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CompTIA Security+
SY0-601 Cert Guide
Omar Santos
Ron Taylor
Joseph Mlodzianowski
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Introduction xliv
Online Elements:
APPENDIX C Study Planner
Glossary of Key Terms
Introduction xliv
File Servers 144
Network Controllers 144
Email Servers 145
Web Servers 146
FTP Server 147
Zero-day Vulnerabilities 149
Weak Configurations 150
Third-party Risks 155
Improper or Weak Patch Management 160
Patches and Hotfixes 161
Patch Management 163
Legacy Platforms 165
The Impact of Cybersecurity Attacks and Breaches 165
Chapter Review Activities 166
Review Key Topics 166
Define Key Terms 167
Review Questions 168
Chapter 7 Summarizing the Techniques Used in Security Assessments 171
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 171
Foundation Topics 175
Threat Hunting 175
Security Advisories and Bulletins 177
Vulnerability Scans 180
Credentialed vs. Noncredentialed 182
Intrusive vs. Nonintrusive 182
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) 182
Logs and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) 186
Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) 188
Chapter Review Activities 189
Review Key Topics 189
Define Key Terms 190
Review Questions 190
Multipath 319
Network Resilience 319
Load Balancers 319
Network Interface Card (NIC) Teaming 320
Power Resilience 320
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) 320
Generators 321
Dual Supply 321
Managed Power Distribution Units (PDUs) 322
Replication 323
Storage Area Network 323
Virtual Machines 324
On-premises vs. Cloud 325
Backup Types 326
Full Backup 328
Differential Backup 328
Incremental Backup 328
Non-persistence 328
High Availability 329
Restoration Order 330
Diversity 331
Technologies 331
Vendors 331
Crypto 331
Controls 332
Chapter Review Activities 332
Review Key Topics 332
Define Key Terms 333
Review Questions 333
Understanding the Security Implications of Embedded and
Chapter 14
Specialized Systems 335
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 335
Foundation Topics 339
Embedded Systems 339
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)/Industrial Control
Systems (ICS) 341
Internet of Things (IoT) 344
Specialized Systems 346
Medical Systems 347
Vehicles 347
Aircraft 348
Smart Meters 350
Voice over IP (VoIP) 351
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) 352
Drones 353
Multifunction Printers (MFP) 354
Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) 355
Surveillance Systems 355
System on a Chip (SoC) 356
Communication Considerations 357
5G 357
NarrowBand 358
Baseband Radio 359
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Cards 360
Zigbee 360
Embedded System Constraints 361
Power 361
Compute 361
Network 362
Crypto 362
Inability to Patch 362
Authentication 363
Range 363
Cost 363
Implied Trust 363
East-West Traffic 492
Intranets and Extranets 492
Zero Trust 494
Virtual Private Network 494
Remote Access vs. Site-to-Site 496
IPsec 497
IKEv1 Phase 1 498
IKEv1 Phase 2 501
IKEv2 504
SSL/TLS 505
HTML5 508
Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol 508
DNS 509
Network Access Control 510
Out-of-Band Management 510
Port Security 511
Broadcast Storm Prevention 512
Bridge Protocol Data Unit Guard 512
Loop Prevention 512
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Snooping 512
Media Access Control Filtering 513
Network Appliances 513
Jump Servers 514
Proxy Servers 514
Network-Based Intrusion Detection System/Network-Based Intrusion
Prevention System 516
NIDS 517
NIPS 518
Summary of NIDS vs. NIPS 519
Signature-Based 520
Heuristic/Behavior 521
Anomaly 521
Inline vs. Passive 523
HSM 524
Sensors 524
Collectors 525
Aggregators 526
Firewalls 526
Hardware vs. Software 534
Appliance vs. Host-based vs. Virtual 534
Access Control List 535
Route Security 535
Quality of Service 536
Implications of IPv6 536
Port Spanning/Port Mirroring 537
Monitoring Services 538
Performance Baselining 539
File Integrity Monitors 542
Chapter Review Activities 542
Review Key Topics 542
Define Key Terms 543
Review Questions 544
Chapter 20 Installing and Configuring Wireless Security Settings 547
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 547
Foundation Topics 551
Cryptographic Protocols 551
Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) 551
Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) 551
Counter-mode/CBC-MAC Protocol (CCMP) 552
Simultaneous Authentication of Equals 552
Wireless Cryptographic Protocol Summary 552
Authentication Protocols 553
802.1X and EAP 553
IEEE 802.1x 556
Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS)
Federation 556
Methods 557
Wi-Fi Protected Setup 558
Captive Portals 559
Installation Considerations 559
Controller and Access Point Security 562
Wireless Access Point Vulnerabilities 563
Chapter Review Activities 564
Review Key Topics 564
Define Key Terms 564
Review Questions 565
Chapter 21 Implementing Secure Mobile Solutions 567
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 567
Foundation Topics 570
Connection Methods and Receivers 570
RFID and NFC 571
More Wireless Connection Methods and Receivers 572
Secure Implementation Best Practices 573
Mobile Device Management 574
MDM Security Feature Concerns: Application and Content
Management 576
