KEEP YOUR DATA SAFE
Keep Your Data Safe – Even from Those You Trust
We might concede to the chance of a slight chink in our security armour, but what are the chances it’s more like a gaping hole? David Maman, founder & CTO of GreenSQL, looks for weak spots…
W
hether you’re an online or traditional casino, your website and all your back-end databases are under constant attack. The accepted industry standard is that your site
will receive, on average, 71 SQL attacks per hour. Yes, you read that correctly, 71 times per hour. Your databases contain a lot of valuable information to be mined, and scores of hackers are looking to penetrate your system to steal it. It’s an ugly reality, but a reality nonetheless, and it’s far better to face that reality than face the financial and legal consequences of having inadequate defenses in place. First, you must identify your weakest areas. Think
like a hacker: if I wanted to get into my system, which attack surface would I use to get in? Hackers specialize in using exploits, XSS attacks, SQL injection, and other techniques to attack. Viruses, phishing, malware, spam, poisoned links and new variations of these all pose serious risks. Social engineering preys on the vulnerability of a single employee to trust what he thinks is his bank or friend, but instead is an enterprising cybercriminal. What about employee web surfing? Many times the
access from un-authorized users looks authorized and comes from an authorized computer because an in- house computer user has been the victim of a cyber- attack. You need to internalize the fact that the computer/in-house workstation is the new perimeter. Once someone clicks on a tainted link, or is just auto redirected to a poisoned website, the enemy is inside your gate. Let’s not forget that your developers – both in- house and outsourced – are using your database to test their systems. And your DBAs administering the system… can you trust everyone who may be touching your data? Intentional attacks can also come with financial motives, not just from internal employees, but also from external contractors. All of this is in addition to the fact that you must comply with PCI/DSS to ensure your revenue stream for your online business. The goal of cyber security is to try to stay at least
one step ahead. You need to implement multiple security layers from multiple vendors over the entire
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enterprise. You need to distribute protection across the network, application, operating system mobile devices, VOIP and database levels. You need to protect every single entrance to your organization, and every outgoing connection, from the security cameras to the CRM databases in real time. You may think you have sound security measures in place, but somewhere, there’s a chink in your armor.
Your operating environment has four different
layers that need protection: • the network level • the application level • the operating system level • the database level
Most people think of these layers as being one within the other, like concentric circles. They reason that if they protect the outermost level, the inner levels are automatically protected. However, hackers can attack a Web environment at each level independently, and security issues at each level need to be addressed.
The Network, Application, and Operating System Levels
At the network level, a simple network-level firewall
does protect the infrastructure (access to IP addresses, ports, and protocols) but provides very limited protection, if any, to stop attacks at the application and database level. You may have heard of competing websites having their links or text or pictures changed. Any picture/image can have viruses embedded. Website defacement and other application-level attacks take place because someone, at some point in time, either wrote sloppy software with security holes or thought partial, and therefore inadequate measures, would suffice. Hackers use XSS attacks and SQL injection to attack these
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