[00:00.000 --> 00:08.540] Well, hello ICS Village. I'm coming to you live from sunny Amsterdam and today I'm going to be [00:08.540 --> 00:15.140] talking about critical infrastructure and a presentation that I gave recently at the United [00:15.140 --> 00:21.900] Nations after an invitation at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. [00:21.920 --> 00:29.100] So, I hope you enjoy it. If you don't know who I am, that's fine. I'm certainly not a household [00:29.100 --> 00:35.760] name, but my name is Chris Kubecka and I am the CEO of two companies, one in the Netherlands, [00:35.760 --> 00:43.600] one in the UK, dealing with cyber warfare and ICS, IoT, and IT proactive security. [00:43.600 --> 00:47.240] I'm also a Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow at the Middle East Institute. [00:47.520 --> 00:52.120] And previous to all of this, I used to head the Information Protection Group [00:52.120 --> 01:01.180] for Aramco and I was a Aircrew member and was in Space Command dealing with many control systems. [01:01.180 --> 01:08.840] One might say I'm also a bit of a reformed hacker or at least now a reformed unethical hacker [01:09.670 --> 01:16.100] because I come from it from a slightly different point of view where I started as a kid being a [01:16.100 --> 01:22.900] black hat hacker and got busted at the age of 12 doing very, very naughty things. [01:23.200 --> 01:31.520] So, why is this particular talk and this topic important? Well, one of the reasons is we now live [01:31.520 --> 01:37.080] in this wonderful digital world. We're able to have DEF CON in the ICS village remotely [01:37.780 --> 01:45.540] and we depend absolutely on technology. And if we want our modern world to continue, [01:45.540 --> 01:50.660] we have to deal with the simple fact that hopefully our technology will not be used to [01:50.660 --> 01:58.400] kill us. So, the United Nations has been involved a little bit late in the game and they are very [01:58.400 --> 02:03.840] concerned about member states and their responsibilities securing the ICT assets [02:03.840 --> 02:11.260] within their own borders. So, in 2015, I did say they were a little late, a group of governmental [02:11.260 --> 02:19.340] experts published a report, Report H, that stated four main facts that every member state is [02:19.340 --> 02:28.640] supposed to secure its own country's cyberspace. That includes IT, IoT, and ICS security. In [02:28.640 --> 02:34.180] addition to that, every single member state should have a computer emergency response team. [02:34.180 --> 02:42.440] Fantastic. And also with that, if there is a country where an attack is coming from and [02:42.440 --> 02:50.060] then transiting through, that if you are a transit country, say like something coming [02:50.060 --> 02:56.340] through the Netherlands, aiming at Austria or the United States, then that transit country [02:56.340 --> 03:01.900] and their telecoms should be able to provide aid. And also, any member state that's under [03:01.900 --> 03:10.800] major attack should be able to exchange information on the incident and also technology, [03:10.800 --> 03:18.700] and if at all possible, additional subject matter experts like CERT teams to assist in a major [03:18.700 --> 03:26.800] attack. Now, this sounds all wonderful, lovely, jubbly, and at the UN, the majority of member [03:26.800 --> 03:31.660] states did agree to this particular report and thought that these things were very, very important [03:31.660 --> 03:41.260] to have. However, at the UN level, at this global scale, lots of government experts don't actually [03:41.260 --> 03:50.080] realize what's really going down on the ground. So, this is one of my favorite quotes. It is, [03:50.080 --> 03:55.280] never underestimate how dependent you are on your information technology and systems. It's become [03:55.280 --> 04:00.440] like oxygen. You think you can live without it, but you can't. And this was a quote from the CEO [04:00.440 --> 04:08.900] of Saudi Aramco after the 2012 Shamoon attacks. And what you're seeing here is a picture of one [04:08.900 --> 04:16.140] of the events that happened after the attack, where there were miles and miles of gasoline [04:16.140 --> 04:22.480] trucks that could no longer be loaded up, because the industrial IOT system in between [04:23.240 --> 04:30.220] was no longer functioning, nor were the payment systems. Now, Saudi Aramco experienced the world's [04:30.220 --> 04:35.120] worst cyber warfare attack. It isn't spoken about too much, because I'm currently the only person [04:35.120 --> 04:43.940] authorized to actually discuss it. In about two hours, 85% of their IT systems were lost. [04:44.020 --> 04:51.280] And when I say IT systems, this is a VoIP phone, this is the payment systems, this is the HR data, [04:51.280 --> 04:56.280] some of the backups were wiped, some of the firewalls were affected, and there were two [04:56.280 --> 05:02.480] production plants were actually affected. And unfortunately, Aramco was unprepared. They [05:02.480 --> 05:07.940] believed, you know what, barely anybody knows about us, unless you're in the oil and gas industry, [05:07.940 --> 05:13.500] so why would we ever be a target? Well, unfortunately for them, around the same time, [05:13.500 --> 05:22.340] Arab Spring was going on, and attacks that had recently occurred. And Saudi Arabia and Iran are [05:22.340 --> 05:30.400] not very good friends. And because of this lack of understanding, their systems, both on the IT [05:30.400 --> 05:39.680] side, IoT side, and ICS side, were not very prepared or secure at all. Now, in addition to this, the [05:39.680 --> 05:45.060] attack affected countrywide internet connectivity, taking out two of the three mobile providers, [05:45.060 --> 05:51.500] because they actually severed the internet connection. And Aramco provided internet [05:51.500 --> 05:59.140] connectivity for emergency services, hospitals, schools, police stations, universities, and you [05:59.140 --> 06:06.100] see where I'm going with this, it was not a very nice picture. 14 days after the initial attack, [06:06.100 --> 06:11.740] Qatar's national oil company, Rasgas, a joint venture between Qatar and ExxonMobil, was hit [06:11.740 --> 06:18.060] with a different variant. The Shamoon variant for Saudi Aramco had a burning American flag, [06:18.060 --> 06:24.600] the Qatar one did not. And what we estimated after the attack, if the two companies had actually [06:24.600 --> 06:30.660] fallen and could not restore themselves as quickly as possible, we estimated that a barrel of oil [06:30.660 --> 06:39.940] could hit as high as $450 per barrel. And if that had happened, it would have caused a domino chain [06:39.940 --> 06:46.400] of global economic and supply chain damage. We see COVID right now where it's causing a lot of issues, [06:46.400 --> 06:53.440] but imagine if nobody could purchase oil, no cargo ships could purchase oil because it would [06:53.440 --> 06:59.060] be too expensive. You see where I'm going with this. We teetered precariously on the edge of a modern [06:59.060 --> 07:06.640] age, bronze age collapse due to a cyber malicious attack. The reason why I know about this attack in [07:06.640 --> 07:11.420] depth was because I was the person requested to help recover international business operations [07:11.420 --> 07:16.460] and establish their mature digital security and cyber threat intelligence. [07:17.480 --> 07:22.420] So one of the things we have to understand is the vast majority of critical infrastructure [07:22.420 --> 07:29.500] is actually privately owned. And there are limitations to how much a state can regulate, [07:29.500 --> 07:35.820] legislate, and ultimately dictate to the private sector. There are major costs associated with [07:35.820 --> 07:41.280] going, hey, guess what? You got this legacy stuff. It's not really up to snuff. So you're [07:41.280 --> 07:45.880] just going to have to replace it. So then comes into the question, what should water actually [07:45.880 --> 07:55.080] cost versus a beautifully near risk-free ICS system? And now that we're in the middle of [07:55.080 --> 08:01.000] pandemic, unfortunately, are hospitals going to have to choose between securing their systems, [08:01.000 --> 08:10.400] which also includes a lot of medical IoT devices, or are they going to have to go ventilator to [08:10.400 --> 08:17.940] cure ICT? And I think all of us right now watching this, we would kind of like those ventilators. [08:19.100 --> 08:26.200] Now, when it comes to establishing a computer emergency response team, this is a fantastic [08:26.200 --> 08:34.240] step. However, we have to understand that a CERT team is a very reactive team. They are [08:34.240 --> 08:42.580] constantly putting out fires. And usually these teams are not very big. What happens as well is [08:42.580 --> 08:49.460] they have to do putting out fires, write advisements to constituents, advisements to governments. They're [08:49.460 --> 08:54.820] doing a whole bunch of stuff in investigations and give training, and especially give training [08:54.820 --> 09:01.440] to critical