175+ Cybersecurity Misconceptions and the Myth-Busting Skills You Need to Correct Them Elected into the Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame! Cybersecurity is fraught with hidden and unsuspected dangers and difficulties. Despite our best intentions, there are common and avoidable mistakes that arise from folk wisdom, faulty assumptions about the world, and our own human biases. Cybersecurity implementations, investigations, and research all suffer as a result. Many of the bad practices sound logical, especially to people new to the field of cybersecurity, and that means they get adopted and repeated despite not being correct. For instance, why isn't the user the weakest link? In Cybersecurity Myths and Misconceptions: Avoiding the Hazards and Pitfalls that Derail Us, three cybersecurity pioneers don't just deliver the first comprehensive collection of falsehoods that derail security from the frontlines to the boardroom; they offer expert practical advice for avoiding or overcoming each myth. Whatever your cybersecurity role or experience, Eugene H. Spafford, Leigh Metcalf, and Josiah Dykstra will help you surface hidden dangers, prevent avoidable errors, eliminate faulty assumptions, and resist deeply human cognitive biases that compromise prevention, investigation, and research. Throughout the book, you'll find examples drawn from actual cybersecurity events, detailed techniques for recognizing and overcoming security fallacies, and recommended mitigations for building more secure products and businesses. Read over 175 common misconceptions held by users, leaders, and cybersecurity professionals, along with tips for how to avoid them. Learn the pros and cons of analogies, misconceptions about security tools, and pitfalls of faulty assumptions. What really is the weakest link? When aren't "best practices" best? Discover how others understand cybersecurity and improve the effectiveness of cybersecurity decisions as a user, a developer, a researcher, or a leader. Get a high-level exposure to why statistics and figures may mislead as well as enlighten. Develop skills to identify new myths as they emerge, strategies to avoid future pitfalls, and techniques to help mitigate them. "You are made to feel as if you would never fall for this and somehow this makes each case all the more memorable. . . . Read the book, laugh at the right places, and put your learning to work. You won't regret it." --From the Foreword by Vint Cerf, Internet Hall of Fame Pioneer Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Vint Cerf xxiii Introduction xxiv Acknowledgments xxxiii About the Authors xxxiv Part I: General Issues 1 Chapter 1: What Is Cybersecurity? 2 Everyone Knows What "Cybersecurity" Means 2 We Can Measure How Secure Our Systems Are 5 The Primary Goal of Cybersecurity Is Security 11 Cybersecurity Is About Obvious Risks 12 Sharing More Cyber Threat Intel Will Make Things Better 14 What Matters to You Matters to Everyone Else 16 Product X Will Make You Secure 17 Macs Are Safer Than PCs, Linux Is Safer Than Windows 18 Open Source Software Is More Secure Than Closed Source Software 19 Technology X Will Make You Secure 20 Process X Will Make You Secure 21 Færie Dust Can Make Old Ideas Magically Revolutionary 22 Passwords Should Be Changed Often 23 Believe and Fear Every Hacking Demo You See 26 Cyber Offense Is Easier Than Defense 27 Operational Technology (OT) Is Not Vulnerable 29 Breaking Systems Is the Best Way to Establish Yourself 30 Because You Can, You Should 30 Better Security Means Worse Privacy 32 Further Reading 33 Chapter 2: What Is the Internet? 36 Everyone Knows What the "Internet" Means 36 An IP Address Identifies a Unique Machine 37 The Internet Is Managed and Controlled by a Central Body 39 The Internet Is Largely Static 40 Your Network Is Static 41 Email Is Private 43 Cryptocurrency Is Untraceable 44 Everything Can Be Fixed with Blockchain 46 The Internet Is Like an Iceberg 46 A VPN Makes You Anonymous 48 A Firewall Is Enough 49 Further Reading 51 Part II: Human Issues 55 Chapter 3: Faulty Assumptions and Magical Thinking 56 Humans Will Behave Rationally, So Blame the User! 57 We Know Everything We Need to Know About Cybersecurity Problems 62 Compliance Equals (Complete) Security 63 Authentication Provides Confidentiality 65 I Can Never Be Secure, So Why Bother? 65 I Am Too Small/Insignificant to Be a Target 66 Everybody Is Out to Get Me 69 I Engage Only with Trusted Websites, So My Data Is Safe from a Breach 71 Security by Obscurity Is Reasonably Secure 72 The Illusions of Visibility and Control 74 Five 9's Is the Key to Cybersecurity 76 Everybody Has Top-of-the-Line Technology 78 We Can Predict Future Threats 80 Security People Control Security Outcomes 81 All Bad Outcomes Are the Result of a Bad Decision 82 More Security Is Always Better 84 Best Practices Are Always Best 85 Because It Is Online It Must Be True/Correct 86 Further Reading 87 Chapter 4: Fallacies and Misunderstandings 88 The False Cause Fallacy: Correlation Is Causation 89 Absence of Evidence Is Evidence of Absence 92 The Straw Hacker Fallacy 94 Ad Hominem Fallacy 95 Hasty Generalization Fallacy 96 Regression Fallacy 97 Base Rate Fallacy 98 Gambler's Fallacy 100 Fallacies of Anomalies 100 Ignorance