MDM Security Feature Concerns: Remote Wipe, Geofencing,
Geolocation, Screen Locks, Passwords and PINs, Full Device
Encryption 578
Mobile Device Management Enforcement and Monitoring 581
Mobile Devices 585
MDM/Unified Endpoint Management 587
SEAndroid 588
Deployment Models 588
Secure Implementation of BYOD, CYOD, and COPE 589
Chapter Review Activities 591
Review Key Topics 591
Define Key Terms 592
Review Questions 592
Cost 613
Need for Segmentation 613
Open Systems Interconnection Layers 614
Summary of Cybersecurity Solutions to the Cloud 614
Cloud Native Controls vs. Third-Party Solutions 615
Chapter Review Activities 615
Review Key Topics 615
Define Key Terms 616
Review Questions 616
Chapter 23 Implementing Identity and Account Management Controls 619
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 619
Foundation Topics 623
Identity 623
Identity Provider (IdP) 623
Authentication 625
Authentication by Knowledge 625
Authentication by Ownership 625
Authentication by Characteristic Attributes 625
Certificates 626
Tokens 627
SSH Keys 628
Smart Cards 629
Account Types 629
Account Policies 633
Introduction to Identity and Access Management 633
Phases of the Identity and Access Lifecycle 633
Registration and Identity Validation 634
Privileges Provisioning 635
Access Review 635
Access Revocation 635
Password Management 636
Password Creation 636
Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) 638
nslookup/dig 709
ipconfig/ifconfig 710
nmap 711
ping/pathping 714
hping 717
netstat 718
netcat 720
IP Scanners 721
arp 721
route 723
curl 724
theHarvester 725
sn1per 726
scanless 727
dnsenum 728
Nessus 730
Cuckoo 731
File Manipulation 732
head 733
tail 734
cat 734
grep 735
chmod 736
Logger 737
Shell and Script Environments 738
SSH 739
PowerShell 740
Python 741
OpenSSL 741
Packet Capture and Replay 742
Tcpreplay 742
Tcpdump 742
Wireshark 743
Forensics 744
dd 744
Memdump 745
WinHex 746
FTK Imager 747
Autopsy 747
Exploitation Frameworks 747
Password Crackers 748
Data Sanitization 750
Chapter Review Activities 750
Review Key Topics 750
Define Key Terms 752
Review Questions 752
Summarizing the Importance of Policies, Processes, and Procedures
Chapter 27
for Incident Response 755
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 755
Foundation Topics 760
Incident Response Plans 760
Incident Response Process 761
Preparation 762
Identification 763
Containment 763
Eradication 764
Recovery 764
Lessons Learned 764
Exercises 765
Tabletop 765
Walkthroughs 766
Simulations 766
Attack Frameworks 767
MITRE ATT&CK 767
The Diamond Model of Intrusion Analysis 768
Cyber Kill Chain 770
Stakeholder Management 771
Communication Plan 771
Disaster Recovery Plan 772
Business Continuity Plan 773
Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) 774
Incident Response Team 775
Retention Policies 776
Chapter Review Activities 776
Review Key Topics 776
Define Key Terms 777
Review Questions 778
Chapter 28 Using Appropriate Data Sources to Support an Investigation 781
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 781
Foundation Topics 785
Vulnerability Scan Output 785
SIEM Dashboards 786
Sensors 787
Sensitivity 788
Trends 788
Alerts 788
Correlation 788
Log Files 789
Network 790
System 791
Application 792
Security 793
Web 794
DNS 795
Authentication 796
Dump Files 797
VoIP and Call Managers 799
Session Initiation Protocol Traffic 800
syslog/rsyslog/syslog-ng 800
journalctl 802
NXLog 803
Bandwidth Monitors 804
Metadata 805
Email 808
Mobile 808
Web 808
File 809
NetFlow/sFlow 809
NetFlow 809
sFlow 810
IPFIX 811
Protocol Analyzer Output 813
Chapter Review Activities 814
Review Key Topics 814
Define Key Terms 816
Review Questions 816
Applying Mitigation Techniques or Controls to Secure an
Chapter 29
Environment 819
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 819
Foundation Topics 822
Reconfigure Endpoint Security Solutions 822
Application Approved Lists 822
Application Block List/Deny List 822
Quarantine 823
Configuration Changes 824
Firewall Rules 825
MDM 825
Data Loss Prevention 828
Content Filter/URL Filter 828
Update or Revoke Certificates 829
Isolation 830
Containment 830
Segmentation 831
SOAR 832
Runbooks 833
Playbooks 834
Chapter Review Activities 834
Review Key Topics 834
Define Key Terms 835
Review Questions 835
Chapter 30 Understanding the Key Aspects of Digital Forensics 837
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 837
Foundation Topics 842
Documentation/Evidence 842
Legal Hold 842
Video 842
Admissibility 843
Chain of Custody 844
Timelines of Sequence of Events 844
Timestamps 844
Time Offset 845
Tags 845
Reports 846
Event Logs 846
Interviews 846
Acquisition 847
Order of Volatility 848
Disk 848
Random-Access Memory 848
Swap/Pagefile 849
Operating System 850
Device 850
Firmware 851
Snapshot 851
Cache 852
Network 852
Artifacts 853
On-premises vs. Cloud 853
Right-to-Audit Clauses 854
Regulatory/Jurisdiction 855
Data Breach Notification Laws 855
Integrity 856
Hashing 856
Checksums 857
Provenance 857
Preservation 858
E-discovery 858
Data Recovery 859
Nonrepudiation 859
Strategic Intelligence/Counterintelligence 860
Chapter Review Activities 860
Review Key Topics 860
Define Key Terms 862
Review Questions 862
Compensating Controls 871
Physical Controls 871
Summary of Control Types 872
