Identity Threat Hunting
Identity Threat Hunting in cybersecurity refers to the proactive process of searching for and identifying malicious activities that exploit or target user identities and accounts within an organization's systems. It involves looking for signs of compromise, suspicious behavior, and potential attacks targeting user credentials, privileges, and access rights.
Here's a breakdown of key aspects:
Focus on Identity: Unlike traditional threat hunting that might look broadly for malware or vulnerabilities, Identity Threat Hunting focuses explicitly on how attackers leverage user identities to achieve their goals. This includes account takeover, privilege escalation, lateral movement, and data exfiltration using compromised accounts.
Proactive Approach: It's not about waiting for alerts; it's about actively searching for evidence of attacks that may have bypassed existing security tools or gone unnoticed. This often involves analyzing logs, user activity patterns, and access permissions to uncover anomalies.
Human-Driven: While tools and automation assist in the process, Identity Threat Hunting heavily relies on skilled security professionals (threat hunters) who possess expertise in attacker tactics and techniques related to identity compromise. They can identify subtle patterns and connect the dots to reveal hidden threats.
Threat Intelligence: Leveraging threat intelligence about known attack patterns, indicators of compromise (IOCs), and adversary tactics related to identity-based attacks is crucial in guiding the hunting process.
Goal: The primary goal is to detect and disrupt attacks early in the attack chain before significant damage is done. This may involve identifying compromised accounts, uncovering malicious insiders, or discovering identity and access management system vulnerabilities.
Why is Identity Threat Hunting Important?
Rise of Identity-Based Attacks: With the increasing adoption of cloud services and remote work, user identities have become a prime target for attackers. Compromising a single account can provide a foothold in an entire organization's network.
Advanced Threats: Modern attackers often employ sophisticated techniques to evade traditional security measures. Identity Threat Hunting helps to uncover these stealthy attacks.
Insider Threats: It can help identify malicious insiders or compromised legitimate accounts used to carry out attacks.
Compliance: Many regulations and industry standards require organizations to proactively monitor and protect user identities and access.
Tools and Techniques Used:
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems: For log analysis and correlation.
User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) tools: To detect anomalous user activity.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions: To analyze user access patterns and privileges.
Threat intelligence platforms: To stay informed about the latest identity-based threats.
By proactively hunting for identity-based threats, organizations can strengthen their security posture, reduce the risk of breaches, and protect their critical assets.
ThreatNG can significantly aid identity threat hunting. It offers a wide array of features that help identify and assess potential vulnerabilities and risks associated with identity compromise. Here's how it helps:
1. Identifying Potential Entry Points for Attackers
Domain Intelligence: ThreatNG's Domain Intelligence module helps identify potential weaknesses in your domain and subdomains that attackers could exploit. This includes:
DNS intelligence: Identifying misconfigured DNS records vulnerable to attacks like DNS spoofing.
Subdomain takeover susceptibility: Identifying subdomains vulnerable to takeover could allow attackers to launch phishing attacks or host malicious content.
Certificate intelligence: Identifying expired or misconfigured SSL certificates could lead to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Exposed APIs and development environments: Discovering exposed APIs and development environments that could provide attackers with unauthorized access to sensitive data or functionalities.
Known vulnerabilities: Identifying known vulnerabilities in your web applications and systems that attackers could exploit.
Sensitive Code Exposure: This module helps identify sensitive information like API keys, access tokens, and credentials that are exposed in public code repositories. Attackers could use this information to gain unauthorized access to systems and data.
Search Engine Exploitation: This module helps identify sensitive information inadvertently exposed through search engines. This could include error messages, directory listings, or even exposed credentials.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: This module helps identify application vulnerabilities, such as misconfigured security settings or exposed data. Attackers could exploit these vulnerabilities to access your cloud accounts and data.
2. Detecting Signs of Compromise
Dark Web Presence: ThreatNG monitors the dark web for mentions of your organization, leaked credentials, and other signs of compromise. This can help you identify if your organization has been targeted or if any user accounts have been compromised.
Sentiment and Financials: This module analyzes public information, including SEC filings and social media, to identify potential risks to your organization's reputation or financial stability. This can help you detect early signs of attacks like BEC (Business Email Compromise) that might leverage compromised identities to manipulate financial transactions.
Archived Web Pages: This module analyzes archived web pages to identify potential vulnerabilities that may have existed. This can help you understand how attackers may have gained access to your systems in previous attacks.
3. Facilitating Investigation and Response
Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG monitors your attack surface and digital risk profile, providing real-time alerts and notifications of potential threats. This allows you to identify and respond to identity threats as they emerge proactively.
Reporting: ThreatNG provides various reports, including prioritized and ransomware susceptibility reports, to help you understand your organization's risk profile and prioritize remediation efforts.
Collaboration and Management: ThreatNG offers collaboration and management features that help facilitate efficient incident response and remediation. This includes role-based access controls, dynamic questionnaires, and policy management capabilities.
Examples of how ThreatNG can be used for identity threat hunting:
Identifying compromised credentials: ThreatNG's Dark Web Presence module can identify leaked credentials associated with your organization. This information can be used to identify compromised accounts and take appropriate action, such as resetting passwords or revoking access.
Detecting phishing attacks: ThreatNG's Domain Intelligence module can identify suspicious domains that may be used in phishing attacks. This information can be used to block these domains and prevent users from falling victim to phishing scams.
Preventing account takeovers: ThreatNG's Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility module can identify subdomains vulnerable to takeover. This information can be used to secure these subdomains and prevent attackers from using them to launch attacks.
By combining these capabilities, ThreatNG provides a powerful platform for identity threat hunting. It helps organizations proactively identify and mitigate identity-related risks, reducing the likelihood of successful attacks and protecting sensitive information.
