1.1.1.5 Lab - Cybersecurity Case Studies
1.1.1.5 Lab - Cybersecurity Case Studies
1.1.1.5 Lab - Cybersecurity Case Studies
Objectives
Research and analyze cyber security incidents
Background / Scenario
Governments, businesses, and individual users are increasingly the targets of cyberattacks and experts
predict that these attacks are likely to increase in the future. Cybersecurity education is a top international
priority as high-profile cyber-security related incidents raise the fear that attacks could threaten the global
economy. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that the cost of cybercrime to the
global economy is more than $400 billion annually and in the United State alone as many as 3000 companies
had their systems compromised in 2013. In this lab you will study four high profile cyberattacks and be
prepared to discuss the who, what, why and how of each attack.
Required Resources
● PC or mobile device with Internet access
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Lab – Cybersecurity Case Studies
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Lab – Cybersecurity Case Studies
The U.S. and Israeli governments intended Stuxnet as a tool to derail, or at least delay, the Iranian
program to develop nuclear weapons. The Bush and Obama administrations believed that if Iran were on
the verge of developing atomic weapons, Israel would launch airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities in
a move that could have set off a regional war. Operation Olympic Games was seen as a nonviolent
alternative. Although it wasn't clear that such a cyberattack on physical infrastructure was even possible,
there was a dramatic meeting in the White House Situation Room late in the Bush presidency during
which pieces of a destroyed test centrifuge were spread out on a conference table. It was at that point
that the U.S. gave the go-head to unleash the malware.
Sony Pictures Entertainment Hack :
The motivation in this attack was that the hackers did not accept the screening of the film "The Interview"
which Sony planned to release during the long Christmas holiday period. tells the story of a TV journalist
who was commissioned by the CIA (US secret service) to kill the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
Although the film has the theme of action comedy. Their hopes demanded that Sony immediately stop the
screening of terrorist films that could break the peace of a region and be the cause of the war.
f. What was the outcome of the attack? (stolen data, ransom, system damage, etc.)
Home Depot Security Breach :payment card data and 53 milion customer email addresses .
Target Credit Card Breach : Collecting card information from PoS,Aggregating stolen card and person
data and Phishing attack against Fazio Mechanical Service
The Stuxnet Virus :
Stuxnet was first identified by the infosec community in 2010, but development on it probably began in
2005. Despite its unparalleled ability to spread and its widespread infection rate, Stuxnet does little or no
harm to computers not involved in uranium enrichment. When it infects a computer, it checks to see if that
computer is connected to specific models of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) manufactured by
Siemens. PLCs are how computers interact with and control industrial machinery like uranium centrifuges.
The worm then alters the PLCs' programming, resulting in the centrifuges being spun too quickly and for
too long, damaging or destroying the delicate equipment in the process. While this is happening, the
PLCs tell the controller computer that everything is working fine, making it difficult to detect or diagnose
what's going wrong until it's too late.
Sony Pictures Entertainment Hack :
Recorded, as many as five Sony Pictures films that have not been released have been stolen and
distributed on the internet.Payroll list of 6,000 employees and Sony officials also circulated. Personal data
from film actors and practitioners who have collaborated with Sony also spread widely in cyberspace.
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