Kaspersky streamlines threat hunting

A recently added database of Indicators of Attack (IoAs), maintained and fed by Kaspersky’s expert threat hunters, helps to deliver additional context during investigation of cybercriminal activities.

In addition, IoAs are now mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base for further analysis of adversaries’ tactics, techniques, and procedures. These key improvements help enterprises investigate complex incidents faster.

Cyber-incidents relating to complex threats can have a significant impact on business. The cost of response and process recovery, the need to invest in new systems or processes, the effect on availability, and the damage to reputation all add up. Today, organisations need to consider the growing number of widespread malicious programmes, and the increase in complex advanced threats that are targeting them. In 2018, 41% of enterprises¹ admitted that they suffered a targeted attack. Clearly, companies need protection from the more sophisticated threats that would otherwise evade detection. Kaspersky helps to solve this issue with the next generation of Kaspersky EDR and Kaspersky Anti Targeted Attack platform.

Using Indicators of Attack to boost the investigation process

Kaspersky EDR and Kaspersky Anti Targeted Attack include functionality to check for Indicators of Compromise (IoCs), such as hash, file name, path, IP address, and URL, which show that an attacker has struck. In addition to search for IoC, new capabilities with IoAs provide an opportunity to identify the intruders’ tactics and techniques, regardless of the malware or legitimate software used in the attack. To simplify the investigation process when examining telemetry from multiple endpoints, events are correlated with a customised set of IoAs from Kaspersky. Matched IoAs show up in the user interface with detailed descriptions and recommendations on the best way to respond to the attack.

Customers can produce their own set of IoAs based on their internal experience, knowledge of the most significant threats, and their specific IT environment. All new events are automatically mapped in real time with the internal database of custom IoAs, enabling the immediate creation of informed response actions and long-term detection scenarios, according the specifics of the protected infrastructure.

Mapping to the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base

Together, Kaspersky EDR, Kaspersky Anti Targeted Attack and MITRE ATT&CK – a globally-accessible knowledge base of adversary tactics and techniques based on real-world observations – enable companies to validate and investigate incoming incidents more efficiently. Discovered threats are automatically mapped to the knowledge base, immediately contextualising the new events with external intelligence and attack technique data. Having a deeper understanding into an attack reduces future risks and helps security teams cut the time taken to analyse and respond to threats. 

The enhanced functionality is also available for organisations that offer cybersecurity monitoring and management. The new multi-tenancy architecture allows Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) to protect the infrastructure of multiple clients at the same time.

Sergey Martsynkyan, Head of B2B Product Marketing at Kaspersky, said: “Professional cybercriminals can reside without detection on trusted objects, exploit zero-day vulnerabilities, use legitimate software, compromised accounts, unique software, or social engineering techniques or exploit insiders. That’s why it is essential not to rely exclusively on the evidence left by malefactors, but to search for potential traces of their activity. To help organisations solve this issue, we translated Kaspersky’s expertise into a set of IoAs and mapped them with MITRE ATT&CK. With more information and understanding of a malefactor’s intentions, companies will be able to react to complex threats faster.”

[1] ITSRS 2018 ITSRS8N21. Has your organization experienced any of the following incidents in the last 12 months? – Targeted attacks