The IntelliShield Cyber Risk Report
The IntelliShield Cyber Risk Report is a strategic intelligence product that highlights current security activity and mid- to long-range perspectives. The report addresses seven major risk management categories: vulnerability, physical, legal, trust, identity, human, and geopolitical. The Cyber Risk Reports are a result of collaborative efforts, information sharing, and collective security expertise of senior analysts from Cisco security services that include the IntelliShield team (IntelliShield Alert Manager, Applied Intelligence, and IPS), ROS, PSIRT, the Corporate Security Programs Organization, and Legal Support.
Vulnerability
Vulnerability and threat activity levels during the time period were highlighted by the release of updated versions of the Java Runtime Environment and multiple alert notifications by Sun. IntelliShield analysts identified 23 distinct and previously undisclosed vulnerabilities from these Sun notifications. Due to the wide range of systems that are affected by vulnerabilities in Java, administrators are advised to test the Java updates as soon as possible to ensure that users can safely install the updates without losing the ability to perform critical functions.
Microsoft released the Advanced Notification for the December 2008 security bulletin release. Of the eight bulletins scheduled for release on December 9, 2008, Microsoft scored six with a maximum severity rating of Critical and two with a rating of Important. These bulletins address vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system, the Microsoft Office Suite of applications, the Microsoft Developer Tools and Software, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Server Software products.
In other vulnerability-related events, the ElcomSoft security software vendor released an advisory claiming that the password protection mechanism of Adobe Acrobat 9 is significantly weaker than that of prior versions. ElcomSoft reported that, although the encryption algorithm of the newer version is more complex, the password protection scheme is less secure. This claim is based on the time required to recover lost passwords to encrypted .pdf documents. This advisory underscores the reality that users should not rely solely on password protection and encryption to secure sensitive documents. To improve the security of sensitive information, users are also advised to take measures to limit access to documents to only intended recipients and consider deleting such documents when they are no longer necessary to retain.
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