Elevated Risk for the financial industry
I noticed that the SANS
Institute has published an entry in today's diary for an
elevated risk to the financial industry. An article published on
slashdot caught my eye yesterday. As stated from the
article:
"Israeli computer security company say they
have discovered a fundamental weakness in the system that banks use
to keep debit card PIN codes secret while they are transported across
bank networks"
For those in the financial industry, it is well known that this
month in particular has the highest number of transactions for the
year, due to holiday shopping. Unfortunately, it is also a time when
the industry is most vulnerable.
Off the top of my head, here are a few of my recommendations
and reminders for members of the industry as a whole. The articles previously
mentioned are at the bottom of the post.
IT Managers:
While the number of projects and responsibilities have been
increasing in the first three quarters of the year, ensure systems
administrators and security personnel stager vacations throughout the
year to avoid having a shortage of key personnel on hand to respond
to incidents that might occur during the peak transaction season.
Risk Managers:
While Network freezes are common
throughout the peak transaction season, and while it is very
important to limit network changes, the patch management program
should continue during this time frame. It is also important to
ensure that members of the incident response team will be on hand to
respond to any incidents during the peak season.
Network Administrators:
While most network changes are limited during the peak season,
Network and server monitoring should remain a top priority during
this time. Immediately report any incidents or anomalies to the risk
management team.
PC Techs:
While many users are on vacation and the work load slows, remember
to be on the lookout for any signs of malware and use the time to
educate users on the importance of reporting any strange or unusual
network or computer behavior to the IT staff or Risk Management team.
Help desk technicians:
Keep a close watch on computer events and verify that any tickets
are assigned to staff that are on duty and not out of the office
during the holidays. This will allow the IT support staff to respond
to incidents quickly. It is also very important to be very cognizant
of social engineers that may be pretending to be someone else in
order to gain information about the internal workings of your
company.
Business system users:
Report any computer problems or network glitches immediately.
Remember that there is usually no reason to give out your password to
anyone including IT support staff, Network administrators, or
information security. These personnel do not need your password as
they should have the necessary rights and tools to correct issues
without the need of your password.
ATM system called
unsafe
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/11/researchers_who.html
US
DHS Banking Alert
http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?storyid=1899&rss