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The phase of recovery stands as a critical endeavor, aiming not only to restore systems but also to fortify their resilience against future threats. Let's delve into the nuances of the recovery phase and the key actions. Recovery: Bringing Systems Back to a Secure State Objective of Recovery: To remove the root cause of the incident and restore the system to a secure and operational state. Reconfiguring Hosts: Recovery actions are directed towards fully reconfiguring hosts, enabling them to resume the specific business workflows they were performing before the incident occurred. Challenges of Recovery: Acknowledged as the most prolonged and challenging part of the response due to its extensive nature and impact on operational continuity. Nature-dependent Steps: The steps involved in recovery are highly dependent on the nature and severity of the incident encountered. Recovery Actions: Essential Measures Patching: Implementing changes in software or data to update, fix, or enhance the system's integrity and security. Permissions Review: A comprehensive review and reinforcement of all types of permissions granted within the system post-incident. Logging Verification: Ensuring the proper functionality of scanning, monitoring, and log retrieval systems post-incident to maintain a vigilant eye on system activities. System Hardening: Securing a system's configuration and settings to minimize vulnerabilities and potential compromises. Hardening Effectiveness: Hardening works most effectively as a preventive measure during the initial system design phase. Simple Mottos for System Hardening Uninstall Unused Components: Removing anything from the system that isn't actively used or necessary. Frequent Patching: Regularly updating and patching systems for enhanced security against known vulnerabilities. Least Privilege Principle: Restricting users to the minimum level of access necessary for their operational requirements. The recovery phase in incident response is pivotal in not just rectifying the impact of a security breach but also in reinforcing systems against potential future threats. Swift and effective recovery actions bolster an organization's ability to thwart adversaries and sustain operational resilience in the face of evolving cyber risks. Akash Patel

In the realm of cybersecurity incidents, eradication strategy, hold paramount importance in mitigating the aftermath of a breach. Eradication: Removing the Cause Complete Removal: Eradication involves the comprehensive removal and destruction of the cause of the incident, aiming to eliminate any remnants of compromise. Simplified Eradication: A common method to eradicate a contaminated system is by replacing it with a clean image sourced from a trusted repository. Sanitization: Ensuring Data Disposal Cryptographic Erase (CE): A method employed in self-encrypting drives to erase the media encryption key, ensuring sanitization. Zero-Fill Technique: This method overwrites all bits on magnetic media to zero, though it's not suitable for SSDs or hybrid drives. Secure Erase (SE): Sanitizing solid-state devices using manufacturer-provided software, a secure method for SSDs. Secure Disposal: Utilizes physical destruction (e.g., mechanical shredding, incineration, or degaussing) for top-secret or highly confidential information. Eradication Actions Reconstruction: Restoring a sanitized system using scripted installation routines and templates. Reimaging: Restoration via image-based backup for systems that have undergone sanitization. Reconstitution: Restoring systems that can't be sanitized through manual removal, reinstallation, and monitoring processes. Seven Steps for Reconstitution: -- Analyze processes and network activity for signs of malware -- Terminate suspicious processes and securely delete them from the system -- Identify and disable autostart locations to prevent processes from executing -- Replace contaminated processes with clean versions from trusted media -- Reboot the system and analyze for signs of continued malware infection -- If continued malware infection, analyze firmware and USB devices for infection -- If tests are negative, reintroduce the system to the production environment Incident response's success heavily relies on effective eradication, thorough sanitization. Swift and strategic implementation of these measures significantly reduces the impact of security breaches, fortifying an organization's resilience against cyber threats. Akash Patel

