DNS Flag Day: Are you ready?

DNS Flag Day - Blog Nameshield

Lately, the DNS keeps being talked about! After the first KSK rollover of October 2018, then the deactivation of the former KSK key on last January 11, here comes the time of the DNS Flag Day!

DNS Flag Day: What is it all about?

The Flag day is an expression used in IT to indicate the deadline and/or radical change.

Let us remember that when it was created, the weight of cybercrime threats affecting the DNS infrastructure didn’t exist. If the security was relegated to the background, the evolution of attacks have made it absolutely necessary: The DNS must be strengthened!

It’s in this context that the EDNS standard has been created in 1999 (updated in 2013 in the RFC6891). EDNS has particularly allowed the implementation of DNSSEC, the DNS’ geolocation and other measures aiming to strengthen the security.

This transition was not without difficulties. Abusive EDNS standard adoptions, lack of updates, bypasses have led to the creation of many patches and accommodations of the recursive servers’ code (particularly, in order to be able to differentiate DNS servers which cannot properly support EDNS from the ones unreachable for other reasons).

Two decades later, the maintenance of all these patched software has become more than difficult and leads to bugs that can compromise the DNS security. Obviously, the weight of these patches affects the speed of the response times.

It’s time for this standard to be implemented by all, or they will no longer be able to efficiently deal with new DNS attacks, like amplification or layer 7 attacks.

That’s why, major IT actors (Google, Cloudfare, Facebook, Cisco..), of which the developers of recursive servers decided as one to no longer support DNS servers that do not respect the EDNS standard as of February 1, 2019. The Flag Day arrives!

And concretely?

From the DNS Flag Day, on February 1, all the DNS servers not in compliance with the EDNS standard (or not functioning because of a firewall incompatible with EDNS), thus not responding to EDNS requests will be considered as unreachable; accommodations and other patches being removed from the new versions of the DNS software.

To simplify, not placed on compatible DNS, your domain name may no longer respond.

How to anticipate?

That is why it is important to ensure that DNS servers hosting your names‘ zones are compatible EDNS, in particular if they are not placed on Nameshield’s DNS infrastructure or if your company maintains its own infrastructure.

The DNS Flag Day website also allows to test the compliance of your name: https://dnsflagday.net/

Of course, our team is at your disposal for any question.

Cybersecurity overview – CESIN’s barometer

Cybersecurity overview
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The CESIN (Club of Information and digital security experts) just published the fourth edition of its annual barometer realized with OpinionWay within its 174 members, 84% are CISO (Chief information security officer) of big French companies. This annual study allows to better define the perception and reality of cybersecurity and its issues within the companies which are members of CESIN.

The most common cyberattacks and their impacts

During these twelve last months, although the attacks number tends to stabilize, 80% of the interviewed companies have been the victims of at least one cyberattack, and the consequences on the business (stopping of the production, unavailable website, revenue loss…) are more important than in 2017.

Each year, companies face five kinds of cyberattack on average.

Among the attacks suffered, phishing is the most frequent with 73% of companies affected, followed by the “Fake President” fraud with 50% of the respondents affected, then in third position is the ransomware and the malware infection.

Regarding cyber risks, Shadow IT is the most frequently encountered risk, 64% of the interviewed CISO estimate that this is a threat to deal with. Indeed, the implementation and use of non-approved and often free applications can escape the control of the Information systems department.

Cloud and IoT: the impact of the digital transformation on the security of Information systems

For 98% of the companies, digital transformation has a real impact on the security of Information and data systems and increases the cyberattacks’ perimeter. Particularly through the important use of Cloud, used by 87% of the companies, of which 52% store their data in public Clouds.

This use of Cloud represents an important risk because of the lack of control from the hosting provider regarding the company’s data (through administrators or others), or regarding the subcontracting chain used by the hosting provider, or even regarding the data not deleted. For 89% of the CISO, these issues imply the use of complementary securing tools to the ones proposed by the service provider in order to secure the data stored in the Cloud.

Concerning IoT (Internet of Things), the race for innovation and the increasingly common use of connected things lead to the apparition of new cybersecurity threats, notably due to security flaws in these devices.

A cyber resilience to develop

To face these cyber risks, the CISO develop many technical solutions.

