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FEBRUARY 2017
STRONG AUTHENTICATION
IN CYBERSPACE
8 Key Principles for Policymakers
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
1
CONTENT:
2 INTRODUCTION
3 WHY AUTHENTICATION IS IMPORTANT
5 FUNDAMENTALS OF AUTHENTICATION
7 EIGHT KEY PRINCIPLES FOR POLICYMAKERS CONSIDERING
AUTHENTICATION
14 CONCLUSION
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
2
INTRODUCTION
It’s hard to find a major cyberattack over the last five years where identity – generally a
compromised password – did not provide the vector of attack.
Target, Sony Pictures, Anthem, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the U.S. Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) – each was breached because they relied on passwords alone
for authentication. We are in an era where there is no such thing as a “secure” password; even
the most complex password has fundamental weaknesses as a security tool.
In response to the increased frequency of authentication-based cyber-attacks, governments
around the world have been crafting policies, initiatives and regulations focused on driving the
adoption of more secure, multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions that can prevent password-
based attacks and better protect critical transactions, data, communications and infrastructure.
As they tackle this issue, however, governments face a number of challenges. At the core of
them is the fact that all MFA is not the same. Rather, MFA represents a wide variety of
technologies that vary in three key areas:
Against this backdrop – it is important that governments crafting policies or regulations around
the use of strong authentication take into account the ways that both the threat has evolved, as
well as how the market has evolved to address it. Policies that are written for yesterday’s
technologies and threats are certain to fail.
Security. New attack methods mean that the threat against authentication
technologies has also gotten more sophisticated, with some types of MFA
emerging as much more resilient than others. Governments thus need to craft
any new rules carefully, lest they mandate or promote adoption of
authentication technologies that are outdated.
Usability. Today, there is a veritable explosion of innovation in the
authentication sector, marked by the arrival of next-generation authentication
solutions that are not only more secure than first-generation solutions which
first hit the market in the 1990s, but are also easier to use. This is important,
given that the market has largely rejected first-generation MFA solutions that
degraded the overall user experience. Governments need to craft policies that
incent use of the “right” kind of MFA that can overcome these barriers.
Privacy. Some authentication technologies offer enhanced security at the
expense of privacy, or create new privacy risks that must be mitigated. Others
are designed to improve both security and privacy, with no tradeoff between the
two.
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
3
This paper will:
1. Lay out the current state of threats associated with inadequate authentication
2. Provide an overview of the types of technologies available on the market today to
address these threats
3. Outline eight key principles for governments to consider as they craft authentication
policies and initiatives.
WHY AUTHENTICATION IS IMPORTANT
As the table below demonstrates, it’s hard to find a major cyberattack over the last five years
where inadequate authentication – generally a compromised password – was not the vector of
attack.
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
4
Outside of these high-profile breaches, Verizon’s annual Data Breach Investigations Report
(DBIR) has also helped to make this point clear. The 2016 DBIR found that “63 percent of
confirmed data breaches involve using weak, default or stolen passwords.” No other attack vector
comes close.1
The reasons for this are simple: passwords are “shared secrets” that – once compromised – can
be used to break into many systems and bypass other forms of security.
Indeed, attack after attack has shown that adversaries use passwords to bypass traditional
perimeter defenses that create virtual “fortresses” around cyber assets; with passwords, they can
simply walk through the front door. A 2015 report from Secureworks2
highlighted how attackers
were moving away from sophisticated malware-based attacks, noting: “In nearly all of the
intrusions in the past year…cyber criminals utilized the target’s own system credentials and
legitimate software administration tools to move freely throughout the company’s networks
infecting and collecting valuable data.”
There are myriad ways for an attacker to compromise systems protected by a password. These
include:
 Phishing attacks that trick someone into sharing their password
 Brute force attacks that can quickly crack passwords
 Keyloggers or other malware that capture passwords while they are being entered
 Default passwords such as “admin” or “1234” that are never changed on many
machines and devices
 Reuse of passwords between accounts
This last point is worth expanding on in more detail: Because stolen credentials are so useful,
passwords themselves are often the most valuable treasure for attackers to steal, given how many
people reuse passwords between accounts. A September, 2016 article Ars Technica drove this
point home, detailing how the breach of a White House contractor was facilitated by him reusing
the same password on his Gmail account that was revealed in the Adobe breach of 2013.3
This
problem is widespread: a study from Telesign illustrated just how common password reuse is –
showing that 71% of accounts are protected by a password that is being reused across multiple
accounts.4
When passwords are reused across sites, even so-called “strong” passwords become weak, as
the compromise of one account can lead to the compromise of others.
The last few years have made clear that the guidance experts give people to change their
password after every breach – or add more characters to their password – is not effectively
thwarting attackers. If they were, we would not be seeing these kinds of attacks continue.
Increasingly, industry and governments have realized that passwords must be augmented with at
1 http://news.verizonenterprise.com/2016/04/2016-verizon-dbir-report-security/
2 http://www.darkreading.com/analytics/stealing-data-by-living-off-the-land/d/d-id/1322063
3 http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/09/hacked-e-mail-account-of-white-house-worker-exposed-in-2013-
password-breach/
4 https://www.telesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/TeleSign-Consumer-Account-Security-Report-
2016-FINAL.pdf
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
5
least a second factor of authentication, or ideally, replaced with technology that is fundamentally
more secure.
In the United States, for example, the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity called
out inadequate identity solutions as a major problem, noting “we are making it far too easy for
malicious actors to steal identities or impersonate someone online,” and declaring:
“An ambitious but important goal for the next Administration should be to see no major breaches
by 2021 in which identity—especially the use of passwords—is the primary vector of attack.”
FUNDAMENTALS OF AUTHENTICATION
As policymakers look to improve authentication, it’s important to consider the different kinds of
technologies used in authentication solutions. While there are many types of authentication
technologies, they commonly fit into three categories, or “factors”:
Best practices for MFA implementations dictate that a solution combine at least two of these types
of factors – for example, requiring that a knowledge-based factor such as a password is
augmented with additional security by layering on one of these other factors.
