Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives

Re: Ransomware Playbook

From: Dan Wasson <dan () NMC EDU>
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2019 16:35:02 -0700

I would be interested as well. Thanks in advance.

Dan

On Oct 3, 2019, at 6:42 PM, Hagan, Sean <sean.hagan () yc edu> wrote:

(my apologies for the length)

Robert – At some point, it would be great to have a playbook “show and
tell”. I realize they’re very sensitive by nature, but it was really hard
for me to even get an idea of what to put in one or how it should be
structured – and I’d imagine I’m not the only one who ran into that when
developing their first (and so far only) playbook. Perhaps Educause or
Educause SPC would be good venues to share/compare/discuss in person. I
still have no idea if mine is “right” or not, but it has a solid mix of
descriptive and operational content to help someone understand not only
what to do in a given situation but how and why we do things and how or why
certain systems are configured the way they are.

Ours is kept tightly controlled (mostly because it’s not finished), but our
CIO and the Infosec team (Security Analyst and myself) have access.
Certain parts of it are exported out to be made available for other people
who have a need to know (like some IAM and OPS stuff that our Helpdesk
makes use of). There’s not a full communication plan, but there are
templates for various incidents and/or prompts to allow the experts (e.g.
PIO) to have an idea of what and when things need to be communicated out.
Based on experiences to date, we would absolutely make use of social media
for communicating with constituents, but ultimately that’s not my call – it
would be our executive leadership and/or PIO’s decision to make.

Mine coincidentally has 10 sections as well:

1. Introduction/Purpose/Audience/Definitions/Major
Systems/Vendors/etc.

2. Security Operations and Incident Handling Standards

3. Threat and Vulnerability Management

4. Identity and Access Management

5. Security Awareness and Training

6. Data Loss Prevention and Data Protection

7. Compliance Management

8. Vendor Security and Vendor Risk Management

9. Risk Management

10. Indexes, Key Contacts, Change Log, Appendices

Getting back to the ransomware part of this discussion:

One thing I learned from participating in a recent real-world ransomware
recovery was how important the non-technical aspects are. Project
management, communication, logistics (!!!) are very critical and perhaps
not as planned for as the technical components (at least, they weren’t for
me). I came away with pages of notes for where things broke down or how
things could have been improved to speed recovery or reduce risk. Just one
communication breakdown resulted in ~200 man-hours being wasted, which was
time this organization really didn’t have. Fetching USB sticks took 5
hours because it was a 2+ hour drive (each way) to the nearest store that
had sufficient quantities. Organizations that I thought would help with
resources and expertise did not (and not because they were unaware). There
were also plenty of “heat of the moment” compromises and decisions made
that, in hindsight, were problematic or introduced substantial additional
risk. Table top exercises (simple discussions, really – nothing more
needed) with your team to walk through an outbreak and response can go a
long way towards minimizing these issues should a real incident occur.

Lots of questions to be asked in advance as well, like whether your
organization would even consider paying the ransom or not, whether you need
to preserve data on (potentially) impacted devices or not, whether you have
enough manpower (or network capacity) to handle mass reimaging, whether you
would make use of community volunteers, whether you could quickly source
dozens or hundreds of USB sticks or SSDs should you need them (in Arizona
and many other states, there are plenty of rural or semi-rural educational
institutions that could not easily do so), etc. I’ve also had a dozen or
so discussions with our cyber liability insurance provider to better
understand what would and wouldn’t be covered and what support we would get
in the event of an incident. I would encourage others to do the same, even
if my discussions weren’t always fruitful (an insurance group can be
frustratingly cagey in their responses to hypothetical questions).

As a sort of related aside to all of this and the original question – if
you have the opportunity to assist another organization with responding to
a ransomware incident, I highly encourage you to do so. Not only is it a
nice thing to do, you’ll likely observe plenty of things both good/bad that
can be applied at your organization should an incident arise. It becomes
the 21st century equivalent of a barn raising, and helps to build bridges
with public and private organizations that will hopefully long outlast the
actual incident that brought everyone together.

Just my two cents and 750+ words… J

Good luck to all!

Sean

*From:* The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <
SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> *On Behalf Of *Barton, Robert W.
*Sent:* Thursday, October 3, 2019 3:01 PM
*To:* SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
*Subject:* Re: [SECURITY] Ransomware Playbook

While I do agree every playbook HAS to be unique, I know from my
perspective, there are various items I’m interested in hearing from others.

- When and how do they communicate out. Social Media first,
second or ever? Do you include a full communication plan in your playbook?

- What sections (descriptive and operational) are there in various
playbooks? I have 10 different sections…but somebody could have ones I
don’t have that are good ideas. Sometimes I’ll like something as simple as
the format and I’ll make a change in mine.

- Where do people keep all these different documents? Paper as
well as electronic? Should I be pushing more for a document management
system (enterprise)? Are they using a web based system (I’m still fighting
trust issues with management when you say ‘cloud’)?

- Are others doing playbooks that are more ‘high level’ than
mine? Why or why not? What can I learn from that?

There are a few more things that I’ve thought up, but ABSOLUTELY the ‘meat’
will be different. Another playbook is a reference to learn from and not a
tool you can use. Isn’t that why we are all here?

