# data[].attributes.headline
Symantec's 2016 Internet Security Threat Report

# data[].attributes.subject
Symantec's 2016 Internet Security Threat Report

# data[].attributes.body
Symantec's Global Intelligence Network uses 63.8 million attack sensors to record thousands of security events per second.  This report synthesizes that data to provide essential information for securing our infrastructures.
Symantec Corporation. Paul Wood, Editor-in-Chief. April, 2016
© 2016 Symantec Corporation.

# data[].attributes.headline
Be Afraid, be Very Afraid: Cyber attacks are on the rise worldwide

# data[].attributes.subject
Be Afraid, be Very Afraid: Cyber attacks are on the rise worldwide

# data[].attributes.body
Arbor Networks, a respected source of global network monitoring and statistics, reports the grim outlook.
Ben Kepes, Network World, July 19, 2016
© 2017 IDG Communications, Inc.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's one thing to have security vendors email me suggesting that cyber attacks are getting worse. It's another thing altogether when a vendor comes to me with hard metrics. Such is the case with Arbor Networks, the security division of NETSCOUT.

Given Arbor is all about helping to protect enterprise and service provider networks from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, it is fair to suggest that any mention of increasing attack numbers is a little self-serving. But ulterior motives notwithstanding, it's worth hearing what they found.
+ Also on Network World: DDoS attacks are more than disruptions to service +
The data from the survey was gathered through ATLAS, a collaborative partnership with more than 330 service provider customers who share anonymous traffic data with Arbor. ATLAS provides the data for the Digital Attack Map, a visualization of global attack traffic created in collaboration with Google Ideas. ATLAS data has also been utilized recently in Cisco's Visual Networking Index Report and the Verizon Data Breach Incident Report. Anyway, enough of that, what were Arbor's findings?

At a high level, and as might be expected, there is a continuing escalation in both the size and frequency of attacks. ATLAS has observed an average of 124,000 events per week over the last 18 months and a 73 percent increase in peak attack size over 2015, to 579 Gbps. In contrasting these results versus previous ones, the results show:

274 attacks over 100 Gbps monitored in the first half of 2016 versus 223 in all of 2015.

46 attacks over 200 Gbps monitored in the first half of 2016 versus 16 in all of 2015.

The United States, France and Great Britain are the top targets for attacks over 10 Gbps.

To give some context, a 1 Gbps DDoS attack is large enough to take most organizations completely offline. And given results for the first half of 2016 were only about 1 Gbps (a 30 percent increase over 2015), Arbor predicts average attack size to increase to 1.15 Gbps by the end of the year. This is where Arbor comes in, or at least Arbor's solutions:

"The data demonstrates the need for hybrid or multi-layer DDoS defense," said Darren Anstee, Arbor Networks' chief security technologist. "High bandwidth attacks can only be mitigated in the cloud, away from the intended target. However, despite massive growth in attack size at the top end, 80 percent of all attacks are still less than 1 Gbps and 90 percent last less than one hour. On-premise protection provides the rapid reaction needed and is key against 'low and slow' application-layer attacks, as well as state exhaustion attacks targeting infrastructure such as firewalls and [intrusion prevention systems] (IPS)."

Clearly, DDoS attacks are an ongoing issue and one that cannot be ignored. The findings from this survey certainly play into the hands of vendors selling solutions and, as such, could be seen to be self-serving. But for IT security teams looking for empirical evidence to justify budget increases, this will be valuable data.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It's one thing to have security vendors email me suggesting that cyber attacks are getting worse. It's another thing altogether when a vendor comes to me with hard metrics. Such is the case with Arbor Networks, the security division of NETSCOUT.

# data[].attributes.body
Cyber criminals are after much more than large companies.  Small businesses have reason to lock down their infrastructure too.
Elizabeth MacDonald, April 27, 2016
©2017 FOX News Network, LLC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
More than ever before, cyber crooks are targeting small businesses, law enforcement, members of Congress, and top cybersecurity experts say. It's not just the blue chip companies or governments that are under fire.

It's now small mom-and-pop businesses of all stripes -- retail shops, leisure activity businesses, hotels, health clinics, even colleges are getting hammered by cyber criminals. And it's pushing many entrepreneurs to the verge of bankruptcy.

Small business cybersecurity is now a top priority of the House Committee on Small Business, which conducted hearings on the dangers of cyber-attacks on small businesses last week.

Cybersecurity firm Symantec now says that cyberthieves have been increasingly targeting small businesses over the last four years. Cyber hackers view small businesses as a soft, easy mark versus big blue chip companies which have ramped up their cyber firewalls, said Sian John, a chief strategist at Symantec.