Chapter Review Activities 873
Review Key Topics 873
Define Key Terms 873
Review Questions 873
Understanding the Importance of Applicable Regulations,
Chapter 32
Standards, or Frameworks That Impact Organizational Security
Posture 875
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 875
Foundation Topics 878
Regulations, Standards, and Legislation 878
General Data Protection Regulation 879
National, Territory, or State Laws 879
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) 881
Key Frameworks 881
Benchmarks and Secure Configuration Guides 885
Security Content Automation Protocol 885
Chapter Review Activities 889
Review Key Topics 889
Define Key Terms 889
Review Questions 890
Understanding the Importance of Policies to Organizational
Chapter 33
Security 893
“Do I Know This Already?” Quiz 894
Foundation Topics 897
Personnel Policies 897
Privacy Policies 897
Acceptable Use 898
Separation of Duties/Job Rotation 898
Mandatory Vacations 898
Onboarding and Offboarding 899
Personnel Security Policies 900
Notifications of Breaches 941
Data Types and Asset Classification 941
Personally Identifiable Information and Protected Health
Information 943
PII 943
PHI 944
Privacy Enhancing Technologies 944
Roles and Responsibilities 945
Information Lifecycle 947
Impact Assessment 948
Terms of Agreement 948
Privacy Notice 949
Chapter Review Activities 949
Review Key Topics 949
Define Key Terms 949
Review Questions 950
Online Elements:
Appendix C Study Planner
Glossary of Key Terms
Dedication
I would like to dedicate this book to my lovely wife, Jeannette, and my two beautiful children,
Hannah and Derek, who have inspired and supported me throughout the development
of this book.
—Omar
I would not be where I am today without the support of my family. Mom and Dad, you taught
me the importance of work ethic and drive. Kathy, my wife of 20 years, you have supported me
and encouraged me every step of the way. Kaitlyn, Alex, and Grace, you give me the strength and
motivation to keep doing what I do.
—Ron
Without faith and spiritual guidance, none of us would be where we are. I would like to thank my
Creator; Linda, my lovely wife of more than 20 years; and my daughter Lauren, for their
unwavering support, patience, and encouragement while I work multiple initiatives and projects.
—Joseph
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Welcome to the CompTIA Security+ SY0-601 Cert Guide. The CompTIA Security+
certification is widely accepted as the first security certification you should attempt
to attain in your information technology (IT) career. The CompTIA Security+
certification is designed to be a vendor-neutral exam that measures your knowledge
of industry-standard technologies and methodologies. It acts as a great stepping
stone to other vendor-specific certifications and careers. We developed this book to
be something you can study from for the exam and keep on your bookshelf for later
use as a security resource.
We would like to note that it’s unfeasible to cover all security concepts in depth in
a single book. However, the Security+ exam objectives are looking for a basic level
of computer, networking, and organizational security knowledge. Keep this in mind
while reading through this text, and remember that the main goal of this text is to help
you pass the Security+ exam, not to be the master of all security. Not just yet, at least!
Good luck as you prepare to take the CompTIA Security+ exam. As you read
through this book, you will be building an impenetrable castle of knowledge, culmi-
nating in hands-on familiarity and the know-how to pass the exam.
■■ Key Terms: Key terms without definitions are listed at the end of each chap-
ter. See whether you can define them, and then check your work against the
complete key term definitions in the glossary.
■■ Review Questions: These quizzes and answers with explanation are meant to
gauge your knowledge of the subjects. If an answer to a question doesn’t come
readily to you, be sure to review that portion of the chapter.
■■ Practice Exams: The practice exams are included in the Pearson Test Prep
practice test software. These exams test your knowledge and skills in a realistic
testing environment. Take them after you have read through the entire book.
Master one; then move on to the next.
The Security+ domains are then further broken down into individual objectives.
Table I-2 lists the CompTIA Security+ exam objectives and their related chapters in
this book. It does not list the bullets and sub-bullets for each objective.
Objective Chapter(s)
3.2 Given a scenario, implement host or application security solutions. 18
3.3 Given a scenario, implement secure network designs. 19
3.4 Given a scenario, install and configure wireless security settings. 20
3.5 Given a scenario, implement secure mobile solutions. 21
3.6 Given a scenario, apply cybersecurity solutions to the cloud. 22
3.7 Given a scenario, implement identity and account management controls. 23
3.8 Given a scenario, implement authentication and authorization solutions. 24
3.9 Given a scenario, implement public key infrastructure. 25
4.1 Given a scenario, use the appropriate tool to assess organizational security. 26
4.2 Summarize the importance of policies, processes, and procedures 27
for incident response.
