Proactive Session Threat Intelligence
Proactive Session Threat Intelligence is a cybersecurity strategy focused on anticipating and preventing attacks that target user sessions before they occur. It involves gathering, analyzing, and disseminating information about potential threats, vulnerabilities, and attacker tactics to strengthen session security.
Here's a detailed explanation:
Threat Anticipation: It's about looking ahead to identify emerging threats and attack trends that could be used to compromise user sessions. This goes beyond reacting to known attacks.
Intelligence Gathering: This involves collecting data from various sources, including:
Threat intelligence feeds: Information on known attackers, their tools, and their techniques.
Vulnerability databases: Details on software flaws that can be exploited in session-based attacks.
Security research: Findings on new attack vectors and methods.
Dark web monitoring: Tracking discussions and activities in underground forums where attackers share information.
Vulnerability Prediction: Proactive threat intelligence seeks to predict potential vulnerabilities in session management practices. This could involve analyzing how new web technologies or protocols might be exploited.
Attacker Behavior Analysis: It involves studying how attackers typically behave when targeting sessions. This includes:
Common attack patterns: session hijacking, session fixation, and cross-site scripting (XSS).
Tools and Techniques: Attackers use tools to intercept network traffic, steal cookies, or manipulate session IDs.
Motivations: Understanding why attackers target sessions (e.g., to steal data, commit fraud, or gain unauthorized access).
Proactive Mitigation: The goal is to use this intelligence to implement preventive measures before an attack occurs. Examples include:
Strengthening session management practices: Implementing robust session IDs, secure cookie handling, and proper timeouts.
Patching vulnerabilities: Addressing software flaws that could be exploited.
Improving detection capabilities: Tuning security systems to identify early signs of a session-based attack.
Security awareness training: Educating users about phishing and other techniques to steal session credentials.
Proactive Session Threat Intelligence empowers organizations to take a preemptive stance against session-based attacks, rather than simply reacting to them.
Here’s how ThreatNG supports Proactive Session Threat Intelligence:
ThreatNG's external discovery is the first step in proactive session defense. By mapping all external-facing assets (web applications, APIs, etc.), security teams can understand where sessions are initiated and the potential attack entry points.
For example, ThreatNG's ability to discover all subdomains helps proactively identify those vulnerable to takeover, which can then be used to launch session hijacking attacks.
ThreatNG's external assessment capabilities are key in anticipating session-based threats:
The Web Application Hijack Susceptibility rating aligns with proactive intelligence by identifying applications with weaknesses that attackers could exploit before an attack occurs.
The Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility rating helps proactively mitigate the risk of attackers using compromised subdomains to steal session credentials.
The Cyber Risk Exposure assessment provides proactive insights into external vulnerabilities (e.g., exposed ports, vulnerable certificates) that could be leveraged in session-based attacks.
ThreatNG's reporting helps in communicating proactive session threat intelligence:
Technical reports provide security teams with the details they need to proactively address vulnerabilities and strengthen session security.
Security ratings offer a way to track the effectiveness of proactive measures in improving session security posture.
ThreatNG's continuous monitoring of the external attack surface is a robust proactive measure. It alerts organizations to new or changing external risks, such as newly exposed applications or vulnerabilities, that could impact session security.
ThreatNG's investigation modules provide the ability to research and understand potential session-based threats proactively:
Domain Intelligence allows security teams to analyze an organization's domain infrastructure and anticipate potential attack vectors. For example, by using Domain Name Permutations, security professionals can proactively identify and defend against attackers’ attempts to register look-alike domains for phishing campaigns to steal session credentials.
The Sensitive Code Exposure module enables the proactive identification of leaked credentials or API keys in code repositories, preventing attackers from using them to bypass session authentication.
The Search Engine Exploitation module helps proactively discover information leakage that could aid attackers in planning session hijacking attacks.
ThreatNG's intelligence repositories are valuable sources of proactive session threat intelligence:
The Dark Web Presence repository provides early warnings about compromised credentials that could be used in session-based attacks, allowing for proactive password resets or account lockouts.
The repository of Known Vulnerabilities enables proactive patching of weaknesses commonly exploited in session hijacking.
Working with Complementary Solutions:
ThreatNG's proactive insights enhance other security tools:
ThreatNG's identification of vulnerable web applications can inform the proactive configuration of Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) to prevent session hijacking.
ThreatNG's data on potential phishing domains can be integrated with email security solutions to block phishing attempts to steal session credentials proactively.
Examples of ThreatNG Helping:
ThreatNG proactively identifies a vulnerable third-party library a web application uses, allowing the organization to patch it before attackers can exploit it to hijack sessions.
ThreatNG discovers a publicly accessible test environment that bypasses standard authentication, prompting the security team to secure it and prevent potential session compromise.
Examples of ThreatNG Working with Complementary Solutions:
ThreatNG's threat intelligence on emerging phishing tactics can be used to proactively train a UEBA system to detect anomalous login behavior indicative of session theft.
ThreatNG's data on vulnerable web applications can be fed into a vulnerability management system to prioritize patching and strengthen session security.
ThreatNG empowers a proactive approach to session threat intelligence by providing essential external visibility, assessment, and intelligence on emerging threats and vulnerabilities.
