Reverse Intent

Reverse Intent the name given to a common hacker technique of flip-flopping a piece of security knowledge to identify a potential weakness. For example, identifying the version of Bind running on a DNS server is used to identify common exploits of that version of software.

It is also the development and adoption of Information Systems Security policies, which by their wording; unintentionally and inadvertently reveal system vulnerabilities and capabilities that can be exploited by attackers. For example: a policy, which states: “System administrators shall not leave modems attached to the server in ‘auto answer’ or ‘auto response’ condition after normal working hours, during weekends and holidays” indicates they are setup that way during normal business hours.  Hackers can use the reverse intent to try and compromise the network.

What Should My SMB Do?

If you own a business, you need to be doing these basic things to protect your sensitive information:

1. Govern employees with policies and procedures. You need a password policy, an acceptable use policy, an information handling policy, and a written information security program (WISP) at a minimum.
2. Train employees on how to spot and avoid phishing attacks. Adopt a Learning Management system like CyberHoot to teach employees the skills they need to be more confident, productive, and secure.
3. Test employees with Phishing attacks to practice. CyberHoot’s Phish testing allows businesses to test employees with believable phishing attacks and put those that fail into remedial phish training.
4. Deploy critical cybersecurity technology including two-factor authentication on all critical accounts. Enable email SPAM filtering, validate backups, deploy DNS protection, antivirus, and anti-malware on all your endpoints.
5. In the modern Work-from-Home era, make sure you’re managing personal devices connecting to your network by validating their security (patching, antivirus, DNS protections, etc) or prohibiting their use entirely.
6. If you haven’t had a risk assessment by a 3rd party in the last 2 years, you should have one now. Establishing a risk management framework in your organization is critical to addressing your most egregious risks with your finite time and money.
7. Buy Cyber-Insurance to protect you in a catastrophic failure situation. Cyber-Insurance is no different than Car, Fire, Flood, or Life insurance. It’s there when you need it most.

Most of these recommendations are built into CyberHoot. With CyberHoot you can govern, train, assess, and test your employees. Visit CyberHoot.com and sign up for our services today. At the very least continue to learn by enrolling in our monthly Cybersecurity newsletters to stay on top of current cybersecurity updates.

Related Terms: Reverse Engineering