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Battlefield Network
Speaker: Tal Be’ery
October 2015
Speaker Info – Tal Be’ery
• Senior Security Research Manager @Microsoft
• Former VP for Research @Aorato (Acquired by Microsoft)
• 15 years of security research
• Author of the TIME attack on SSL
• Regular speaker in Industry’s top conventions
• Named a “Facebook Whitehat”
• Twitter: @TalBeerySec
Agenda
• Intro
• Current state of affairs
• Why do we fail
• Know the enemy
• The modified Cyber Kill Chain
• Know thyself
• What is normal?
• Choose the right battlefield
• Network based detection of Reconnaissance and Lateral Movement
Current State of affairs
• 90% of large organizations and 74% of small businesses reporting a
security breach
• Data breach costs 2015: $6M on average, $65M max
• Average time to breach detection: eight months
• Most breaches are not detected internally
Test Case: The Dow Jones Breach
• Reported this month (October 9th 2015)
Reported by
others
Breached for 3
years
In other words:
We still don’t know
what happened
Why do We Fail?
• “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you
need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If
you know yourself but not the enemy, for every
victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If
you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you
will succumb in every battle.”
• We don’t know the enemy
• We don’t know ourselves
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Enchoen27n3200.jpg
Know the Enemy
The Cyber Kill-Chain
• Presented by Lockheed Martin, 2010
• Main achievements
• Knowing the enemy: The first widely accepted model of
APT attackers
• Important insight: It’s a chain!
• The chain is only as strong as its weakest link
• Defenders get to choose where to break the chain
Modifying the Kill-Chain #1
• The original Kill-Chain puts too much emphasis on the initial infection
• LightCyber’s version:
Modifying the Kill-Chain #2
• The process is not linear
• Mandiant’s version:
The start: Initial Compromise & Foothold
• Attackers move from the Internet to
initial, arbitrary foothold in victim’s
network
• Through interfaces open to the internet:
• E-Mail:
• The most popular method
• phishing E-mail bearing a malware
• Web:
• Watering hole attack: malware “Drive-by
download” on relevant sites
• Enterprise Web App
• Using WebApp vulnerabilties
The Middle #1: Lateral Movement
• Attackers move from their arbitrary foothold in victim’s network to
their destination
• Using the Lateral Movement vehicle
• The engine: Stolen credentials
• The wheel: Data obtained in the Recon phase
• The Lateral Movement methods are standard:
• Steal credentials from infected computer
• Expand to other computers using these creds
• Steal other creds from the computer
• Repeat
The Middle #2: Recon
• The recon phase is the most non standard part, as every victim’s
network is different:
• Attacks destinations, networks’ topology, IT conventions
• Therefore it involves more manual work:
• More time
• Attackers’ mistakes
• Recon methods are standard
• Scan the vicinity: near-by (network-wise) computers
• Query central repositories: Active Directory, DNS
The End: Exfiltration
• Attackers move data to the internet
using standard open channels
• Mostly through web
• But also FTP or any other protocol
Know Thyself
Learn What is Normal
• Per entity and containing groups
• Access patterns
• Logged-on Computers
• Accessed resources
• Working period
• Working days
• Working hours
• Physical location
• Where is the user’s home
• In case of travel, does it makes sense? http://seanheritage.com/blog/profiling-normal/
Choose the Battlefield
Time for another Sun Tzu Quote
• “...And therefore those skilled in war bring the
enemy to the field of battle and are not brought
there by him.“
• Remember this is a chain!
• We get to choose where to cut it!
• It’s not a binary decision:
• Prioritization
• Balance
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Enchoen27n3200.jpg
It’s a Battle of Movement
• All phases involve movement
• Movement in IT = Network
• Therefore the battle must take
place over the network
• But we have a limited budget:
in which phase we should
invest more and in which we
should invest less?
Where to Invest Less
• Exfiltration – too late
• The information is already making its way out
• Infiltration – too much attack surface
• Too many users, end systems, 0-days vulnerabilities
• We had already invested a lot of budget there, mainly in anti-malware
• And both
• Very generic to the attacker, very similar for all victims
• The attackers are well trained there as they do it all the time
• Highly automated
• Very rapid, compared to the middle section
• Less mistakes
Where to Invest More
• In the middle part:
• Not generic: Attacker does not know internal network
• Intelligence gaps: Attacker does not what is normal within the internal
network
• Before any real damage has been done
• The longest of phases: Takes weeks or even months
Weapons #1: Monitoring Traffic
• Detect known attackers’ patterns
• Learn normal traffic patterns
• To identify anomalies
• Monitoring everything does not scale and we must prioritize
• Invest more in monitoring central repositories
• E.g. Active Directory, DNS, DHCP
• Invest more in monitoring sensitive servers
• E.g. relevant file servers, DataBase servers, Active Directory/Domain
Controllers
Weapons #2: Deception
• Confuse the attacker with deception
• Use network tripwires and landmines
• Deploy honeypots
• Fake servers
• Deploy honeytokens
• Fake entries in real servers
• Monitor access to honeypots and use of honeytokens over the
network
Putting it All Together
• We know ourselves
• We learn what is normal over the network
• We know the enemy
• We know what the attacker is doing and able to detect it
• We had chosen the right battlefield
• The middle of the attack: recon + lateral movement
• We have the right weapons:
• Network monitoring to detect known attackers’ patterns, anomalies and
deception tripwires and landmines
• Sun Tzu promises victory!

