Amateur Security Archaeologists, trying not to break things.

Tag: Threat Modeling (Page 2 of 5)

Execution: Ruthless attackers run malicious code on your systems

Welcome to Part 4 of our series on MITRE’s ATT&CK Tactics! At this point in the attack, adversaries have pulled the trigger on an attack and defenders have had their first fair shot at detecting the transgression. Like a fortress’s defenders seeing the build-out of siege weapons and the digging of trenches, defenders now know from where a part of the attack is coming. For the attacker, they are relying on their preparation, coordination, and focus to overcome defensive efforts. For the defender, they are likely depending on the training and processes – and their garrison’s trust and cohesion – to disrupt and repel. How able are the attackers to carry out their plan, to sap the fortifications, to breach the walls? This is the MITRE ATT&CK Execution Tactic, and it is the phase from which all later phases branch.

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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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Membership has its benefits: Using ATT&CK for Insider Threats

Happy Monday folks! I’m super excited to be getting back to it and blogging about some cybersecurity goodness. I’ve picked up a ton of cool ideas after a long but fantastic week in Amsterdam for Cisco Live Europe. Once again, my buddy Mark Stephens and I presented an Interactive Breakout called “Empty Threats – Building Your Own Cyber Threat Picture”. Offered at the last 4 Cisco Live US and Amsterdam events, each is a goldmine. What I love about these sessions is that our customers teach us so much about how they tackle security problems. Last week’s iteration did not disappoint. We had a fantastic discussion around using ATT&CK for insider threats. An attendee named Tommy brought up the question of how we factor them in, weigh their TTPs, etc. As with so many of these interactions, I am now thinking a lot about how to carry that forward. Let’s see how we might tackle this thorny topic!

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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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How visibility makes you the most frustrating victim

Who hasn’t hear this one: “the attacker only need to be right once, and they are a success”. Indeed, the corollary is said just as often: “you only need to be wrong once and you’re screwed!” All of that makes you feel a little helpless, right? Helpless folks give up – and good luck getting them to deal with the myriad of issues that are inherent to securing their environments! We’re going to see how we can turn the tables here, and the first step is to see how visibility makes you a most frustrating victim for adversaries!

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