Beyond these three categories, however, there is another way to split authentication technologies:
1. Those that are “shared secrets” – meaning that they are known by both the user trying
to authenticate and the service provider requiring authentication. Passwords fall into
Something you know: such as a password, or the answer to a “security
question” (i.e., what elementary school did you attend?)
1
Something you have: such as a smart card, token, or mobile phone
2
Something you are: typically, a biometric, such as fingerprint, face, or iris
recognition
3
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
6
this category, but so do other “stronger” methods of authentication, such as SMS
codes or One Time Password (OTP) tokens and apps.
2. Those that are not – instead requiring that each party have part of the solution needed
to authenticate. This latter category generally relies on asymmetric, public-key
cryptography
A fundamental tenet of authentication is that solutions that rely on shared secrets are less secure
than ones that do not. This is because a shared secret can be compromised in ways that solutions
using asymmetric approaches cannot.
SMS and OTP are both increasingly vulnerable today, as adversaries develop attack methods to
compromise the technologies. Google is one of several firms who have recently flagged the
extent of the problem, noting that these days, a “phisher can pretty successfully phish for an OTP
just about as easily as they can a password” and noted their shift to hardware-based solutions
using the FIDO Alliance specifications as the way to stop these targeted phishing attacks.5
Likewise NIST has proposed to deprecate use of SMS authentication in its latest version of SP
800-63-3, “Digital Authentication Guidance,” due to a variety of documented weaknesses in use
of SMS as a second factor.6
For example, SMS texts can be redirected by malware, or by attacks
on the SS7 network itself. Additionally, “SIM swap” attacks are increasingly being used to take
over mobile phone accounts, with a key focus being to compromise the authentication codes sent
out by many online service providers.7
The takeaway: any authentication solution that relies on the use of a “shared secret” – even one
that is only good for a short time – is vulnerable to increasingly common and effective attacks.
The market needs to move away from shared secrets toward other solutions. And as
policymakers look to incent adoption of strong authentication, they need to make sure they are
focusing on the right kind of strong authentication.
5 Speech at 2015 Cloud Identity Summit, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBjEfpfZ8w0 Note that
Google had previously tried to drive two-factor login by offering OTP through both SMS and a free OTP
app based on the OATH protocol; these comments reflect their experience with this technology.
6 See: http://nstic.blogs.govdelivery.com/2016/07/29/questionsand-buzz-surrounding-draft-nist-special-
publication-800-63-3/
7 https://www.wired.com/2016/06/even-ftcs-lead-technologist-can-get-hacked/
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
7
EIGHT KEY PRINCIPLES FOR
POLICYMAKERS CONSIDERING
AUTHENTICATION
With so many different types of authentication technologies – and so much churn in the
marketplace – how should policymakers approach efforts to drive adoption of strong
authentication? There are eight policy principles that, if followed, can help to ensure the success
of authentication policy initiatives:
1. Have a plan that explicitly addresses authentication.
While a sound approach to authentication is just one element of a proper approach to
comprehensive cyber risk management, any cyber risk management initiative that does not
include a focus on strong authentication is woefully incomplete.
As this paper has documented, there simply is no other attack vector that matches the
password in frequency or impact – a point made clear by the near-monthly news of a major
breach caused by passwords causing major economic, security and privacy harm.
Authentication needs to be explicitly called out as an area needing attention.
2. Recognize the security limitations of shared secrets.
All MFA is not the same, and the problems with MFA solutions that rely on shared secrets for
both authentication factors are becoming more apparent each year. Policymakers should
understand the limitations of first-generation technologies that rely on shared secrets and look
to incent adoption of more secure alternatives.
3. To gain widespread adoption, authentication must be easy to use.
As a 2010 study detailed, “Poor usability of IT security presents a serious security vulnerability
which can be exploited to compromise systems that are otherwise secure.”8
Poor usability has presented a particularly notable challenge with many first-generation
authentication solutions, in that they required a user to “break stride” to log in – forcing them
to not only enter a password, but then find another device – such as a mobile phone or
hardware token – read a code off of it, and then enter that code in an application. These sorts
of solutions degrade the user experience, and have the effect of dissuading people from using
them. When presented with a poor user experience, users look to find ways around it.
History has shown that when mandates are issued for authentication solutions that degrade
the user experience, they tend to fall short of their goals, as implementers choose solutions
that sacrifice security for usability. For example, a 2006 effort in the United States by the
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) to drive use of stronger
authentication recommended a number of highly secure MFA options, but also permitted
8 http://folk.uio.no/josang/papers/APAJ2010-ICITIS.pdf
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
8
some simpler technologies that offered less security.9
Nearly every U.S. bank chose these
options instead of MFA.
There is good news on this front: the emergence of new, next-generation MFA solutions that
are more secure than passwords – and also simpler to use – creates incentives for people to
adopt them. Policymakers should focus on incenting use of these next-generation solutions
that address both security and user experience.
4. Understand that the old barriers to strong authentication no longer apply.
Historically, some governments have shied away from efforts to require strong authentication,
given concerns about the costs and burdens imposed by the technology.
For example, in 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) chose to
avoid setting new requirements for use of MFA in health systems, citing a commenter who
“pointed out that current approaches to multi-factor authentication are costly and burdensome
to implement.”10
While this statement may have been accurate when discussing “first
generation” strong authentication technologies, the market has responded to address them.
Today, there are hundreds of companies delivering next generation MFA that is stronger than
passwords, simpler to use, and less expensive to deploy and manage.
There are two themes here at play:
1. Advances in product design that have helped to address the security vs. usability
tradeoffs common to first-generation authentication – described in the principle
above.
2. A move by most major computer and device manufacturers to embed new security
capabilities as standard features in their products. These include:
 Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) – embedded into most commercial laptops
available today that run Windows
 Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) – embedded into most Android phones
 Secure Enclave (SE) technology – embedded into Apple smartphones
Each of these technologies serve as a hardware root of trust – isolated from the rest of the
device – that can be used to generate cryptographic key pairs to authenticate to online service
providers. This is a game-changer: it means that policymakers can begin to assume a world
exists where most of the users in entities they oversee will have a COTS device in their hands
or at their desks that can be used to deliver strong authentication without creating extra
burdens on those users.
