PHP Remote File Include (RFI) Essay

1. What is a PHP Remote File Include (RFI) attack, and why are these prevalent in today’s Internet world? a. A Remote File Include allows an attacker to include a remote file. This vulnerability is most often found on websites and is usually implemented through a script on the web server. 2. What country is the top host of SQL Injection and SQL Slammer infection? Why can’t the US Government do anything to prevent these injection attacks and infections? a. Peru. 3. What does it mean to have a policy of Nondisclosure in an organization? a. It means that certain information can’t be made public under the company’s policy. 4. What Trends were tracked when it came to Malicious Code in 2009 by the Symantec Report researched during this lab? a. Swifi, Interrupdate, Fostrem, Kuaiput, Mibling, Pilleuz, Ergrun, Bredolab, Changeup, Induc 5. What is Phishing? Describe what a typical Phishing attack attempts to accomplish. a. Stealing online account information by posing as a legitimate company. 6. What is the Zero Day Initiative? Do you think this is valuable, and would you participate if you were the managing partner in a large firm? a. A program to reward security researchers for disclosing vulnerabilities. Yes. 7. What is a Server Side Include (SSI)? What are the ramifications if an SSI exploit is successful? a. A Server Side Include is a process of adding content to an existing HTML page. 8. According to the TippingPoint Report resear ched in this lab how do SMB attacks measure up to HTTP attacks in the recent past? a. There was almost a 60% shift from a SMB type attack, towards an HTTP-based attack. In addition, nearly 100% of the observed attacks are automated, botnet, or worm-based attacks. 9. According to the TippingPoint Report, what are some of the PHP RFI payload effects DVLabs has detected this year? a. PHP Remote file-include attacks saw a steady overall downward trend, except for a massive spike in mid-year of 2010. 10. Explain the steps it takes to execute a Malicious PDF Attack as described in the Tipping Point Report? a. Step 1: The attacker begins by using powerful free attack software to create a malicious PDF file that contains exploitation code. If this file is opened on a victim computer with unpatched PDF reader software, this code will execute commands of the attacker’s choosing. b. Step 2: The attacker loads the malicious PDF file 2 a third-party website. The attacker then loads the malicious PDF file on a publicly accessible  website. c. STEP 3: The attacker now sends e-mail to high-profile individual in the target organization, including corporate officers. This message contains a hyperlink to the attacker’s malicious PDF file on the external Web server. The e-mail message is finely tuned to each target individual with a focused effort to get the recipient to click on the link – some other trusted site. The attacker does not include the malicious PDF file as an e-mail attachment, because such attacks are more likely to be blocked by e-mail filters, anti-virus software, and other defenses of the target organization. d. Step4: The victim inside the targeted organization reads the e-mail, pulling down the attacker’s message with the link to the malicious PDF. The user reads the e-mail and clicks on the link. e. Step5: When the user on the victim machine clicks on the link in the e-mail message, the victim’s computer automatically launches a browser to fetch the malicious PDF file. When th e file arrives at the victim computer, the browser automatically invokes the PDF reader program to process and display the malicious PDF file. f. Step6: When the PDF reader software processes the malicious PDF file for display, exploit code from the file executes on the victim machine. This code causes the system to launch an interactive command shell the attacker can use to control the victim machine. The exploit code also causes the machine to make an outbound connection back to the attacker through the enterprise firewall. Via this reverse shell connection, the attacker uses an outbound connection to gain inbound control of the victim machine. g. Step 7: With shell access of the victim machine, the attacker scours the system looking for sensitive files stored locally. After stealing some files from this first conquered system, the attacker looks for evidence of other nearby machines. In particular, the attacker focuses on identifying mounted file shares the user has connected to on a file server. h. Step 8: After identifying a file server, the attacker uses the command shell to access the server with the credentials of t he victim user who clicked on the link to the malicious PDF. The attacker then analyzes the file server, looking for more files from the target organization. i. Step9: Finally, with access to the file server, the attacker extracts a significant number of sensitive documents, possibly including the organization’s trade secrets and business plans, Personally Identifiable Information about customers and employees, or other important data the attacker could use or sell. 11. What  is a Zero Day attack and how does this relate to an organization’s vulnerability window? a. A Zero Day attack is an attack that exploits a security vulnerability the same day it becomes public knowledge. This may cause an organization to have a wide vulnerability window since it is still unfamiliar of how to mitigate the possible intrusion. 12. How can you mitigate the risk from users and employees from clicking on an imbedded URL link or e-mail attachment from unknown sources? a. Create an Internet Usage Policy stating against such actions. Another alternative or addition can be to block e-mail websites. 13. When auditing an organization for compliance, what role does IT security policies and an IT security policy framework play in the compliance audit? a. The security used to protect the company is changed and updated based on the policies that are in place. These policies must include any and all parts of compliance requirements based on the type of organization. 14. When performing a security assessment, why is it a good idea to examine compliance in separate compartments like the seven domains of a typical IT infrastructure? a. It’s easier to manage the findings by each domain to minimize the chance of over-looking a compliance error. 15. True or False. Auditing for compliance and performing security assessments to achieve compliance requires a checklist of compliance requirements. a. True.