During a cybersecurity incident, the ability to swiftly contain the breach is pivotal to mitigating the potential damages. Containment measures help restrict the impact and prevent further escalation, safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring minimal disruption to business operations. The Steps for Effective Containment Ensuring Safety and Security: The foremost priority in any incident is ensuring the safety and security of all personnel involved. This might involve temporarily shutting down systems or networks to prevent further compromise. Halting the Breach: Immediate action is taken to prevent ongoing intrusions or data breaches. This step includes identifying and closing vulnerabilities that may have allowed the attack to occur initially. Primary vs. Secondary Attack Identification: Distinguishing between primary and secondary attacks is crucial to understand the breadth of the incident and allocate appropriate resources for containment. Stealthy Approach: It's imperative to prevent alerting the attacker that their actions have been discovered. This stealthy approach helps in preserving evidence crucial for forensic analysis. Preserving Forensic Evidence: Gathering and securing evidence is crucial for understanding the attack's intricacies and formulating stronger preventive measures for the future. Isolation Techniques in Containment Air Gap Isolation: This method involves physically disconnecting the affected component from the larger network or the internet. Though effective, it limits opportunities for analyzing the attack or malware due to the complete isolation. Segmentation Strategies: Segmentation leverages network technologies like VLANs, routing, subnets, and firewall ACLs to isolate affected hosts. It confines adversarial traffic within a controlled segment, preventing lateral movement within the network. Note: Segmentation can also be employed as a deceptive strategy, redirecting adversary traffic for analysis or diversion, bolstering the defensive capabilities. Key Considerations Consulting Senior Leadership: Decisions regarding isolation or segmentation should involve consulting senior leadership to choose the most effective strategy aligned with the organization's objectives and risk tolerance. Containment plays a critical role in incident response, significantly impacting the severity and repercussions of a security breach. Implementing swift and effective containment strategies can substantially reduce damages and bolster an organization's resilience against cyber threats. Akash Patel

In this phase we will determine if an incident has place, triage it, and notify relevant stakeholders and analyze it. To understand better we will use the OODA Loop: The OODA Loop in Incident Response: The OODA Loop is a decision-making model created to help responders think clearly during the “fog of war” Observe: Identify the problem or threat and understand the internal and external environment. Avoid analysis paralysis during this phase, Example: - "An alert in your SIEM has been created due to an employee clicking on a link in an email " Orient: Reflect on observations and plan subsequent actions. Example: - "Identify the user’s permissions, any changes identified in the user’s system, and potential goals of attacker " Decide: Suggest an action plan considering potential outcomes. Example: - "The user’s system was compromised, malware was installed by the attacker, and we should isolate the system " Act: Execute decisions and relevant changes, then observe for further indicators. Example: - "The user’s system is isolated by an incident responder and then begin to observe again for additional indicators " 2. Defensive Capabilities: Capabilities does your organization have (Question which you have to ask) Detect: Identify adversary presence and resources. Destroy: Render adversary resources permanently ineffective. Degrade: Temporarily reduce adversary capabilities or functionality. Disrupt: Interrupt adversary communications or confuse their efforts. Deny: Prevent adversaries from learning about capabilities or accessing assets. Deceive: Provide false information to distort adversary understanding. You can create a chart for example 3. Detection and Analysis: Identify if an incident occurred, triage it, and inform stakeholders. Use SIEM as a central data repository for detection and analysis. Known Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) can trigger alerts and categorization IOCs can be both technical and non-technical ▪ Anti-malware software ▪ NIDS/NIPS ▪ HIDS/HIPS ▪ System logs ▪ Network device logs ▪ SIEM data ▪ Flow control device ▪ Internal personnel ▪ External personnel ▪ Cyber-threat intelligence Detected indicators must be analyzed and categorized as benign, suspicious, or malicious. 4. Impact Analysis: Examples of impacts: data integrity, unauthorized changes, data theft, service interruptions, and system downtime. Triage and categorize incidents based on impact-based or taxonomy-based approaches. Impact-based Approach: Focuses on incident severity levels: emergency, significant, moderate, or low. Taxonomy-based Approach: Defines incident categories such as worm outbreak, phishing attempt, DDoS, external host/account compromise, or internal privilege abuse. Using an impact analysis to categorize incidents based on scope and cost. 2. Impact analysis can be done based different Classifications: Organizational Impact: Incidents affecting mission-critical functions, hindering the organization's normal operations. Localized Impact: Limited incidents affecting a single department, small user group, or a few systems. Warning: Localized impact doesn't inherently imply less importance or cost-effectiveness. Immediate Impact: Measures direct costs incurred due to incidents, such as downtime, asset damage, penalties, and fees. Total Impact: Measures both immediate and long-term costs post-incident, including damage to the company's reputation. 5. Incident Classification: Differentiate incidents based on data integrity, system process criticality, downtime, economic impact, data correlation, and recovery time. Emphasize the significance of understanding incident classification for effective response. Remaining phases in next post:- Thank you for visiting Akash Patel