One industry initiative that has been key to delivering these solutions – and changing the old
authentication paradigm – is the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance – a consortium of more
than 250 members across the globe, including Microsoft, Google, PayPal, eBay, all major
9 https://www.ffiec.gov/pdf/auth-its-final%206-22-11%20(ffiec%20formated).pdf
10 https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=HHS_FRDOC_0001-0602
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
9
payment card networks, several major banks and health firms, and dozens of security
vendors.11
The FIDO Alliance was launched in 2013 with a mission to change the nature of online
authentication by developing open, interoperable specifications to supplant passwords and
other first-generation authentication technologies with new solutions offering more security,
privacy and usability.
FIDO standards were specifically architected to take advantage of these new embedded
security features in devices, ensuring a simple, consistent authentication experience for users,
regardless of device or platform.
In a typical deployment of these standards, a user swipes a finger, speaks a phrase, or looks
at a camera on a device to login, pay for an item, or use another service. Behind the scenes
on that device, the biometric is used as an initial factor to verify the user is the same person
who registered the FIDO credentials with the service, then this verification unlocks the second
factor used to communicate with the online service: a private cryptographic key that works
“behind the scenes” to authenticate a user to the service by cryptographically "signing" the
authentication request sent to the user's device.
The result of this innovative solution, already codified in emerging industry standards, is a
truly multifactor authentication from a single user gesture. Since biometrics and cryptographic
keys are stored on local devices and never sent across the network – eliminating shared
secrets – user credentials are secure even if service providers get hacked, thereby eliminating
the possibility of scalable data breaches and ensuring the privacy of the user's biometric
information.
FIDO solutions can alternately be deployed via a standalone “security key” token that contains
a chip similar to the secure hardware embedded in devices. With the security key architecture,
a user can use a single token across several different devices and online services, leveraging
common interfaces such as USB, NFC and Bluetooth.
11 https://fidoalliance.org/
Figure 1: FIDO biometric-based deployment
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
10
FIDO standards are currently being used to enable simpler, stronger authentication in
offerings from Google, PayPal, Bank of America, Facebook, NTT DOCOMO, BC Card
(Korea), Dropbox, GitHub, eBay, Samsung and other leading firms. In addition, Microsoft has
designed its Windows 10 “Hello” product for passwordless login around FIDO standards. In
each of these deployments, consumers and businesses do not have to know how the
authentication works or why it’s more secure – they are getting login experiences that are
easier to use, with great security baked in behind the scenes.
The FIDO approach has been embraced by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), who is
expected to finalize a formal “Web Authentication” standard built on FIDO specifications in
2017.12
The emergence of this new standard, combined with the wide industry and
government support of the growing FIDO ecosystem, makes it an important tool in efforts to
improve authentication.
The FIDO approach is gaining plaudits from governments such as the United Kingdom,
Germany, and the United States; its approach to authentication is also being recognized by
entities such as the European Banking Authority (EBA), who, while not calling out FIDO by
name, highlighted the combination of biometrics paired with a protected cryptographic key as
an example of the type of solutions that will be permitted for authentication under Europe’s
new Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2).13
The EBA specifically focused on concerns
around the “independence” of authentication elements inside a multi-purpose device such as
a smartphone, laying out how “the implementation of separated trusted execution
environments inside the multi-purpose device” could be used to ensure “that the breach of
one of the elements does not compromise the reliability of the other elements.”
The work of FIDO and industry efforts to embed better security capabilities directly in devices
also features prominently in the United Kingdom’s 2016 National Cyber Security Strategy.14
The strategy focuses, in part, on ensuring that future online products and services coming into
use are “secure by default,” ensuring that users don’t have to go to great lengths in order to
enjoy strong protection.
12 https://www.w3.org/Submission/2015/02/
13 See the Directive 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and Council on Payment Services in the
Internal Market at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32015L2366
14 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-cyber-security-strategy-2016-to-2021
Figure 2: FIDO “security key” deployment
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
11
Authentication plays a central role in the strategy, which states:
“[We will] invest in technologies like Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) and emerging
industry standards such as Fast IDentity Online (FIDO), which do not rely on passwords
for user authentication, but use the machine and other devices in the user’s possession
to authenticate. The Government will test innovative authentication mechanisms to
demonstrate what they can offer, both in terms of security and overall user experience.”
5. Authentication solutions must support mobile.
The market is in the midst of a major shift where more and more consumer and enterprise
transactions take place on a mobile device instead of a desktop. Consider:
 Mobile web adoption is growing 8 times faster than web adoption did in the 1990s
and early 2000s.15
 By the end of 2017, over two billion mobile phone or tablet users will make some form
of mobile commerce transaction.16
 By 2018, 25% of corporate data traffic will bypass the corporate network and flow
direct from mobile device to the cloud.17
 84% of people have experienced difficulty completing a mobile transaction.18
 62% of “checkout abandonments” in mobile commerce happen due to friction in the
login process.19
The impact of this on authentication is notable, as technologies and models that work well in
desktop settings often do not translate well to the mobile environment. Thus, any policy which
does not optimize use of MFA in the mobile environment will fail to adequately protect
transactions conducted in that environment.
The good news is that mobile creates opportunity: the explosion of mobile
devices is enabling many new ways to deliver strong MFA – often using
technologies in the devices themselves. The increasing ubiquity of mobile
phones containing both embedded hardware roots of trust (TPM/TEE/SE)
and embedded biometric sensors means that the primitives to enable strong
MFA are now baked in to these devices at the manufacturer.
For example, a smartphone that contains a secure hardware element can be used to generate
cryptographic key pairs to authenticate to online service providers in a highly secure manner,
protected from any malicious software that may have been installed on the phone by a remote
attacker. Users can then use their biometric as a second factor to unlock access to those
keys, with solutions that leverage the FIDO standards enabling interoperability across the
ecosystem. Combined, the biometric and the cryptographic key allow for the delivery of
15 http://resources.mobify.com/50-mobile-commerce-stats.html
16 http://www.invespcro.com/blog/mobile-commerce/
17 https://twitter.com/gartner_inc/status/481528221054169088
18 http://www.outerboxdesign.com/web-design-articles/mobile-ecommerce-statistics
19 http://resources.mobify.com/rs/946-QEC-409/images/Q3-2016-Mobile-Insights-Report.pdf
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
12
multiple, independent authentication elements in a single device, usable by a single user
gesture – without a need to enter a password.