4.3 Given an incident, utilize appropriate data sources to support an 28
investigation.
4.4 Given an incident, apply mitigation techniques or controls to secure 29
an environment.
4.5 Explain the key aspects of digital forensics. 30
5.1 Compare and contrast various types of controls. 31
5.2 Explain the importance of applicable regulations, standards, or 32
frameworks that impact organizational security posture.
5.3 Explain the importance of policies to organizational security. 33
5.4 Summarize risk management processes and concepts. 34
5.5 Explain privacy and sensitive data concepts in relation to security. 35
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Figure Credits
Cover image: TippaPatt/Shutterstock
Chapter opener image: Charlie Edwards/Photodisc/Getty Images
Figures 4-2 and 4-3 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figure 5-1 © 2015-2021, The MITRE Corporation
Figure 7-5 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figures 10-1, 10-7, 10-10 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figure 10-8 © 2021, Amazon Web Services, Inc
Figure 12-3 courtesy of Secret Double Octopus
Figure 12-4 courtesy of Active-Directory-FAQ
Figure 12-5 courtesy of Robert Koczera/123RF
Figures 13-1 and 13-2 © AsusTek Computer Inc.
Figure 14-1 Raspberry Pi courtesy of handmadepictures/123RF
Figure 14-3 courtesy of CSS Electronics
Figure 14-4 courtesy of strajinsky/Shutterstock
Figure 14-5 courtesy of RingCentral
Figures 14-6 and 15-4 from rewelda/Shutterstock
Figure 15-1 courtesy of Kyryl Gorlov/123RF
Figure 15-2 courtesy of Aliaksandr Karankevich/123RF
Figures 16-9 and 16-10 courtesy of ssl2buy.com
Figure 17-1 courtesy of hostinger.com
Figure 17-3 courtesy of wiki.innovaphone.com
Figure 17-4 courtesy of Adaptive Digital Technologies
Figure 18-4 © Microsoft 2021
Figure 18-5 courtesy of Microsoft Corporation
Figure 18-7 courtesy of Checkmarx Ltd
Figure 19-1 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figures 19-5, 19-8 through 19-11, 19-15, and 19-16 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figure 19-21 © Microsoft 2021
Figures 20-2 and Figure 24-4 © Microsoft 2021
Figure 20-4 © D-Link Corporation
Figure 20-5 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figures 21-1 and 21-2 © 1992-2020 Cisco
Figures 23-1 and 23-2 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figures 23-5 through 23-9 © Microsoft 2021
Figures 24-2 and 24-5 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figures 24-6 through 24-10 © Microsoft 2021
Figures 25-1 and 25-2 ©1998–2021 Mozilla Foundation
Figure 26-1 © OffSec Services Limited 2021
Figures 26-2, 26-5, 26-6, 26-10 through 26-15, 26-18, 26-19 © 2021 The Linux Foundation
Figures 26-3, 26-4, 26-7 through 26-9 © Microsoft 2021
Figure 26-16 © 2021 Tenable, Inc
Figure 26-17 © 2010-2020, Cuckoo Foundation
Figure 26-21 © Wireshark Foundation
Figure 26-22 © X-Ways Software Technology AG
Figure 27-3 courtesy of Cisco Systems, Inc
Figure 27-4 courtesy of Evolve IP, LLC
Figure 28-1 © 2021 Tenable, Inc
Summarizing the
Techniques Used in
Security Assessments
This chapter starts by introducing threat hunting and how the threat-hunting
process leverages threat intelligence. Then you learn about vulnerability man-
agement tasks, such as keeping up with security advisories and performing
vulnerability scans. You also learn about the importance of collecting logs (such
as system logs [syslogs]) and analyzing those logs in a Security Information and
Event Management (SIEM) system. In addition, you learn how security tools
and solutions have evolved to provide Security Orchestration, Automation, and
Response (SOAR) capabilities to better defend your network, your users, and
your organizations overall.
CAUTION The goal of self-assessment is to gauge your mastery of the topics in this
chapter. If you do not know the answer to a question or are only partially sure of the
answer, you should mark that question as wrong for purposes of the self-assessment.
Giving yourself credit for an answer you correctly guess skews your self-assessment
results and might provide you with a false sense of security.
1. What is the act of proactively and iteratively looking for threats in your
organization that may have bypassed your security controls and monitoring
capabilities?
a. Threat intelligence
b. Threat hunting
c. Threat binding
d. None of these answers are correct.
10. Which of the following can be capabilities and benefits of a SOAR solution?
a. Automated vulnerability assessment
b. SOC playbooks and runbook automation
c. Orchestration of multiple SOC tools
d. All of these answers are correct.
Foundation Topics
Threat Hunting
No security product or technology in the world can detect and block all security
threats in the continuously evolving threat landscape (regardless of the vendor or
how expensive it is). This is why many organizations are tasking senior analysts
in their computer security incident response team (CSIRT) and their security
operations center (SOC) to hunt for threats that may have bypassed any security
controls that are in place. This is why threat hunting exists.