Robert W. Barton

Executive Director of Information Security and Policy

Lewis University

One University Parkway

Romeoville, IL 60446-2200

815-836-5663

*From:* The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <
SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> *On Behalf Of *Jonathon Poling
*Sent:* Thursday, October 3, 2019 4:17 PM
*To:* SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
*Subject:* Re: [SECURITY] Ransomware Playbook

A ransomware playbook, especially a prescriptive one, is going to be HIGHLY
specific to your environment and PPT (People, Process, Tooling) and thus
will require substantial (and unique) development and refinement for your
specific organization. There's a reason so many org's (and entire
counties/systems) fall victim to just paying the ransom, even when it's an
inordinate amount of money. There is a lot to it, completely aside from
properly testing and restoring backups. I only say this all because I've
built a lot of specific playbooks running the gamut for a lot of clients in
a variety of verticals over the years. This is definitely one of our most
involved playbooks we help people build, as it involves a lot of
non-technical preparation that is not readily apparent unless you've gone
through it.

This is one of those things you don't want to skimp on or necessarily even
copy from what others are doing, as a lot of org's aren't building the
comprehensive set of processes and procedures needed for properly
protecting against, operating amidst, and recovering from such attacks.

At any rate, just sharing my experience and hopefully some (useful) food
for thought, whichever route you end up going.

Jonathon

On Thu, Oct 3, 2019 at 2:15 PM King, Ronald A. <raking () nsu edu> wrote:

Me too, please.

*Ronald King*

*Chief Information Security Officer*

*Office of Information Technology*

(757) 823-2916 (Office)

raking () nsu edu

www.nsu.edu
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.nsu.edu%2f&c=E,1,HU_BWt4CkVoVJDQeP7kswSs3AsdtiNmLz6f2x2yGAVwChppB73EVi-Ra--paalI5fP_X5WZ9PHvYWGQollvUL3Mu9UiE_u5nJgl3Yk-7cnmkDQ,,&typo=1>

@NSUCISO (Twitter)

<image001.png>

*From:* The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <
SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> *On Behalf Of *Joey Rego
*Sent:* Thursday, October 3, 2019 5:13 PM
*To:* SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
*Subject:* Re: [SECURITY] Ransomware Playbook

I am interested as well. Thank you.

Joey Rego

Associate Director of Information Security

Information Technology

Lynn University

3601 N Military Trail

Boca Raton, FL 33462

561-237-7982

www.lynn.edu
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.lynn.edu&c=E,1,zkF267g3wzATAzhcs6Em9T9Jvopt25l00KAxkRqZFIZ9X_iq5ZC0soQnTysStHJHzn8ZjY43CJ9lsVG3OQNFhPFkVMrH9UvOlch8aLsRNRvt8Ng6wtG9chJsnA3I&typo=1>
------------------------------

*From:* The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <
SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> on behalf of John Ramsey <
jramsey () STUDENTCLEARINGHOUSE ORG>
*Sent:* Thursday, October 3, 2019 4:50:20 PM
*To:* SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>
*Subject:* Re: [SECURITY] Ransomware Playbook

I have one and am happy to share!

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

Get Outlook for Android
<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2furldefense.proofpoint.com%2fv2%2furl%3fu%3dhttps-3A__aka.ms_ghei36%26d%3dDwMFAg%26c%3dtSGu_Pc6mPnB6zIYTZr3Sw%26r%3dPTnT2JXctjp4MTPziGqcrg%26m%3dSynK17bceWMbt_dooTOo-leAVssO48qPL8MzLnn_EXI%26s%3dwPjf0flvlyR164RzC6qod76IJztI6nHPHP-lEfY7Df4%26e%3d&c=E,1,TetJFIkhGJGdkWALuVtxFs9Fc7mzfvIPZsA_1NzPGR73V_rI20H5yUY8KPRtL3mhQ49xs6kfRe7YxXQU7mAFjR2PX4xYBjkUH40HV72NdzYhRJEWxs6ECw,,&typo=1>

------------------------------

*From:* The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <
SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> on behalf of Kip Bates <
kbates () HOUSING UCSB EDU>
*Sent:* Thursday, October 3, 2019 4:34:08 PM
*To:* SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU>
*Subject:* [SECURITY] Ransomware Playbook

Colleagues:

I am hoping that I can find someone or someplace that has made an effort to
develop a Ransomware Response playbook that they would not mind sharing. I
understand all the preparation that needs to occur prior to an attack but I
am looking for something that we can provide users, help desk folks,
technicians and such on what actions to take if (when) they experience a
ransomware attack. I have found a few on the web and I was wondering if
someone has adapted one of these for their institution or have developed
one that they think is particularly good.

Feel free to comment here or off-list.

Kip Bates

Associate Chief Information Security Officer

University of California, Santa Barbara

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Current thread:

Re: Ransomware Playbook, (continued)
- - Re: Ransomware Playbook White, Ryan (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Sara Hariri (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Gupta, Ravi K (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Margie Muthukumaru (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Woodson, Mr. Rick (Oct 03)
  - Re: Ransomware Playbook Joey Rego (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook King, Ronald A. (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Jonathon Poling (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Barton, Robert W. (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Hagan, Sean (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Dan Wasson (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Barton, Robert W. (Oct 03)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook John Ruggirello (Oct 04)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook John Ramsey (Oct 04)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Jeremy Livingston (Oct 04)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Barton, Robert W. (Oct 04)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Frank Barton (Oct 04)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook John Ramsey (Oct 04)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Jeremy Livingston (Oct 04)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Chad Tracy (Oct 04)
    - Re: Ransomware Playbook Mansfield, Kenneth C (Oct 04)

(Thread continues...)