In the United States, the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity highlighted the
importance of FIDO to addressing mobile authentication challenges, noting: “FIDO
specifications are focused largely on the mobile smartphone platform to deliver multifactor
authentication to the masses, all based on industry standard public key cryptography,” and
highlighting that “today, organizations complying with FIDO specifications are able to deliver
secure authentication technology on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones, USB
keys, and near-field communications (NFC) and Bluetooth low energy (BLE) devices and
wearables.”20
6. Privacy matters.
Authentication solutions can vary greatly in their approach to privacy. Some embrace
approaches that track or monitor a user’s every move, or leverage centralized databases of
biometric information. While these types of solutions may be appropriate for certain use
cases, they also create privacy and security risks that must be mitigated.
Other solutions are architected with a “Privacy by Design” approach, delivering robust
authentication without linking or tracking, and enabling transactions that offer both excellent
security, as well as the possibility of anonymity or pseudonymity. Apple, for example,
designed its Touch ID system so that biometric data is only stored on the device and cannot
be exported to a central server. Likewise, solutions leveraging the FIDO standards are
architected to ensure:
 No third party in the protocol
 No secrets on the server side
 Biometric data, if used, never leaves the device
 No link-ability between services or accounts
Privacy is not just a matter of risk management; privacy also weighs on the minds of
consumers when considering which solutions to adopt, and can dissuade people from using
stronger security. Thankfully, privacy and security do not have to be at odds with each other
in authentication; standards such as FIDO are architected to improve both. Policymakers
should look carefully at different authentication approaches to ensure that privacy is not
unnecessarily degraded in the name of security.
7. Biometrics are making authentication easier – but must be applied appropriately.
The near-ubiquity of biometric sensors in mobile devices and laptops – such as fingerprint
sensors and cameras (which can be used for both face and iris recognition) – is a boon to
efforts to drive used of strong authentication. For years, any organization wanting to use
biometrics – a “something you are” authentication factor – had to purchase a stand-alone
biometrics solution, which created additional acquisition and integration costs and required
20 https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016/12/02/cybersecurity-commission-report-final-
post.pdf
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
13
the enterprise to solve the problem of how to distribute these software capabilities to all their
users' devices. But enterprises today can leverage the capabilities that are built in directly to
all standard compliant devices with just one integration of standard compliant software within
their infrastructure.
Biometrics alone do not provide multi-factor authentication, however. For this reason,
biometrics are best used as one layer of a multi-factor solution. This approach ensures that
if a biometric is somehow compromised, there are other layers of protection behind it.
For example, biometric solutions designed around FIDO Alliance standards use the biometric
only as an initial factor to then unlock a second factor, in this case a private cryptographic key
that is used to authenticate to a system through public key cryptography.
With FIDO, biometrics are only stored and matched on the device – and cannot be exported
outside of the device – avoiding the need to address privacy and security risks associated
with systems that store biometrics centrally. And by using biometrics as just one layer of a
multi-factor authentication solution, implementers mitigate risks should an adversary look to
steal biometrics or try to spoof a biometric system.
8. Don’t prescribe any single technology or solution – focus on standards and outcomes.
The authentication industry is going through a wave of innovation, with dozens of novel new
technologies hitting the marketplace each year. While some are better than others, the
progress driven by innovation is a net positive for the industry. Moreover, it is clear that the
state of the market today will not be state of the market five years from now.
For this reason, governments should focus on setting a principles-based approach to
authentication policy that does not preclude the use of new technologies or modalities that
were not anticipated at the time a policy was written.
An excellent case study demonstrating the problems with mandating specific technologies for
authentication is the experience of South Korea. In 1999, South Korea created a policy
mandating that any person who wants to use online financial services or payments had to
obtain a digital certificate tied specifically to use of Internet Explorer and ActiveX controls.21
At the time of its creation, the strong link to Internet Explorer was not a concern, given the
dominance of that browser in the marketplace. But as the market evolved, South Korea
quickly found itself locked into a platform that was not only limiting – given interest in using
other browsers and platforms – but that also created notable cybersecurity risk.
South Korea has since found a way to migrate off of this platform; the Korean Internet Security
Agency (KISA) has since embraced the FIDO specifications as part of a broader way to get
to a more modern, vendor-neutral approach to authentication.22
However, the country’s lock-
in to a single technology – as opposed to vendor-neutral solutions rooted in standards – meant
that efforts to migrate to a more modern solution took many years and introduced significant
levels of complexity.
21 http://www.zdnet.com/article/south-korea-takes-another-step-to-activex-liberation/
22 http://www.slideshare.net/FIDOAlliance/bioauthentication-fido-and-pki-trends-in-korea
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
14
In contrast, authentication policies that embrace the principles above will be flexible enough
to ensure security and privacy are protected while also allowing innovation to flourish.
CONCLUSION
No technology or solution can completely eliminate the risk of a cyberattack, but adoption of
modern, standards-compliant, multifactor authentication is one of the most impactful steps that
can meaningfully reduce cyber risk.
Governments looking to drive more widespread adoption of MFA by embracing a principles-based
policy approach – informed by the eight principles above – that offer better security and privacy,
while also achieving the results of adoption without major burdens. Such as approach will ensure
the best results in protection of consumers and businesses, as well as government systems, at a
time of great innovation and technological change.
Strong Authentication in Cyberspace
15
ABOUT THE CHERTOFF GROUP
The Chertoff Group is a premier global advisory firm that provides risk management, business
strategy, and merchant banking advisory services. We apply our insights into technology, threat,
and policy to help our clients improve their resiliency, build competitive advantage, and accelerate
growth.
With a particular focus around security and technology, The Chertoff Group provides a broad
array of professional services to help our clients at every stage of the business lifecycle. We
leverage our deep subject matter knowledge around important policy matters and security
operations to build and execute effective strategies that enable companies to capture new
opportunities and create lasting competitive advantage. For those organizations that require
tactical security support, we work hand-in-hand with clients to better understand today’s threats
and assess, mitigate and monitor potential dangers and evolving risks in order to create more
secure environments for their business operations.
