Remitly’s Jason Craig on Building Better Strategies for Identity, Logging, and Threat Modeling
Jan 9, 2024
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In this discussion, Jason Craig, the Director of Threat Detection & Response at Remitly, dives into the TTPs of threat actors like Lapsus$. He advocates for hardware-backed authentication over SMS MFA for stronger identity management. Craig emphasizes the importance of a solid asset inventory and understanding organizational threats before crafting effective threat models. He also offers valuable insights on risk-based approaches to protecting sensitive data and the necessity for behavioral profiling to filter out irrelevant noise in security.
Establishing a comprehensive asset inventory is essential for effective cybersecurity, enabling organizations to understand and prioritize what needs protection.
Adopting hardware-backed authentication and behavioral profiling significantly enhances threat detection capabilities while reducing false positives in security alerts.
Deep dives
The Importance of Asset Inventory
Having an accurate asset inventory is crucial for effective situational awareness in security. Without understanding what needs protection—systems, data, and infrastructure—organizations can misjudge their security posture and fail to recognize interconnected vulnerabilities. For instance, if an asset gets compromised, the ramifications might reach critical systems that teams may not have identified as high-risk. Thus, maintaining a comprehensive inventory is foundational for prevention, detection, and response strategies.
The Evolving Threat Landscape
Threat groups, particularly Lapsis, have revolutionized their tactics over time, becoming some of the most prolific actors in the cybersecurity space. Their continued success hinges on effective social engineering and adaptive strategies, making them a formidable challenge for defenders. Moreover, their ability to exploit weaknesses in organizations' defenses means that dismissing them as mere opportunists underestimates their impact on the cybersecurity ecosystem. Acknowledging their capabilities is essential for developing more robust defense mechanisms.
Building a Proactive Detection Program
Establishing a comprehensive detection program begins with identifying the most valuable assets within an organization and ensuring robust logging and visibility. Understanding user behavior and setting baselines allows security teams to detect anomalies effectively, distinguishing between legitimate activity and potential threats. Integrating hardware-backed authentication can enhance security by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio for detection. As environments and threats grow more complex, employing advanced analytics paired with behavioral profiling can significantly improve detection capabilities.
The Role of Networking in Security
Networking is an invaluable aspect of cybersecurity, as forging connections with industry peers can lead to shared insights and collaborative defenses against common threats. This community engagement not only aids in individual learning but fosters an environment where organizations can collectively combat adversaries. Emphasizing the importance of understanding who is attacking and developing a codified adversary tracking program is key to long-term security planning. Continuous collaboration and open channels of communication within the industry can bolster defenses and prepare organizations for future challenges.
On this week's episode of the Detection at Scale podcast, Jack talks with Jason Craig, Director - Threat Detection & Response at Remitly. They discuss the common TTPs of threat actors and how organizations can better protect against them by adopting hardware-backed authentication, a risk-based approach to logging, and building their threat modeling. They also talk about why organizations should move away from cellular MFA, the need for more behavioral profiling, and advice for security professionals.
Topics discussed:
The common TTPs of threat actors and conglomerates like Lapsus$ and what organizations need to know to protect themselves against them.
Why enterprises should rely on hardware-backed authentication rather than SMS MFA on cellular.
How to take a better approach to identity management by using hardware-backed authentication and behavioral profiling that eliminates background noise.
Why threat modeling begins with knowing what you do as an organization and what you have that's valuable to an attacker.
How to take a risk-based approach to understanding which user data or sensitive information to protect first.
Why an accurate asset inventory is a precursor to detection and response.
Advice to security professionals and organizations on "knowing thyself" and codifying adversary tracking.
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