Doug Bienstock and Josh Madelay, Regional Leads for Mandiant Consulting, discuss threat trends in 2023 including business email compromise, common initial infection vectors, social engineering tactics, theft of credentials from outsourcing vendors, Fin 11's activities, enhancing security measures, rise of adversary-in-the-middle techniques, and data theft by ransomware threat actors.
Threat actors are using sophisticated phishing pages to bypass multi-factor authentication and gain administrative access to victim networks, leading to an increase in ransomware attacks and extortion attempts.
Edge devices, like firewalls and VPN solutions, are attractive targets for threat actors due to vulnerabilities and delayed patching, allowing them to gain privileged credentials, implant backdoors, or steal data.
Deep dives
Increase in Business Email Compromise
There has been an increase in business email compromise, with threat actors leveraging sophisticated phishing pages to proxy users through the back-end authentication system. This allows them to obtain session tokens and bypass multi-factor authentication. Stolen credentials from business process outsourcing and IT vendors are specifically targeted to gain administrative access to downstream victim networks. This has led to an increase in ransomware attacks and extortion attempts.
Exploitation of Edge Infrastructure
Threat actors are increasingly targeting edge devices, such as firewalls and VPN solutions, due to their vulnerabilities and lack of regular patching. These devices often have weaknesses that can be exploited and provide access to an organization's network. Attackers can gain privileged credentials, implant backdoors, or steal data by compromising these devices. The lack of visibility and delayed patching make them attractive targets for threat actors.
Adversary in the Middle Techniques and Sophisticated Phishing
Adversary in the middle techniques have become more prevalent, where threat actors stand up sophisticated phishing pages to proxy users through authentication systems, bypassing multi-factor authentication. This has allowed them to overcome security measures and gain access to sensitive data. Additionally, there is a trend of targeting business email compromise, using this technique to fool users into wiring money or providing access. The combination of phishing and adversary in the middle techniques poses a significant threat to organizations.
Evolving Social Engineering Tactics
Threat actors are becoming increasingly adept at social engineering tactics, specifically targeting help desk employees. They employ tactics such as making calls to help desks, impersonating distressed employees, and requesting password resets or the addition of multi-factor authentication devices. These tactics exploit the willingness of help desk employees to assist, bypassing security measures. Help desks need to be aware of these tactics and implement additional verification measures, such as video conferencing, to prevent unauthorized access.
Doug Bienstock and Josh Madelay, Regional Leads for Mandiant Consulting, join host Luke McNamara to walk through some of the trends they have witnessed responding to breaches in 2023. Josh and Doug cover what is happening with business email compromise (BEC), common initial infection vectors, social engineering tactics, and more.
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