Annual Cyber Security Assessment 2018 Contents
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Estonian Information System Authority Annual Cyber Security Assessment 2018 Contents Introduction: the state of affairs in Estonia and international cyberspace . 3 Key events in 2017 . 5 2017 in figures . 5 How did the past year stand out? . 9 Mitigating the security vulnerability on the Estonian ID card . 9 The Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU . 17 Municipal council elections . 18 What has changed in the threat landscape? . 21 State-sponsored campaigns did not pick their targets . 23 Phishing, data leaks, and secure digital identity . 26 New password guidelines . 27 Sources, actors and motives . 31 State-sponsored cyber attacks against vital services . 33 Cyber-enabled attacks against democratic processes . 35 Attribution and responses to cyber attacks . .37 Technological risks . 38 What is “strong cryptography” and why is it important? . 38 Sectoral cyber risks and preparedness . 41 Central government . 42 Local governments . 45 Essential services . 47 Cyber risks in the healthcare sector . 50 The Cyber Security Act . 52 Preventing cyber-induced emergency . 55 Summary: conclusions and assessments for 2018 . 57 2 Estonian Information System Authority: Annual Cyber Security Assessment 2018 Introduction: the state of affairs in Estonia and international cyberspace Dear reader, 2017 was an unusually eventful year in global cyberspace. Malware campaigns caused havoc around the globe, large data leaks took place, and vulnerabilities were found in technologies thought to be secure, providing fodder for public discussion throughout the year. General awareness of cyber threats grew, as did the realization of the limitations of previous accomplishments. Societies and coun- tries are developing a more mature understanding of the need for substantial efforts to ensure cyber security, going beyond merely the awareness that there is a problem. For Estonian cyber security, 2017 can be considered a good year. We succeeded in fending off several major challenges, which gave us confidence that we have chosen the right way to protect ourselves in cyberspace, and this instilled courage and necessary lessons for moving forward. The most important achievement in this field was undoubtedly the effort to resolve a vulnerability on the Estonian ID card chip. Our response to this ID card crisis, which had a global impact, showed that the image as a successful digital society isn’t just hype but is exemplified by an agile approach and a highly-functioning com- munity – companies, research institutions and state – who are able to work together. In this sense, the rescue effort was a useful crisis in that it was a practical experience and we passed the test – we were able to protect our digital state and society. Use of the ID card and ser- vices continued as before the crisis; public confidence in e-services was not shaken. All of our society now has a better understanding of the nature of cyber threats and of their potential impact on our way of life. At the same time, we gained real-life experience the fact that how we all have a role to play in cyber security: ordinary users, service pro- viders and IT infrastructure operators. All of this means the lessons learnt from the ID card patch effort can be applied for the general protection of our digital way of life. The security vulnerability discovered on the ID card is not the only one of its kind. Last year saw a number of cases, all equally signifi- cant, where a flaw was discovered in an established technology. The Estonian Information System Authority: Annual Cyber Security Assessment 2018 3 vulnerability in the WPA2 WiFi protocol discovered last autumn and the flaws affecting in the processors of nearly all computers in use today are just a few examples of this phenomenon. Researchers, govern- ments and criminals are all searching for vulnerabilities in commonly used solutions, and it is a fairly safe bet that, proverbially speaking, what is today a secure solution will have to be patched tomorrow. The WannaCry and NotPetya malware campaigns, which had relatively little direct impact on Estonia, received massive interna- tional coverage and underscored one of the most important posi- tive trends last year – the readiness on the part of the international community to attribute cyber-attacks to their perpetrators. The goal of the cyber-attacks orchestrated by North Korea and Russia were not to generate criminal income but to support the political goals of their respective countries. A few years ago, such governmental cyber-attacks went unpunished, but since WannaCry and NotPetya, the first major steps have been taken to hold criminals liable and deter them from any subsequent attacks. In this context, the Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox approved during the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU deserves mention as it provides a means to respond to cyber-attacks by state actors. Also coinciding with the