Privileged Attack Vectors


Book Description

See how privileges, insecure passwords, administrative rights, and remote access can be combined as an attack vector to breach any organization. Cyber attacks continue to increase in volume and sophistication. It is not a matter of if, but when, your organization will be breached. Threat actors target the path of least resistance: users and their privileges. In decades past, an entire enterprise might be sufficiently managed through just a handful of credentials. Today’s environmental complexity has seen an explosion of privileged credentials for many different account types such as domain and local administrators, operating systems (Windows, Unix, Linux, macOS, etc.), directory services, databases, applications, cloud instances, networking hardware, Internet of Things (IoT), social media, and so many more. When unmanaged, these privileged credentials pose a significant threat from external hackers and insider threats. We are experiencing an expanding universe of privileged accounts almost everywhere. There is no one solution or strategy to provide the protection you need against all vectors and stages of an attack. And while some new and innovative products will help protect against or detect against a privilege attack, they are not guaranteed to stop 100% of malicious activity. The volume and frequency of privilege-based attacks continues to increase and test the limits of existing security controls and solution implementations. Privileged Attack Vectors details the risks associated with poor privilege management, the techniques that threat actors leverage, and the defensive measures that organizations should adopt to protect against an incident, protect against lateral movement, and improve the ability to detect malicious activity due to the inappropriate usage of privileged credentials. This revised and expanded second edition covers new attack vectors, has updated definitions for privileged access management (PAM), new strategies for defense, tested empirical steps for a successful implementation, and includes new disciplines for least privilege endpoint management and privileged remote access. What You Will Learn Know how identities, accounts, credentials, passwords, and exploits can be leveraged to escalate privileges during an attack Implement defensive and monitoring strategies to mitigate privilege threats and risk Understand a 10-step universal privilege management implementation plan to guide you through a successful privilege access management journeyDevelop a comprehensive model for documenting risk, compliance, and reporting based on privilege session activity Who This Book Is For Security management professionals, new security professionals, and auditors looking to understand and solve privilege access management problems




Self-Knowledge


Book Description

How do you know your own thoughts and feelings? Do we have ‘privileged access’ to our own minds? Does introspection provide a grasp of a thinking self or ‘I’? The problem of self-knowledge is one of the most fascinating in all of philosophy and has crucial significance for the philosophy of mind and epistemology. In this outstanding introduction Brie Gertler assesses the leading theoretical approaches to self-knowledge, explaining the work of many of the key figures in the field: from Descartes and Kant, through to Bertrand Russell and Gareth Evans, as well as recent work by Tyler Burge, David Chalmers, William Lycan and Sydney Shoemaker. Beginning with an outline of the distinction between self-knowledge and self-awareness and providing essential historical background to the problem, Gertler addresses specific theories of self-knowledge such as the acquaintance theory, the inner sense theory, and the rationalist theory, as well as leading accounts of self-awareness. The book concludes with a critical explication of the dispute between empiricist and rationalist approaches. Including helpful chapter summaries, annotated further reading and a glossary, Self Knowledge is essential reading for those interested in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and personal identity.




Privileged Access Management for Secure Storage Administration: IBM Spectrum Scale with IBM Security Verify Privilege Vault


Book Description

There is a growing insider security risk to organizations. Human error, privilege misuse, and cyberespionage are considered the top insider threats. One of the most dangerous internal security threats is the privileged user with access to critical data, which is the "crown jewels" of the organization. This data is on storage, so storage administration has critical privilege access that can cause major security breaches and jeopardize the safety of sensitive assets. Organizations must maintain tight control over whom they grant privileged identity status to for storage administration. Extra storage administration access must be shared with support and services teams when required. There also is a need to audit critical resource access that is required by compliance to standards and regulations. IBM® SecurityTM Verify Privilege Vault On-Premises (Verify Privilege Vault), formerly known as IBM SecurityTM Secret Server, is the next-generation privileged account management that integrates with IBM Storage to ensure that access to IBM Storage administration sessions is secure and monitored in real time with required recording for audit and compliance. Privilege access to storage administration sessions is centrally managed, and each session can be timebound with remote monitoring. You also can use remote termination and an approval workflow for the session. In this IBM Redpaper, we demonstrate the integration of IBM Spectrum® Scale and IBM Elastic Storage® Server (IBM ESS) with Verify Privilege Vault, and show how to use privileged access management (PAM) for secure storage administration. This paper is targeted at storage and security administrators, storage and security architects, and chief information security officers.




