Amateur Security Archaeologists, trying not to break things.

Category: Defensive Techniques (Page 3 of 6)

Initial Access: “It’s go time!” for an adversary

Welcome to Part 3 of a series in which we walk through MITRE’s ATT&CK Tactics! Continuing the theme of any movie portraying a conflict, this is where someone takes action against their target. In HBO’s Band of Brothers, an entire episode is spent showing how Easy Company was formed and prepared for D-Day. Not only did they drill and train on general airborne skills and fitness, but they studied their sand tables and maps intently. Eventually, someone has to call the shot – in this case Eisenhower issued the order and they boarded planes & ships. Once the paratroopers, glider troops, trailblazers, and other recon units crossed the channel, the invasion had passed the point of no return. Initial Access was attempted. If you’re the Allies, hopefully the Recon and Resource Development were done right! Now let’s see how all of that pays off for the adversary in ATT&CK – Initial Access.

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Resource Dev: What makes it seem Ominous and Inevitable?

Last week we started with the Recon phase of an adversary’s playbook. This research really sets the stage for all that comes after it. As we’ll see today, adversaries apply that context in preparing for their operation. It’s like one of those movie montages where the bad guys are prepping for a sneak attack. Think Death Star firing up the lasers to blow up Alderaan, or the Orcs getting armed at Eisengard. In any of these cases, we were all screaming from the theater seats that victims could have done to prevent or detect it. Could they have? Let’s see how the bad guys get suited up for the opening battle and take a look at the Resource Development stage in ATT&CK of an adversary’s operation!

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Target Recon Phase: Don’t make it too easy!

Most adversaries have a plan. Those plans vary greatly – in both complexity and rigor – from actor to actor, target to target. As we’ve discussed in prior posts, adversary plans are usually built from repeatable procedures – techniques and sub-techniques. The power of MITRE’s ATT&CK, CAPEC, or LMCO Kill Chain is that they help us track behaviors. Most of the time, I see organizations rush to address techniques through either detection & visibility or through protection. I think we all could use a dash of prevention – not just policy, but waaaay out front. We need to make even the selection of the plan difficult, and to reveal so little that the bad guys struggle to select the right plans. So let’s talk about making the recon phase hard for the adversary!

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Power-up your security: Mapping ATT&CK’s massive ecosystem

If you are a security professional, MITRE’s ATT&CK is everywhere these days. Even in places it does not belong! That being said, there are a ton of tools, projects, and extensions to ATT&CK. Some are fundamental (like Navigator) while others are niche. How do we tell what is right for us? What projects are essential to power up your security program? For my upcoming Cisco Live presentation in February, I take a crack at mapping ATT&CK’s massive ecosystem to roles and functions. Am I off to a good start? Let’s me share how I tackled this and you can let me know!

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Friend or foe? How killer baselines improve security outcomes

A month ago, we talked about how visibility can make us more frustrating victims to our adversaries. It makes sense – easy marks are those who don’t see that they are victims in the first place! Take victims of physical (traditional) crime. Burglers love a target who isn’t using alarm systems, cameras, or even their own eyes and ears to actively detect incursions. But having eyes and ears isn’t what makes you formidable. It is that you have those sensory inputs AND you know how to interpret what they are saying and how they respond. Do you know how to discern bad behavior from the norm and know how to tell between friend and foe? And do you know what the right response is based on that proper interpretation? We’re going to tackle the first question here today as we discuss how killer baselines improve security outcomes.

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