FML-5.3.8 teaching - FML-5.3.8 FortiMail 5.3.8 Specialist Updated: 2023

Microsoft’s warning on Wednesday that the China-sponsored actor Volt Typhoon attacked U.S. infrastructure put a hard emphasis on presentations by cybersecurity and international affairs experts that a global war in cyberspace is pitting authoritarian regimes against democracies.

Jump to:

China’s commitment to cyberwarfare

Microsoft’s notification pointed out that Volt Typhoon — which hit organizations in sectors spanning IT, communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, government and education — has been pursuing a “living off the land” strategy focused on data exfiltration since 2021. The tactic typically uses social engineering exploits like phishing to access networks invisibly by riding on legitimate software. It uses a Fortinet exploit to gain access and uses valid accounts to persist (Figure A).

Figure A

Nadir Izrael, the chief technology officer and co-founder of the Armis security firm, pointed out that China’s defense budget has been increasing over the years, reaching an estimated $178 billion in 2020. “This growing investment has enabled China to build up its cyber capabilities, with more than 50,000 cyber soldiers and an advanced cyberwarfare unit,” he said.

He added that China’s investment in offensive cyber capabilities has created “a global weapon in its arsenal to rattle critical infrastructure across nearly every sector — from communications to maritime — and interrupt U.S. citizens’ lives.” He said, “Cyberwarfare is an incredibly impactful, cost-effective tool for China to disrupt world order.”

According to Armis, he has been predicting these threats since January after finding that 33% of global organizations are not taking the threat of cyberwarfare threats seriously. He has been urging governments and businesses across sectors to start putting in place procedures to counteract these threats.

“As the world becomes increasingly digitized, cyberwarfare is modern warfare,” Armis said. “This has to be a wake-up call for the U.S. and western nations.”

At the WithSecure Sphere23 conference in Helsinki, Finland, before this security news had crossed the wires, Jessica Berlin, a Germany-based foreign policy analyst and founder of the consultancy CoStruct, said the U.S., the European Union and other democracies have not awakened to the implications of cyberwarfare by Russia, China and North Korea. She said these countries are engaged in a cybernetic world war — one that autocracies have the upper hand in because they have fully acknowledged and embraced it and have committed to waging it as such.

She told TechRepublic that tech and security companies could play a key role in awakening citizens and governments to this fact by being more transparent about attacks. She also noted the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which has been in effect for five years, has been a powerful tool for oversight of digital information, data provenance and misinformation on social platforms.

Professionalization of cybercrime lowers bar to entry

Stephen Robinson, a senior threat intelligence analyst at WithSecure, said the cybercriminal ecosystem’s mirroring of legitimate business has made it easier for state actors and less sophisticated groups to buy what they can’t make. This professionalization of cybercrime has created a formal service sector. “They are outsourcing functions, hiring freelancers, subcontracting; criminal service providers have sprung up, and their existence is industrializing exploitation,” said Robinson.

The success of the criminal as-a-service model is expedited by such frameworks as Tor anonymous data transfer and cryptocurrency, noted Robinson, who delineated some dark web service verticals.

• Initial access brokers: These brokers are key because they thrive in the service-oriented model and are enablers. They use whatever method they can to gain access and then offer that access.
• Crypter as a service: Crypter is a tool to hide a malware payload. And this, said Robinson, has led to an arms race between malware and antimalware.
• Crypto jackers: These actors break into a network and drop software and are often one of the first actors to exploit a server vulnerability. They constitute a low threat yet are a very strong indicator that something has happened or will, according to Robinson.
• Malware-as-a-service: Highly technical and with advanced services like support and contracts and access to premium products.
• Nation state actors: Nation state actors use the above tools, which enable them to spin up campaigns and access new victims without being attributed.

WithSecure has a fresh report on multi-point extortion ransomware groups that employ several extortion strategies, including encryption, to pressure victims for payments.

The firm’s analysis of more than 3,000 data leaks by these groups showed that organizations in the U.S. were the most targeted victims, followed by Canada, the U.K., Germany, France and Australia.

In addition, the firm’s research showed that the construction industry accounted for 19% of the data leaks; the automotive industry accounted for only 6% of attacks.

“In pursuit of a bigger slice of the huge revenues of the ransomware industry, ransomware groups purchase capabilities from specialist e-crime suppliers in much the same way that legitimate businesses outsource functions to increase their profits,” said Robinson. “This ready supply of capabilities and information is being taken advantage of by more and more cyberthreat actors, ranging from lone, low-skilled operators right up to nation state APTs. Ransomware didn’t create the cybercrime industry, but it has really thrown fuel on the fire.”

The firm offered an example that resembled the mass looting of a department store after the door had been left ajar. One organization was victimized by five threat actors, each with different objectives and representing a different type of cybercrime service: the Monti ransomware group, Qakbot malware-as-a-service, the 8220 crypto-jacking gang, an unnamed initial access broker and a subset of Lazarus Group associated with North Korea.

In these incidents, WithSecure threat intelligence reported encountering six distinct examples of the “as a service” model in use in the kill chains observed (Figure B).

Figure B

According to the report, this professionalization trend makes the expertise and resources to attack organizations accessible to lesser-skilled or poorly resourced threat actors. The report predicts it is likely the number of attackers and the size of the cybercrime industry will grow in the coming years.

