From Data Insights to Cyber Threats: The Tale of Qlik Sense and Cactus Ransomware

CactusQlik SenseManage EngineUEMSAny Desk

Cactus ransomware is a type of ransomware that has been active since March 2023, targeting large commercial organizations. Cactus attempts to identify local and network user accounts and accessible endpoints within a network. This ransomware possesses a new encryption and also employs double extortion tactics to get paid ransom. . Cactus gains initial access to targeted networks by exploiting known vulnerabilities in VPN devices. It makes detection difficult by encrypting itself, thereby successfully bypassing antivirus and network monitoring tools.

Indicators of Compromise

CVEs (4)

CVE-2023-41265,2023-12-01 11:48:53CVE-2023-43177,2023-12-01 11:48:53CVE-2023-41266,2023-12-01 11:48:53CVE-2023-48365,2023-12-01 11:48:53

Notes

<div>CONCLUSIONS</div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Given the information about Cactus Ransomware and its sophisticated attack methods, organizations should take a series of proactive and defensive steps to mitigate the risk and impact of such attacks. Here are the key actions that should be implemented: <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Enhance Cybersecurity Infrastructure:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Update and patch VPN devices and other critical software regularly to fix vulnerabilities.Implement advanced cybersecurity solutions, including firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and endpoint protection.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Adopt Robust Security Practices:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Use password managers to secure credentials. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across all sensitive systems.Restrict and monitor the usage of PowerShell and similar administrative tools.Implement application control to prevent the installation of unauthorized software, particularly remote access tools.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Conduct Regular Security Audits and Penetration Testing:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Regularly audit user, administrator, and service accounts to ensure adherence to the principle of least privilege. Run continuous penetration testing to identify and address potential security gaps.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Implement Effective Network Management and Monitoring:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Vigilantly monitor network traffic for unusual activities, such as large-scale data exports.Use network intrusion prevention systems and SSL/TLS inspection to detect and prevent malicious traffic.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Data Backup and Recovery Planning:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Regularly back up data and ensure backups are stored securely, preferably offline or in a separate network.Test backup integrity and the restoration process periodically.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Employee Training and Awareness Programs:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Conduct regular training sessions for employees to recognize potential cybersecurity threats and understand best practices.Foster a culture of security awareness within the organization.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Develop and Test Incident Response Plans:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Have a comprehensive incident response plan in place for ransomware attacks.Regularly test and update the plan to ensure effectiveness in a real-world scenario.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Stay Informed About Latest Cybersecurity Threats:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Keep abreast of the latest cybersecurity trends and threat intelligence. Share information with relevant stakeholders and participate in industry cybersecurity forums.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Legal and Compliance Considerations:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Understand and comply with relevant data protection laws and regulations. Consider consulting with cybersecurity legal experts for guidance on handling ransomware incidents. By taking these steps, organizations can significantly strengthen their defenses against Cactus Ransomware and similar cyber threats, reducing the likelihood of successful attacks and minimizing the impact in case of a breach.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">You can learn more about cactus ransomware in <a href="https://socradar.io/cactus-ransomware-employs-unique-encryption-techniques-to-avoid-detection/"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">SOCRadar's</a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> Cactus Ransomware Employs Unique Encryption Techniques to Avoid Detection blog.<div><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div></div><div> </div>

