Mail Server Under Siege
Attackers broke into Zimbra email servers through a flaw that was quietly patched in July, before most admins knew it needed fixing.
Key terms
AP Cybersecurity alignment
- 2.1.C.4After gaining access during an attack, adversaries establish persistence to maintain access without needing to regain it. They may use a command and control (C2) protocol to send commands to the device and receive output,…Learning objective: Describe the phases of a cyberattack.
- 4.3.C.2Ensuring that a computer’s operating system and software applications are updated to the most recent version prevents adversaries from taking advantage of a known vulnerability.Learning objective: Explain why keeping a device’s operating system and software updated makes it more secure.
- 5.5.B.2When creating a program that takes user input, programmers should use a function to verify that user input meets their expected criteria and does not include any control characters that could be used to manipulate the system.…Learning objective: Explain how user input sanitization protects applications.
AP Networking alignment
- 4.5.B.4Security controls to limit the impact of unauthorized access include: • enforcing strong password policies and account lockout settings • applying the principle of least privilege • implementing segmentation to restrict access…Learning objective: Determine appropriate security controls to limit the impacts of common threats and vulnerabilities in a managed network.
- 4.5.C.3IDS and IPS logs and alerts can be reviewed for indicators of security threats that suggest potential unauthorized access or malicious activity. These can include: • repeated failed login attempts • access attempts outside of…Learning objective: Identify indicators in intrusion detection system (IDS) or intrusion prevention system (IPS) logs that may suggest potential threats or network issues.
- 4.6.B.4Applying and documenting software updates and patches reduces the risk of failure and reduces recovery time if an outage occurs.Learning objective: Identify ways to improve the reliability and availability of networked systems.