Security Labels For Laptops? Trust The Answer

When it comes to combating shoplifting, security labels and tags remain among the most effective strategies employed by retailers around the world.

Also known as Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS), it is a loss prevention method used by 73 percent of retailers worldwide and 69 percent of retailers in the US, according to the latest Global Retail Theft Barometer. Used effectively, EAS can reduce shoplifting by an estimated 60-80 percent.

How exactly does it work and what do you need to know?

electronic article surveillance elements

EAS comprises a number of essential elements that all work together to monitor and protect inventory in a store.

antenna

Antennas are usually placed in the entrance of a store. Most often it is a single pedestal style antenna or two or three antennas located right in the door. They can also be hidden in the doorway, under the floor at the entrance, or even overhead.

These detection antennas emit a signal, and security tags or labels attached to products and merchandise in a store respond. When an item with an active tag or tag passes or passes between these antennas, an alarm sounds indicating that an item is leaving the store.

Two systems

There are two widely used types of EAS systems – Radio Frequency (RF) and Acousto Magnetic (AM). The main difference between them is the frequency they operate at, which is measured in Hertz.

AM (Acousto Magnetic) systems operate at 58 KHz, meaning a signal is sent in pulses or bursts between 50 and 90 times per second, while (RF) Radio Frequency operates in a sweep at 8.2 MHz.

security labels

Commonly used to protect items such as clothing, accessories, alcohol and even eyewear, security tags consist of a hard, outer casing with a transmitter housed within. This transmitter is in constant communication with the antenna guarding the entrance to the store.

Security labels are available for RF or AM security systems.

For clothing and soft items, the security tag is attached to an item with a pin that goes through the fabric of the product. This pin then snaps into the security tag.

There are two common types of locking mechanisms used in security tags – mechanical locks and magnetic locks.

Magnetic locks come in different strengths, ranging from Standard to SuperLock, HyperLock and Multipolar. The higher the magnet strength, the more difficult it is to tamper with the tag, with SuperLock being the minimum recommended magnet strength.

In the meantime, the safety pin should have a head large enough to ensure that it cannot push through the fabric of the item it is attached to, and there are a range of pin head sizes.

Security tags also come in a variety of forms, which also have an impact on how difficult it is to tamper with a tag.

These shapes include round, square, and pencil-shaped labels. Round tags (or clamshell-style tags) with a pinhead matching the size of the tag are considered one of the most difficult tags for shoplifters to remove. They are more difficult to open because there is little surface area to get a grip and the pinhead cannot be pushed through the product without causing a significant cut or tear.

Meanwhile, hard tags can also be attached to items such as handbags and shoes with a steel-reinforced lanyard, and bottles and glasses can be secured with specially designed hard tags attached to the product.

Removing the security label

Security labels must be removed when a product is sold. This simple process is carried out using a removal device that is mounted or built into the counter at the point of sale. The remover is either a mechanical device or a high-powered magnet that releases the security tag’s locking mechanism and allows the tag to be removed. Tags can then be reused for other products.

security labels

Suitable for high volume, low value goods such as books, CDs, hardware, perishable food and pharmaceuticals, security labels are available in a variety of shapes and sizes for both RF and AM systems.

They work the same as hard tags in that they are in constant communication with a store’s EAS antenna and trigger an alarm when they pass the antenna without being deactivated. However, labels can be quickly affixed to products and are flat or have a very low profile.

The advantage of self-adhesive security labels is that they are affordable and readily available. They are easy to apply and quick to disable.

Deactivation of the security label

Security tags are typically deactivated by a deactivator located at the point of sale or integrated into the scanner. This deactivator works by breaking an electrical circuit within a tag so that it no longer emits a signal and can pass near an antenna without sounding an alarm. Labels cannot be reused.

If you’re wondering which security tag or label would be best for your retail business, find out more information here, or contact our friendly staff for expert advice.

Security protected stickers are a must for those of you responsible for protecting assets. If your items are protected, it’s a good idea to warn your customers to prevent shoplifting.

Available in 4 different sizes, the security protected stickers are bright and eye-catching, designed to stand out and warn would-be thieves that they’re being caught. Their security protected sticker options include 22mm, 30mm, 38mm and 60mm with all options available in quantities of 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 2000.