Headquartered in Washington D.C., The Chertoff Group maintains offices in Menlo Park and New
York City. For more information about The Chertoff Group, visit www.chertoffgroup.com.
© The Chertoff Group. All rights reserved.

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Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 8 key principles for policymakers

  • 1. FEBRUARY 2017 STRONG AUTHENTICATION IN CYBERSPACE 8 Key Principles for Policymakers
  • 2. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 1 CONTENT: 2 INTRODUCTION 3 WHY AUTHENTICATION IS IMPORTANT 5 FUNDAMENTALS OF AUTHENTICATION 7 EIGHT KEY PRINCIPLES FOR POLICYMAKERS CONSIDERING AUTHENTICATION 14 CONCLUSION
  • 3. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 2 INTRODUCTION It’s hard to find a major cyberattack over the last five years where identity – generally a compromised password – did not provide the vector of attack. Target, Sony Pictures, Anthem, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – each was breached because they relied on passwords alone for authentication. We are in an era where there is no such thing as a “secure” password; even the most complex password has fundamental weaknesses as a security tool. In response to the increased frequency of authentication-based cyber-attacks, governments around the world have been crafting policies, initiatives and regulations focused on driving the adoption of more secure, multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions that can prevent password- based attacks and better protect critical transactions, data, communications and infrastructure. As they tackle this issue, however, governments face a number of challenges. At the core of them is the fact that all MFA is not the same. Rather, MFA represents a wide variety of technologies that vary in three key areas: Against this backdrop – it is important that governments crafting policies or regulations around the use of strong authentication take into account the ways that both the threat has evolved, as well as how the market has evolved to address it. Policies that are written for yesterday’s technologies and threats are certain to fail. Security. New attack methods mean that the threat against authentication technologies has also gotten more sophisticated, with some types of MFA emerging as much more resilient than others. Governments thus need to craft any new rules carefully, lest they mandate or promote adoption of authentication technologies that are outdated. Usability. Today, there is a veritable explosion of innovation in the authentication sector, marked by the arrival of next-generation authentication solutions that are not only more secure than first-generation solutions which first hit the market in the 1990s, but are also easier to use. This is important, given that the market has largely rejected first-generation MFA solutions that degraded the overall user experience. Governments need to craft policies that incent use of the “right” kind of MFA that can overcome these barriers. Privacy. Some authentication technologies offer enhanced security at the expense of privacy, or create new privacy risks that must be mitigated. Others are designed to improve both security and privacy, with no tradeoff between the two.
  • 4. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 3 This paper will: 1. Lay out the current state of threats associated with inadequate authentication 2. Provide an overview of the types of technologies available on the market today to address these threats 3. Outline eight key principles for governments to consider as they craft authentication policies and initiatives. WHY AUTHENTICATION IS IMPORTANT As the table below demonstrates, it’s hard to find a major cyberattack over the last five years where inadequate authentication – generally a compromised password – was not the vector of attack.
  • 5. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 4 Outside of these high-profile breaches, Verizon’s annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) has also helped to make this point clear. The 2016 DBIR found that “63 percent of confirmed data breaches involve using weak, default or stolen passwords.” No other attack vector comes close.1 The reasons for this are simple: passwords are “shared secrets” that – once compromised – can be used to break into many systems and bypass other forms of security. Indeed, attack after attack has shown that adversaries use passwords to bypass traditional perimeter defenses that create virtual “fortresses” around cyber assets; with passwords, they can simply walk through the front door. A 2015 report from Secureworks2 highlighted how attackers were moving away from sophisticated malware-based attacks, noting: “In nearly all of the intrusions in the past year…cyber criminals utilized the target’s own system credentials and legitimate software administration tools to move freely throughout the company’s networks infecting and collecting valuable data.” There are myriad ways for an attacker to compromise systems protected by a password. These include:  Phishing attacks that trick someone into sharing their password  Brute force attacks that can quickly crack passwords  Keyloggers or other malware that capture passwords while they are being entered  Default passwords such as “admin” or “1234” that are never changed on many machines and devices  Reuse of passwords between accounts This last point is worth expanding on in more detail: Because stolen credentials are so useful, passwords themselves are often the most valuable treasure for attackers to steal, given how many people reuse passwords between accounts. A September, 2016 article Ars Technica drove this point home, detailing how the breach of a White House contractor was facilitated by him reusing the same password on his Gmail account that was revealed in the Adobe breach of 2013.3 This problem is widespread: a study from Telesign illustrated just how common password reuse is – showing that 71% of accounts are protected by a password that is being reused across multiple accounts.4 When passwords are reused across sites, even so-called “strong” passwords become weak, as the compromise of one account can lead to the compromise of others. The last few years have made clear that the guidance experts give people to change their password after every breach – or add more characters to their password – is not effectively thwarting attackers. If they were, we would not be seeing these kinds of attacks continue. Increasingly, industry and governments have realized that passwords must be augmented with at 1 http://news.verizonenterprise.com/2016/04/2016-verizon-dbir-report-security/ 2 http://www.darkreading.com/analytics/stealing-data-by-living-off-the-land/d/d-id/1322063 3 http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/09/hacked-e-mail-account-of-white-house-worker-exposed-in-2013- password-breach/ 4 https://www.telesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/TeleSign-Consumer-Account-Security-Report- 2016-FINAL.pdf
  • 6. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 5 least a second factor of authentication, or ideally, replaced with technology that is fundamentally more secure. In the United States, for example, the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity called out inadequate identity solutions as a major problem, noting “we are making it far too easy for malicious actors to steal identities or impersonate someone online,” and declaring: “An ambitious but important goal for the next Administration should be to see no major breaches by 2021 in which identity—especially the use of passwords—is the primary vector of attack.” FUNDAMENTALS OF AUTHENTICATION As policymakers look to improve authentication, it’s important to consider the different kinds of technologies used in authentication solutions. While there are many types of authentication technologies, they commonly fit into three categories, or “factors”: Best practices for MFA implementations dictate that a solution combine at least two of these types of factors – for example, requiring that a knowledge-based factor such as a password is augmented with additional security by layering on one of these other factors. Beyond these three categories, however, there is another way to split authentication technologies: 1. Those that are “shared secrets” – meaning that they are known by both the user trying to authenticate and the service provider requiring authentication. Passwords fall into Something you know: such as a password, or the answer to a “security question” (i.e., what elementary school did you attend?) 1 Something you have: such as a smart card, token, or mobile phone 2 Something you are: typically, a biometric, such as fingerprint, face, or iris recognition 3
