Akamai KSD Service Impact Level 2 ALG Security Technical Implementation Guide

Information flow policies regarding dynamic information flow control include, for example, allowing or disallowing information flows based on changes to the PPSM CAL, vulnerability assessments, or mission conditions. Changing conditions include changes in the threat environment and detection of potentially harmful or adverse events. Changes to the ALG must take effect when made by an authorized administrator and the new configuration is put in place or committed, including upon restart of the application or reboot of the system. With some devices, the changes take effect as the configuration is changed, while with others, the new configuration must be submitted to the device. In any case, the behavior of the ALG must immediately be affected to reflect the configuration change.

Information flow policies regarding dynamic information flow control include, for example, allowing or disallowing information flows based on changes to the PPSM CAL, vulnerability assessments, or mission conditions. Changing conditions include changes in the threat environment and detection of potentially harmful or adverse events. Changes to the ALG must take effect when made by an authorized administrator and the new configuration is put in place or committed, including upon restart of the application or reboot of the system. With some devices, the changes take effect as the configuration is changed, while with others, the new configuration must be submitted to the device. In any case, the behavior of the ALG must immediately be affected to reflect the configuration change.

Information flow policies regarding dynamic information flow control include, for example, allowing or disallowing information flows based on changes to the PPSM CAL, vulnerability assessments, or mission conditions. Changing conditions include changes in the threat environment and detection of potentially harmful or adverse events. Changes to the ALG must take effect when made by an authorized administrator and the new configuration is put in place or committed, including upon restart of the application or reboot of the system. With some devices, the changes take effect as the configuration is changed, while with others, the new configuration must be submitted to the device. In any case, the behavior of the ALG must immediately be affected to reflect the configuration change.

Data mining is the analysis of large quantities of data to discover patterns and is used in intelligence gathering. Failure to prevent attacks launched against organizational information from unauthorized data mining may result in the compromise of information. Injection attacks allow an attacker to inject code into a program or query or inject malware onto a computer to execute remote commands that can read or modify a database or change data on a website. Web applications frequently access databases to store, retrieve, and update information. An attacker can construct inputs that the database will execute. This is most commonly referred to as a code injection attack. This type of attack includes XPath and LDAP injections. Compliance requires the ALG to have the capability to prevent code injections. Examples include web application firewalls (WAFs) or database application gateways.

Data mining is the analysis of large quantities of data to discover patterns and is used in intelligence gathering. Failure to prevent attacks launched against organizational information from unauthorized data mining may result in the compromise of information. Injection attacks allow an attacker to inject code into a program or query or inject malware onto a computer to execute remote commands that can read or modify a database or change data on a website. These attacks include buffer overrun, XML, JavaScript, and HTML injections. Compliance requires the ALG to have the capability to prevent code injections. Examples include web application firewalls (WAFs) or database application gateways.

Data mining is the analysis of large quantities of data to discover patterns and is used in intelligence gathering. Failure to prevent attacks launched against organizational information from unauthorized data mining may result in the compromise of information. SQL injection attacks are the most prevalent attacks against web applications and databases. These attacks inject SQL commands that can read, modify, or compromise the meaning of the original SQL query. An attacker can spoof identity; expose, tamper, destroy, or make existing data unavailable; or gain unauthorized privileges on the database server. Compliance requires the ALG to have the capability to prevent SQL code injections. Examples include a web application firewalls (WAFs) or database application gateways.

Data mining is the analysis of large quantities of data to discover patterns and is used in intelligence gathering. Failure to detect attacks launched against organizational databases may result in the compromise of information. Injection attacks allow an attacker to inject code into a program or query or inject malware onto a computer to execute remote commands that can read or modify a database or change data on a website. Web applications frequently access databases to store, retrieve, and update information. An attacker can construct inputs that the database will execute. This is most commonly referred to as a code injection attack. This type of attack includes XPath and LDAP injections. ALGs with anomaly detection must be configured to protect against unauthorized code injections. These devices must include rules and anomaly detection algorithms to monitor for atypical database queries or accesses. Examples include web application firewalls (WAFs) or database application gateways.

Data mining is the analysis of large quantities of data to discover patterns and is used in intelligence gathering. Failure to detect attacks launched against organizational databases may result in the compromise of information. SQL injection attacks are the most prevalent attacks against web applications and databases. These attacks inject SQL commands that can read, modify, or compromise the meaning of the original SQL query. An attacker can spoof identity; expose, tamper, destroy, or make existing data unavailable; or gain unauthorized privileges on the database server. ALGs with anomaly detection must be configured to protect against unauthorized data mining attacks. These devices must include rules and anomaly detection algorithms to monitor for atypical database queries or accesses. Examples include web application firewalls (WAFs) or database application gateways.

