Protecting the CNI BCS ELITE 9 June 2005

1. Protecting the CNIBCS ELITE 9 June 2005 Mick Morgan Head of Response

2. Overview • What is NISCC? • What is the CNI? • What is the threat? • How does NISCC work? • NISCC products and services

3. What is NISCC ? NISCC is an inter-departmental centre which co-ordinates activityacross a range of organisations. Each organisation contributes resources and expertise to NISCC’s programme of work according to what value it can add. NISCC’s aim is to minimise the risk to the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) from electronic attack (eA).

4. Security ~ Police~ MI5~ CESG Defence ~ MOD~ DSTL Civil Government ~ Home Office~ Trade & Industry ~ Cabinet Office An Interdepartmental Centre contribute to

5. What is the CNI? Those parts of the United Kingdom’s infrastructure for which continuity is so important to national life that loss, significant interruption or degradation of service would have life-threatening, serious economic or other grave social consequences for the community, or would otherwise be of immediate concern to the Government.

6. Telecommunications Energy Finance Government & Public Services Water and Sewerage Health Services Emergency Services Transport Hazards Food The CNI Sectors

7. The Threat

8. Electronic attack (eA) : What is it? “The use of computers to gain unauthorised access to the data or control software of computer-based systems in order to acquire or corrupt data or disrupt the functioning of systems.” January 2002

9. Two types of eA Untargeted attacks: Indiscriminate attacks affecting availability & many targets • Examples: Worms, viruses • Profile: High • Impact: Short term high Targeted attacks: These focus on a particular target address • Examples: Hacking attacks, e-mail Trojan attacks • Profile: Generally low • Impact: Can be high & long term

10. 2005+: Emerging threat themes • Greater exploitation of richness of software & speed of wired/wireless networks • Growing online markets in malicious software & stolen information • Impact of globalisation eg data ‘offshoring’ & outsourcing of system procurement, services & maintenance • Developing eA capabilities of terrorists • Concerns about sophisticated eAs: Difficult to detect; may be impossible to mitigate

11. Exploiting a rich environment • Malicious code seeks to infect ‘fast & furiously’; attackers take control; victims become future ‘seeders’ … • More data available on-line … more stealing … exploiting opportunities in feature-rich software • Attack infrastructure development: Networks of ‘botnets’ can be easily controlled for DDoS, spam, data egress etc … 1000s of ‘zombies’ out there! • Underpinned by growth & increased speed of broadband & mobile networks

12. Exploiting Broadband - Botnets • A roBOT NETwork or ‘botnet’is a network of compromised computers controlled by a client, a ‘botherder’ that issues commands via control or master servers • Command & control was Internet Relay Chat (IRC) but now can be any real time protocol inc Instant Messaging (IM) • The nodes of the ‘botnet’ (compromised PCs often called drones or zombies) are used to: • Compromise other computers • Flood targets (DDoS) • Propagate spam email • Sniffing, keylogging, mass id theft • Egress data … • DIY: Much bot source code is available on the Internet • Rent: Nets of 10-50,000+ attack zombies available …

13. The growing online marketplace • ‘Goodbye kudos, hello $$££ … roubles?!’ • Exploits for £££ … not for fun! • Markets for: • botnets: Just name your price & target! • malware: ‘zero-day’ exploits for purchase by all! • harvested info: CC nos, bank details, ids, passwords • processing time: on other people’s PCs! • Researchers motivated to discover more vulnerabilities • Faster ‘flash to bang’ times

14. Impact of globalisation • Global market brings advantages .. & risks • Profits linked to globalisation BUT … • Equipment purchased overseas might have additional vulnerabilities; manufacturers might be subject to political pressure • Installation, maintenance & upgrade services provided from overseas are exploitable • Outsourcing services & offshoring data to foreign companies brings hard to manage risks: monitoring contracts is very difficult

15. Critical National Infrastructure Outreach Response Threat Assessment Research and Development. Policy How NISCC works

16. Critical National Infrastructure Outreach Response Research and Development. Policy How does NISCC work? Investigation and Assessment

17. Investigating and Assessing the Threat • Making best use of technical, human and open sources to investigate. • Analysis and assessment. • Reports and specific threat assessments. • Disruptions.

18. Critical National Infrastructure Response Investigation and Assessment Research and Development. Policy How does NISCC work? Outreach

19. Outreach Promoting Protection and Assurance: • Dialogue with all CNI sectors • Facilitating information exchanges • Tailored reports

20. Critical National Infrastructure Outreach Investigation and Assessment Research and Development. Policy How does NISCC work? Response

21. Response • Briefings and alerts via UNIRAS • Responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities • Assistance with recovery from direct attacks

22. NISCC Products • NISCC Monthly Bulletin of significant eA activity • NISCC QuarterlyReview has broader articles on CIP issues • NISCC Briefings address topics of current concern • UNIRAS Alerts highlight vulnerabilities to be fixed now! • UNIRAS Briefings inform on emerging technical issues • UNIRAS Technical Notes provide detailed advice • Details at www.niscc.gov.uk or www.uniras.gov.uk or e-mail enquiries@niscc.gov.uk

23. NISCC Assurance Report for National Infrastructure plc September 2003 Outreach products • NISCC reporting: • Threat assessments for specific CNI companies; • UNIRAS (UK CERT) distribution to the CNI; • Presentations to Seminars, Forums & Associations; • WARPs, Information Exchanges; • CNI Assurance Reports.

24. Protecting the CNIBCS ELITE 9 June 2005www.niscc.gov.uk Mick Morgan Head of Response