  • 7. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 6 this category, but so do other “stronger” methods of authentication, such as SMS codes or One Time Password (OTP) tokens and apps. 2. Those that are not – instead requiring that each party have part of the solution needed to authenticate. This latter category generally relies on asymmetric, public-key cryptography A fundamental tenet of authentication is that solutions that rely on shared secrets are less secure than ones that do not. This is because a shared secret can be compromised in ways that solutions using asymmetric approaches cannot. SMS and OTP are both increasingly vulnerable today, as adversaries develop attack methods to compromise the technologies. Google is one of several firms who have recently flagged the extent of the problem, noting that these days, a “phisher can pretty successfully phish for an OTP just about as easily as they can a password” and noted their shift to hardware-based solutions using the FIDO Alliance specifications as the way to stop these targeted phishing attacks.5 Likewise NIST has proposed to deprecate use of SMS authentication in its latest version of SP 800-63-3, “Digital Authentication Guidance,” due to a variety of documented weaknesses in use of SMS as a second factor.6 For example, SMS texts can be redirected by malware, or by attacks on the SS7 network itself. Additionally, “SIM swap” attacks are increasingly being used to take over mobile phone accounts, with a key focus being to compromise the authentication codes sent out by many online service providers.7 The takeaway: any authentication solution that relies on the use of a “shared secret” – even one that is only good for a short time – is vulnerable to increasingly common and effective attacks. The market needs to move away from shared secrets toward other solutions. And as policymakers look to incent adoption of strong authentication, they need to make sure they are focusing on the right kind of strong authentication. 5 Speech at 2015 Cloud Identity Summit, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBjEfpfZ8w0 Note that Google had previously tried to drive two-factor login by offering OTP through both SMS and a free OTP app based on the OATH protocol; these comments reflect their experience with this technology. 6 See: http://nstic.blogs.govdelivery.com/2016/07/29/questionsand-buzz-surrounding-draft-nist-special- publication-800-63-3/ 7 https://www.wired.com/2016/06/even-ftcs-lead-technologist-can-get-hacked/
  • 8. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 7 EIGHT KEY PRINCIPLES FOR POLICYMAKERS CONSIDERING AUTHENTICATION With so many different types of authentication technologies – and so much churn in the marketplace – how should policymakers approach efforts to drive adoption of strong authentication? There are eight policy principles that, if followed, can help to ensure the success of authentication policy initiatives: 1. Have a plan that explicitly addresses authentication. While a sound approach to authentication is just one element of a proper approach to comprehensive cyber risk management, any cyber risk management initiative that does not include a focus on strong authentication is woefully incomplete. As this paper has documented, there simply is no other attack vector that matches the password in frequency or impact – a point made clear by the near-monthly news of a major breach caused by passwords causing major economic, security and privacy harm. Authentication needs to be explicitly called out as an area needing attention. 2. Recognize the security limitations of shared secrets. All MFA is not the same, and the problems with MFA solutions that rely on shared secrets for both authentication factors are becoming more apparent each year. Policymakers should understand the limitations of first-generation technologies that rely on shared secrets and look to incent adoption of more secure alternatives. 3. To gain widespread adoption, authentication must be easy to use. As a 2010 study detailed, “Poor usability of IT security presents a serious security vulnerability which can be exploited to compromise systems that are otherwise secure.”8 Poor usability has presented a particularly notable challenge with many first-generation authentication solutions, in that they required a user to “break stride” to log in – forcing them to not only enter a password, but then find another device – such as a mobile phone or hardware token – read a code off of it, and then enter that code in an application. These sorts of solutions degrade the user experience, and have the effect of dissuading people from using them. When presented with a poor user experience, users look to find ways around it. History has shown that when mandates are issued for authentication solutions that degrade the user experience, they tend to fall short of their goals, as implementers choose solutions that sacrifice security for usability. For example, a 2006 effort in the United States by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) to drive use of stronger authentication recommended a number of highly secure MFA options, but also permitted 8 http://folk.uio.no/josang/papers/APAJ2010-ICITIS.pdf
  • 9. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 8 some simpler technologies that offered less security.9 Nearly every U.S. bank chose these options instead of MFA. There is good news on this front: the emergence of new, next-generation MFA solutions that are more secure than passwords – and also simpler to use – creates incentives for people to adopt them. Policymakers should focus on incenting use of these next-generation solutions that address both security and user experience. 4. Understand that the old barriers to strong authentication no longer apply. Historically, some governments have shied away from efforts to require strong authentication, given concerns about the costs and burdens imposed by the technology. For example, in 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) chose to avoid setting new requirements for use of MFA in health systems, citing a commenter who “pointed out that current approaches to multi-factor authentication are costly and burdensome to implement.”10 While this statement may have been accurate when discussing “first generation” strong authentication technologies, the market has responded to address them. Today, there are hundreds of companies delivering next generation MFA that is stronger than passwords, simpler to use, and less expensive to deploy and manage. There are two themes here at play: 1. Advances in product design that have helped to address the security vs. usability tradeoffs common to first-generation authentication – described in the principle above. 2. A move by most major computer and device manufacturers to embed new security capabilities as standard features in their products. These include:  Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) – embedded into most commercial laptops available today that run Windows  Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) – embedded into most Android phones  Secure Enclave (SE) technology – embedded into Apple smartphones Each of these technologies serve as a hardware root of trust – isolated from the rest of the device – that can be used to generate cryptographic key pairs to authenticate to online service providers. This is a game-changer: it means that policymakers can begin to assume a world exists where most of the users in entities they oversee will have a COTS device in their hands or at their desks that can be used to deliver strong authentication without creating extra burdens on those users. One industry initiative that has been key to delivering these solutions – and changing the old authentication paradigm – is the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance – a consortium of more than 250 members across the globe, including Microsoft, Google, PayPal, eBay, all major 9 https://www.ffiec.gov/pdf/auth-its-final%206-22-11%20(ffiec%20formated).pdf 10 https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=HHS_FRDOC_0001-0602