However, despite all these solutions, the CISO are less confident comparing to last year regarding the company’s capacity to face these cyber risks, and less than one out of two estimates that their company is prepared to manage a large scale cyberattack. And yet, only 12% have implemented a real cyber resilience program, it is in process for 33% and 34% are planning to implement one.

Three essentially human issues for the future of the cybersecurity

  • Awareness of the user

According to 61% of the interviewed CISO, the main issue for the future of the cybersecurity is the training and the awareness of the users to the cybersecurity issue. According to the respondents, “even if the employees are aware, they are still not involved enough and do not necessarily follow the recommendations. An important education work remains.”

  • Governance of the cybersecurity

For 60% of the respondents, the governance of the cybersecurity needs to be placed at the right level. Although the compliance to the GDPR allowed the companies to be aware of the data protection issues, the confidence in the ability of the executive committee to take into account the cybersecurity issues stays uneven depending on the activity sectors.

  • Human resources

The lack of Information system security profiles observed by 91% of the CISO, is a real challenge for the companies while 50% of these companies plan to increase the workforce allocated to cybersecurity.

GDPR and consequences: DomainTools appeals injunction decision in .NZ whois case

GDPR and consequences: DomainTools appeals injunction decision in .NZ whois case
Image source: mohamed_hassan via Pixabay

DomainTools sued by DNCL

In June 2018, .NZ registry, DNCL (Domain Name Commission Limited) sued the American company specialized in tools of monitoring and investigation, on the ground that it violated the registry’s terms of use.

The DNCL was successful and the Federal Court in the State of Washington granted a preliminary injunction that banned DomainTools to collect the whois data of .NZ and ordered the suppression of the data used in the existing publications, while the lawsuit proceeded.

Indeed, since June 2016, .NZ registry has indicated in its terms that it was now forbidden to copy the domain names holders’ data.

DomainTools appeals the injunction decision

Without surprise, DomainTools, that first indicated that the use of these data was also of general interest, these data being used by its customers in the context of the fight for cybersecurity, appealed the preliminary injunction.

Of course, this trial reflects the terms of the debate which took place at ICANN regarding the General data protection regulation (GDPR).

DomainTools is mentioned in the American draft legislation unveiled by the Internet Governance Project, which indicates as such, that this attempt would be led by different lobbies. The Transparent, Open and Secure Internet Act of 2018, dated from August 16, 2018 mentions these two possibilities of evolution: 

  • The first called “large” proposes keeping a whois with a wide enough spectrum of information (more or less the same as our old fashioned whois)
  • The second, more limited, would keep this obligation to publish the data to the American residents or to the actors targeting a business activity on the US market.

An intense debate about the GDPR

This trial reminds us how the debates regarding the GDPR implementation are intense within ICANN, opposing actors using the now so precious data and the privacy advocates, supported by the WP29 (Article 29 Data Protection Working Party) that mentions in particular the applicable sanctions.

Finally, it should be reminded that the GAC attempts to minimize the consequences of the European regulation. After being dismissed by the German Court from their attack in May 2018, which aimed a registrar that stopped to provide customers data under the GDPR, the GAC aims to obtain from the EU’s Court of Justice a favorable decision on this subject. The debate about the DomainTools case deserves to be followed closely!

Global risks 2019: Climate and cyber risks at the heart of concerns

Global risks 2019
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Upstream to the Annual Meeting in Davos that took place on January 22 to 25 in Switzerland, the World Economic Forum presented its Global Risks Report, a report which highlights the main global risks and issues, based on a survey of 1000 international decision-makers from the public sector, private sector, academia and civil society. So what are the main risks that the World is facing?

Cyber risks in the top 5

For the third year in a row, environment-related risks are at the top of the decision-makers’ concerns. They hold the top three of the risks likely to occur in 2019, followed by technology risks which are Data fraud or theft in 4th place, and cyberattacks in 5th.

Thus in 2019, 82% of the interviewed experts expect data and money theft, and 80% expect services and infrastructures disruptions resulting from cyberattacks.

The 5 risks most likely to occur according to experts

  1. Extreme weather events
  2. Failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation
  3. Natural disasters
  4. Data fraud or theft
  5. Cyberattacks

The top 10 risks in terms of impact

  1. Weapons of mass destruction
  2. Failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation
  3. Extreme weather events
  4. Water crisis
  5. Natural disasters
  6. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
  7. Cyberattacks
  8. Critical information infrastructure breakdown
  9. Man-made environmental disasters
  10. Spread of infectious diseases

Cyberattacks take the 7th place, and the critical information infrastructure breakdown the 8th place of the ranking, hence making it into the top 10.