infrastructure. They don't have a lot of time to do a lot of anything, but yet they're [09:01.440 --> 09:07.520] expected to do basically everything. We also have to understand that a lot of computer emergency [09:07.520 --> 09:13.420] response teams are not actually capable of doing all of the services that are expected of them, [09:13.420 --> 09:20.120] or are not actually mature enough to provide the majority of services. There are still CERT teams [09:20.120 --> 09:24.200] in various countries that don't even use encryption on their website. [09:24.660 --> 09:32.260] And not all CERTs actually take vulnerability disclosure. I provided feedback for a person [09:32.260 --> 09:36.700] who works for a German think tank who's writing a paper right now for the German government. [09:36.700 --> 09:41.480] And one of the things she noted was the fact that here I live in the European Union, and we have [09:41.480 --> 09:49.340] something called CERT-EU. And she was very puzzled over the fact that nowhere on their website could [09:49.340 --> 09:56.160] you find a link or information on how to actually disclose vulnerability information. And this is [09:56.520 --> 10:07.400] a CERT that, in essence, would provide a response for 513 million people. So there are a lot of [10:07.400 --> 10:13.600] limitations with CERTs. Now, one of the things that I proposed to the United Nations was [10:14.240 --> 10:21.960] CERTs, fantastic. I think that is step one to really taking a look at how member states [10:21.960 --> 10:29.100] should really secure their cyberspace. But at the same time, I proposed to them a CEPT, [10:29.100 --> 10:34.460] if one might pronounce it that way, but a Computer Emergency Prevention Team. [10:34.460 --> 10:42.160] And I truly believe that member states should have these. So a team that actively looks for [10:42.160 --> 10:49.400] any sort of issue or high probability of compromise to systems, whether that's IT, IT and ICS, [10:49.400 --> 10:56.360] they're exposed to the internet, look at the supply chain issues, which may allow for exposure, [10:56.900 --> 11:04.100] and be that kind of like fire alarm and warning system before the fire actually [11:04.100 --> 11:10.600] bursts into flames and has to be put out. In addition to this, they can also take on the role [11:10.600 --> 11:15.680] of the advisement, especially in critical infrastructure, allowing the computer emergency [11:15.680 --> 11:23.060] response teams to actually put out the fires when they need to. So I'm a big believer in proactive [11:23.060 --> 11:29.800] security. And currently, I am the subject matter expert for part of the European Union, where we're [11:29.800 --> 11:37.200] building the world's first exclusively proactive security team, where we are looking for high [11:37.200 --> 11:43.460] probability of compromise systems and detecting compromise as quickly as possible, and starting [11:43.460 --> 11:50.980] the incident response portion of locking down a system and determining what the major risks are [11:50.980 --> 11:56.300] before the CERT team comes in for the incident, the rest of the incident portion. [11:57.700 --> 12:03.380] So we live in this wonderful connected world, and I'm going to give you a new term and a hashtag [12:03.380 --> 12:12.940] you're free to use. BYOH, bring your own house. I happen to be in my home. But when we connect up to [12:13.590 --> 12:21.480] power plants, or any sort of production, or industrial IoT, or even our workplace, [12:21.480 --> 12:28.050] which might just be regular IT systems, what has happened in this wonderful pandemic, [12:28.050 --> 12:34.390] wonderful at all, is the fact that the employees were sent home, and this also includes technicians [12:34.390 --> 12:40.490] and engineers, and they're like, hey, do your job from home. Okay, great. So I share this network [12:40.490 --> 12:48.290] with perhaps my kids, perhaps my partner, perhaps I'm stealing the neighbor's Wi-Fi, who knows? [12:48.290 --> 12:58.030] And their home network is now considered perimeter security in many ways. Now, I'm fortunate to have [12:58.050 --> 13:04.910] my own commercial-grade firewall that cost me about 2,500 euro, but most companies are not going [13:04.910 --> 13:14.550] to roll that out for their employees. So perimeter security is now your front door. And when we take [13:14.670 --> 13:22.510] a look at how engineers and operators are trying to stay connected, we are going into a very kind [13:22.510 --> 13:29.970] scary area right now. Because one of the things I did, also preparing for