  • 10. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 9 payment card networks, several major banks and health firms, and dozens of security vendors.11 The FIDO Alliance was launched in 2013 with a mission to change the nature of online authentication by developing open, interoperable specifications to supplant passwords and other first-generation authentication technologies with new solutions offering more security, privacy and usability. FIDO standards were specifically architected to take advantage of these new embedded security features in devices, ensuring a simple, consistent authentication experience for users, regardless of device or platform. In a typical deployment of these standards, a user swipes a finger, speaks a phrase, or looks at a camera on a device to login, pay for an item, or use another service. Behind the scenes on that device, the biometric is used as an initial factor to verify the user is the same person who registered the FIDO credentials with the service, then this verification unlocks the second factor used to communicate with the online service: a private cryptographic key that works “behind the scenes” to authenticate a user to the service by cryptographically "signing" the authentication request sent to the user's device. The result of this innovative solution, already codified in emerging industry standards, is a truly multifactor authentication from a single user gesture. Since biometrics and cryptographic keys are stored on local devices and never sent across the network – eliminating shared secrets – user credentials are secure even if service providers get hacked, thereby eliminating the possibility of scalable data breaches and ensuring the privacy of the user's biometric information. FIDO solutions can alternately be deployed via a standalone “security key” token that contains a chip similar to the secure hardware embedded in devices. With the security key architecture, a user can use a single token across several different devices and online services, leveraging common interfaces such as USB, NFC and Bluetooth. 11 https://fidoalliance.org/ Figure 1: FIDO biometric-based deployment
  • 11. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 10 FIDO standards are currently being used to enable simpler, stronger authentication in offerings from Google, PayPal, Bank of America, Facebook, NTT DOCOMO, BC Card (Korea), Dropbox, GitHub, eBay, Samsung and other leading firms. In addition, Microsoft has designed its Windows 10 “Hello” product for passwordless login around FIDO standards. In each of these deployments, consumers and businesses do not have to know how the authentication works or why it’s more secure – they are getting login experiences that are easier to use, with great security baked in behind the scenes. The FIDO approach has been embraced by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), who is expected to finalize a formal “Web Authentication” standard built on FIDO specifications in 2017.12 The emergence of this new standard, combined with the wide industry and government support of the growing FIDO ecosystem, makes it an important tool in efforts to improve authentication. The FIDO approach is gaining plaudits from governments such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States; its approach to authentication is also being recognized by entities such as the European Banking Authority (EBA), who, while not calling out FIDO by name, highlighted the combination of biometrics paired with a protected cryptographic key as an example of the type of solutions that will be permitted for authentication under Europe’s new Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2).13 The EBA specifically focused on concerns around the “independence” of authentication elements inside a multi-purpose device such as a smartphone, laying out how “the implementation of separated trusted execution environments inside the multi-purpose device” could be used to ensure “that the breach of one of the elements does not compromise the reliability of the other elements.” The work of FIDO and industry efforts to embed better security capabilities directly in devices also features prominently in the United Kingdom’s 2016 National Cyber Security Strategy.14 The strategy focuses, in part, on ensuring that future online products and services coming into use are “secure by default,” ensuring that users don’t have to go to great lengths in order to enjoy strong protection. 12 https://www.w3.org/Submission/2015/02/ 13 See the Directive 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and Council on Payment Services in the Internal Market at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32015L2366 14 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-cyber-security-strategy-2016-to-2021 Figure 2: FIDO “security key” deployment
  • 12. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 11 Authentication plays a central role in the strategy, which states: “[We will] invest in technologies like Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) and emerging industry standards such as Fast IDentity Online (FIDO), which do not rely on passwords for user authentication, but use the machine and other devices in the user’s possession to authenticate. The Government will test innovative authentication mechanisms to demonstrate what they can offer, both in terms of security and overall user experience.” 5. Authentication solutions must support mobile. The market is in the midst of a major shift where more and more consumer and enterprise transactions take place on a mobile device instead of a desktop. Consider:  Mobile web adoption is growing 8 times faster than web adoption did in the 1990s and early 2000s.15  By the end of 2017, over two billion mobile phone or tablet users will make some form of mobile commerce transaction.16  By 2018, 25% of corporate data traffic will bypass the corporate network and flow direct from mobile device to the cloud.17  84% of people have experienced difficulty completing a mobile transaction.18  62% of “checkout abandonments” in mobile commerce happen due to friction in the login process.19 The impact of this on authentication is notable, as technologies and models that work well in desktop settings often do not translate well to the mobile environment. Thus, any policy which does not optimize use of MFA in the mobile environment will fail to adequately protect transactions conducted in that environment. The good news is that mobile creates opportunity: the explosion of mobile devices is enabling many new ways to deliver strong MFA – often using technologies in the devices themselves. The increasing ubiquity of mobile phones containing both embedded hardware roots of trust (TPM/TEE/SE) and embedded biometric sensors means that the primitives to enable strong MFA are now baked in to these devices at the manufacturer. For example, a smartphone that contains a secure hardware element can be used to generate cryptographic key pairs to authenticate to online service providers in a highly secure manner, protected from any malicious software that may have been installed on the phone by a remote attacker. Users can then use their biometric as a second factor to unlock access to those keys, with solutions that leverage the FIDO standards enabling interoperability across the ecosystem. Combined, the biometric and the cryptographic key allow for the delivery of 15 http://resources.mobify.com/50-mobile-commerce-stats.html 16 http://www.invespcro.com/blog/mobile-commerce/ 17 https://twitter.com/gartner_inc/status/481528221054169088 18 http://www.outerboxdesign.com/web-design-articles/mobile-ecommerce-statistics 19 http://resources.mobify.com/rs/946-QEC-409/images/Q3-2016-Mobile-Insights-Report.pdf
