Cis 500

The vulnerability

There is a motto in the business world, “Do more and do it with less.” The phrase speaks for itself and organizations are beginning to follow that motto. They are doing this by moving their accounting, project management, and collaborations to the cloud. The term “cloud” is a computer term, short for “cloud computing.” The Dictionary refers to it as “internet-based computing in which larges groups of remote servers are networked so as to allow sharing of data-processing task, centralized data storage and online access.”

As more companies move to the cloud, the threat of cyber-attacks and identity theft more prevalent. Advanced Persistent Threats (APT's) is becoming one of the fastest growing information security threats facing most organizations. What used to be considered “what-if” scenario has now turned into when will the threat attack.

Advanced Persistent Threats were known for political attacks but in recent years, they are more to obtain financial gain. Attacking companies with traditional hacking means were not as successful and required more time, whereas gaining access through the actual employees of the company proving more effective and efficient. According to the RSA Security Brief, “traditional attacks start by mapping networks and collecting intelligence on technical vulnerabilities. An APT starts by mapping the human organization and collecting intelligence on employees.” RSA Security Brief

Advanced Persistent Threats are determined, patient assailants, making sure to use unique and novel attack signatures, as to make detection even more difficult. APT's will piggyback on an employee's resources, their privileges and exploit their social connections. According to the APT Summit Findings, “Social Engineering is now the #1 threat vector.”

APT's are specific and tailored to an organizations assets and network architecture. They understanding the organizations weaknesses and bury themselves like a tick seeking...