"The owners, employees and customers of America's 28 million small businesses need to have confidence that their data is secure," said House Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot (R-OH) in a statement. "I think it is fair to say that confidence has been shaken in recent years with the cyber-attacks on the IRS, the State Department, OPM [Office of Personnel Management], and even the White House. Between foreign hackers from countries like China and Russia and domestic identity thieves, the federal government has a target on its back that seems to get larger by the day."

Almost half of cyber-attacks worldwide, 43%, last year were against small businesses with less than 250 workers, Symantec reports. The FBI reported last summer that more than 7,000 U.S. companies of all sizes were victims of cyber hacks via phishing email scams as of late 2013, the latest data available, with losses of more than $740 million.

The cyber crooks steal small business information to do things like rob bank accounts via wire transfers; steal customers' personal identity information; file for fraudulent tax refunds; commit health insurance or Medicare fraud; or even steal intellectual property. The criminals can also hijack a small business's website to cyberhack other small businesses. "There are probably 20 different ways a bad guy can get into a website" run by a small business, Scott Mann, CEO of Orlando-based Highforge Solutions, has said.

Over a two-year period through February 2016, about one in five small and midsize businesses reported they were hit by cyber-attacks on their computer networks, a survey of 233 small to midsize companies by CFO Magazine found, versus a little more than four out of ten finance executives at larger companies reporting cyber-attacks. Cyber criminals raked in an average of $32,000 from small business accounts, according to a December survey of owners by the National Small Business Association.

The World Economic Forum has listed cybercrimes as a top global risk, and warns that industrial-scale attacks are on the rise. An estimated 430 million new types of malware flooded the Internet last year, up nearly 40% versus the year prior. The Department of Justice's Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded 269,422 cybersecurity related complaints in its 2014 report, an exponential increase of over 1500% from 2000.

Rep. Chabot said: "With all of the uncertainty facing small businesses in today's world of e-commerce, it will take vigilance by all federal agencies and the watchful eye of this [Small Business] Committee to ensure the data of small businesses and individual Americans remains secure."

Many small businesses have poor cybersecurity, lacking things like anti-phishing email measures, a chief cybersecurity officer, data encryption, or off-site backups of their websites. A survey commissioned by insurer Nationwide of 500 small businesses in late 2015 revealed that eight in 10 small-businesses don't have a basic cyber-attack response plan, even though a majority was hit by cyber crimes.

The cyber criminals are breaking into small businesses in a number of ways, law enforcement experts say. They include easy phishing attacks, where cyberthieves will blast realistic-looking spam emails to small business employees pretending to be Citigroup or Bank of America.

The fake emails fraudulently inform the workers that they need to update their Internet banking passwords, directing them to a phony website that then steals their banking, credit card, and personal identification information. Small businesses are also getting hit by ransomware, which shuts down their computer systems, locks up all of their files via encryption, and demands thousands of dollars in exchange for a return of the data.

A phishing scam slammed entrepreneur Rick Snow, who testified before Congress last week. Snow is the owner of Maine Indoor Karting, a go-cart racing business in Scarborough, Maine ( http://www.maineindoorkarting.com/).

"When I started my business, I had the naïve expectation that I would be able to follow my passion and race go-karts with the help of my wife and a few close friends," testified Snow. "Phishing can happen to anyone, phishing attacks are meant to scare you and make you act without thinking, given the right circumstances, anyone can be lured by them. I am certainly no exception."

"I logged into our bank accounts, and to my utter horror, I found that my balance was zero," explained Snow. "This was a pay day, and I was terrified that the paychecks that were issued that day would not clear. We were supporting a number of families, many of which live paycheck-to-paycheck and could not have made it without the paycheck we issued them that day. I was also very worried about our business' reputation since a restaurant nearby had just bounced their paychecks and the company never recovered from the bad publicity they received from not making their payroll."

Snow then asked the Small Business Committee: "If the federal government cannot protect its networks and data from cyber-attacks with almost unlimited resources at its disposal, how can we expect America's small businesses to do so?"

Kevin Dunn, technical vice president for NCC Group Security Services, also testified that cyber-attacks on small businesses can lead to cyber hacks into government. Government agencies rely on numerous independent contractors and small businesses in their supply chains.

"If the small business is compromised by a targeted attacker, it could be used as a conduit for gaining access to government systems," concluded Dunn, who said he has spent the last fifteen years conducting cybersecurity attacks against private companies and government organizations searching for cyber holes in their systems.

Rep. Chabot has also questioned IRS Commissioner John Koskinen about the steps the federal tax collector has been taking to improve cybersecurity after a breach exposed data from 700,000 accounts, many of whom were small businesses.

The IRS had launched its Get Transcript application on its IRS.gov website in January 2014.

