According to recent Kaspersky specialists’ research on the Managed Detection and Response (MDR) & Incident Response (IR) service statistics, the majority of cyberattacks that are seen use a small number of recurrently used methods.
These methods can be observed in both completely carried out and damaging attacks as well as in early-stage instances that are halted.
Therefore, we chose to enumerate these methods according to the ATT&CK paradigm and condense professional advice on how to counteract them. The reports themselves contain particular instances and frequency of application for each strategy.
Phishing
What It Is:
Broad or focused email, SMS, and messaging application distribution intended to deceive staff members of a company into giving up their passwords or downloading dangerous material through a link.
Methods Of Self-Defense:
Adopt the newest security measures for mail servers, educate all staff members, and use EMM/UEM solutions to safeguard employees’ mobile devices including personal ones.
Brute force
What It Is:
By brute-force assaults or guessing usernames based on known hashes, attackers can find passwords for domains of interest. Password spraying is an attack type in which the same well-known passwords are used on multiple accounts to locate a user who selected a password that is not secure.
Methods Of Self-Defense:
Put in place password restrictions that stop brute-force attempts and give accounts where MFA isn’t possible more stringent rules. Set a maximum for login attempts on all platforms and, should that amount be surpassed, block the account. Set up SIEM surveillance rules to see if the number of unsuccessful authentication attempts is rising generally.
Exploiting Remote Services
What It Is:
Attackers search the network for susceptible apps after gaining access to one of the systems to harm more or obtain higher rights on them. Old vulnerabilities in Exchange Server and SMB v1 were rather common in 2023, indicating that IT services aren’t giving vulnerability fixes enough thought.
Methods Of Self-Defense:
Immediately update both client and server software, turn off extraneous services on every computer, and employ segmenting the network and the least privilege concept to restrict attackers’ options even if they can take advantage of a vulnerability.
Conversely, use security programs like if trading crypto then use tools like btcloopholepro that can identify and thwart efforts to take advantage of weaknesses.
Attacking Public-Facing Applications
What It Is:
Taking use of weaknesses in an internet-accessible application of the company. Targets most often are web servers, transfer servers, servers for databases, and VPN connections. From SNMP to SSH servers, attackers aggressively look for and take advantage of publicly available IT infrastructure control panels.
Methods Of Self-Defense:
Use extra safety precautions for perimeter services and give software updates at the system’s perimeter top priority. Keep control ports off to outsiders. Check the outside boundary often for weaknesses and remove any programs that have unintentionally been given external access. On application servers as well, install security tools or trading tools like btcloopholepro if you are investing bug finances plus EDR agents.
Account Manipulation
What It Is:
An extensive variety of modifications that intruders make to systems they have control of. These adjustments can be made to passwords, groups’ and accounts’ rights, activating deactivated accounts, and adding a user to privileged groups.
Methods Of Self-Defense:
Protect yourself by using the least privilege principle, routinely inventorying your accounts, removing or blocking unused accounts, and revoking outmoded rights.
Bonus: Trusted relationship
What It Is:
Compromising a company through its contractors and partners. Should a partner be compromised, attackers can enter the company using the tools and access points they have found. Hackers mostly go for IT subcontractors (MSPs, verification suppliers, technical support personnel) who have administrative authority over the company’s systems.
Methods Of Self-Defense:
Audit external access often, remove out-of-date rights, apply the least privilege principle to them, and set up MFA and stringent password requirements for these accounts. Keep outside contractors to the resources they need by using network segmentation.
Conclusion
The digital world of today requires an understanding of and ability to stop typical cyberattacks. Just learning about vulnerabilities like phishing, brute force, account manipulation, denial-of-service assaults, and application exploitation that is visible to the public is the first step.
It’s critical to strengthen your security with firewalls, regular software upgrades, and thorough staff training. Your cybersecurity posture can also be much improved by implementing multi-factor authentication, doing routine penetration testing, and creating an incident response plan.
Protecting your assets and guaranteeing the integrity of your online presence will require being proactive and up-to-date on the newest cyber dangers. Recall that cybersecurity requires continuing attention to detail and constant development.