Privileged Attack Vectors

Bol Partner

See how privileges, insecure passwords, administrative rights, and remote access can be combined as an attack vector to breach any organization. Cyber attacks continue to increase in volume and sophistication. It is not a matter of if, but when, your organization will be breached. Threat actors target the path of least resistance: users and their privileges. In decades past, an entire enterprise might be sufficiently managed through just a handful of credentials. Today’s environmental complexity has seen an explosion of privileged credentials for many different account types such as domain and local administrators, operating systems (Windows, Unix, Linux, macOS, etc.), directory services, databases, applications, cloud instances, networking hardware, Internet of Things (IoT), social media, and so many more. When unmanaged, these privileged credentials pose a significant threat from external hackers and insider threats. We are experiencing an expanding universe of privileged accounts almost everywhere. There is no one solution or strategy to provide the protection you need against all vectors and stages of an attack. And while some new and innovative products will help protect against or detect against a privilege attack, they are not guaranteed to stop 100% of malicious activity. The volume and frequency of privilege-based attacks continues to increase and test the limits of existing security controls and solution implementations. Privileged Attack Vectors details the risks associated with poor privilege management, the techniques that threat actors leverage, and the defensive measures that organizations should adopt to protect against an incident, protect against lateral movement, and improve the ability to detect malicious activity due to the inappropriate usage of privileged credentials. This revised and expanded second edition covers new attackvectors, has updated definitions for privileged access management (PAM), new strategies for defense, tested empirical steps for a successful implementation, and includes new disciplines for least privilege endpoint management and privileged remote access. You will: Know how identities, accounts, credentials, passwords, and exploits can be leveraged to escalate privileges during an attack Implement defensive and monitoring strategies to mitigate privilege threats and risk Understand a 10-step universal privilege management implementation plan to guide you through a successful privilege access management journey Develop a comprehensive model for documenting risk, compliance, and reporting based on privilege session activity

Bol

See how privileges, passwords, vulnerabilities, and exploits can be combined as an attack vector and breach any organization. Cyber attacks continue to increase in volume and sophistication. It is not a matter of if, but when, your organization will be breached. Attackers target the perimeter network, but, in recent years, have refocused their efforts on the path of least resistance: users and their privileges. In decades past, an entire enterprise might be sufficiently managed through just a handful of credentials. Today’s environmental complexity means privileged credentials are needed for a multitude of different account types (from domain admin and sysadmin to workstations with admin rights), operating systems (Windows, Unix, Linux, etc.), directory services, databases, applications, cloud instances, networking hardware, Internet of Things (IoT), social media, and more. When unmanaged, these privileged credentials pose a significant threat from external hackers and insider threats. There is no one silver bullet to provide the protection you need against all vectors and stages of an attack. And while some new and innovative solutions will help protect against or detect the initial infection, they are not guaranteed to stop 100% of malicious activity. The volume and frequency of privilege-based attacks continues to increase and test the limits of existing security controls and solution implementations. Privileged Attack Vectors details the risks associated with poor privilege management, the techniques that hackers and insiders leverage, and the defensive measures that organizations must adopt to protect against a breach, protect against lateral movement, and improve the ability to detect hacker activity or insider threats in order to mitigate the impact. What You’ll Learn Know how identities, credentials, passwords, and exploits can be leveraged to escalate privileges during an attack Implement defensive and auditing strategies to mitigate the threats and risk Understand a 12-step privileged access management Implementation plan Consider deployment and scope, including risk, auditing, regulations, and oversight solutions Who This Book Is For Security management professionals, new security professionals, and auditors looking to understand and solve privileged escalation threats