If you are looking for security protected stickers, you can stop searching now. Price Stickers offers a range of affordable stickers to suit our customers’ needs. There is no exception when it comes to the security protected stickers you see in front of you.

If you have any questions about security protected decals or would like to speak to someone about your options for purchasing a different size or quantity, be sure to contact a member of the Pricing Sticker team. One of our friendly staff will be happy to help you with all your decal buying endeavors.

Trusted Solaris User’s Guide

Mandatory access control

Mandatory Access Control (MAC) is a system-enforced access control mechanism that uses clearances and labels to enforce security policies. Broadly speaking, MAC associates the programs a user runs with the security level (share or label) that the user is working with in the session. It only allows access to information, programs and devices at the same level or lower. MAC also prevents users from writing to lower-level files. MAC is enforced according to your website’s security policy and cannot be overridden without special authorization or privileges.

releases

As part of your site’s security policy, your security administrator assigns a user share to everyone on your site. User clearance represents the level of security entrusted to a user. It has two components:

Classification – Indicates a (hierarchical) level of security. Applied to humans, the classification represents a confidence measure; Applied to data, it is the required level of protection. In government, the classifications are: TOP SECRET, SECRET, CONFIDENTIAL, and UNCLASSIFIED. The industry is not that standardized; A hypothetical classification hierarchy could be PUBLIC, INTERNAL, NEED TO KNOW, and REGISTERED.

Compartment – Represents a grouping, e.g. B. a working group, department, project or topic. Access to the subjects is granted according to the need-to-know principle.

Some typical distances are shown in the figure below.

Figure 1-2 Typical distances

labels

The Trusted Solaris environment uses a string called a label, which contains a classification and departments, similar to shares. The label determines what information you can access. Labels are also referred to as sensitivity labels or SLs for short. Labels can appear in square brackets ( [] ) in window title bars, in the trusted strip (a special area at the bottom of the screen), or not at all, depending on how your system is configured. Figure 1-3 shows a configuration configured to display labels; the labels and the Trusted Stripe are indicated.

Figure 1-3 Typical environment with labels displayed

All subjects and objects in a system have labels. A subject is an active entity, usually a process (running program), that causes information to flow between objects or change system state. An object is a passive entity that contains or receives data, such as a a data file, directory, printer, or other device. In some cases a process can be an object, e.g. B. when you use kill on a process.

Labels and Transactions

The Trusted Solaris environment mediates all attempted security-related transactions. It compares the subject’s label to the object’s label and allows or disallows the transaction depending on which label is dominant (as described below). One entity’s label is said to dominate that of another when the following two conditions are met:

The classification component of the label of the first entity is equal to or higher than the object’s classification.

All compartments in the labels of the second entity are contained in the label of the first entity.

Two labels are considered equal if they have the same classification and set of subjects. If they are equal, they dominate each other, so access is allowed. If a label has a higher classification or contains all the compartments of the second label or both, the first label is said to strictly dominate the second label. Two labels are said to be disjoint or not comparable if neither label dominates the other.

In a read transaction, the subject’s label must dominate the object’s label. This rule ensures that the subject’s trust level meets the requirements for access to the object and that the subject’s label includes all compartment groupings that are allowed access to the object.

In a write transaction (ie, when a subject creates or modifies an object), the resulting object’s label must dominate the subject’s label. This rule prevents the subject from demoting the object’s label.

Users sometimes refer to the acronym WURD (write up/read down) to remember the allowed instructions in mandatory access control. In practice, subjects and objects in read and write transactions usually have the same label, and strict dominance need not be considered.

Designation 1 Relationship Designation 2 Top Secret A B (strictly) dominates Secret A Top Secret A B (strictly) dominates Secret A B Top Secret A B (strictly) dominates Top Secret A Top Secret A B dominates (same) Top Secret A B Top Secret A B is disjoint with Top Secret C Top Secret A B is disjoint with Secret C Top Secret A B is disjoint with Secret A B C

Table 1-1 Label relationship examples

When you perform a drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste operation between files with different labels, the Trusted Solaris Environment displays a confirmation dialog box if you have permission to change the label. If you are not authorized, the Trusted Solaris environment blocks the transaction. You can choose to accept the target’s upgrade (if you have special permission), downgrade the information so that the target keeps its existing label, or cancel the transaction altogether.