Threat hunting is the act of proactively and iteratively looking for threats in
your organization. This chapter covers details about threat-hunting practices, the
operational challenges of a threat-hunting program, and the benefits of a threat-
hunting program.
The threat-hunting process requires deep knowledge of the network and often is
performed by SOC analysts (otherwise known as investigators, threat hunters, tier 2
or tier 3 analysts, and so on). Figure 7-1 illustrates the traditional SOC tiers and
where threat hunters typically reside. In some organizations (especially small
organizations), threat hunting could be done by anyone in the SOC because the
organization may not have a lot of resources (analysts). The success of threat hunting
completely depends on the maturity of the organization and the resources available.
Mid-level to Senior
SOC Analysts
Tier 2
Some organizations might have a dedicated team within or outside the SOC to per-
form threat hunting. However, one of the common practices is to have the hunters
embedded within the SOC.
Threat hunters assume that an attacker has already compromised the network.
Consequently, they need to come up with a hypothesis of what is compromised and
how an adversary could have performed the attack. For the threat hunting to be suc-
cessful, hunters need to be aware of the adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures
(TTPs) that modern attackers use. This is why many organizations use MITRE’s
ATT&CK framework to be able to learn about the tactics and techniques of adver-
saries. Later in this chapter you learn more about how MITRE’s ATT&CK can be
used in threat hunting.
Threat hunting is not a new concept. Many organizations have performed threat
hunting for a long time. However, in the last decade many organizations have
adopted new ways to enhance the threat-hunting process with automation and
orchestration.
Threat hunting is not the same as the traditional SOC incident response (reactive)
activities. Threat hunting is also not the same as vulnerability management (the pro-
cess of patching vulnerabilities across the systems and network of your organization,
including cloud-based applications in some cases). However, some of the same tools
and capabilities may be shared among threat hunters, SOC analysts, and vulner-
ability management teams. Tools and other capabilities such as data analytics, TTPs,
vulnerability feeds, and threat feeds may be used across the different teams and ana-
lysts in an organization.
A high-level threat-hunting process includes the following steps:
Step 1. Threat hunting starts with a trigger based on an anomaly, threat intelli-
gence, or a hypothesis (what could an attacker have done to the organiza-
tion?). From that moment you should ask yourself: “Do we really need to
perform this threat-hunting activity?” or “What is the scope?”
Step 2. Then you identify the necessary tools and methodologies to conduct the
hunt.
Step 3. Once the tools and methodologies are identified, you reveal new attack
patterns, TTPs, and so on.
Step 4. You refine your hunting tactics and enrich them using data analytics.
Steps 2–3 can take one cycle or be iterative and involve multiple loops
(depending on what you find and what additional data and research need
to be done).
Step 5. A successful outcome could be that you identify and mitigate the threat.
However, you need to recognize that in some cases this may not be the
case. You may not have the necessary tools and capabilities, or there
was no actual threat. This is why the success of your hunting program
depends on the maturity of your capabilities and organization as a whole.
You can measure the maturity of your threat-hunting program within your organiza-
tion in many ways. Figure 7-2 shows a matrix that can be used to evaluate the matu-
rity level of your organization against different high-level threat-hunting elements.
These threat-hunting maturity levels can be categorized as easily as level 1, 2, and 3,
or more complex measures can be used.
When it comes to threat intelligence and threat hunting, automation is key! Many
organizations are trying to create threat intelligence fusion techniques to automati-
cally extract threat intelligence data from heterogeneous sources to analyze such
data. The goal is for the threat hunter and network defender to maneuver quickly—
and faster than the attacker. This way, you can stay one step ahead of threat actors
and be able to mitigate the attack.
One of the most comprehensive and widely used vulnerability databases is the
National Vulnerability Database (NVD) maintained by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST). NVD provides information about vulnerabilities
disclosed worldwide.
NOTE You can access the NVD and the respective vulnerability feeds at
https://nvd.nist.gov.
9780136770312_print.indb 178
Threat Hunting Maturity Level
Initial (Minimal) Intermediate Innovative and Leading
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Limited access of threat High collection of certain types High collection of many types
Threat Intelligence and Data
intelligence and collection of of threat intelligence and data of threat intelligence and data
Collection data
Responds only to existing Combines traditional logs with Combines traditional logs with
SIEM, IPS/IDS, firewall logs, TTPs and threat intelligence TTPs and threat intelligence
CompTIA Security+ SY0-601 Cert Guide
Reactive alerts and SIEM Simple tools and analytics Advanced search capabilities,
Tools and Techniques for searches leveraging some visualizations, visualizations, creating new
Hunting Hypothesis Testing but mostly a manual effort tools and not depending on
traditional tools
None, only traditional SIEM Identification of indicators of Able to detect adversary TTPs,
reactive detection compromise (IoCs) and new IoCs, and create automation
TTP Detection attack trends for the SOC to routinely detect
them in the future
30/05/21 4:25 pm
Chapter 7: Summarizing the Techniques Used in Security Assessments 179
Most mature vendors such as Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco publish security advisories
and bulletins in their websites and are CVE Numbering Authorities (CNAs). CNAs
can assign CVEs to disclosed vulnerabilities and submit the information to MITRE
and subsequently to NVD.