Data mining is the analysis of large quantities of data to discover patterns and is used in intelligence gathering. Failure to detect attacks launched against organizational applications may result in the compromise of information. Injection attacks allow an attacker to inject code into a program or query or inject malware onto a computer to execute remote commands that can read or modify a database or change data on a website. These attacks include buffer overrun, XML, JavaScript, and HTML injections. ALGs with anomaly detection must be configured to protect against unauthorized code injections. These devices must include rules and anomaly detection algorithms to monitor for atypical database queries or accesses. Examples include web application firewalls (WAFs) or database application gateways.

Information stored in one location is vulnerable to accidental or incidental deletion or alteration. Off-loading is a common process in information systems with limited audit storage capacity. This does not apply to audit logs generated on behalf of the device itself (management).

Lack of authentication enables anyone to gain access to the network or possibly a network element that provides the opportunity for intruders to compromise resources within the network infrastructure. By identifying and authenticating non-organizational users, their access to network resources can be restricted accordingly. Non-organizational users will be uniquely identified and authenticated for all accesses other than accesses explicitly identified and documented by the organization when related to the use of anonymous access. Authorization requires an individual account identifier that has been approved, assigned, and configured on an authentication server. Authentication of user identities is accomplished through the use of passwords, tokens, biometrics, or in the case of multifactor authentication, some combination thereof. This control applies to application layer gateways that provide content filtering and proxy services on network segments (e.g., DMZ) that allow access by non-organizational users. It focuses on authentication requests to the proxied application for access to destination resources and policy filtering decisions rather than administrator and management functions.

If the network does not provide safeguards against DoS attacks, network resources may not be available to users during an attack. Installation of content filtering gateways and application layer firewalls at key boundaries in the architecture mitigates the risk of DoS attacks. These attacks can be detected by matching observed communications traffic with patterns of known attacks and monitoring for anomalies in traffic volume/type. Detection components that use rate-based behavior analysis can detect attacks when signatures for the attack do not exist or are not installed. These attacks include zero-day attacks, which are new attacks for which vendors have not yet developed signatures. Rate-based behavior analysis can detect sophisticated, Distributed DoS (DDoS) attacks by correlating traffic information from multiple network segments or components. This requirement applies to the communications traffic functionality of the ALG as it pertains to handling communications traffic, rather than to the ALG device itself.

If the network does not provide safeguards against DoS attacks, network resources may not be available to users during an attack. Installation of content filtering gateways and application layer firewalls at key boundaries in the architecture mitigates the risk of DoS attacks. These attacks can be detected by matching observed communications traffic with patterns of known attacks and monitoring for anomalies in traffic volume, type, or protocol usage. Detection components that use signatures can detect known attacks by using known attack signatures. Signatures are usually obtained from and updated by the ALG component vendor. This requirement applies to the communications traffic functionality of the ALG as it pertains to handling communications traffic, rather than to the ALG device itself.

Application protocol anomaly detection examines application layer protocols such as HTTP to identify attacks based on observed deviations in the normal RFC behavior of a protocol or service. This type of monitoring allows for the detection of known and unknown exploits that exploit weaknesses of commonly used protocols. Since protocol anomaly analysis examines the application payload for patterns or anomalies, an HTTP proxy must be included in the ALG. This ALG will be configured to inspect inbound and outbound HTTP communications traffic to detect protocol anomalies such as malformed message and command insertion attacks. All inbound and outbound traffic, including HTTPS, must be inspected. However, the intention of this policy is not to mandate HTTPS inspection by the ALG. Typically, HTTPS traffic is inspected at the source or destination and/or is directed for inspection by an organizationally defined network termination point.

Use of weak or untested encryption algorithms undermines the purposes of using encryption to protect data. The network element must implement cryptographic modules adhering to the higher standards approved by the federal government since this provides assurance they have been tested and validated. This requirement applies only to ALGs that provide encryption intermediary services (e.g., HTTPS, TLS, or DNSSEC).

Malicious code protection mechanisms include but are not limited to anti-virus and malware detection software. To minimize any potential negative impact to the organization caused by malicious code, malicious code must be identified and eradicated. Malicious code includes viruses, worms, trojan horses, and spyware.

Taking an appropriate action based on local organizational incident handling procedures minimizes the impact of malicious code on the network. This requirement is limited to ALGs, web content filters, and packet inspection firewalls that perform malicious code detection as part of their functionality.