What are the pervasive security mechanisms in information security?

A process (or a device incorporating such a process) designed to identify, prevent, or mitigate a security attack. The structure is divided into those that are performed in a specific protocol layer, including TCP or a software layer protocol, and those that are not dedicated to a specific protocol layer or security service. This structure is also known as the ubiquitous security mechanism.

Pervasive security is supported through a set of physical and network interfaces to a service for a user, including establishing network connectivity with the user’s client device to the service and the service sending an identifier to the user’s client device.

It can be decided by the service whether the user inserts the identifier into the service and addresses the service because the user entered the identifier into the service while in physical proximity to the service.

Pervasive Secure Access is able to detect risk at each point of interaction by using various means (identifying anomalies in client behavior or considering contextual cues like location and device etc.) and asking the client to further authentication when the risk level this guaranteed.

This risk-based method supports the ability to move up in assignment to multi-factor authentication, but does not require further authentication and when not warranted. It ensures access is both secure enough to protect the organization and useful to minimize friction for users.

The service can support the indication that the service has been approved by sending a control page to the user’s client device. These are the structures that are not specific to any particular OSI security service or protocol layer.

There are some mechanisms that can also be considered as an element of security management, namely: −

Trusted Functionality – The process that is believed to be correct in relation to certain criteria, such as: B. defined by a security policy.

Security Label – This is an approach to marking a constraint on a resource (which may be a data entity) that identifies or designates the security nature of that resource.

Event Detection − Detection of security-related events, including forgery, refusal to send or receive information, modification of information, etc.

Security Audit Trail – It supports a valuable security mechanism as they may enable detection and analysis of security breaches by enabling a subsequent security audit. A security audit is an independent report and examination of system data and events to test the adequacy of system controls, to ensure compliance with established policies and operational processes, to assist in loss assessment, and to identify some indicated changes in controls, policies, and to approve processes.

Security Recovery – This negotiates with requests from mechanisms including event management and executive functions and performs recovery operations.

What is access control? Access control is a security technique that governs who or what can view or use resources in a computing environment. It is a fundamental security concept that minimizes the risk to the business or organization. There are two types of access control: physical and logical. Physical access control limits access to campus, buildings, rooms, and physical IT resources. Logical access control limits connections to computer networks, system files, and data. To secure a facility, companies use electronic access control systems that rely on user credentials, access card readers, audits and reports to track employee access to restricted business locations and proprietary areas such as data centers. Some of these systems include access control panels to restrict access to rooms and buildings, and alarm and lockout features to prevent unauthorized entry or operation. Logical access control systems perform identification authentication and authorization of users and devices by evaluating required credentials, which may include passwords, personal identification numbers, biometric scans, security tokens, or other authentication factors. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), which requires two or more authentication factors, is often an important part of a layered defense to protect access control systems.

Why is access control important? The goal of access control is to minimize the security risk of unauthorized access to physical and logical systems. Access control is a fundamental component of security compliance programs that ensure security technology and access control policies are in place to protect sensitive information such as customer data. Most organizations have infrastructure and procedures in place that restrict access to networks, computer systems, applications, files and sensitive data such as personally identifiable information and intellectual property. Access control systems are complex and can be difficult to manage in dynamic IT environments that span on-premises systems and cloud services. After high-profile breaches, technology providers have transitioned from single sign-on systems to unified access management, which provides access controls for on-premises and cloud environments.

How Access Control Works Access controls identify an individual or entity, verify that the person or application is who or what they say they are, and authorize the level of access and a set of actions associated with the username or IP address . Directory services and protocols, including Lightweight Directory Access Protocol and Security Assertion Markup Language, provide access controls to authenticate and authorize users and entities and allow them to connect to computing resources such as distributed applications and web servers. Organizations use different access control models depending on their compliance needs and the security levels of the IT they want to protect.