The following links include examples of security advisories and bulletins published
by different vendors:
■■ Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/go/psirt
■■ Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc
■■ Red Hat: https://access.redhat.com/security/security-updates
■■ Palo Alto: https://security.paloaltonetworks.com
“Defenders”
Coordination (i.e., Security
Center Vendors)
...
Upstream Downstream
Vendor One or More
Vendor
3. There could be one or more downstream vendors that also need to patch the
vulnerability. In some cases, the coordination center may also interact with
downstream vendors in the notification.
4. Security vendors (such as antivirus/antimalware, intrusion detection, and pre-
vention technology providers) may obtain information about the vulnerability
and create signatures or any other capabilities to help the end user detect and
mitigate an attack caused by the vulnerability.
5. The end user is notified of the patch and the vulnerability.
TIP The preceding process can take days, weeks, months, or even years! Although
this process looks very simple in an illustration like the one in Figure 7-3, it is very
complicated in practice. For this reason, the Forum of Incident Response and Secu-
rity Teams (FIRST) has created a Multi-Party Coordination and Disclosure special
interest group (SIG) to help address these challenges. You can obtain details about
guidelines and practices for multiparty vulnerability coordination and disclosure at
https://www.first.org/global/sigs/vulnerability-coordination/multiparty/.
Vulnerability Scans
Vulnerability management teams often use other tools such as vulnerability scanners
and software composition analysis (SCA) tools. Figure 7-4 illustrates how a typical
automated vulnerability scanner works.
The following are the steps illustrated in Figure 7-4. Keep in mind that vulnerability
scanners are all different, but most follow a process like this:
1. In the discovery phase, the scanner uses a tool such as Nmap to perform host
and port enumeration. Using the results of the host and port enumeration, the
scanner begins to probe open ports for more information.
2. When the scanner has enough information about the open port to determine
what software and version are running on that port, it records that informa-
tion in a database for further analysis. The scanner can use various methods to
make this determination, including banner information.
Target System
Sends Analyzes
1 2
Probe Response
CVE Database
3 OpenSSL 3.0 4
Nginx 1.19.2
Vulnerability Records OpenSSH 8.3 Correlates to
Scanner Response Known Security
Vulnerabilities
3. The scanner tries to determine if the software that is listening on the target
system is susceptible to any known vulnerabilities. It does this by correlating
a database of known vulnerabilities against the information recorded in the
database about the target services.
4. The scanner produces a report on what it suspects could be vulnerable. Keep
in mind that these results are often false positives and need to be validated.
One of the main challenges with automated vulnerability scanners is the number
of false positives and false negatives. False positive is a broad term that describes a
situation in which a security device triggers an alarm, but no malicious activity or
actual attack is taking place. In other words, false positives are false alarms, and they
are also called benign triggers. False positives are problematic because by trigger-
ing unjustified alerts, they diminish the value and urgency of real alerts. Having too
many false positives to investigate becomes an operational nightmare, and you most
definitely will overlook real security events.
There are also false negatives, which is the term used to describe a network intru-
sion device’s inability to detect true security events under certain circumstances—in
other words, a malicious activity that is not detected by the security device.
A true positive is a successful identification of a security attack or a malicious event.
A true negative occurs when the intrusion detection device identifies an activity as
acceptable behavior and the activity is actually acceptable.
The CVSS score is obtained by taking into account the base, temporal, and environ-
mental group information. The score for the base group is between 0 and 10, where
0 is the least severe and 10 is assigned to highly critical vulnerabilities (for example,
for vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise a system
and get full control). Additionally, the score comes in the form of a vector string that
identifies each of the components used to make up the score. The formula used to
obtain the score takes into account various characteristics of the vulnerability and
how the attacker is able to leverage these characteristics. CVSS defines several char-
acteristics for the base, temporal, and environmental groups.
TIP You can read and refer to the latest CVSS specification documentation, exam-
ples of scored vulnerabilities, and a calculator at www.first.org/cvss.
The base group defines exploitability metrics that measure how the vulnerability can
be exploited, and impact metrics that measure the impact on confidentiality, integ-
rity, and availability. In addition to these two, a metric called scope change (S) is used
to convey the impact on systems that are affected by the vulnerability but do not
contain vulnerable code.
Exploitability metrics include the following:
■■ Attack Vector (AV): Represents the level of access an attacker needs to have
to exploit a vulnerability. It can assume four values:
■■ Network (N)
■■ Adjacent (A)
■■ Local (L)
■■ Physical (P)
■■ Scope (S): Captures the impact on systems other than the system being
scored. The values are as follows:
■■ Unchanged (U)
■■ Changed (C)
■■ Integrity Impact (I): Measures the degree of impact to the integrity of the
system. It can assume the following values:
■■ Low (L)
■■ Medium (M)
■■ High (H)
■■ Low (L)
■■ Medium (M)
■■ High (H)
For example, a vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to crash the system
by sending crafted IP packets would have the following values for the base metrics:
■■ Access Vector (AV) would be Network because the attacker can be anywhere
and can send packets remotely.