In the realm of cybersecurity, the preparation phase of an incident response plan lays the groundwork for effective handling of security breaches and cyber incidents. This phase centers on proactive measures and strategic planning to ensure readiness when incidents occur. 1. Building the Incident Response Team: Incident Response Manager: Oversees the incident response process, coordinates actions, and manages the response team. Security Analysts: Triage Analyst: Identifies false positives, configures IDS/IPS, and monitors for ongoing intrusions. Forensic Analyst: Extracts crucial information to understand the attack's nature and its origins. Threat Researcher: Stays updated with the latest threats and attack patterns. Cross-Functional Support: Involves HR, legal, management, public relations, and technical experts. 2. Documentation and Call List: Incident Form: Records incident details including date, time, location, observers, incident type, scope, and description. Call List: Predefined hierarchy for notification and escalation of incidents. 3. Data Criticality: Prioritizing the handling of breaches involving sensitive data: Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Sensitive Personal Information (SPI) Personal Health Information (PHI) Financial Information Intellectual Property : Information created by an organization, usually about the products. Corporate Information: Confidential data owned by a company like product, sales, marketing, legal, and contract information. High-Value Assets 4. Communication Plan: Establishing secure communication channels and backup plans. Utilizing various communication methods: email, web portals, phone calls, in-person updates, voicemail, formal reports. 5. Reporting Requirements: Understanding the distinct types of breaches (e.g., data exfiltration, insider exfiltration, device theft/loss, accidental breaches, integrity breaches). Complying with laws and regulations governing breach notifications to affected parties 6. Response Coordination: An incident response will require coordination between different internal departments and external agencies. Identifying key stakeholders within and outside the organization. Involving senior leadership, regulatory bodies, legal, law enforcement, human resources, and public relations for effective coordination. Senior Leadership: Example: (your credit card server got affected so technically if you disconnect the server okay but if thinks logically it will affect payments and that will hurt your organization badly. You have to work this out with leadership that if you shutting down that system or server how will you receive payment until than so it will not affect your business) so senior leadership will be there Regulatory bodies: Governmental organizations that oversee the compliance with specific regulations and laws (like HIPAA, PCIDSS, GDPR) Legal: The business or organization’s legal counsel is responsible for mitigating risk from civil lawsuits Law Enforcement: May provide services to assist in your incident handling efforts or to prepare for legal action against the attacker in the future Human Resources (HR): Used to ensure no breaches of employment law or employee contracts is made during an incident response Public Relations (PR): (protect from negative publicity from a serious incident) 7. Training and Testing: Conducting comprehensive training sessions for all relevant personnel. Performing tabletop exercises and penetration tests to simulate real incident scenarios. This preparation phase lays the groundwork for a robust incident response strategy, ensuring organizations are equipped with the necessary resources, teams, and plans to effectively respond to security incidents. Stay tuned for our upcoming series to delve deeper into the remaining phases of incident response. Akash Patel

In Next few posts, I am going Delve deep in incident response and various aspects. Incident Response Procedures: Procedures and guidelines covering appropriate priorities, actions, and responsibilities in the event of security incidents, divided into preparation, detection/analysis, containment, eradication/recovery, and post-incident stages Documenting Procedures . ● Preparation --Make the system resilient to attack by hardening systems, writing policies and procedures, and setting up confidential lines of communication --Preparing for an incident response involves documenting your procedures, putting resources and procedures in place, and conducting training. --A standard operating procedure and it tells our junior analysts and incident handlers exactly what they should do in response to different scenarios. ● Detection and Analysis --Determine if an incident has place, triage it, and notify relevant stakeholders ● Containment --Limit the scope and the magnitude of the incident by securing data and the limiting impact to business operations and your customers ● Eradication and Recovery --Remove the cause of the incident and bring the system back to secure state ● Post-incident Activity --Analyze the incident and responses to identify whether procedures or systems could be improved We will learn in more details about every phase in next posts. Thank you Akash Patel

As the clock strikes midnight, we bid farewell to the past year and warmly welcome the promising dawn of a new one. The New Year signifies not just the flipping of the calendar but also an opportunity for fresh starts, renewed goals, and boundless possibilities. Amidst our personal pursuits, let's not forget the joy of giving and expressing gratitude. Whether it's lending a helping hand, volunteering, or simply spreading kindness, these acts not only benefit others but also nourish our own souls. Akash patel