my Red Team Village talk, [13:29.970 --> 13:38.990] was to do a massive scan across the internet and try to find some easily found exposed control [13:38.990 --> 13:49.010] systems, looking at ICS, industrial IoT. And unfortunately, I found way too many systems. [13:49.010 --> 13:55.490] As you can see, I have this wonderful table that says, please hack me. The reason for that is a lot [13:55.490 --> 14:03.390] of these systems, either they don't have very much in the way of security, like the Modbus protocol, [14:03.390 --> 14:10.070] you have to be very careful with that one. Or even if they've got a more modern control system [14:10.690 --> 14:17.790] protocol, it doesn't necessarily mean they're on the newest and greatest firmware, or the fact that [14:17.910 --> 14:23.430] a lot of these things now are really industrial IoT products. And they've got these wonderful [14:23.430 --> 14:31.050] things called web servers. And I'd like to say, if it looks like a web server, hack it like a web server. [14:31.690 --> 14:39.210] And so just because the protocols might be wonderfully put together, or say Siemens S7, [14:39.210 --> 14:46.470] if it's got a web server login exposed to the internet, and it hasn't really been tested for [14:46.470 --> 14:54.830] security, then release the cross-site scripting and a bevy of other different types of attacks. [14:56.470 --> 15:03.430] So one of the problems we have is hacking. And when I say hacking, I don't just mean [15:04.290 --> 15:11.770] my 10-year-old self, or some of the people who deal with offensive security and find [15:11.770 --> 15:19.610] certain vulnerabilities. We also have to consider the fact that a lot of nation-states are involved. [15:19.770 --> 15:28.190] When I say a lot, one of my favorites is actually Ethiopia has a full-fledged offensive security [15:28.190 --> 15:34.870] team that is authorized to do various hacks, because they've been at war and are involved [15:34.870 --> 15:42.610] in various skirmishes with DANTREA. So if Ethiopia has something, lots of other countries [15:42.610 --> 15:48.990] have this particular capability. We also have to take a look at geopolitics and things that are [15:48.990 --> 15:56.970] going on. I was chit-chatting with Bryson Bort before we started, and I'm currently doing research [15:56.970 --> 16:04.110] into cyber guerrilla warfare between Azerbaijan and Armenia, where the Armenian nuclear powder [16:04.110 --> 16:10.610] plant is actually under threat because Azerbaijan has publicly stated that they want to blow it up. [16:10.750 --> 16:15.790] And I don't think that's good for anyone, especially since I live in Europe, and I don't [16:15.790 --> 16:22.170] want to like another trouble, and I don't want cancer. So we have to take the security devices, [16:22.530 --> 16:28.410] the way they're put together, the configuration, if they're exposed or not, think about geopolitics, [16:28.410 --> 16:34.870] but also think about the fact that not everybody is a friend. So if there's a major incident between [16:34.870 --> 16:42.350] several countries, even transit countries, some countries won't necessarily help others. [16:42.450 --> 16:49.730] And even if they do help others, they don't necessarily phrase what they need in a proper [16:49.730 --> 16:57.490] question so that another country can give proper aid. And one of the other things that we have to [16:57.490 --> 17:03.690] think about is before something major happens, groups actually need to start talking to each [17:03.690 --> 17:09.370] other because you don't just pick up the phone to a random country and go, hey, I need this stuff, [17:09.370 --> 17:15.530] and they're like, I don't even know you. I've never met you. And trust goes a long way, both with formal [17:15.530 --> 17:22.510] and informal networks. And one of the previous speakers had mentioned he was from academia, [17:22.510 --> 17:30.370] and academia is fantastic, and they can think out of the box in certain ways, but unfortunately, [17:30.370 --> 17:38.040] not every person who's in academia who's studying this topic necessarily has that hacker mentality. [17:38.510 --> 17:43.240] And currently, there is not enough involvement from the tech community. [17:46.740 --> 17:53.750] So we've got some things that are fantastic that we can use at the United Nations, [17:53.750 --> 17:59.990] and these are existing treaties. Now, whilst I was giving my presentation, one of the other [17:59.990 --> 18:06.370] presenters had brought up previous to me that perhaps we need to create this brand new treaty [18:06.930 --> 18:14.550] to tackle these issues. And my response was, guess what? We have stuff that we can use, we can expand [18:14.550 --> 18:19.590] on existing conventions, but if we're going to be doing a new treaty, it's going to take years [18:19.590 --> 18:26.430] and years and years, if it even gets a certain level of consensus from other member states [18:26.430 --> 18:32.670] inside the United Nations. And incidents don't wait years and years. Incidents want attention [18:32.670 --> 18:39.130] now, and they need it now. So we can use the Budapest Convention. There's also existing [18:39.130 --> 18:45.710] counterterrorism legislation and relationships between countries that also can be utilized [18:45.710 --> 18:50.170] if there's a major attack that is happening, going through countries, [18:50.170 --> 18:53.150] or hitting a particular country's critical infrastructure. [18:55.330 --> 19:01.010] So when it comes to preparation, one of the things that we have to remember is [19:01.010 --> 19:07.290] practice, practice, practice, right? And I think we've heard this at many different discussions, [19:07.290 --> 19:14.890] whether it's critical infrastructure or other areas. And the way that you get very good at [19:14.890 --> 19:20.750] something is to practice it. And obviously not every incident is going to be exactly the same [19:20.750 --> 19:27.110] because everyone is unique, everyone is unique and different. But when we talk about exercises, [19:27.110 --> 19:31.930] they're still kind of lacking, especially at the UN level for different things like this. [19:32.170 --> 19:38.290] Now, a few years ago, I had the opportunity to work with the European Center for Foreign Relations [19:38.290 --> 19:46.410] on building NATO and EU member exercises for diplomats and ministers. And I was the only [19:47.090 --> 19:55.350] tech person who was a subject matter expert who was not an academic. And I noticed that this was [19:55.350 --> 20:03.210] really, really lacking because we need to get certain people involved in this to do a good [20:03.210 --> 20:10.710] exercise, accept team members, as well as ministerial advisors, because a minister [20:10.710 --> 20:16.670] and an ambassador do not make decisions all by themselves, they have advisors. [20:16.810 --> 20:23.710] We also have to involve the public and private sector, obviously grab some academics as well, [20:23.710 --> 20:30.810] because they can share a lot of different research. But also consider us, a lot of the people who are [20:30.810 --> 20:35.550] watching this talk right now, in the tech community and subject matter experts who have [20:35.550 --> 20:43.830] actually dealt with some of these things. Reformed, nice hackers, so to speak, who can think in a way [20:44.590 --> 20:52.490] that they can misuse systems and even information that nobody else can really think about within the [20:52.490 --> 20:59.990] other groups. So one of the major things that I proposed to the United Nations was [20:59.990 --> 21:07.250] we need to get security researchers involved. One of the biggest reasons is when you get the [21:07.250 --> 21:12.150] tech community involved, I'll give you a good for instance, there's a CTI league, which was set up [21:12.150 --> 21:20.050] of subject matter expert tech community folks, and they volunteer to protect hospitals and medical [21:20.050 --> 21:26.850] personnel and medical devices. And they work extremely quickly. They also interface with [21:26.850 --> 21:33.830] computer emergency response teams, Europol, and other law enforcement, so that hospitals have some [21:33.830 --> 21:42.510] sort of advantage in this game. A few months ago, I was contacted by a particular EU government, [21:42.510 --> 21:48.650] because 15 of their hospitals went down on a Friday night, because it was a cyber attack. [21:48.650 --> 21:55.130] And that particular country came out publicly saying, this country who did these attacks, [21:55.130 --> 22:03.930] stop attacking our hospitals. But defending and realizing that there are some exploitable systems [22:03.930 --> 22:09.750] out there, if you've got the tech community involved, they can go ahead and interface [22:10.630 --> 22:16.070] like that, like the snap of your fingers. Unfortunately, when you're dealing with [22:16.070 --> 22:22.670] diplomats and countries on that much higher level, those formal networks are kind of slow. [22:23.390 --> 22:28.990] Now, another thing that I brought up to the United Nations is the fact that the majority of ICT [22:28.990 --> 22:37.210] vulnerabilities, both