Regarding technology, Børge Brende, the World Economic Forum’s President highlights that “Technology continues to play a profound role in shaping the global risks landscape. Concerns about data fraud and cyber-attacks were prominent again in the GRPS, which also highlighted a number of other technological vulnerabilities: around two-thirds of respondents expect the risks associated with fake news and identity theft to increase in 2019”. These concerns result from 2018 being traumatized by the increase of massive cyberattacks, breaches in IT security systems of States, massive data theft and the increase of artificial intelligence’s use for carrying out cyberattacks always more powerful.

Cyberattacks, the companies more and more efficient

Cyber resilience- Cyberattacks, the companies more and more efficient
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Last September, Accenture published the research “Gaining Ground On the Cyber Attacker 2018 State of Cyber Resilience” and highlighted the doubling of the cyberattacks number suffered by the companies (232 on average in 2018 versus 106 in 2017 at international level), but also the improvement of the companies’ ability to identify and counter these attacks.

The attacks number has more than doubled between 2017 and 2018…

This research deserves attention as it differentiates from many very alarmist reports. If everything is not perfect, in particular due to the ingenuity and increasing complexity of the attacks, the companies continue to improve their defense capacity, were able to strengthen their cyber resilience and stood efficient despite the threats. The companies are able to defend themselves better, particularly by detecting the attacks much earlier.

… But where a third of the attacks were successful in 2017, the part of successful attacks decreased to 1 on 8 (12,5%) in 2018.

A report that blows hot and cold

Security teams have made great progress but there is still more work to be done. Companies now prevent 87% of all targeted attacks, but are still facing two to three security breaches per month on average.

Companies might be cyber resilient in two to three years, but the pressure and the threats’ complexity increase every day. If 90% of the respondents expect the investment in cybersecurity to increase in the next 3 years, only 31% think that it will be sufficient.

The new technologies are essential, but the investments are lagging behind. If 83% of the respondents agreed that new technologies are essential, only two out of five are investing in AI, machine learning and automation technologies.

Confidence around cybersecurity measures remains high, but a more proactive approach of the cybersecurity is needed. If more than 80% of the respondents are confident in their capacity to monitor breaches, on the other hand 71% said that cyberattacks are still a bit of a black box, they do not know how or when they will affect their organization.

The board of directors and management are more engaged with cybersecurity. 27% of cybersecurity budgets are authorized by the board of directors and 32% by the CEO. The role and responsibilities of the CISO must improve towards more transversality in the company.

5 steps to cyber resilience

Accenture highlights five steps to optimize the companies’ defense and move towards the ultimate aim of cyber resilience in a world that continues to change towards new threats territories (artificial intelligence, omnipresence of the cloud, social networks, smartphones, internet of things) for more and more complex threats difficult to counter and a need becoming strategic: the data protection.

  • Build a strong foundation by identifying high value assets, in order to better protect them including from internal risks. It is necessary to ensure that controls are implemented throughout the value chain of the company.
  • Test the IT security by training cybersecurity teams to the best hackers’ techniques. The role plays staging an attack and defense team with training coaches can allow to bring out the improvement points.
  • Employ new technologies. For a company, it is recommended to invest in technologies able to automate cyber defense and in particular to use the new generation of identity management which relies on multi-factor authentication and the user behavior monitoring.
  • Be proactive and anticipate threats by developing a strategic team (“threat intelligence”) in charge of evolving an intelligent security operation center (SOC) relying on a collect and mass analysis of the data (“data-driven approach”).
  • Evolve the role of the CISO (Chief information security officer). The CISO is closer to professions, they find the right balance between security and risk taking and they communicate more and more with the executive management, which now holds 59% of the security budget versus 33% a year ago.

Conclusion

The Accenture study highlights a real growing awareness on cyber threats by companies, and the implementation of investment to better protect themselves. The race is now launched to tend to cyber resilience, between more and more organized attackers and more and more sophisticated defense system. See you at the end of the year to make an assessment of the forces involved.