of Black Swans 101 Conjunction and Disjunction Fallacies 103 Valence Effect 104 Endowment Effect 104 Sunk Cost Fallacy 105 Bonus Fallacies 107 Further Reading 109 Chapter 5: Cognitive Biases 110 Action Bias 112 Omission Bias 113 Survivorship Bias 115 Confirmation Bias 116 Choice Affirmation Bias 117 Hindsight Bias 117 Availability Bias 119 Social Proof 121 Overconfidence Bias 122 Zero Risk Bias 123 Frequency Bias 124 Bonus Biases 125 Further Reading 128 Chapter 6: Perverse Incentives and the Cobra Effect 130 The Goal of a Security Vendor Is to Keep You Secure 131 Your Cybersecurity Decisions Affect Only You 132 Bug Bounties Eliminate Bugs from the Offensive Market 134 Cyber Insurance Causes People to Take Less Risk 135 Fines and Penalties Cause People to Take Less Risk 136 Attacking Back Would Help Stop Cyber Crime 137 Innovation Increases Security and Privacy Incidents 138 Further Reading 139 Chapter 7: Problems and Solutions 140 Failure Is Not an Option in Cybersecurity 141 Every Problem Has a Solution 142 Anecdotes Are Good Leads for Cybersecurity Solutions 147 Detecting More "Bad Stuff" Means the New Thing Is an Improvement 148 Every Security Process Should Be Automated 149 Professional Certifications Are Useless 151 Further Reading 158 Part III: Contextual Issues 161 Chapter 8: Pitfalls of Analogies and Abstractions 162 Cybersecurity Is Like the Physical World 165 Cybersecurity Is Like Medicine and Biology 170 Cybersecurity Is Like Fighting a War 172 Cybersecurity Law Is Analogous to Physical-World Law 175 Tips for Analogies and Abstractions 175 Further Reading 178 Chapter 9: Legal Issues 180 Cybersecurity Law Is Analogous to Physical-World Law 181 Your Laws Do Not Apply to Me Where I Am 182 That Violates My First Amendment Rights! 184 Legal Code Supersedes Computer Code 186 Law Enforcement Will Never Respond to Cyber Crimes 191 You Can Always Hide Information by Suing 193 Suing to Suppress a Breach Is a Good Idea 194 Terms and Conditions Are Meaningless 194 The Law Is on My Side, So I Do Not Need to Worry 195 Further Reading 196 Chapter 10: Tool Myths and Misconceptions 198 The More Tools, The Better 199 Default Configurations Are Always Secure 201 A Tool Can Stop All Bad Things 203 Intent Can Be Determined from Tools 205 Security Tools Are Inherently Secure and Trustworthy 207 Nothing Found Means All Is Well 209 Further Reading 212 Chapter 11: Vulnerabilities 214 We Know Everything There Is to Know About Vulnerabilities 215 Vulnerabilities Are Sparse 218 Attackers Are Getting More Proficient 218 Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Are Most Important 219 All Attacks Hinge on a Vulnerability 223 Exploits and Proofs of Concept Are Bad 226 Vulnerabilities Happen Only in Complex Code 228 First Movers Should Sacrifice Security 230 Patches Are Always Perfect and Available 231 Defenses Might Become Security Vulnerabilities with Time 236 All Vulnerabilities Can Be Fixed 237 Scoring Vulnerabilities Is Easy and Well Understood 239 Because You Can, You Should--Vulnerabilities Edition 240 Vulnerability Names Reflect Their Importance 241 Further Reading 242 Chapter 12: Malware 244 Using a Sandbox Will Tell Me Everything I Need to Know 246 Reverse Engineering Will Tell Me Everything I Need to Know 249 Malware and Geography Are/Are Not Related 251 I Can Always Determine Who Made the Malware and Attacked Me 253 Malware Is Always a Complex Program That Is Difficult to Understand 254 Free Malware Protection Is Good Enough 256 Only Shady Websites Will Infect Me 257 Because You Can, You Should--Malware Edition 258 Ransomware Is an Entirely New Kind of Malware 259 Signed Software Is Always Trustworthy 261 Malware Names Reflect Their Importance 263 Further Reading 264 Chapter 13: Digital Forensics and Incident Response 266 Movies and Television Reflect the Reality of Cyber 267 Incidents Are Discovered as Soon as They Occur 269 Incidents Are Discrete and Independent 270 Every Incident Is the Same Severity 271 Standard Incident Response Techniques Can Deal with Ransomware 272 Incident Responders Can Flip a Few Switches and Magically Everything Is Fixed 273 Attacks Are Always Attributable 276 Attribution Is Essential 278 Most Attacks/Exfiltration of Data Originate from Outside the Organization 280 The Trojan Horse Defense Is Dead 281 Endpoint Data Is Sufficient for Incident Detection 282 Recovering from an Event Is a Simple and Linear Process 284 Further Reading 285 Part IV: Data Issues 287 Chapter 14: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics 288 Luck Prevents Cyber Attacks 289 The Numbers Speak for Themselves 290 Probability Is Certainty 290 Statistics Are Laws 293 Data Is Not Important to Statistics 303 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Can Solve All Cybersecurity Problems 306 Further Reading 310 Chapter 15: Illustrations, Visualizations, and Delusions 312 Visualizations and Dashboards Are Inherently and Universally Helpful 313 Cybersecurity Data Is Easy to Visualize 319 Further Reading 324 Chapter 16: Finding Hope 326 Creating a Less Myth-Prone World 328 The Critical Value of Documentation 329 Meta-Myths and Recommendations 331 Avoiding Other and Future Traps 334 Parting Thoughts 334 Appendix: Short Background Explanations 336 Acronyms 344 Index 350