Privileged Access


Book Description

How do you grasp the contents of your mind - your desires, your fears, your sensations, your beliefs? We typically think that we are better able to discern our own mental states than others are. But is this correct? And if it is, what explains your special or 'privileged' access to your own states? Privileged Access is a comprehensive anthology of new and seminal essays, by leading philosophers, about the nature of self-knowledge. Most of the essays are new, including specially commissioned contributions from such prominent thinkers as Bermúdez, Dretske, Lycan, Sosa and others, but the anthology also includes reprints of classic articles by Boghossian, Shoemaker, Wright and others. The volume provides for an in-depth understanding of contemporary answers to key philosophical questions which have strongly influenced developments in epistemology, ontology, and the philosophy of mind since Descartes. Featuring an introductory chapter outlining the main currents of thought about self-knowledge, this comprehensive collection of cutting-edge philosophical work will prove an invaluable resource for students and researchers alike.




The Zero Trust Framework and Privileged Access Management (PAM)


Book Description

This book is about the Zero Trust Framework. Essentially, this is a methodology where the IT/Network Infrastructure of a business is segmented into smaller islands, each having its own lines of defense. This is primarily achieved through the use of Multifactor Authentication (MFA), where at least three more authentication layers are used, preferably being different from one another. Another key aspect of the Zero Trust Framework is known as Privileged Access Management (PAM). This is an area of Cybersecurity where the protection of superuser accounts, rights, and privileges must be protected at all costs from Cyberattackers. In this regard, this is where the Zero Trust Framework and PAM intertwine, especially in a Cloud-based platform, such as Microsoft Azure. However, as it has been reviewed in one of our previous books, the use of passwords is now becoming a nemesis, not only for individuals but for businesses as well. It is hoped that by combining the Zero Trust Framework with PAM, password use can be eradicated altogether, thus giving rise to a passwordless society.




The Privileged Poor


Book Description

An NPR Favorite Book of the Year “Breaks new ground on social and educational questions of great import.” —Washington Post “An essential work, humane and candid, that challenges and expands our understanding of the lives of contemporary college students.” —Paul Tough, author of Helping Children Succeed “Eye-opening...Brings home the pain and reality of on-campus poverty and puts the blame squarely on elite institutions.” —Washington Post “Jack’s investigation redirects attention from the matter of access to the matter of inclusion...His book challenges universities to support the diversity they indulge in advertising.” —New Yorker The Ivy League looks different than it used to. College presidents and deans of admission have opened their doors—and their coffers—to support a more diverse student body. But is it enough just to admit these students? In this bracing exposé, Anthony Jack shows that many students’ struggles continue long after they’ve settled in their dorms. Admission, they quickly learn, is not the same as acceptance. This powerfully argued book documents how university policies and campus culture can exacerbate preexisting inequalities and reveals why some students are harder hit than others.




Identity Attack Vectors


Book Description

Discover how poor identity and privilege management can be leveraged to compromise accounts and credentials within an organization. Learn how role-based identity assignments, entitlements, and auditing strategies can be implemented to mitigate the threats leveraging accounts and identities and how to manage compliance for regulatory initiatives. As a solution, Identity Access Management (IAM) has emerged as the cornerstone of enterprise security. Managing accounts, credentials, roles, certification, and attestation reporting for all resources is now a security and compliance mandate. When identity theft and poor identity management is leveraged as an attack vector, risk and vulnerabilities increase exponentially. As cyber attacks continue to increase in volume and sophistication, it is not a matter of if, but when, your organization will have an incident. Threat actors target accounts, users, and their associated identities, to conduct their malicious activities through privileged attacks and asset vulnerabilities. Identity Attack Vectors details the risks associated with poor identity management practices, the techniques that threat actors and insiders leverage, and the operational best practices that organizations should adopt to protect against identity theft and account compromises, and to develop an effective identity governance program. What You Will Learn Understand the concepts behind an identity and how their associated credentials and accounts can be leveraged as an attack vector Implement an effective Identity Access Management (IAM) program to manage identities and roles, and provide certification for regulatory compliance See where identity management controls play a part of the cyber kill chain and how privileges should be managed as a potential weak link Build upon industry standards to integrate key identity management technologies into a corporate ecosystem Plan for a successful deployment, implementation scope, measurable risk reduction, auditing and discovery, regulatory reporting, and oversight based on real-world strategies to prevent identity attack vectors Who This Book Is For Management and implementers in IT operations, security, and auditing looking to understand and implement an identity access management program and manage privileges in these environments




