Algosec how to avoid business outages from misconfigured devices final

HOW TO AVOID BUSINESS
OUTAGES FROM
MISCONFIGURED NETWORK
DEVICES
Joe DiPietro, SE Director

TOPICS COVERED TODAY
• Understanding the problem: misconfigured network devices
• Typical change control processes
• The Gap between Business and IT Security
• Data center migration
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THE BALANCING ACT
3
Security
Agility

Firewall Breaches
5% Vulnerabilities
95%Misconfiguration
THE BALANCING ACT
Security
Agility
Prevent Cyber
Attacks

Firewall Breaches
Data Center Automation5% Vulnerabilities
95%Misconfiguration
THE BALANCING ACT
5
Security
Agility
Prevent Cyber
Attacks
Enable Business
Applications
Resource Timeto
Provision
Server Minutes
Storage Minutes
Security
Access Days/Weeks

JUST SOME CONTEXT…
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JUST SOME CONTEXT…
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HOW CAN A DEVICE BE MISCONFIGURED?
• Allow Web Server with IP address of
100.77.28.98 to access databases on the
100.77.28.32 network for banking
application
100.77.28.98
Database Servers on
100.77.28.32 network

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• Router Access Control List (ACL)
security statements
access-list dmz2_acl permit tcp host WEBSRV 100.77.28.32 255.255.255.224 eq 1433
name 100.77.28.98 WEBSRV

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• WEBSRV is a single host or IP address

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• DBCLIENT is a single host or IP address
• Accessing network 100.77.28.32
• 255.255.255.224 is a subnet mask

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• Database Service (Microsoft
SQL Server) on port 1433

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• Subnet Mask with 27 bits
• 255.255.255.224 => 224
http://www.subnet-calculator.com/

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• 255.255.255.224 => 224

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• 255.255.255.224 => 224
• 255.255.255.224 means host
IP Address from
100.77.28.33 to 100.77.28.62

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• 255.255.255.224 => 224
• 255.255.255.240 means IP Addresses
100.77.28.33 to 100.77.28.46
• What happened to 100.77.28.47 thru
100.77.28.62?

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• One change from 255.255.255.224 to
255.255.255.240 prevented access to more
than half of the devices on that network

• With 1,000’s of entries, can you find the error in this ACL list to figure out why
the web server can’t talk to the database server?
access-list dmz2_acl permit tcp 100.77.28.64 255.255.255.224 64.46.252.0 255.255.255.0 eq 1400
access-list dmz2_acl permit tcp 100.77.28.96 255.255.255.224 64.46.252.0 255.255.255.0 range 1600 1601
access-list dmz2_acl permit tcp host 100.77.28.9 64.46.252.0 255.255.255.0 range 1600 1601
access-list dmz2_acl permit tcp host WEBSRV 100.77.28.32 255.255.255.240 neq 1433

What’s wrong? It’s not the subnet mask this time…

Another typo…
neq means “not equal to”

• The web server can not access the database on port
1433…
• What does this mean from a security perspective?
• The web server can access ANY OTHER SERVICE on that
network!! FTP, ACTIVE DIRECTORY, SHARING, SSH,
FINGER, etc
• over 65,000+ ports are available
• ONE SIMPLE “n” OUT OF PLACE!! neq
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PROCESSES ARE NEEDED FOR CHANGE CONTROL
• Many customers have processes
for firewall change control
• How quickly can it happen?
• Can you verify the change?
• What is a typical process?
• Do you have good separation of
duties?
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SECURITY DEVICE CHANGE CONTROL PROCESS
• Understand and map your enterprise infrastructure topology before you make
a change
• Proactively assess the impact of a change to ensure it does not break
connectivity, affect compliance or create a security hole
• Avoid common mistakes when making changes to your network security
devices and firewalls
• Monitor all changes in case there is an outage. You can easily reverse the
newest implemented change if necessary
• Translate business requirements into the network and security policies that are
implemented on firewalls
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TYPICAL SECURITY DEVICE CHANGE CONTROL PROCESS
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Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
1 2
3
4
6
5

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Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
1 2
3
4
6
5
In some cases, “Recertify”…
but that’s a topic for
another day

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Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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3
4
6
5
• Identify what devices need to be changed
• In our example, there are three devices
• CheckPoint
• Juniper
• AWS Server
• How did we know?

VISIBILITY INTO THE PLANNING STAGE
• We understand the topology of the network and the
security policies associated with the devices in the path
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Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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3
4
6
5
• Always perform a risk check BEFORE you approve
• Understanding the risk during the approval phase gives
you a chance to “replan” the change or deny it if it will
cause undue risk to the environment

Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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5
• During the implementation phase
consider how to insert the new
security rule into the device’s current
policy
• Add a new rule?
• Modify an existing rule?
• Create new objects?
• Automatically document the rule change

Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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3
4
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5
• In this case we automatically calculated that
we need to add the service to an existing rule
• This is because 2 of the 3 items match an existing rule:
source IP & destination IP
• It documented the ticket number for
compliance requirements so you
don’t have to!

Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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5
• Check the request and validate it is
implemented correctly before
notifying stakeholders
• Was the original request
implemented:
• In good working order for the entire path,
so the requester does not ask for the
same information again!
• Exactly as requested?
• With an overly permissive rule (ie. “any”
vs https service)

Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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4
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5
Need to figure out why the
change was not
implemented correctly

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Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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3
4
6
5
Is there a chance that
someone did not follow
the process because of
an emergency or “break
glass” situation?
Be careful to validate
the rule changes if it’s
a break glass situation

4
Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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5
The new rule will allow the traffic through
the firewall correctly….However….

4
Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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5
The object names are different
to the original request…
Now you have two objects that
have the same IP addresses…Rule
and Object Cleanup takes time 

4
Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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5
• Before closing:
• Ensure work done matches
tickets
• Check for change request
ticket mismatch

4
Plan
Approve
ImplementValidate
Close
Request
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5
Now that we have a good
process implemented, let’s
try to align business and
security more effectively

GAP BETWEEN BUSINESS AND IT SECURITY
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Now we’re
talking!!
I hear you…

GAP BETWEEN BUSINESS AND IT SECURITY
• A simplistic summary of the Business and IT relationship:
1. The business created value for customer’s and has stored this data in
databases and allowed users to access the data via applications
2. IT maintains the infrastructure to support the data (databases) and
applications.
3. IT Security maintains secure access to data and applications so these assets
don’t compromise the value of the business
• Without 1, 2 & 3 above, a business would not exist
• Applications provide a vehicle to create additional value for their
customers
• Applications and “data” MUST be secure and maintainable
• Application developers and database administrators request security
infrastructure changes as business requirements adapt to new
customer and market demands
• The security change management process has to improve
- just like provisioning a web or database server.
• It only takes minutes now…
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A SIMPLE DIAGRAM WILL DO….PLEASE!!!
• The current challenge is that
Information security talk a
different language than
application developers and
database administrators
(DBA’s) who are requesting application changes
• Security architects must bridge the gap between a secure
business application and operational disasters
• How many organizations can document their business
applications so the security team has a prayer in
understanding how their applications works?
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• The diagram to the right can be
dynamically created to help
document how the application
interacts with the network
infrastructure
• Provides Security Architects with a communication vehicle to
start the conversation
• Dive one level deeper and understand the security
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• Have you been asked this question: Why is this application not working?
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The Firewall is blocking it…
• Have you been asked this question: Why is this application
not working?

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The Firewall is blocking it…
Where?
• Have you been asked this question: Why is this application
not working?

• Why is this application not working?
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Rule 53, of course…

• How to fix the issue now?
• The application team provisions the request
• Information Security “understands” the application request

• How to fix the issue now?
• The application team provisions the request
• Information Security “understands” the application request
• All the risk check will be presented to ensure swift
resolution to the problem
• The plan is created and implement as described from the
ticket lifecycle previously
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Problem Solved

SYNERGIES BY COMMUNICATIONS
• The ability to describe applications in a simpler terms
helps create a communication vehicle for understanding
• Business owners can identify how their applications are
impacted by security
• Security can help business owners understand risk
• The application has a risk score of 65
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• There are 5 scanned servers and 6 servers “undefined”
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• There are 5 scanned servers and 6 servers “undefined”
• Do you have a current method to understand the risk for each
component of the entire application?
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• The change control process can happen with much greater speed and
efficiency by allowing the application team to submit change requests in their
language
• Please decommission my application…
• Security: No problem
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• I can’t decommission these rules, because it will break Help Desk, Email and
Domino Server applications!!
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….But…

DATACENTER AND/OR CLOUD MIGRATION MOTIVES
• Upgrade capacity
• Save money – server consolidation
• Mergers and acquisitions to combine resources
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DATA CENTER (DC) MIGRATION
• Requirements for DC
• Complete inventory of what needs to move
• Official and “unofficial” equipment
• Discover the hidden assets via the security policy
• New hardware and IP address schemes
• Change Firewall Rulebase for transition connectivity
• Migrate IPs in DNS servers
• After migration is complete, decommission original application
• Planning
• What if analysis
• What applications are using these servers?
• What applications are impacted by these firewalls?
• What applications are vulnerable to these security issues?
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AUTOMATE THE SECURITY POLICY MIGRATION
• Use a project to understand what tasks are completed
• Open up new change control tickets and have the system automatically “plan”
and “implement” the changes for greater speed and efficiency
• Decommission the original applications when completed
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CUSTOMER PHILOSOPHY IS CHANGING
• We currently see connectivity requests being manually planned, assessed,
designed and implemented
• This needs to change…..and quickly!
• How do you manage these 1,000 security change requests?
• Customers are moving to agile development & deployment
• The Internet of Things is impacting service expectations
• We are required to intelligently automate as much of the change process as
possible
• The bottom line is that security needs to dramatically improve change
responsiveness with zero errors at a lower cost!
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SUMMARY
• Misconfigured devices can cause outages and security breaches
• Use automation and validation to help reduce human errors
• Help application developers and information security understand each other by
automatically documenting applications and translating security policy rules
into flows that everyone can understand
• Use “projects” to help accelerate data center migration security policies so that
it will be completed on time!
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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Algosec how to avoid business outages from misconfigured devices final

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