Tis the season to be jolly! As the year draws to a close, we find ourselves surrounded by the warmth of cheerful decorations, the delightful melodies of holiday tunes, and the spirit of giving and togetherness. Reflecting on the Year Gone By As we bid adieu to another year, it's an opportune moment to reflect on the journey we've taken. The challenges we faced, the milestones we achieved, and the lessons learned have all contributed to our growth and resilience. Wishing You Joy and Peace I extend warm holiday greetings and my sincerest wishes for a joyous and peaceful holiday season. May this time be filled with laughter, love, and cherished moments shared with loved ones. A Time for Giving Let’s not forget the true essence of this season – giving. Whether it's contributing to a charitable cause, volunteering in the community, or spreading kindness through small acts, let us embrace the spirit of giving and make a positive impact, no matter how small it may seem. Looking Forward to the New Year As we step into a new year filled with hope and aspirations, let's embrace it with enthusiasm and optimism. Together, let's strive for greater accomplishments, stronger connections, and a future filled with promise. Wishing you a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year! Akash Patel

"Golden Ticket" attack perform on Active Directory environments. This technique, a perilous offspring of pass-the-hash attacks(Local workstations), poses a grave danger to organizational security. Understanding the Golden Ticket A "Golden Ticket" is a forged Kerberos ticket that grants unauthorized access to an Active Directory domain. It capitalizes on the krbtgt hash, a foundational element within the domain, functioning akin to a root certificate authority's private key. Possession of a Golden Ticket enables attackers to gain administrative privileges across the domain with unrestricted access to resources. Operating Mechanism and Implications The Krbtgt account, susceptible to exploitation, generates ticket-granting tickets (TGTs) crucial for user service access within the Kerberos protocol. Attackers wielding a Golden Ticket obtain a pseudo TGT, bypassing authentication measures, and acquire unrestricted domain traversal capabilities. How KDC Works? The Key Distribution Center (KDC) is a fundamental component of the Kerberos authentication protocol, responsible for securely managing and distributing encryption keys for authentication purposes. Here's an overview of how KDC works within the Kerberos protocol: Authentication Process: Authentication Server (AS): The initial authentication begins with the client requesting authentication to access a service. The client sends a request to the Authentication Server (AS) for a Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT). TGT Request: The AS verifies the client's credentials, generates a TGT encrypted with the client's password or a shared secret, and sends it back to the client. 2. Ticket Granting Service (TGS) Request: Service Ticket Request: When the client needs access to a specific service, it sends a request to the Ticket Granting Service (TGS) along with the TGT it received earlier. TGS Verification: The TGS verifies the TGT, and if successful, it issues a Service Ticket encrypted with a session key for accessing the requested service. Mitigating Golden Ticket Threats Regular Password Changes: Administrators must consistently rotate the krbtgt account password. Rapid password changes invalidate any potentially forged Golden Tickets, thwarting potential breaches. (As per microsoft Password must be changed twice) Enhanced Log Monitoring: By scrutinizing logs for suspicious activities and being vigilant for newer Golden Ticket variants with domain name fields. Conclusion As cyber threats become more sophisticated, proactive measures like password rotation and robust log monitoring become paramount in thwarting such malicious incursions. Akash Patel

In the world of cybersecurity, malicious actors are constantly evolving their tactics to breach systems and gain unauthorized access. One such method, known as "Pass the Hash," poses a serious threat to network security. Understanding this attack vector is crucial in fortifying defenses against it. What is Pass the Hash? Pass the Hash is a network-based attack where attackers pilfer hashed user credentials from a compromised system and employ these credentials to authenticate within the same network from which the hash originated. By utilizing these hashed credentials without the need to crack the original password, attackers attempt to authenticate to network protocols such as SMB and Kerberos. Key Points about Pass the Hash: Allows for authentication using stolen hashed credentials without cracking the passwords. Can be exploited to elevate privileges and gain local admin privileges on a workstation. Utilizes tools like Mimikatz, an open-source application that extracts authentication credentials from system memory. Detecting and Mitigating Pass the Hash Attacks: Detecting Pass the Hash attacks can be challenging since attacker activity often resembles legitimate authentication. However, several measures can be implemented to mitigate these threats: Antivirus and Antimalware Software: Employ these tools to block malicious software like Mimikatz used for Pass the Hash attacks. Restricting and Protecting Accounts: Limit the use of domain administrative accounts to log onto domain controllers, preventing exploitation of these high-privileged accounts. Inbound Traffic Restrictions: Configure the Windows Firewall to restrict inbound traffic to workstations, allowing access only to essential entities like helpdesk, security compliance scanners, and servers. Monitoring with IDS Signatures: Though challenging, employing IDS signatures might aid in real-time detection of Pass the Hash attempts by scrutinizing network traffic patterns. Conclusion: Implementing a multi-layered security approach, including stringent access controls, monitoring tools, and continuous user education, is vital in thwarting these sophisticated attacks. Akash Patel