Types of access control The main models of access control are the following: Mandatory access control (MAC). This is a security model in which access rights are controlled from a central location based on multiple layers of security. Classifications are commonly used in government and military environments and are assigned to system resources and the operating system or security kernel. MAC grants or denies access to resource objects based on the information security clearance of the user or device. For example, Security-Enhanced Linux is an implementation of MAC on Linux.

This is a security model in which access rights are controlled from a central location based on multiple layers of security. Classifications are commonly used in government and military environments and are assigned to system resources and the operating system or security kernel. MAC grants or denies access to resource objects based on the information security clearance of the user or device. For example, Security-Enhanced Linux is an implementation of MAC on Linux. Discretionary Access Control (DAC). This is an access control method in which owners or administrators of the protected system, data, or resource set the policies that define who or what is authorized to access the resource. Many of these systems allow administrators to restrict the propagation of access rights. A common criticism of DAC systems is the lack of centralized control.

This is an access control method in which owners or administrators of the protected system, data, or resource set the policies that define who or what is authorized to access the resource. Many of these systems allow administrators to restrict the propagation of access rights. A common criticism of DAC systems is the lack of centralized control. Role-Based Access Control ( RBAC ). This is a widely used access control mechanism that restricts access to computer resources based on individuals or groups with defined business functions – e.g. E.g. managerial level, engineer level 1 etc. – and not limited to the identity of individual users. The role-based security model relies on a complex structure of role assignments, role authorizations, and role permissions developed using role engineering to regulate employee access to systems. RBAC systems can be used to enforce MAC and DAC frameworks.

This is a widely used access control mechanism that restricts access to computer resources based on individuals or groups with defined business functions – e.g. E.g. managerial level, engineer level 1 etc. – and not limited to the identity of individual users. The role-based security model relies on a complex structure of role assignments, role authorizations, and role permissions developed using role engineering to regulate employee access to systems. RBAC systems can be used to enforce MAC and DAC frameworks. Rules-based access control. This is a security model in which the system administrator defines the rules governing access to resource objects. These rules are often based on conditions such as time of day or location. It is not uncommon to use some form of rules-based access control and RBAC to enforce access policies and procedures.

This is a security model in which the system administrator defines the rules governing access to resource objects. These rules are often based on conditions such as time of day or location. It is not uncommon to use some form of rules-based access control and RBAC to enforce access policies and procedures. Attribute-based access control. This is a method that manages access rights by evaluating a set of rules, policies, and relationships based on the attributes of users, systems, and environmental conditions.

Implementing access control Access control is built into an organization’s IT environment. It can be identity management and access management systems. These systems provide access control software, a user database, and management tools for access control policies, auditing, and enforcement. When a user is added to an access management system, system administrators use an automated provisioning system to set up permissions based on access control frameworks, job responsibilities, and workflows. The best practice of least privilege restricts access to only those resources that employees need to perform their immediate work.

Access Control Challenges Many of the access control challenges stem from the highly distributed nature of modern IT. Keeping track of constantly evolving assets is difficult because they are spread out both physically and logically. Specific examples of challenges include the following: dynamic management of distributed IT environments;

password fatigue;

Compliance visibility through consistent reporting;

Centralize user directories and avoid application-specific silos; and

Data governance and transparency through consistent reporting. Many traditional access control strategies—which worked well in static environments supporting an organization’s computing assets on-premises—are ineffective in today’s distributed IT environments. Modern IT environments consist of multiple cloud-based and hybrid deployments that distribute resources across physical locations and across a variety of unique devices, and require dynamic access control strategies. Organizations often struggle to understand the difference between authentication and authorization. Authentication is the process of verifying that individuals are who they say they are using biometric identification and MFA. The distributed nature of assets gives organizations many ways to authenticate an individual. Authorization is the act of granting individuals the correct access to data based on their authenticated identity. An example of where authorization is often insufficient is when a person quits their job but still has access to that company’s assets. This creates security gaps because the professionally used asset – for example a smartphone with company software on it – is still connected to the company’s internal infrastructure, but is no longer monitored because the person is no longer with the company. Failure to have this enabled can create major security issues for an organization. For example, if the ex-employee’s device is hacked, the attacker could gain access to sensitive company data, change passwords, or sell the employee’s credentials or company data. One solution to this problem is tight monitoring and reporting of who has access to protected resources so changes can be identified immediately and ACLs and permissions updated to reflect the change. Another often-overlooked access control challenge is user experience. When an access management technology is difficult to use, employees can misuse it or bypass it entirely, creating security and compliance gaps. If a reporting or monitoring application is difficult to use, the reporting may be compromised due to an employee’s error, which would result in a security vulnerability because an important permission change or security vulnerability went unreported.