IT, ITICS areas, they're still discovered by good hackers like us, attending [22:37.210 --> 22:45.910] DEF CON, SIGMO. And this is fantastic, because a lot of us do this, maybe for a t-shirt, some stickers, [22:45.910 --> 22:51.890] sometimes a bug bounty, but really because we want these systems protected, so we can use them when [22:51.890 --> 23:00.110] we say, go to a hospital. And unfortunately, we still face a lot of legal barriers. As I mentioned [23:00.110 --> 23:05.610] before, not all certs actually will take vulnerability disclosures. And sometimes if [23:05.610 --> 23:13.590] you contact a company or a power plant or a hospital or whatever, they might have the reaction of, [23:13.590 --> 23:19.350] who the heck are you? Are you trying to extort us for money? Are you some sort of criminal? [23:19.350 --> 23:25.210] So there's some legal barriers. And sometimes you have to deal with very strange laws, like in the [23:25.210 --> 23:29.870] Netherlands, you're not allowed to ping a computer system. That's written in our cyber law. Even [23:29.870 --> 23:38.470] computer systems you own, which is still kind of odd, but depending on the country or the laws, [23:38.470 --> 23:42.510] you could actually be arrested for reporting some of these things. [23:43.310 --> 23:49.990] Now, another issue is who to contact. Here you've got this major thing, [23:49.990 --> 23:55.630] and you want to be able to contact people as quickly as possible in a secure manner, [23:55.630 --> 24:02.170] but who do you contact? Using the CertEU example, I have no idea. And neither does the person [24:02.170 --> 24:12.490] writing the paper for Germany. So what we have to realize is, as we all plainly know right now, [24:12.510 --> 24:19.310] we live in this digital world. And we are absolutely as dependent on ICT systems as we are [24:19.310 --> 24:26.450] to oxygen in this modern world. So my closing recommendation to the United Nations was that the [24:26.450 --> 24:33.530] UN and member states should lead the effort in establishing computer emergency prevention teams, [24:33.530 --> 24:40.410] because it is much easier, cheaper, quicker to prevent a major attack against critical [24:40.410 --> 24:49.030] infrastructure than it is to try to put out a fire. So I have some references, which I can [24:49.030 --> 24:56.510] copy and paste somehow and put into Discord, or folks can take screenshots. The first one is [24:56.510 --> 25:05.030] the UN Group of Governmental Experts Report H from July 2015. There will be a new report coming out [25:05.030 --> 25:10.950] from my presentation and other people's presentations that we gave at the United [25:10.950 --> 25:17.830] Nations last month. And also, if you want to take a look at a very, very good [25:17.830 --> 25:24.830] convention that actually deals with cybercrime that can be utilized for information sharing, [25:24.830 --> 25:30.090] technology sharing, subject matter expert sharing, etc. when a major incident occurs, [25:30.090 --> 25:38.170] Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is excellent. And last but not least, thank you very much ICS [25:38.170 --> 25:45.230] Village and doing this safe mode. I know it took a lot of work. And Mr. Bryson Bort for inviting me [25:45.230 --> 25:51.190] to do this talk. And if you want to know more about me, I'm available on Twitter. If you take [25:51.190 --> 26:00.070] DMs, just no weird pictures, please. And also, we're doing a lot of work. We have just started [26:00.090 --> 26:06.390] the cyber portion of the Middle East Institute. I'm the first distinguished non-resident fellow [26:06.890 --> 26:13.070] and person coming in as a non-resident coming into the Middle East Institute specifically for [26:13.070 --> 26:19.610] cyber to look at these particular issues. So, that ends my presentation. And what I'll do is [26:19.610 --> 26:25.290] I will look on this Discord. And hopefully, there are some questions. [26:26.730 --> 26:35.650] And there doesn't seem to be that many questions, but that's okay. Does the ICS Village have any [26:35.650 --> 26:52.150] questions? Or I'll just dance. I'm up and it's after midnight and I'm still here, somehow. [26:54.710 --> 27:01.170] Well, since no one has any more questions, thank you very much, everyone. And hopefully, [27:01.170 --> 27:08.110] the United Nations will take some of my recommendations on how to secure their [27:08.110 --> 27:15.750] individual member state cyberspace, specifically critical infrastructure, a lot better in the near [27:15.750 --> 27:17.870] future. Thank you.