Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
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Knowledge
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The finances, equipment, and knowledge all contribute to the means of a
potential attacker. The means contributes to the overall threat probability assess-
ment (TPA). The TPA provides insight into justifying IA in cases of real, verifi-
able, highly probable threats. You may present IA justification in terms of a highly
financed adversary, or an adversary that possesses specialized equipment known to
exploit your organization's vulnerabilities.
13.5.1.1  Finances
Generally, state-sponsored financing provides much deeper pockets than private
financing. A state-sponsored adversary is a government, or government-controlled
group. Determining which government is providing financing also provides insight
into motivation (political relationships) and method (prior history). Private financing
may still be quite large. If a rival multi-billion-dollar organization wants your intel-
lectual property, its finances, while not that of a government, are still substantial.
13.5.1.2  Equipment
Is the equipment necessary to carry out a successful attack common everyday
equipment or highly specialized and expensive and hard to obtain? Common every-
day equipment increases the threat probability due to its ease of acquisition. Some
equipment is legitimately available only to a government. Therefore, the attacker
must steal the equipment or purchase it on the black market. All of these add time,
cost, and complexity to the attack means and thus lower the threat probability. Of
course, all the characteristics of means, method, and motivation must be consid-
ered together, as each individually provides clues to the larger picture.
13.5.1.3  Knowledge
Does the attack require specialized knowledge or no particular knowledge at all?
The plethora of canned cyber-attack tools provides moderate to high levels of
sophisticated cyber-attacks that require minimal technical knowledge. A real-time
adaptable attack with objectives of overcoming multiple defense-in-depth mecha-
nisms may require a hands-on touch and quick adaptation on the fly. This is a high
level of knowledge not easily acquired or purchased.
Standard IA defenses should safeguard against low-knowledge, easily available
attack tools. Even if an attacker is not specifically your adversary, you may be an
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