There was a time when cyberattacks on identity and authentication infrastructures [like Active Directory (AD)] were immensely challenging to perform. A lot of forethought had to be put into devising a plan for the careful execution of attacks, and advanced technical knowledge of domains and networks was a requisite. Over time, with the advent of open-source pen testing tools, the knowledge gap and the complexities involved to carry out a full-scale cyberattack have narrowed drastically.
A phishing attack used real-time validation against an organization’s Active Directory in order to steal users’ Office 365 credentials. According to Armorblox, the phishing attack targeted an executive working at an American brand that was named one of the world’s Top 50 most innovative companies for 2019 on a Friday evening.
Link-Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR) and NetBIOS Name Service (NBT-NS) are two protocols that are used to identify a host address on a network when the DNS name resolution, which is the conventional method, fails to do so. When a DNS server is unable to resolve a request from a requester machine, the latter broadcasts a message to its peer computers asking for the location of the required server. Hackers leverage this operation to steal the credentials of the requester machine.
Permissions, access controls, user rights, or privileges define what an identity can see or do in an organization. These terms are often used interchangeably based on context, and essentially perform the same function—granting or denying access to the resources in an enterprise.
Malware attacks are evolving and once common tactics are becoming a thing of the past. Attack strategies, like using a third-party hacking program or injecting viruses from external sources, are almost obsolete as they leave a distinct footprint. Most antimalware tools can now detect the presence of a foreign program or device and immediately block them.