In the realm of cybersecurity, the examination of URLs and the comprehension of HTTP methods and response codes play a pivotal role in identifying potential threats and understanding communication between clients and servers. Here's a breakdown of crucial concepts to enhance your grasp in this area: URL Analysis: URL analysis involves dissecting web addresses to ascertain potential threats embedded within them. Some key techniques include: Resolving Percent Encoding: This process deciphers encoded characters in URLs to identify any obfuscated malicious scripts or activities. Assessing Redirection: Understanding URL redirection helps in comprehending if a link leads to a different destination, potentially indicative of a security risk. Scrutinizing Script Source Code: Inspecting the source code within a URL assists in detecting any embedded malicious scripts or payloads. Example: http://akash.com/upload.php?post=%3Cscript%3E%27http%3A%2F%2Fabc123.com%2Frat%2Ejs Data submitted via a URL is delimited by the ? character Query parameters are usually formatted as one or more name=value pairs with ampersands (&) delimiting each pair A # is used to indicate a fragment or anchor ID and it not processed by the webserver HTTP Methods: HTTP methods dictate the actions to be performed concerning a resource: GET: Retrieves a resource. POST: Sends data to the server for processing. PUT: Creates or replaces a requested resource. DELETE: Removes the requested resource. HEAD: Retrieves headers for a resource, disregarding the body. HTTP Response Codes: These codes denote the status of a server's response to a client request: 2xx (e.g., 200): Successful request. 3xx: Indicates a redirect. 4xx (e.g., 404): Client-side errors (e.g., non-existent resource). 5xx (e.g., 500): Server-side errors (e.g., general server error). Percent Encoding: Percent encoding assists in encoding URL characters. It includes: Unreserved Characters: Safe characters allowed in URLs. Example (a-z A-Z 0-9 - . _ ~ ) Reserved Characters: Characters with specific meanings in URLs. v Example (: / ? # [ ] @ ! $ & ' ( ) * + , ; =) Unsafe Characters: Characters not permitted in URLs. Example (Null string termination, carriage return, line feed, end of file, tab, space, and \ < > { }) WARNING: While percent encoding is essential for encoding characters, it can also be misused to conceal the true nature of a URL and potentially facilitate malicious activities. Example :- http://diontraining.com/upload.php?post=%3Cscript%3E%27http%3A%2F%2Fabc 123.com%2Frat%2Ejs Akash Patel

Configuration Steps 1. Rules Configuration Suricata comes with default rules, but you can add custom rules by specifying their locations. For instance: Default rule path (sudo ls -al /var/lib/suricata/rules). Default rules are already configured in Configuration file example Lets suppose you created custom rules with name local.rules and you stored in /var/lib/suricata/rules in that case you can just write in configuration file like below. But if created custom rule and store in some other directory that you have mentioned complete path here for example 2. Update rules if needed: sudo suricata-update 3. Adding Custom Sources(rules) sudo suricata-update list-sources Few will require subscription but where license is mentioned as Open or Non- commercial or MIT you can enable those with below command sudo suricata-update enable-source sudo surikata-update 4. Testing Configuration file to make sure everything is working fine: sudo suricata -T -c /etc/suricata/suricata.yaml -v 5. Running Suricata: sudo systemctl start suricata.service Now to check if Suricata or detection working fine: 1. Initiating a Test For testing, use: curl http://testmynids.org/index.html 2. Checking Logs Review intrusion logs: sudo cat /var/log/suricata/fast.log There you go configuration of Suricata has been done. Suricata generates logs in JSON format, providing rich and detailed information about network events and intrusions. Viewing these logs directly using standard commands might not offer the best readability due to their JSON structure. To address this, we can use the 'jq' command-line tool to process and filter the logs, making them more understandable. Viewing Suricata's 'eve.json' Log File: Installing 'jq' Utility Ensure 'jq' is installed for processing JSON logs: sudo apt-get install jq 2. Displaying Latest Alerts Using 'tail' to view the latest 'eve.json' logs and filter for specific event types (e.g., 'alert') using 'jq': sudo tail -f /var/log/suricata/eve.json | jq '.event | select(.event_type == "alert")' JSON logs provide crucial details such as timestamps, source/destination IPs, ports, protocols, and the action taken. There you go Suricata configuration and Suricata setup is done. If you want you can Integrate Suricata with Wazuh which allow you for comprehensive event correlation and enhanced security monitoring. Akash Patel