Cyber Threat Report: 'Suspected APT Actors Leverage Authentication Bypass Techniques and Pulse Secure Zero-Day'

Reporting from Mandiant which discusses the exploitation of Pulse Secure VPN devices in 2021 and 12 malware families associated with the campaign. The report identifies activities associated with at lease two distinct intrusion sets: UNC2717 and UNC2630.

Privileged Account Management

Manage the creation, modification, use, and permissions associated to privileged accounts, including SYSTEM and root.

Network Segmentation

Architect sections of the network to isolate critical systems, functions, or resources. Use physical and logical segmentation to prevent access to potentially sensitive systems and information. Use a DMZ to contain any internet-facing services...

Operating System Configuration

Make configuration changes related to the operating system or a common feature of the operating system that result in system hardening against techniques.

Multi-factor Authentication

Use two or more pieces of evidence to authenticate to a system; such as username and password in addition to a token from a physical smart card or token generator.

Remote Data Storage

Use remote security log and sensitive file storage where access can be controlled better to prevent exposure of intrusion detection log data or sensitive information.

Restrict File and Directory Permissions

Restrict access by setting directory and file permissions that are not specific to users or privileged accounts.

Encrypt Sensitive Information

Protect sensitive information with strong encryption.

Behavior Prevention on Endpoint

Use capabilities to prevent suspicious behavior patterns from occurring on endpoint systems. This could include suspicious process, file, API call, etc. behavior.

Update Software

Perform regular software updates to mitigate exploitation risk.

Execution Prevention

Block execution of code on a system through application control, and/or script blocking.

Audit

Perform audits or scans of systems, permissions, insecure software, insecure configurations, etc. to identify potential weaknesses.

User Account Control

Configure Windows User Account Control to mitigate risk of adversaries obtaining elevated process access.

User Account Management

Manage the creation, modification, use, and permissions associated to user accounts.

Restrict Registry Permissions

Restrict the ability to modify certain hives or keys in the Windows Registry.

Restrict Library Loading

Prevent abuse of library loading mechanisms in the operating system and software to load untrusted code by configuring appropriate library loading mechanisms and investigating potential vulnerable software.

Application Developer Guidance

This mitigation describes any guidance or training given to developers of applications to avoid introducing security weaknesses that an adversary may be able to take advantage of.

Network Intrusion Prevention

Use intrusion detection signatures to block traffic at network boundaries.

Limit Access to Resource Over Network

Prevent access to file shares, remote access to systems, unnecessary services. Mechanisms to limit access may include use of network concentrators, RDP gateways, etc.

Disable or Remove Feature or Program

Remove or deny access to unnecessary and potentially vulnerable software to prevent abuse by adversaries.

User Training

Train users to be aware of access or manipulation attempts by an adversary to reduce the risk of successful spearphishing, social engineering, and other techniques that involve user interaction.

Pre-compromise

This category is used for any applicable mitigation activities that apply to techniques occurring before an adversary gains Initial Access, such as Reconnaissance and Resource Development techniques.

Code Signing

Enforce binary and application integrity with digital signature verification to prevent untrusted code from executing.

Application Isolation and Sandboxing

Restrict execution of code to a virtual environment on or in transit to an endpoint system.

Exploit Protection

Use capabilities to detect and block conditions that may lead to or be indicative of a software exploit occurring.

Vulnerability Scanning

Vulnerability scanning is used to find potentially exploitable software vulnerabilities to remediate them.

Filter Network Traffic

Use network appliances to filter ingress or egress traffic and perform protocol-based filtering. Configure software on endpoints to filter network traffic.

Data Loss Prevention

Use a data loss prevention (DLP) strategy to categorize sensitive data, identify data formats indicative of personal identifiable information (PII), and restrict exfiltration of sensitive data.(Citation: PurpleSec Data Loss Prevention)

Privileged Process Integrity

Protect processes with high privileges that can be used to interact with critical system components through use of protected process light, anti-process injection defenses, or other process integrity enforcement measures.

Password Policies

Set and enforce secure password policies for accounts.

Active Directory Configuration

Configure Active Directory to prevent use of certain techniques; use SID Filtering, etc.

Credential Access Protection

Use capabilities to prevent successful credential access by adversaries; including blocking forms of credential dumping.

Software Configuration

Implement configuration changes to software (other than the operating system) to mitigate security risks associated to how the software operates.

Antivirus/Antimalware

Use signatures or heuristics to detect malicious software.

Restrict Web-Based Content

Restrict use of certain websites, block downloads/attachments, block Javascript, restrict browser extensions, etc.