How to mitigate Volt Typhoon

In Microsoft’s report about Volt Typhoon, the company said detecting an activity that uses normal sign-in channels and system binaries requires behavioral monitoring and remediation requires closing or changing credentials for compromised accounts. In these cases, Microsoft suggests that security operations teams should examine the activity of compromised accounts for any malicious actions or exposed data.

To preclude this variety of attacks, Microsoft suggested these tips:

• Enforce strong multifactor authentication policies by using hardware security keys, passwordless sign-in and password expiration rules and deactivating unused accounts.
• Turn on attack surface reduction rules to block or audit activities associated with this threat.
• Enable Protective Process Light for LSASS on Windows 11 devices. New enterprise-joined Windows 11 (22H2 update) installs have this feature enabled by default, per the company.
• Enable Windows Defender Credential Guard, which is turned on by default for organizations using the Enterprise edition of Windows 11.
• Turn on cloud-delivered protection in Microsoft Defender Antivirus.
• Run endpoint detection and response in block mode so Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can block malicious artifacts.

For returning students, there may be changes to the majors and minors available and the courses you need to take. Go to the section called ‘Transitional Provisions’ in the Regulations to find out more.

In some cases the qualification or specialisation you enrolled in may be no longer be taking new enrolments, so may not appear on these web pages. To find information on the regulations for these qualifications go to the Massey University Calendar.

Please contact us through the Get advice button on this page if you have any questions.

The 15-credit ESL Program Specialist Certification will qualify instructionally certified educators to teach others whose first language is not English. Graduates of our flexible, online program will be prepared to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) in a variety of educational settings.

Program Snapshot

Why Study ESL at Wilkes?

There is a growing demand for educators equipped with the training and experience in teaching English as a second language. Jobs in the TESOL/ESL fields are projected to increase by 11 to 14% through 2030, creating a diverse number of opportunities in K-12 districts and other educational settings, as well as organizations abroad.

As the world becomes more linguistically diverse, students with a certification in ESL have the potential to seek out exciting careers in classrooms, or to pursue new roles in  healthcare organizations, businesses, or within government organizations. The Wilkes program offers you the opportunity to learn from other educators and participate in experiences that allow for you to observe, assist, and teach ESL in public schools.

CurriculumAdmission Requirements

What Will You Learn as an ESL Program Specialist Student?

• You’ll learn various approaches to teaching second languages as well as effective techniques for assessment, including standardized tests, standards based instruction, and second language test design and evaluation.
• You’ll build a strong foundational understanding of linguistics and its importance to the teaching of foreign or second languages. You’ll examine phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and discourse structure as different approaches to the study of language are discussed.
• You’ll gain field experience in teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking of English to second language learners. Students will learn how to assess student needs, develop syllabi, design educational materials, and apply theory to lessons.
• You’ll explore how to develop and implement second language programs while understanding the cultural conflict and biases, both social and linguistic, faced by multilingual students.

Caleb South has a lot on his plate.

As a senior in the University of Dayton's Department of Teacher Education, he spends his weekdays student teaching at Stebbins High School, working with students with special needs. He'll be an intervention specialist at Centerville High School starting next fall. 

His passion, however, is basketball. After a day of student teaching, South spends his evenings training kids between third and 12th grade — sometimes one-on-one, sometimes an entire team — to Excellerate their skills in the sport he loves. In the winter he coaches a high school team. In the spring he spends his weekends as the director of player development for Midwest Basketball Club, a regional organization sponsored by Adidas for high school students, and is the head coach of their 17u gold team — an elite team for athletes 17 years old and under.

On a typical day during basketball season, South wakes up at 4:45 a.m. and doesn't stop working until after 9 p.m. His time is divided between teaching, training and coaching.

"I want to impact lives," he said. "I think the whole point of life is how many lives you touch."

South has always loved basketball. As a high school player, he scored 1,700 career points before a number of injuries prevented him from playing basketball in college and beyond. Now he takes his skills and passion and redirects it into helping young people play the sport. 

In his UD teacher education classes, South learned a number of research-based teaching practices: social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practice, scaffolding, and differentiated instruction, to name a few. 

Novea McIntosh, assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education, taught South in a course about educating diverse student populations in inclusive settings, and saw how he took these concepts from class immediately into real-life application. 

"As a male of color, he is intent on attending to the emotional needs of students by understanding their narratives, developing trusting relationships and practicing reciprocal vulnerability in coaching," McIntosh said. "He arms them with the tools to be successful on the court and in life."

For example, differentiated instruction means to know that the needs of one student differ from the needs of another student, and to tailor a teaching strategy for what that specific student needs. In addition to applying this concept to lesson plans, he also applies it to the workout plan for an athlete or team. 

Connie Bowman, associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education, said that teaching and coaching go hand-in-hand — determining students' strengths and weaknesses, then making a plan to help them achieve their goals and objectives. 

"He has taken what he has learned in teacher education, and used those strategies as a coach-teacher," Bowman said. "To me, that is what teaching is about. Working with the whole person. Helping them to be able to achieve their potential."

He teaches kids about basketball, but knows that he's also responsible for teaching them skills off-court too: to have a good work ethic and to be a good person. He knows that they see him as a leader and mentor, and he does his best to act like it.

"I love teaching. I chose education because I want to serve, to impact lives," he said. "Basketball is teaching. There are kids that look up to me in my program — I just never want to let them down."

South doesn't like to look too far into the future. 

"There's something to be said for just being present," he said. "Not focusing too far into the future. I always say, 'be where your feet are.'"

Caleb South has a lot on his plate, and he wouldn't change a thing.