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3 COMMUNICATIONS
VPN?
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
VPN?
INTERNATIONAL
MONETARY FUND
FIGURE 2
COMMONALITIES BETWEEN REPORTED ATTACKS
PAGE 7 OF 13
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COMMAND FIVE PTY LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ANATOMY OF AN ATTACK
Figure 2 shows us that the most common attack
vector observed is socially engineered emails
frequently, but not always, used in combination with
zero day exploits. While most victims do not provide
many details about the attacks against them, RSA 6 is
one of the few that has provided quite detailed
information. The attack methodology observed in
the case of RSA appears to be quite typical. The
distinct attack phases are shown in simplified form
in Figure 3. (Rivner, 2011)
techniques to target their intended victim. This may
include scanning to determine vulnerabilities,
writing malicious code or acquiring code, drafting
socially engineered emails, determining which email
account to send socially engineered emails from,
acquiring necessary hardware (such as USB flash
drives), determining what infrastructure to use to
launch the attack and for command and control
communications, registering for and setting up
necessary accounts (email addresses, callback
domains etc.) and conducting testing.
Targeting
Reconnaisance
Maintenance
Preparation
Data Gathering
Targeting
The attacker launches their attack and monitors for
signs of compromise or failure. The sender may
attempt to connect remotely to a server to exploit a
vulnerability, strategically place a USB flash drive or
give one to a target, send socially engineered emails
and if possible, check for bounce back notifications,
monitor command and control infrastructure for
beaconing activity from the victim, try to connect
inbound to the potentially compromised computer,
or await feedback from an insider.
Further Access
Further Access
FIGURE 3
BASIC APT ATTACK METHODOLOGY
Reconnaissance
The attacker passively gathers information about
their target to identify the best targeting method.
This may include research into the location of the
target
s offices, the location of their computers,
technologies used by the company, how they
communicate (between offices, with customers,
suppliers and shareholders), their employees, their
employees
contact details, interests and contacts.
Preparation
The attacker actively prepares for the attack,
developing and testing appropriate tools and
Once an attacker has successfully gained access to a
computer network they will usually try to identify
where in the network they are and move laterally
within the network to access data of interest and to
install additional backdoors. This will usually
require a return to step 2 (Preparation) and step 3
(Targeting), the upload of tools and malicious
software, privilege escalation, network enumeration
and identification of vulnerable hosts on which to
install backdoors. It may also involve gaining access
to the domain controller to obtain password hashes,
covering tracks by altering logs, and accessing mail
or file servers to enable data gathering.
Data Gathering
Once an attacker has identified information of
interest they will try to gather this information and
exfiltrate it. They may do this using a
smash and
grab
approach, trying to exfiltrate the desired data
before it is detected, or they may opt for a
low and
slow
approach in which they exfiltrate the data in
small quantities over a longer period.
6 The attack on RSA is described in a blog post on the official RSA
blog site; see http://blogs.rsa.com/rivner/anatomy
attack/
PAGE 8 OF 13
COPYRIGHT
COMMAND FIVE PTY LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Maintenance
Network Access Restrictions