Estonian Presidency, a key upgrade to the European cyber security environment was introduced, receiving a boost from Estonia’s char- acteristically goal-oriented approach. Besides all of the above, we also made energetic progress in advancing Estonia’s own cyber security. The most important achievement in this field is perhaps the draft Cyber Security Act, which is currently being deliberated by Parliament. A large part of our everyday lives depends on digital technol- ogy. We shouldn’t forget that we all help to create cyber security, whether as ordinary users, in administrative or leadership roles, in the political arena or in some other capacity. In addition to providing a readable overview of what is taking place in the cyber sphere, the assessment you are reading looks at how each one of us can make a contribution to Estonia being better protected in cyberspace. Taimar Peterkop Director General, Estonian Information System Authority 4 Estonian Information System Authority: Annual Cyber Security Assessment 2018 KEY EVENTS IN 2017 2017 in figures Even though RIA, for the first time, crossed the threshold of 10,000 cyber security cases in Estonia last year, only 122 incidents had a direct impact on a service vital to the functioning of the state and society, and this was the lowest figure in the last three years. The number of cyber security cases registered in Estonia exceeded 10,000 last year. In 2017, the Estonian Information System Authority (RIA) dealt with a total of 10,923 cyber security cases in Estonian computer and data networks. Of these, 3,162 were considered inci- dents, which had a direct impact on the confidentiality, integrity or availability of information or systems. The reasons for these events were very different – from equip- ment failures to human error to malicious activities. As in previous years, the most frequent occurrences involved various web domains and emails that spread malware. Far from all of the incidents could be considered cyber-attacks and many of the attempted attacks are halted and cause no damage. From the point of view of Estonian cyber security, services that 2017 IN NUMBERS have a critical impact on the usual functioning of society and peop- le’s sense of security are considered the most important. Last year 10,923 we had only 122 incidents with a high priority – that had a direct cases handled impact on a service vital to the functioning of the state and society – the lowest figure in the last three years. Among services affected 3,162 cyber incidents were, for instance, use of electronic identification and digital signing in mobile operators’ networks, and healthcare and banking services. 122 More details are provided below. high priority incidents Estonian Information System Authority: Annual Cyber Security Assessment 2018 5 Cases handled in 2017 (compared to 2016) 3500 3147 3000 2963 2609 2500 2463 2361 2350 2208 1987 Incidents in 2017 2000 Cases in 2017 1500 Incidents in 2016 1000 943 675 726 818 Cases in 2016 517 618 598 500 515 0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Incidents handled by category (2017) DDoS (1%) Financial fraud (0%) Administration error (3%) Scanning and brute Defacement (4%) force attacks (0%) Phishing (6%) Data leak (0%) Equipment theft (0%) Service interruption (6%) Ransomware (8%) Compromise (11%) Malware (61%) WHAT IS A CYBER INCIDENT? A cyber security incident is an event that had Integrity refers to how well data are pro- a direct impact on the confidentiality, integ- tected against unauthorized changes or rity or availability of information or systems. destruction . One or more of the three parameters may An integrity incident includes a change be impacted and the reason can be human made to a prescription in a database or to behaviour or a disruption caused by the nat- payment data in a digital invoice sent to a ural or manmade environment. customer. Confidentiality refers to how well the data Availability measures whether a system or or system is protected against unauthorized data are up and running and functioning as access by third parties . expected . Examples of confidentiality incidents An example of an availability incident is are a data leak affecting credit card data or when access is cut off to a website, or a dig- health data, confidential documents or social ital service goes down to a distributed denial media account passwords. of service attack. 6 Estonian Information System Authority: Annual Cyber Security Assessment 2018 Our insight into the cyber domain is constantly improving… The number of cyber incidents registered in Estonia has been on the rise in recent years. There were several reasons for this. One is the greater importance of the digital environment to society: a wider selection of digital services, more customers and more intensive use of services all mean that organizations are more dependent on the digital environment for organizing everyday activity. The impact of cyber incidents for the organization itself and society as a whole is thus more and more important.