The app let taxpayers view and download their tax return transcripts or order previous years of tax filing information. But cyber criminals broke in and stole tax return information from what the IRS first believed were 225,000 accounts, but that number has since more than tripled.

Rep. Chabot and Small Business Committee members also asked Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet about cybersecurity vulnerabilities at her agency. A Government Accountability report revealed serious weaknesses even in the SBA's own network systems.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Cyber Attacks on Small Businesses on the Rise

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
More than ever before, cyber crooks are targeting small businesses, law enforcement, members of Congress, and top cybersecurity experts say. It's not just the blue chip companies or governments that are under fire. It's now small mom-and-pop businesses of all stripes -- retail shops, leisure activity businesses, hotels, health clinics, even colleges are getting hammered by cyber criminals.

# data[].attributes.body
Document that provides the core details for implementing a cybersecurity program.
License information (notice this is not SRD, but public domain):
https://www.nist.gov/director/licensing

# data[].attributes.headline
Cyber Security Awareness Campaign Toolkit

# data[].attributes.subject
Cyber Security Awareness Campaign Toolkit

# data[].attributes.body
Produced by the Organization of American States, this guide explains how to implement a cyber security awareness in an organization. CC BY NC SA
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo/legalcode

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
2015 OAS - Cyber Security Awareness Campaign Toolkit (English)

# data[].attributes.body
Open project that contains cyber security frameworks to use, modify and share.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
OWASP Open Cyber Security Framework Project - OWASP

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The OWASP Open Cyber Security Framework Project's aim is to create a practical framework for Cybersecurity. Currently there are some frameworks from NIST or from ISACA for example and other paid or local frameworks, but there is no open framework that any governments or organization are able to adopt.

# data[].attributes.body
This document by the Center for Internet Security, August 31, 2016, provides step by step explanation of the steps to create a cyber security program. CC ND NC

License is CC Non Commercial - No Derivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

# data[].attributes.body
This site provides a framework and tools for creating a cybersecurity program. Created by the employees of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the information is in the public domain.
License information (notice this is not SRD, but public domain):
https://www.nist.gov/director/licensing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Helping organizations to better understand and improve their management of cybersecurity risk

# data[].attributes.headline
Examining the costs and causes of cyber incidents

# data[].attributes.subject
Examining the costs and causes of cyber incidents

# data[].attributes.body
This article, by Sasha Romanosky in the Journal of Cybersecurity, discusses detailed threat vectors, statistics, attacks by business type, and more.
License: CC BY NC
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

# data[].attributes.headline
What is a Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDOS)?

# data[].attributes.subject
What is a Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDOS)?

# data[].attributes.body
A UK independent IT audit firm explains the types of DDOS attacks and threat vectors. The blog is listed as Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  Adrian McLean, November 26, 2016. CC BY
License: https://lexcia.com/copyright/

# data[].attributes.body
A resource from the Dept of Homeland security that gives more information about teaching cybersecurity.  No copyright information.  Use listed as "Information on this website is provided for personal, educational and other non-commercial purposes. "

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Are you a teacher or educator looking to incorporate cybersecurity into your lesson plans? Do you want to help your Kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) students learn about cyber concepts and career opportunities?

The Cybersecurity Education and Training Assistance Program (CETAP) equips K-12 teachers with curricula and education tools to help students gain a better understanding of cybersecurity. Through CETAP, CISA supports CYBER.ORG to develop and distribute cyber, STEM, and computer science curricula to educators across the country.

CYBER.ORG's cyber-based curricula and initiatives provide opportunities for students to increase their awareness of cyber issues, engage in cybersecurity education, and ultimately become a cybersecurity professional. These programs focus on growing and educating the next generation cyber-literate workforce by empowering K-12 educators with curricula, professional development workshops, and cybersecurity career awareness resources.

[...] I love seeing and actively participating in these lessons. The [CYBER.ORG] staff were down to earth, entertaining, and spoke my language!"
- Cyber Education Discovery Forum Attendee

I walked away with so many ideas and ways I can implement them into my classroom and at our school. I really appreciate all of the curriculum that was shared and how easy it is to access and use. I feel like I've been inspired and see how important and effective it is to use the EDP and Computational Thinking on a regular basis."
- CYBER.ORG Professional Development Attendee

I love that the students are learning the basic curriculum goals, while creating something they never have before. The kids have enjoyed the projects and take away more of an understanding than they think."
- CYBER.ORG Teacher

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Cybersecurity Education and Training Assistance Program (CETAP) equips K-12 teachers with curricula and education tools to help students gain a better understanding of cybersecurity. Through CETAP, CISA supports CYBER.ORG to develop and distribute cyber, STEM, and computer science curricula to educators across the country.