Without an alert, security personnel may be unaware of an impending failure of the audit capability. This will impede the ability to perform forensic analysis and detect rate-based and other anomalies. The ALG generates an immediate (within seconds) alert that notifies designated personnel of the incident. Sending a message to an unattended log or console does not meet this requirement since that will not be seen immediately. These messages should include a severity level indicator or code as an indicator of the criticality of the incident.

If inbound communications traffic is not continuously monitored, hostile activity may not be detected and prevented. Output from application and traffic monitoring serves as input to continuous monitoring and incident response programs. Internal monitoring includes the observation of events occurring on the network that cross internal boundaries at managed interfaces such as web content filters. Depending on the type of ALG, organizations can monitor information systems by monitoring audit activities, application access patterns, characteristics of access, content filtering, or unauthorized exporting of information across boundaries. Unusual/unauthorized activities or conditions may include large file transfers, long-time persistent connections, unusual protocols and ports in use, and attempted communications with suspected malicious external addresses.

Without an alert, security personnel may be unaware of major detection incidents that require immediate action, and this delay may result in the loss or compromise of information. Since these incidents require immediate action, these messages are assigned a critical or Level 1 priority/severity, depending on the system's priority schema. In accordance with CCI-001242, the ALG that provides content inspection services is a real-time intrusion detection system. These systems must generate an alert when detection events from real-time monitoring occur. Alerts may be transmitted, for example, telephonically, by electronic mail messages, or by text messaging. The ALG must either send the alert to a management console that is actively monitored by authorized personnel or use a messaging capability to send the alert directly to designated personnel.

Without an alert, security personnel may be unaware of major detection incidents that require immediate action, and this delay may result in the loss or compromise of information. The ALG generates an alert that notifies designated personnel of the Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) that require real-time alerts. These messages should include a severity level indicator or code as an indicator of the criticality of the incident. These indicators reflect the occurrence of a compromise or a potential compromise. Since these incidents require immediate action, these messages are assigned a critical or Level 1 priority/severity, depending on the system's priority schema. Alerts may be transmitted, for example, telephonically, by electronic mail messages, or by text messaging. The ALG must either send the alert to a management console that is actively monitored by authorized personnel or use a messaging capability to send the alert directly to designated personnel.

Without an alert, security personnel may be unaware of major detection incidents that require immediate action, and this delay may result in the loss or compromise of information. The ALG generates an alert that notifies designated personnel of the Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) that require real-time alerts. These messages should include a severity level indicator or code as an indicator of the criticality of the incident. These indicators reflect the occurrence of a compromise or a potential compromise. Since these incidents require immediate action, these messages are assigned a critical or Level 1 priority/severity, depending on the system's priority schema. CJCSM 6510.01B, "Cyber Incident Handling Program", lists nine Cyber Incident and Reportable Event Categories. DoD has determined that categories identified by CJCSM 6510.01B Major Indicators (category 1, 2, 4, or 7 detection events) will require an alert when an event is detected. Alerts may be transmitted, for example, telephonically, by electronic mail messages, or by text messaging. The ALG must either send the alert to a management console that is actively monitored by authorized personnel or use a messaging capability to send the alert directly to designated personnel.

Invalid user input occurs when a user inserts data or characters into an application's data entry fields and the application is unprepared to process that data. This results in unanticipated application behavior, potentially leading to an application or information system compromise. Invalid input is one of the primary methods employed when attempting to compromise an application. Network devices with the functionality to perform application layer inspection may be leveraged to validate data content of network communications. Checking the valid syntax and semantics of information system inputs (e.g., character set, length, numerical range, and acceptable values) verifies that inputs match specified definitions for format and content. Software typically follows well-defined protocols that use structured messages (i.e., commands or queries) to communicate between software modules or system components. Structured messages can contain raw or unstructured data interspersed with metadata or control information. If network elements use attacker-supplied inputs to construct structured messages without properly encoding such messages, the attacker could insert malicious commands or special characters that can cause the data to be interpreted as control information or metadata. Consequently, the module or component that receives the tainted output will perform the wrong operations or otherwise interpret the data incorrectly. Pre-screening inputs prior to passing to interpreters prevents the content from being unintentionally interpreted as commands. Input validation helps to ensure accurate and correct inputs and prevent attacks such as cross-site scripting and a variety of injection attacks. This requirement applies to gateways and firewalls that perform content inspection or have higher-layer proxy functionality.

Unrestricted traffic may contain malicious traffic which poses a threat to an enclave or to other connected networks. Additionally, unrestricted traffic may transit a network, which uses bandwidth and other resources. Access control policies and access control lists implemented on devices that control the flow of network traffic (e.g., application level firewalls and Web content filters), ensure the flow of traffic is only allowed from authorized sources to authorized destinations. Networks with different levels of trust (e.g., the Internet or CDS) must be kept separate.