We are living in a world where everything is networked together, from online transactions to government infrastructure, and therefore, network protection will no longer be an optional extra. Today, cyber–attack has become an international issue, as high-profile infringements have caused many problems that hacks and various security attacks could harm the global economy.
A cyber-attack is commonly known as the deliberate exploitation of computer systems and various enterprises which depend on technology and networks. The malicious code and software are the main targets for a cyber-attacker, with which he can alter the computer code, logic, or data. This scenario results in disruptive consequences that can make way to cyber-crimes such as theft of data and identity or system infiltration.
About Cyber Kill Chain
To help organizations to get rid of cyber-attacks, a new framework known as The cyber kill chain was developed by a Lockheed Martin to identify and prevent cyber intrusion activity. This is an industry accepted methodology for understanding how an intruder can cause harm to your organization through his activities.
Understanding the cyber kill chain effectively can assist the information security professional to maintain strong countermeasures and controls, which will help in protecting their organization’s assets.
The cyber kill chain is a process of many phases required for an attacker to easily infiltrate a network and extract data from it. Every phase demonstrates a specific goal throughout the attacker’s path.
The following are the various phases involved in the process of the cyber kill chain:
Reconnaissance
As the name implies, a reconnaissance attack is the efforts of a threat actor to acquire maximum information about the network before launching a serious attack. More often, the reconnaissance attack is performed by readily available information.
There are two types of reconnaissance attacks:
Passive reconnaissance:
In this method, the hacker does not look for information related to victim domain. He simply collects the details of a registered domain to the target system. With this, he can use commands to fish information about the target.
Active reconnaissance:
In this method, the hackers make use of system information to gain unauthorized access to the electronic devices, and may also hack routers and firewalls.
Weaponization
In this process, the hackers make use of a large number of internet connected devices which are infected with a malicious code in the past to force a powerful DDos attack.
Most popular cyber weapons are:
Botnet: A group of systems forced to work together on the dominance of unauthorized remote user. This hub of robot computers is used to attack other systems.
DDos: This involves a computer system flooded by data traffic in such a way that the system can’t handle the volume of requests and ultimately shuts down.
Malware: The process involves injection of malicious software into a network or system to do things which the owner wouldn’t want to be done.
Delivery
The attacker sends a malicious payload to the victim through an email, which is a unique method that an attacker can use among the numerous ways. There are about 100 possible methods to perform.
There are two basic methods:
-
Direct hacking into an open port is known as the adversary controlled delivery.
-
Conveying the target through phishing is known as adversary released delivery.
Exploitation
As soon as the attackers identify a vulnerability in your system, they exploit the weakness and proceed with their attack. In this phase of exploitation, the host machine is compromised by the attacker, and the delivery mechanisms will follow one of the two methods:
-
Installing a malware (a dropper) by allowing the attacker to perform command execution.
-
Installing malware (a downloader) and downloding excess malware from the internet, allowing the attacker to perform command execution.
Once a foothold is set inside the network, the attacker will download the essential tools, extract password hashes, attempt privilege escalation, etc.
Command and Control
These are utilized by ransomware to download encryption keys before the files getting hijacked. This makes way for persistent connectivity and consistent access to the environment as well as detective measure for defender activity.
How this takes place?
Command and control of a weak resource are usually completed through a beacon through an allowed path over a network.
Beacon has many forms, but in most cases they act as:
-
Pretended as benign traffic via falsified HTTP headers.
-
HTTP or HTTPS-based.
In some cases of encrypted communication, beacons tend to use custom encryption or self-signed certificates over an allowed path.
Actions
The action is referred to the final goal accomplishment of an attacker. This could be anything from pulling out ransom in exchange for extricating a ransom from you in return for unscrambling your records to exfiltrating client data out of the system.
Will these cyber kill chain strategies work for your organization?
If you still aren’t having visibility and security built in your corporate environment, this may seem like an impossible task to accomplish. Take easy steps and complete stages gradually. Perform a web presence analysis to see what information it could give an attacker. Implement layered security to reduce the possibility of being attacked. Educate your employees on how to handle suspicious and malicious emails.