More Related Content

Battlefield network

  • 1. Battlefield Network Speaker: Tal Be’ery October 2015
  • 2. Speaker Info – Tal Be’ery • Senior Security Research Manager @Microsoft • Former VP for Research @Aorato (Acquired by Microsoft) • 15 years of security research • Author of the TIME attack on SSL • Regular speaker in Industry’s top conventions • Named a “Facebook Whitehat” • Twitter: @TalBeerySec
  • 3. Agenda • Intro • Current state of affairs • Why do we fail • Know the enemy • The modified Cyber Kill Chain • Know thyself • What is normal? • Choose the right battlefield • Network based detection of Reconnaissance and Lateral Movement
  • 4. Current State of affairs • 90% of large organizations and 74% of small businesses reporting a security breach • Data breach costs 2015: $6M on average, $65M max • Average time to breach detection: eight months • Most breaches are not detected internally
  • 5. Test Case: The Dow Jones Breach • Reported this month (October 9th 2015) Reported by others Breached for 3 years In other words: We still don’t know what happened
  • 6. Why do We Fail? • “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” • We don’t know the enemy • We don’t know ourselves https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Enchoen27n3200.jpg
  • 8. The Cyber Kill-Chain • Presented by Lockheed Martin, 2010 • Main achievements • Knowing the enemy: The first widely accepted model of APT attackers • Important insight: It’s a chain! • The chain is only as strong as its weakest link • Defenders get to choose where to break the chain
  • 9. Modifying the Kill-Chain #1 • The original Kill-Chain puts too much emphasis on the initial infection • LightCyber’s version:
  • 10. Modifying the Kill-Chain #2 • The process is not linear • Mandiant’s version:
  • 11. The start: Initial Compromise & Foothold • Attackers move from the Internet to initial, arbitrary foothold in victim’s network • Through interfaces open to the internet: • E-Mail: • The most popular method • phishing E-mail bearing a malware • Web: • Watering hole attack: malware “Drive-by download” on relevant sites • Enterprise Web App • Using WebApp vulnerabilties
  • 12. The Middle #1: Lateral Movement • Attackers move from their arbitrary foothold in victim’s network to their destination • Using the Lateral Movement vehicle • The engine: Stolen credentials • The wheel: Data obtained in the Recon phase • The Lateral Movement methods are standard: • Steal credentials from infected computer • Expand to other computers using these creds • Steal other creds from the computer • Repeat
  • 13. The Middle #2: Recon • The recon phase is the most non standard part, as every victim’s network is different: • Attacks destinations, networks’ topology, IT conventions • Therefore it involves more manual work: • More time • Attackers’ mistakes • Recon methods are standard • Scan the vicinity: near-by (network-wise) computers • Query central repositories: Active Directory, DNS
  • 14. The End: Exfiltration • Attackers move data to the internet using standard open channels • Mostly through web • But also FTP or any other protocol
  • 16. Learn What is Normal • Per entity and containing groups • Access patterns • Logged-on Computers • Accessed resources • Working period • Working days • Working hours • Physical location • Where is the user’s home • In case of travel, does it makes sense? http://seanheritage.com/blog/profiling-normal/
  • 18. Time for another Sun Tzu Quote • “...And therefore those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there by him.“ • Remember this is a chain! • We get to choose where to cut it! • It’s not a binary decision: • Prioritization • Balance https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Enchoen27n3200.jpg
  • 19. It’s a Battle of Movement • All phases involve movement • Movement in IT = Network • Therefore the battle must take place over the network • But we have a limited budget: in which phase we should invest more and in which we should invest less?
  • 20. Where to Invest Less • Exfiltration – too late • The information is already making its way out • Infiltration – too much attack surface • Too many users, end systems, 0-days vulnerabilities • We had already invested a lot of budget there, mainly in anti-malware • And both • Very generic to the attacker, very similar for all victims • The attackers are well trained there as they do it all the time • Highly automated • Very rapid, compared to the middle section • Less mistakes
  • 21. Where to Invest More • In the middle part: • Not generic: Attacker does not know internal network • Intelligence gaps: Attacker does not what is normal within the internal network • Before any real damage has been done • The longest of phases: Takes weeks or even months
  • 22. Weapons #1: Monitoring Traffic • Detect known attackers’ patterns • Learn normal traffic patterns • To identify anomalies • Monitoring everything does not scale and we must prioritize • Invest more in monitoring central repositories • E.g. Active Directory, DNS, DHCP • Invest more in monitoring sensitive servers • E.g. relevant file servers, DataBase servers, Active Directory/Domain Controllers
  • 23. Weapons #2: Deception • Confuse the attacker with deception • Use network tripwires and landmines • Deploy honeypots • Fake servers • Deploy honeytokens • Fake entries in real servers • Monitor access to honeypots and use of honeytokens over the network
  • 24. Putting it All Together • We know ourselves • We learn what is normal over the network • We know the enemy • We know what the attacker is doing and able to detect it • We had chosen the right battlefield • The middle of the attack: recon + lateral movement • We have the right weapons: • Network monitoring to detect known attackers’ patterns, anomalies and deception tripwires and landmines • Sun Tzu promises victory!

Editor's Notes

  1. Source: https://dl.mandiant.com/EE/library/WP_M-Trends2014_140409.pdf http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/HP-Security-Products-Blog/2015-Cost-of-Cyber-Crime-study-The-average-cost-of-cybercrime/ba-p/6802367#.ViNnwfnyuUk http://www.out-law.com/en/articles/2015/june/cost-of-data-breach-incidents-to-business-soars-finds-uk-government-study/
  2. http://s.wsj.net/message/dowjonesletter-20151009.pdf
  3. http://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed/data/corporate/documents/LM-White-Paper-Intel-Driven-Defense.pdf http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/91979/hubfs/social-suggested-images/cyber-kill-chain.jpg
  4. http://core0.staticworld.net/images/idge/imported/article/nww/2011/08/082611-rsa-email-100271913-orig.jpg