Discussion & Responses: Identify Opportunities for Adversaries

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Using this module’s reading, discuss different opportunities an adversary could use to plan an attack against a home you have lived in. In posts to your peers, discuss examples of countermeasures that may prevent vulnerabilities from being exploited.

Textbook:
Risk Analysis and Security Countermeasure Selection, Review Chapter 8

To acess textbook

https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/

Username kyleseth@ymail.com

Password MaX0802!

In regards to this week’s discussion, I thought to give you some references that you might be able to use.

Home Security Handbook 2016

Home Security Handbook

An Investigative Study for Smart Home

Home Security Methodology Vacation Guide 1.2

Smart Housing Safety Security Booklet

Hopefully, these extra references will give you some insight on areas of home security that you had not previously thought about. Please reach out to me if you need assistance with anything.

Peer post 1

An adversary can plan an attack against many structures, buildings, and homes, with a little planning and execution. Depending on the vulnerability of the target, some are at a higher risk than others. As stated by Norman (2016), “a vulnerability is any condition that could be exploited by a threat actor to carry out an intrusion or escape or to easily destroy property or processes.” The target can be anything from a vehicle, to a house, to a business and so on. As long as the threat actor sees a vulnerability, they have a upper hand on the situation. As far as speaking about a house I have lived in and an adversaries opportunities to plan an attack against it, would be the current apartment I live In now. The apartment is on the first floor, with two bedrooms that have floor level windows, and a living room that has a sliding window door leading to a small porch. This is concern number one for me. Someone could easily hop the railing to my porch, and attempt to break in. It is easily assessable, and is a concern of vulnerability for both when we are in the home, and when we are away.

Another concern would be the windows, as they are ground level and pose a similar threat as the sliding porch door. Also, you need a key to access our apartment complex, however some people leave the door propped open for a period of time, and others will let individuals they do not know in, thinking they live in the apartment complex. This is a major issue because an adversary could easily gain access into the building, and attempt a break in from there. Two things must happen before an attack Is carried out by a terrorist or criminal. First, the attacker must be able to get into the facility, second, the attacker must feel confident they will carry out the attack (Norman, 2016). There is a third factor for common criminals, which is the ability to leave the facility (Norman, 2016). In my case, in order to reduce the probability of a successful break in or entry, my wife and I would need to make sure all doors and windows are locked, make sure to shut all outside doors that may be propped open, and avoid letting anyone we do not personally know into the facility.

Anthony

Resources:

Norman, CPP, T. L., PSP, CSC. (2016). Risk Analysis and Security Countermeasure Selection, Second Edition. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781482244205/

Peer post 2

Greetings everyone,

Criminals have all day, whether they are sitting in jail or not to think of ways to commit their crimes. Some are not too smart and keep with tradition and do it the old-fashioned way and end up back in jail. Others take more creatives standpoints and fulfill their objective only to get caught later down the line. It is the creatives ones that law enforcement must watch out for. Yes, the “slow” criminals are also a threat, but the police normally catch them right away. The creative criminals will think of “outside of the box” ways to access vulnerabilities. “A vulnerability is any condition that could be exploited by a threat actor to carry out an intrusion or escape or to easily destroy property or processes” (Norman, 2016). It is like the definition says, “any” condition. For example, at one of my old homes, back in the 90’s, thinking outside the box was not too common for the common criminal in the area where I lived.

However, an adversary could have posed as a delivery person and at the time, my mother would have let them in. They could have posed as someone in need, and once again they would have been let into the house. People being scammed was common back then as it is now, and there were accounts of neighbors being scammed by supposed “church groups” going up and down the street asking for donations. Fast forward to now, and these types of con artists are still prevalent. However, they are more technological savvy now. They ask for your billing information or other personal information and people will give it to them. They possess the right clothing, the right paperwork, and get the information they need. They can hack your Wi-Fi and pull vital information from your home without you even knowing. Back then we did not have a security system, so anyone could have kicked the front door in and stolen what they wanted. These are just a small list of vulnerabilities we had growing up. If someone were to take the time to sit and think how many there actually were, the list would go on for quite some time.

Regards,

Alex Vasquez