An access control policy that is uniformly enforced for all subjects and objects within the boundaries of an information system. A subject who has been granted access to information shall not: (i) disclose the information to any unauthorized subject or entity; (ii) granting its privileges to other subjects; (iii) changing one or more security attributes of subjects, objects, the information system or system components; (iv) selecting the security attributes to be associated with newly created or modified objects; or (v) changing access control rules. Organization-defined subjects may be explicitly granted organization-defined privileges (i.e., they are trusted subjects) so that they are not constrained by any or all of the above restrictions.

Sources):

CNSSI 4009-2015

See Mandatory Access Control (MAC).

Sources):

CNSSI 4009-2015 under non-discretionary access control

message authentication code.

Sources):

NIST SP 800-108 on MAC

NIST SP 800-185 under MAC

means that access control policy decisions are made by a central authority, not by the individual owner of an object. User cannot change access rights. An example of MAC occurs in military security, where an individual data owner does not decide who has a top secret clearance, nor can the owner change an object’s classification from top secret to secret.

Sources):

NIST SP 800-192 under Mandatory Access Control (MAC)

A means of restricting access to system resources based on the sensitivity (represented by a label) of the information contained in the system resource and the formal authorization (i.e., clearance) of users to access information of that sensitivity.

Sources):

NIST SP 800-44 Version 2 under Mandatory Access Control

An access control policy uniformly enforced for all subjects and objects within a system. A subject who has been granted access to information is prevented from: disclosing the information to unauthorized subjects or objects; granting his privileges to other subjects; changing one or more security attributes of subjects, objects, the system or system components; selecting the security attributes to be associated with newly created or modified objects; or change the access control rules. Organization-defined subjects may be explicitly granted organization-defined privileges (i.e., they are trusted subjects) so that they are not constrained by any or all of the above restrictions. Mandatory access control is considered a type of non-discretionary access control.

Sources):

NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 under mandatory access control

Trusted Solaris User’s Guide

Mandatory access control

Mandatory Access Control (MAC) is a system-enforced access control mechanism that uses clearances and labels to enforce security policies. Broadly speaking, MAC associates the programs a user runs with the security level (share or label) that the user is working with in the session. It only allows access to information, programs and devices at the same level or lower. MAC also prevents users from writing to lower-level files. MAC is enforced according to your website’s security policy and cannot be overridden without special authorization or privileges.

releases

As part of your site’s security policy, your security administrator assigns a user share to everyone on your site. User clearance represents the level of security entrusted to a user. It has two components:

Classification – Indicates a (hierarchical) level of security. Applied to humans, the classification represents a confidence measure; Applied to data, it is the required level of protection. In government, the classifications are: TOP SECRET, SECRET, CONFIDENTIAL, and UNCLASSIFIED. The industry is not that standardized; A hypothetical classification hierarchy could be PUBLIC, INTERNAL, NEED TO KNOW, and REGISTERED.

Compartment – Represents a grouping, e.g. B. a working group, department, project or topic. Access to the subjects is granted according to the need-to-know principle.

Some typical distances are shown in the figure below.

Figure 1-2 Typical distances

labels

The Trusted Solaris environment uses a string called a label, which contains a classification and departments, similar to shares. The label determines what information you can access. Labels are also referred to as sensitivity labels or SLs for short. Labels can appear in square brackets ( [] ) in window title bars, in the trusted strip (a special area at the bottom of the screen), or not at all, depending on how your system is configured. Figure 1-3 shows a configuration configured to display labels; the labels and the Trusted Stripe are indicated.