■■ Attack Complexity (AC) would be Low because it is trivial to generate mal-
formed IP packets.
■■ Privilege Required (PR) would be None because no privileges are required by
the attacker on the target system.
■■ User Interaction (UI) would also be None because the attacker does not need
to interact with any user of the system in order to carry out the attack.
■■ Scope (S) would be Unchanged if the attack does not cause other systems to
fail.
■■ Confidentiality Impact (C) would be None because the primary impact is on
the availability of the system.
■■ Integrity Impact (I) would be None because the primary impact is on the avail-
ability of the system.
■■ Availability Impact (A) would be High because the device becomes completely
unavailable while crashing and reloading.
CVSS also defines a mapping between a CVSS Base Score quantitative value and a
qualitative score. Table 7-2 provides the qualitative-to-quantitative score mapping.
TIP Organizations can use the CVSS score as input to their own risk management
processes to evaluate the risk related to a vulnerability and then prioritize the vulner-
ability remediation.
Most modern SIEMs also integrate with other information systems to gather addi-
tional contextual information to feed the correlation engine. For example, they can
integrate with an identity management system to get contextual information about
users or with NetFlow collectors to get additional flow-based information.
Several commercial SIEM systems are available. Here’s a list of some commercial
SIEM solutions:
■■ Micro Focus ArcSight
■■ LogRhythm
■■ IBM QRadar
■■ Splunk
Figure 7-5 shows how SIEM can collect and process logs from routers, network
switches, firewalls, intrusion detection, and other security products that may be in
your infrastructure. It can also collect and process logs from applications, antivirus,
antimalware, and other host-based security solutions.
Security operation center analysts and security engineers often collect packet
captures during the investigation of a security incident. Packet captures provide
the greatest detail about each transaction happening in the network. Full packet
capture has been used for digital forensics for many years. However, most malware
and attackers use encryption to be able to bypass and obfuscate their transactions.
IP packet metadata can still be used to potentially detect an attack and determine
the attacker’s tactics and techniques.
Intrusion Detection
Firewalls and Other Security Products
Routers Switches
Applications,
Antivirus,
Antimalware, etc.
SIEM
FIGURE 7-5 SIEM Collecting and Processing Logs from Disparate Systems
One of the drawbacks of collecting full packet captures in every corner of your net-
work is the requirement for storage because packet captures in busy networks can
take a significant amount of disk space. This is why numerous organizations often
collect network metadata with NetFlow or IPFIX and store such data longer than
when collecting packet captures.
Several sophisticated security tools also provide user behavior analysis mechanisms
in order to potentially find insiders (internal attackers). Similarly, they provide
insights of user behavior even if they do not present a security threat.
Organizations can also deploy sentiment analysis tools and solutions to help moni-
tor customer sentiment and brand reputation. Often these tools can also reveal
the intent and tone behind social media posts, as well as keep track of positive or
negative opinions. Threat actors can also try to damage a company’s reputation by
creating fake accounts and bots in social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, or
Instagram. Attackers can use these fake accounts and bots to provide negative public
comments against the targeted organization.
The tools in the SOC are evolving and so are the methodologies. For example, now
security analysts not only respond to basic cyber events but also perform threat
hunting in their organizations. SOAR is a set of solutions and integrations designed
to allow organizations to collect security threat data and alerts from multiple
sources. SOAR platforms take the response capabilities of SIEM to the next level.
SOAR solutions supplement, rather than replace, the SIEM. They allow the cyber-
security team to extend its reach by automating the routine work of cybersecurity
operations.
TIP Unlike traditional SIEM platforms, SOAR solutions can also be used for threat
and vulnerability management, security incident response, and security operations
automation.
Deploying SOAR and SIEM together in solutions makes the life of SOC analysts
easier. SOAR platforms accelerate incident response detection and eradication times
because they can automatically communicate information collected by SIEM with
other security tools. Several traditional SIEM vendors are changing their products
to offer hybrid SOAR/SIEM functionality.
Another term adopted in the cybersecurity industry is Extended Detection and
Response (XDR). XDR is a series of systems working together that collects and cor-
relates data across hosts, mobile devices, servers, cloud workloads, email messages,
web content, and networks, enabling visibility and context into advanced threats.
The goal of an XDR system is to allow security analysts to analyze, prioritize, hunt,
and remediate cybersecurity threats to prevent data loss and security breaches.
Review Questions
Answer the following review questions. Check your answers with the answer key in
Appendix A.
1. What type of vulnerability scanner can be used to assess vulnerable web
services?
2. What documents do vendors, vulnerability coordination centers, and security
researchers publish to disclose security vulnerabilities?
3. What term is used to describe an organization that can assign CVEs to
vulnerabilities?
4. What public database can anyone use to obtain information about security
vulnerabilities affecting software and hardware products?
5. How many score “groups” are supported in CVSS?
6. A vulnerability with a CVSS score of 4.9 is considered a ___________ severity
vulnerability.