Mitigation

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">MITIGATION:<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Remote Access Software<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">An adversary may use legitimate desktop support and remote access software to establish an interactive command and control channel to target systems within networks. These services, such as VNC, Team Viewer, AnyDesk, ScreenConnect, LogMein, AmmyyAdmin, and other remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools, which are commonly used as legitimate technical support software and may be allowed by application control within a target environment.[1][2][3] <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Remote access software may be installed and used post-compromise as an alternate communications channel for redundant access or as a way to establish an interactive remote desktop session with the target system. They may also be used as a component of malware to establish a reverse connection or back-connect to a service or adversary controlled system. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Adversaries may similarly abuse response features included in EDR and other defensive tools that enable remote access.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> Mitigations<div style="margin-left:0pt;" align="left"><table style="border:none;border-collapse:collapse;"><colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:37.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">ID</td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Mitigation</td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Description</td></tr><tr style="height:43pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1038"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1038</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1038"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Execution Prevention</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Use application control to mitigate installation and use of unapproved software that can be used for remote access.</td></tr><tr style="height:42.25pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1037"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1037</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1037"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Filter Network Traffic</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Properly configure firewalls, application firewalls, and proxies to limit outgoing traffic to sites and services used by remote access software.</td></tr><tr style="height:42.25pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1031"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1031</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1031"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Network Intrusion Prevention</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Network intrusion detection and prevention systems that use network signatures may be able to prevent traffic to remote access services.</td></tr></tbody></table></div> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Proxy<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Sub-techniques (4)<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Adversaries may use a connection proxy to direct network traffic between systems or act as an intermediary for network communications to a command and control server to avoid direct connections to their infrastructure. Many tools exist that enable traffic redirection through proxies or port redirection, including HTRAN, ZXProxy, and ZXPortMap. [1] Adversaries use these types of proxies to manage command and control communications, reduce the number of simultaneous outbound network connections, provide resiliency in the face of connection loss, or to ride over existing trusted communications paths between victims to avoid suspicion. Adversaries may chain together multiple proxies to further disguise the source of malicious traffic.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Adversaries can also take advantage of routing schemes in Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to proxy command and control traffic.<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> Mitigations<div style="margin-left:0pt;" align="left"><table style="border:none;border-collapse:collapse;"><colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:37.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">ID</td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Mitigation</td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Description</td></tr><tr style="height:56.5pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1037"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1037</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1037"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Filter Network Traffic</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Traffic to known anonymity networks and C2 infrastructure can be blocked through the use of network allow and block lists. It should be noted that this kind of blocking may be circumvented by other techniques like <a href="https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1090/004"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Domain Fronting</a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">.</td></tr><tr style="height:82.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1031"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1031</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1031"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Network Intrusion Prevention</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Network intrusion detection and prevention systems that use network signatures to identify traffic for specific adversary malware can be used to mitigate activity at the network level. Signatures are often for unique indicators within protocols and may be based on the specific C2 protocol used by a particular adversary or tool, and will likely be different across various malware families and versions. Adversaries will likely change tool C2 signatures over time or construct protocols in such a way as to avoid detection by common defensive tools. <a href="https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1408/1408.1136.pdf"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[60]</a></td></tr><tr style="height:55.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1020"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1020</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1020"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">SSL/TLS Inspection</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">If it is possible to inspect HTTPS traffic, the captures can be analyzed for connections that appear to be domain fronting.</td></tr></tbody></table></div> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Adversaries may modify and/or disable security tools to avoid possible detection of their malware/tools and activities. This may take many forms, such as killing security software processes or services, modifying / deleting Registry keys or configuration files so that tools do not operate properly, or other methods to interfere with security tools scanning or reporting information. Adversaries may also disable updates to prevent the latest security patches from reaching tools on victim systems.[1] <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Adversaries may also tamper with artifacts deployed and utilized by security tools. Security tools may make dynamic changes to system components in order to maintain visibility into specific events. For example, security products may load their own modules and/or modify those loaded by processes to facilitate data collection. Similar to Indicator Blocking, adversaries may unhook or otherwise modify these features added by tools (especially those that exist in userland or are otherwise potentially accessible to adversaries) to avoid detection.[2][3] <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Adversaries may also focus on specific applications such as Sysmon. For example, the "Start" and "Enable" values in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Autologger\EventLog-Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon-Operational may be modified to tamper with and potentially disable Sysmon logging.[4] <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">On network devices, adversaries may attempt to skip digital signature verification checks by altering startup configuration files and effectively disabling firmware verification that typically occurs at boot.[5][6] <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">In cloud environments, tools disabled by adversaries may include cloud monitoring agents that report back to services such as AWS CloudWatch or Google Cloud Monitor. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Furthermore, although defensive tools may have anti-tampering mechanisms, adversaries may abuse tools such as legitimate rootkit removal kits to impair and/or disable these tools.[7][8][9][10] For example, adversaries have used tools such as GMER to find and shut down hidden processes and antivirus software on infected systems.[9] <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(55, 65, 81); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Additionally, adversaries may exploit legitimate drivers from anti-virus software to gain access to kernel space (i.e. Exploitation for Privilege Escalation), which may lead to bypassing anti-tampering features.[11] Mitigations<div style="margin-left:0pt;" align="left"><table style="border:none;border-collapse:collapse;"><colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:37.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">ID</td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Mitigation</td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Description</td></tr><tr style="height:70pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1038"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1038</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1038"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Execution Prevention</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dee2e6 1.5pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Use application control where appropriate, especially regarding the execution of tools outside of the organization's security policies (such as rootkit removal tools) that have been abused to impair system defenses. Ensure that only approved security applications are used and running on enterprise systems.</td></tr><tr style="height:55.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1022"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1022</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1022"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Restrict File and Directory Permissions</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Ensure proper process and file permissions are in place to prevent adversaries from disabling or interfering with security services.</td></tr><tr style="height:55.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1024"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1024</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1024"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Restrict Registry Permissions</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Ensure proper Registry permissions are in place to prevent adversaries from disabling or interfering with security services.</td></tr><tr style="height:55.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1018"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1018</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1018"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">User Account Management</a></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.75pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Ensure proper user permissions are in place to prevent adversaries from disabling or interfering with security services.</td></tr></tbody></table></div>