  • 13. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 12 multiple, independent authentication elements in a single device, usable by a single user gesture – without a need to enter a password. In the United States, the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity highlighted the importance of FIDO to addressing mobile authentication challenges, noting: “FIDO specifications are focused largely on the mobile smartphone platform to deliver multifactor authentication to the masses, all based on industry standard public key cryptography,” and highlighting that “today, organizations complying with FIDO specifications are able to deliver secure authentication technology on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones, USB keys, and near-field communications (NFC) and Bluetooth low energy (BLE) devices and wearables.”20 6. Privacy matters. Authentication solutions can vary greatly in their approach to privacy. Some embrace approaches that track or monitor a user’s every move, or leverage centralized databases of biometric information. While these types of solutions may be appropriate for certain use cases, they also create privacy and security risks that must be mitigated. Other solutions are architected with a “Privacy by Design” approach, delivering robust authentication without linking or tracking, and enabling transactions that offer both excellent security, as well as the possibility of anonymity or pseudonymity. Apple, for example, designed its Touch ID system so that biometric data is only stored on the device and cannot be exported to a central server. Likewise, solutions leveraging the FIDO standards are architected to ensure:  No third party in the protocol  No secrets on the server side  Biometric data, if used, never leaves the device  No link-ability between services or accounts Privacy is not just a matter of risk management; privacy also weighs on the minds of consumers when considering which solutions to adopt, and can dissuade people from using stronger security. Thankfully, privacy and security do not have to be at odds with each other in authentication; standards such as FIDO are architected to improve both. Policymakers should look carefully at different authentication approaches to ensure that privacy is not unnecessarily degraded in the name of security. 7. Biometrics are making authentication easier – but must be applied appropriately. The near-ubiquity of biometric sensors in mobile devices and laptops – such as fingerprint sensors and cameras (which can be used for both face and iris recognition) – is a boon to efforts to drive used of strong authentication. For years, any organization wanting to use biometrics – a “something you are” authentication factor – had to purchase a stand-alone biometrics solution, which created additional acquisition and integration costs and required 20 https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016/12/02/cybersecurity-commission-report-final- post.pdf
  • 14. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 13 the enterprise to solve the problem of how to distribute these software capabilities to all their users' devices. But enterprises today can leverage the capabilities that are built in directly to all standard compliant devices with just one integration of standard compliant software within their infrastructure. Biometrics alone do not provide multi-factor authentication, however. For this reason, biometrics are best used as one layer of a multi-factor solution. This approach ensures that if a biometric is somehow compromised, there are other layers of protection behind it. For example, biometric solutions designed around FIDO Alliance standards use the biometric only as an initial factor to then unlock a second factor, in this case a private cryptographic key that is used to authenticate to a system through public key cryptography. With FIDO, biometrics are only stored and matched on the device – and cannot be exported outside of the device – avoiding the need to address privacy and security risks associated with systems that store biometrics centrally. And by using biometrics as just one layer of a multi-factor authentication solution, implementers mitigate risks should an adversary look to steal biometrics or try to spoof a biometric system. 8. Don’t prescribe any single technology or solution – focus on standards and outcomes. The authentication industry is going through a wave of innovation, with dozens of novel new technologies hitting the marketplace each year. While some are better than others, the progress driven by innovation is a net positive for the industry. Moreover, it is clear that the state of the market today will not be state of the market five years from now. For this reason, governments should focus on setting a principles-based approach to authentication policy that does not preclude the use of new technologies or modalities that were not anticipated at the time a policy was written. An excellent case study demonstrating the problems with mandating specific technologies for authentication is the experience of South Korea. In 1999, South Korea created a policy mandating that any person who wants to use online financial services or payments had to obtain a digital certificate tied specifically to use of Internet Explorer and ActiveX controls.21 At the time of its creation, the strong link to Internet Explorer was not a concern, given the dominance of that browser in the marketplace. But as the market evolved, South Korea quickly found itself locked into a platform that was not only limiting – given interest in using other browsers and platforms – but that also created notable cybersecurity risk. South Korea has since found a way to migrate off of this platform; the Korean Internet Security Agency (KISA) has since embraced the FIDO specifications as part of a broader way to get to a more modern, vendor-neutral approach to authentication.22 However, the country’s lock- in to a single technology – as opposed to vendor-neutral solutions rooted in standards – meant that efforts to migrate to a more modern solution took many years and introduced significant levels of complexity. 21 http://www.zdnet.com/article/south-korea-takes-another-step-to-activex-liberation/ 22 http://www.slideshare.net/FIDOAlliance/bioauthentication-fido-and-pki-trends-in-korea
  • 15. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 14 In contrast, authentication policies that embrace the principles above will be flexible enough to ensure security and privacy are protected while also allowing innovation to flourish. CONCLUSION No technology or solution can completely eliminate the risk of a cyberattack, but adoption of modern, standards-compliant, multifactor authentication is one of the most impactful steps that can meaningfully reduce cyber risk. Governments looking to drive more widespread adoption of MFA by embracing a principles-based policy approach – informed by the eight principles above – that offer better security and privacy, while also achieving the results of adoption without major burdens. Such as approach will ensure the best results in protection of consumers and businesses, as well as government systems, at a time of great innovation and technological change.
  • 16. Strong Authentication in Cyberspace 15 ABOUT THE CHERTOFF GROUP The Chertoff Group is a premier global advisory firm that provides risk management, business strategy, and merchant banking advisory services. We apply our insights into technology, threat, and policy to help our clients improve their resiliency, build competitive advantage, and accelerate growth. With a particular focus around security and technology, The Chertoff Group provides a broad array of professional services to help our clients at every stage of the business lifecycle. We leverage our deep subject matter knowledge around important policy matters and security operations to build and execute effective strategies that enable companies to capture new opportunities and create lasting competitive advantage. For those organizations that require tactical security support, we work hand-in-hand with clients to better understand today’s threats and assess, mitigate and monitor potential dangers and evolving risks in order to create more secure environments for their business operations. Headquartered in Washington D.C., The Chertoff Group maintains offices in Menlo Park and New York City. For more information about The Chertoff Group, visit www.chertoffgroup.com. © The Chertoff Group. All rights reserved.