Re: Ransomware Playbook

[Jeremy Livingston <jeremy () NJEDGE NET>]

Thanks, I agree.

I’ve never had to make the decision to pay.  But know some who have and they ended up getting most of their computers 
back online.  Can’t fault them for that.




Jeremy M. Livingston
Associate Vice President, Security Solutions Development & Chief Information Security Officer
NJEdge
Jeremy () NJEdge net
1-973-985-4996 (m)


> On Oct 4, 2019, at 8:50 AM, John Ramsey <jramsey () studentclearinghouse org> wrote:
>
> 
> Jeremy,
>  
> Great question.  I think another way to associate “Disconnect from network” as containment and preventing the spread 
> of the ransomware itself.  When the infection happens on the first device, that device is gone.  There isn’t a 
> playbook in the world that is going to save it.  There’s not enough time.  However, there are some fleeting moments 
> while that first device is being encrypted, that the damage should be contained if possible.  As you indicated, the 
> infection can spread quickly across the environment. 
>  
> If you’re starting to see several devices getting infected, then disconnect subnets.  The thought process in the 
> playbook is that we’re not going to stop the ransomware once it hits a device.  From your instances and mine, we know 
> that the ransomware can literally encrypt hundreds of thousands of files in minutes.  What we can do though is limit 
> the spread of the infection and minimize the damage.  If it’s one device, pull it from the network.  If it’s multiple 
> devices, pull the subnet from the network.  If it’s a wide range, pull the network from the Internet (and the spread 
> won’t be able to continue with C2 communications and ideally not hit your off site backups.)   
>  
> As far as making payments to ransomware, that is an organizational decision. I did include an appendix on how 
> Forrester recommends negotiating payment.  I’m not pro or con on payment.  If I was asked to pay $50K for an 
> encryption key, that is a seriously hard situation not to consider.  SC Magazine has a great article on the 
> ransomware events that occurred, how much people paid in ransom where they did, as well as the costs an organization 
> incurred as a result of the ransomware event since they did not pay the ransom.
>  
> John
>  
> John Ramsey, Chief Information Security Officer, National Student Clearinghouse
> Certified:  CISSP, CISM, PMP, CSSLP, CRISC, CGEIT
> 2300 Dulles Station Blvd., Suite 220, Herndon, VA 20171
> P: 703.742.4428  |   http://www.studentclearinghouse.org
> Read the Clearinghouse Today Blog
>
> Winner “2016 When Work Works” & “Excellence in Work-Life Balance”
>
>  
> From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> On Behalf Of Jeremy 
> Livingston
> Sent: Friday, October 4, 2019 8:32 AM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Ransomware Playbook
>  
> John,
>  
> Thanks for sharing, but I'm a bit worried that every option under step one leads to "Disconnect from the network".  
> I've actually run into a couple instances where Everything on the network was being encrypted simultaneously, and 
> pulling the network just means that the attacker doesn't get your encryption key, and you have no way of getting that 
> key (ie paying the ransom).
>  
> This might be okay in the "we never deal with terrorists" part of the government, but as many have seen that didn't 
> work out so great for Baltimore city or several others who have either taken a hardline, or otherwise screwed up the 
> encryption key transmission.
>  
> I'm just trying to ask for clarification and would love to hear other's perspectives.
>  
>  
>  
> v/r,
>  
> Jeremy M. Livingston
> Associate Vice President, Security Solutions Development & Chief Information Security Officer
> NJEdge
> Jeremy () NJEdge net
> 1-973-985-4996 (m)
>
>  
>  
> On Fri, Oct 4, 2019 at 7:49 AM John Ramsey <jramsey () studentclearinghouse org> wrote:
> Everybody,
>  
> The interest in playbooks, especially ransomware, is great to see (as playbooks are time consuming to create and 
> there aren’t enough hours in the day as it is).  I’ve been through a few ransomware incidents, so the playbook is 
> battle ready.  However, as some have pointed out, you’ll want to customize to your organization where applicable.  
> When my team creates playbooks, our goal is to keep it simple and flexible and easy to follow (versus flipping back 
> and forth as you might in a plan.)  The first page is almost always how to easily and quickly contain and then 
> triage.  Once that is done, the rest is post event activities.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to 
> ask me.  Since the NSC is a third-party service provider for most of you, I’m happy to share what we’re doing in 
> order to further gain your confidence in our processes to protect your data.  At the end of the day, we’re one team!
>  
> We also have other playbooks that I’m happy to share (maybe it makes sense for Educause or REN-ISAC or both to post 
> what all of us are willing to share amongst ourselves.  Then we’ll have a pretty robust set to select from and modify 
> as appropriate).  Here are some others that we have finalized:
>  
> Notifications and Escalations Playbook.  This walks through the first six hours of an incident in 30-minute 
> increments indicating what each stakeholder is doing as well as what message gets communicated and to whom.
> DDOS Playbook.  Being one of the top attacks in the Education industry, this was one of the first ones we did.  
> Internet 2 was kind enough to provide some guidance on the playbook (which we incorporated.)
> Foreign Travel Playbook.  Actions we take when somebody travels overseas and has the requirement to take a company 
> device.
> Incident Handling Checklists/Chains of Custody forms.
> Network Compromise Playbook.
> Spoofed URL Playbook. 
>  
> John
>  
> John Ramsey, Chief Information Security Officer, National Student Clearinghouse
> Certified:  CISSP, CISM, PMP, CSSLP, CRISC, CGEIT
> 2300 Dulles Station Blvd., Suite 220, Herndon, VA 20171
> P: 703.742.4428  |   http://www.studentclearinghouse.org
> Read the Clearinghouse Today Blog
>
> Winner “2016 When Work Works” & “Excellence in Work-Life Balance”
>
>  
> From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> On Behalf Of John Ruggirello
> Sent: Friday, October 4, 2019 7:15 AM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Ransomware Playbook
>  
> I too am interested.
>  
> From: The EDUCAUSE Security Community Group Listserv <SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> On Behalf Of Jonathon Poling
> Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2019 5:17 PM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Ransomware Playbook
>  
> CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking 
> links, especially from unknown senders.
>
> 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
> @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
> 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
>  
> 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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