans for deployment yet within NERSC

• Not a cure-all solution!

Email Viruses

• NERSC has a virus filter for email – About 90% effective– Time lag between release of virus and

signature development

• Install anti-virus software on systems you use– Many sites have site licenses– Make sure it is kept up to date

Email Hoaxes aka Phishing

• Email poses as “Security Patch” or “Account Support”– Asks for username/password for “verification”– Requests that an attachment be run

• Verify any attachment you are not expecting

• NEVER give out your username/password.

• When in doubt, please call NERSC support for verification

Grid Security

• Protect your private certificates!– Be mindful where you place them– Minimize amount of distribution– Remove them from systems you no longer use

• Use strong passwords.

• Use SSH to access sites with your Grid certificates!

Host Level Protection

• Please keep your systems up to date– Especially home systems and shared systems

• Combats “identity theft” problem

• Install anti-virus software– Primarily on Windows systems

• Be aware of unexplained changes on your system– Odd performance– Strange windows appearing– System files changed unexpectedly

• authorized_hosts file changes• Changes to /etc/password or /etc/shadow

User Education

• You are the first line of defense against incidents.

• Take advantage of your site’s security training

• Keep up to date about latest security news

• Be mindful of security when accessing or using systems

Help Us Help You

• Report “suspicious activity”– Strange files or directories– Unusual login times– Unverified phone call from “NERSC” asking for

passwords or account information

• Report external incidents– Please report any incidents at sites that you use to

access NERSC

• Report incidents where you suspect credentials are sniffed or stolen

Help Us Help You

• Many incidents quickly become multi-site incidents.

• Communication is key to containment.

• Please report any incidents that you think might affect NERSC.

Contact Information

• Stephen Lau– 1 Cyclotron Road, M/S 943– Berkeley, CA 94720– Phone: +1 (510) 486-7178– Email: slau@lbl.gov– PGP: 44C8 C9CB C15E 2AE1 7B0A 544E 9A04 AB2B

F63F 748B

• NERSC Computer Security– security@nersc.gov– 1-800-666-3772– http://www.nersc.gov/nusers/security/