7. What is the process of iteratively looking for threats that may have bypassed
your security controls?
SQL injection (SQLi) 54, 70–74, application service providers (ASPs) 139,
273–274 231
SSL stripping 88–89 application-aware devices 518
summary of 275–276 application-based segmentation 489–490
XML injection 74–75 application-level gateways (ALGs) 529
zero-day attack 149, 275, 276 approved lists 822
application logs 792–793 AppScan 204
application management, mobile 576–578 APs (access points)
application programming interfaces. See rogue 99
APIs (application programming security 562–563
interfaces) APT29 (Cozy Bear) 346
application scanners 182 apt-get install snmp snmpwalk command
application security 463–464, 475– 436
476, 612. See also application APTs (advanced persistent threats)
development 120–121, 451, 770
allow lists 467, 578, 583, 822 archive.org 147
application shielding 471 Arduino 340
authentication 298 ARF (Asset Reporting Format) 885
block/deny lists 467–468, 822–823 ARO (annualized rate of occurrence) 922
code signing 466–467 ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
disk encryption 473 poisoning 105, 722
dynamic code analysis 470–471 spoofing 513
fuzzing 471 arp command 721–722
hardening 471 artifacts, forensic 853
hardware root of trust 476–477 artificial intelligence and machine
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) learning (AI/ML) 50–51, 788
436–437, 465–466, 577 As-if Infinitely Ranged (AIR) integer
input validation 464 model 77
manual code review 470 ASLR (address space layout
mobile devices 581 randomization) 76, 265, 272
open ports/services 471–472 ASPs (application service providers) 139,
operating system 473–474 231
patch management 474–475 assertion parties (SAML) 659
registry 472 assertions 623
sandboxing 452, 478–479 assessments, security. See security
secure coding practices 468 assessments
secure cookies 465 Asset Identification (AI) 885, 941–942
self-encrypting drives (SEDs) 475–476 asset management 909–910
static code analysis 468–469 Asset Reporting Format (ARF) 885
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) asset values 921, 922
477–478 asymmetric encryption 411–413
whitelisting 578, 583 ATC (air traffic control) 349–350
port security 106, 511. See also 802.1X PREMIS (Preservation Metadata
standard Implementation Strategies) 805
open ports 471–472 preparation phase, incident response (IR)
port numbers 441 762–763
port spanning/port mirroring 537–538 prepending 17
port taps 538 preservation, forensic 858
port-based network access control Preservation Metadata Implementation
(PNAC) 553–554 Strategies (PREMIS) 805
protocols associated with 152–154 preshared key (PSK) 103, 551, 557–558
Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) pretexting 19
537–538 preventative controls 869, 872
vulnerabilities 151 principals 623
portals, captive 559 printenv command 739
PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional 204 Privacy Act of 1974 879, 897
POS (point-of-sale) systems 353 privacy breaches 220. See also identity
positives, true/false 181–182, 518, 520 data types and asset classification
POST (power-on self-test) 851 941–942
Post Incident Review (PIR) 764–765 fines 940
Post Office Protocol (POP) 438–439 identity theft 940
post-exploitation techniques 201 impact assessment 948
post-quantum cryptography 402 information lifecycle 947–948
potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) intellectual property theft 940
40–42 notifications of 941
power distribution units (PDUs) 322–323 personally identifiable information
power loss 925 (PII) 943
power resilience privacy enhancing technologies
definition of 320 944–945
dual supply 321–322 privacy notices 949
generators 321 privacy policies 897
managed power distribution units protected health information (PHI)
(PDUs) 322–323 944
uninterruptible power source (UPS) reputation damage from 940
320–321 security roles and responsibilities
power-on self-test (POST) 851 945–947
PowerShell 113, 630, 740 terms of agreement 948
PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling privacy enhancing technologies 944–945
Protocol) 494, 558 Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) 948
PRE-ATT&CK 18 Privacy-enhanced Electronic Mail (PEM)
predictive analysis 127 697
preferred roaming list (PRL) 572 private cloud 140, 232–233
X Y
X.509 standard 694 YOLO (You Only Look Once) 376
X.690 encoding formats 697 YubiKey 297
XaaS (anything as a service) 139, 232
XCCDF (Extensible Configuration Z
Checklist Description Format) 885 Zed Attack Proxy 204
XDR (Extended Detection and Response) zero trust 494
189 zero-day vulnerabilities 149, 275, 276,
Xiao 415 522
XML (Extensible Markup Language) Zigbee 360–361
XML injection 74–75, 273–274 Zimbra 145
XSD (XML Schema Definition) 86 zombies 111–112
XXE (XML External Entity) 74 zones
XSRF (cross-site request forgery) 85–86, high availability across 603, 609
149, 272, 275 zone signing keys (ZSKs) 427
XSS (cross-site scripting) 54, 68–70, 110, zone transfers 109
149, 272, 275, 464, 601 ZSKs (zone signing keys) 427
Xways 850–851 Zune 850–851
X-Ways Software Technology AG 746
XXE (XML External Entity) 75