

It is a versatile tool that includes a range of features and capabilities, including: A set of integrated tools and utilities can be used to assess the security of networks and systems, including port scanners. Today’s eCrime groups operate like businesses, always looking for opportunities to adapt to circumvent new security measures. Cobalt Strike is a commercial penetration testing tool used by security professionals to test the security of networks and systems. There’s plenty of industry specific observations and research to aid in assessing your information security program and defensive capabilities. The format will be: (1) description of what we're doing (2) walk though of each step (3) application in the wild. I’d really recommend digging into the Overwatch report in more detail. Welcome to our thirty-fifth installment of Cool Query Friday. Leveraging a vendor agnostic matrix like the MITRE ATT&CK framework can provide customised insight into blind spots or areas of weakness with detection and response capabilities within your organisation. CrowdStrike found that between January and June 2020, the following 5 pen-testing tools were the most commonly used Įnsuring that security controls are tuned and able to recognise activity linked to these tools are a key recommendation from industry generally as well as the report. A stark and concerning reminder that ever decreasing breakout times are creating challenging circumstances for blue teams. Falcon alerted us to the persistence mechanism which utilized a startup key to launch msbuild calling an xml file.

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The infection chain was.HTA file downloaded-> msbuild utilized to compile c code and executed into memory. Cobalt Spider initially used Cobalt Strike in phishing campaigns against financial institutions in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In one instance, only 24 hours after an initial public exploit was published, the NCSC stated that “if firms had not been able to take mitigation steps within 24 hours they should assume compromise”. We recently had a few hosts compromised with Cobalt Strike during a red team exercise. CrowdStrike Intelligence has tracked this separate adversary as Cobalt Spider.
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The lucrative nature of big game ransomware has led to multiple high profile attacks, spurring other groups to exploit similar vulnerabilities.Ī flurry of critical vulnerabilities in several leading VPN and Firewall products saw exploitation explode almost overnight. Therefore, defenders should know how to detect Cobalt Strike in various stages of its execution.

So far in 2020, 82% have been attributed to eCrime. Why is this significant? In 2019, 69% of intrusions were attributed to eCrime. A key stat observed was that for every state sponsored campaign observed, there were four eCrime intrusions. Cobalt Strike is a threat emulation tool used by red teams and advanced persistent threat actors for gaining and maintaining a foothold on networks. …we’ve been able to take a look under the hood of real observations by their OverWatch team.