Hardening Cisco Routers


Book Description

As a network administrator, auditor or architect, you know the importance of securing your network and finding security solutions you can implement quickly. This succinct book departs from other security literature by focusing exclusively on ways to secure Cisco routers, rather than the entire network. The rational is simple: If the router protecting a network is exposed to hackers, then so is the network behind it. Hardening Cisco Routers is a reference for protecting the protectors. Included are the following topics: The importance of router security and where routers fit into an overall security plan Different router configurations for various versions of Cisco?s IOS Standard ways to access a Cisco router and the security implications of each Password and privilege levels in Cisco routers Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) control Router warning banner use (as recommended by the FBI) Unnecessary protocols and services commonly run on Cisco routers SNMP security Anti-spoofing Protocol security for RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, NTP, and BGP Logging violations Incident response Physical security Written by Thomas Akin, an experienced Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Cisco Academic Instructor (CCAI), the book is well organized, emphasizing practicality and a hands-on approach. At the end of each chapter, Akin includes a Checklist that summarizes the hardening techniques discussed in the chapter. The Checklists help you double-check the configurations you have been instructed to make, and serve as quick references for future security procedures.Concise and to the point, Hardening Cisco Routers supplies you with all the tools necessary to turn a potential vulnerability into a strength. In an area that is otherwise poorly documented, this is the one book that will help you make your Cisco routers rock solid.




Information Security


Book Description




Mastering PAM


Book Description

Unlock the Power of Privileged Access Management (PAM) and Safeguard Your Digital Kingdom! In an era where data breaches and cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and prevalent, the protection of privileged accounts has never been more critical. "Mastering PAM" is your comprehensive guide to understanding, implementing, and mastering Privileged Access Management, the cornerstone of modern cybersecurity. Discover the Definitive Resource on PAM Privileged Access Management (PAM) is the linchpin in the battle against cyber threats. In "Mastering PAM," you will embark on a journey through the intricate world of privileged accounts, gaining profound insights into their importance and the risks associated with their misuse. Drawing on real-world examples, best practices, and the latest industry standards, this book equips you with the knowledge and tools to protect your organization's most valuable assets. What You Will Learn Fundamentals of PAM: Lay a solid foundation by exploring the core concepts of privileged access, identity management, and the PAM lifecycle. PAM Technologies: Dive deep into the technical aspects of PAM, including authentication methods, password management, and session monitoring. Implementing PAM: Gain practical guidance on planning, deploying, and configuring PAM solutions tailored to your organization's needs. Advanced PAM Strategies: Explore advanced topics such as Zero Trust, DevOps integration, and compliance in the context of PAM. Case Studies: Learn from real-world case studies and success stories of organizations that have mastered PAM to enhance their security posture. Future Trends: Stay ahead of the curve by delving into emerging trends and technologies shaping the future of PAM. Why "Mastering PAM" Is Essential Comprehensive Coverage: This book provides a holistic view of PAM, from its fundamental principles to advanced strategies, ensuring you have a 360-degree understanding of the subject. Practical Guidance: Loaded with actionable advice and step-by-step instructions, "Mastering PAM" is designed to help security professionals, IT administrators, and decision-makers implement PAM effectively. Real-World Examples: The inclusion of real-world case studies and examples illustrates how PAM can make a tangible difference in securing your organization. Expert Insights: Benefit from the knowledge and experience of seasoned cybersecurity professionals who have successfully implemented PAM in diverse environments. Stay Ahead: With the ever-evolving threat landscape, staying informed about PAM trends and best practices is essential to maintaining a robust security posture. Your Path to PAM Mastery Begins Here Whether you are a cybersecurity practitioner, an IT professional, or a business leader responsible for safeguarding your organization's sensitive data, "Mastering PAM" is your indispensable guide. This book will empower you to take control of your privileged accounts, mitigate security risks, and fortify your defenses against the relentless cyber adversaries. Take the first step towards PAM mastery today. Arm yourself with the knowledge and strategies needed to protect your digital kingdom. "Mastering PAM" is your roadmap to securing the keys to your organization's kingdom—don't leave them vulnerable to exploitation. Secure your future; secure your privileged access. © 2023 Cybellium Ltd. All rights reserved. www.cybellium.com