Figure 1-3 Typical environment with labels displayed

All subjects and objects in a system have labels. A subject is an active entity, usually a process (running program), that causes information to flow between objects or change system state. An object is a passive entity that contains or receives data, such as a a data file, directory, printer, or other device. In some cases a process can be an object, e.g. B. when you use kill on a process.

Labels and Transactions

The Trusted Solaris environment mediates all attempted security-related transactions. It compares the subject’s label to the object’s label and allows or disallows the transaction depending on which label is dominant (as described below). One entity’s label is said to dominate that of another when the following two conditions are met:

The classification component of the label of the first entity is equal to or higher than the object’s classification.

All compartments in the labels of the second entity are contained in the label of the first entity.

Two labels are considered equal if they have the same classification and set of subjects. If they are equal, they dominate each other, so access is allowed. If a label has a higher classification or contains all the compartments of the second label or both, the first label is said to strictly dominate the second label. Two labels are said to be disjoint or not comparable if neither label dominates the other.

In a read transaction, the subject’s label must dominate the object’s label. This rule ensures that the subject’s trust level meets the requirements for access to the object and that the subject’s label includes all compartment groupings that are allowed access to the object.

In a write transaction (ie, when a subject creates or modifies an object), the resulting object’s label must dominate the subject’s label. This rule prevents the subject from demoting the object’s label.

Users sometimes refer to the acronym WURD (write up/read down) to remember the allowed instructions in mandatory access control. In practice, subjects and objects in read and write transactions usually have the same label, and strict dominance need not be considered.

Designation 1 Relationship Designation 2 Top Secret A B (strictly) dominates Secret A Top Secret A B (strictly) dominates Secret A B Top Secret A B (strictly) dominates Top Secret A Top Secret A B dominates (same) Top Secret A B Top Secret A B is disjoint with Top Secret C Top Secret A B is disjoint with Secret C Top Secret A B is disjoint with Secret A B C

Table 1-1 Label relationship examples

When you perform a drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste operation between files with different labels, the Trusted Solaris Environment displays a confirmation dialog box if you have permission to change the label. If you are not authorized, the Trusted Solaris environment blocks the transaction. You can choose to accept the target’s upgrade (if you have special permission), downgrade the information so that the target keeps its existing label, or cancel the transaction altogether.

What are the pervasive security mechanisms in information security?

A process (or a device incorporating such a process) designed to identify, prevent, or mitigate a security attack. The structure is divided into those that are performed in a specific protocol layer, including TCP or a software layer protocol, and those that are not dedicated to a specific protocol layer or security service. This structure is also known as the ubiquitous security mechanism.

Pervasive security is supported through a set of physical and network interfaces to a service for a user, including establishing network connectivity with the user’s client device to the service and the service sending an identifier to the user’s client device.

It can be decided by the service whether the user inserts the identifier into the service and addresses the service because the user entered the identifier into the service while in physical proximity to the service.

Pervasive Secure Access is able to detect risk at each point of interaction by using various means (identifying anomalies in client behavior or considering contextual cues like location and device etc.) and asking the client to further authentication when the risk level this guaranteed.

This risk-based method supports the ability to move up in assignment to multi-factor authentication, but does not require further authentication and when not warranted. It ensures access is both secure enough to protect the organization and useful to minimize friction for users.

The service can support the indication that the service has been approved by sending a control page to the user’s client device. These are the structures that are not specific to any particular OSI security service or protocol layer.

There are some mechanisms that can also be considered as an element of security management, namely: −

Trusted Functionality – The process that is believed to be correct in relation to certain criteria, such as: B. defined by a security policy.

Security Label – This is an approach to marking a constraint on a resource (which may be a data entity) that identifies or designates the security nature of that resource.

Event Detection − Detection of security-related events, including forgery, refusal to send or receive information, modification of information, etc.

Security Audit Trail – It supports a valuable security mechanism as they may enable detection and analysis of security breaches by enabling a subsequent security audit. A security audit is an independent report and examination of system data and events to test the adequacy of system controls, to ensure compliance with established policies and operational processes, to assist in loss assessment, and to identify some indicated changes in controls, policies, and to approve processes.

Security Recovery – This negotiates with requests from mechanisms including event management and executive functions and performs recovery operations.