Brute Force
Sub-techniques (4)
Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained. Without knowledge of the password for an account or set of accounts, an adversary may systematically guess the password using a repetitive or iterative mechanism. Brute forcing passwords can take place via interaction with a service that will check the validity of those credentials or offline against previously acquired credential data, such as password hashes. Brute forcing credentials may take place at various points during a breach. For example, adversaries may attempt to brute force access to Valid Accounts within a victim environment leveraging knowledge gathered from other post-compromise behaviors such as OS Credential Dumping, Account Discovery, or Password Policy Discovery. Adversaries may also combine brute forcing activity with behaviors such as External Remote Services as part of Initial Access.
Procedure Examples |
|
Name | Description |
---|---|
Fox Kitten |
Fox Kitten has brute forced RDP credentials.(Citation: ClearSky Pay2Kitten December 2020) |
HEXANE |
HEXANE has used brute force attacks to compromise valid credentials.(Citation: SecureWorks August 2019) |
Chaos |
Chaos conducts brute force attacks against SSH services to gain initial access.(Citation: Chaos Stolen Backdoor) |
Caterpillar WebShell |
Caterpillar WebShell has a module to perform brute force attacks on a system.(Citation: ClearSky Lebanese Cedar Jan 2021) |
Turla |
Turla may attempt to connect to systems within a victim's network using |
DarkVishnya |
DarkVishnya used brute-force attack to obtain login data.(Citation: Securelist DarkVishnya Dec 2018) |
Lazarus Group |
Lazarus Group has performed brute force attacks against administrator accounts.(Citation: ESET Lazarus Jun 2020) |
FIN5 |
FIN5 has has used the tool GET2 Penetrator to look for remote login and hard-coded credentials.(Citation: DarkReading FireEye FIN5 Oct 2015)(Citation: Mandiant FIN5 GrrCON Oct 2016) |
Kinsing |
Kinsing has attempted to brute force hosts over SSH.(Citation: Aqua Kinsing April 2020) |
APT38 |
APT38 has used brute force techniques to attempt account access when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are unavailable.(Citation: CISA AA20-239A BeagleBoyz August 2020) |
OilRig |
OilRig has used brute force techniques to obtain credentials.(Citation: FireEye APT34 Webinar Dec 2017) |
PoshC2 |
PoshC2 has modules for brute forcing local administrator and AD user accounts.(Citation: GitHub PoshC2) |
QakBot |
QakBot can conduct brute force attacks to capture credentials.(Citation: Kroll Qakbot June 2020)(Citation: Crowdstrike Qakbot October 2020)(Citation: Kaspersky QakBot September 2021) |
APT39 |
APT39 has used Ncrack to reveal credentials.(Citation: FireEye APT39 Jan 2019) |
Dragonfly |
Dragonfly has attempted to brute force credentials to gain access.(Citation: CISA AA20-296A Berserk Bear December 2020) |
Pysa |
Pysa has used brute force attempts against a central management console, as well as some Active Directory accounts.(Citation: CERT-FR PYSA April 2020) |
CrackMapExec |
CrackMapExec can brute force supplied user credentials across a network range.(Citation: CME Github September 2018) |
APT28 |
APT28 can perform brute force attacks to obtain credentials.(Citation: TrendMicro Pawn Storm 2019)(Citation: TrendMicro Pawn Storm Dec 2020)(Citation: Microsoft Targeting Elections September 2020) |
Mitigations |
|
Mitigation | Description |
---|---|
User Account Management |
Manage the creation, modification, use, and permissions associated to user accounts. |
Account Use Policies |
Configure features related to account use like login attempt lockouts, specific login times, etc. |
Brute Force Mitigation |
Set account lockout policies after a certain number of failed login attempts to prevent passwords from being guessed. Too strict a policy can create a denial of service condition and render environments un-usable, with all accounts being locked-out permanently. Use multifactor authentication. Follow best practices for mitigating access to Valid Accounts Refer to NIST guidelines when creating passwords.(Citation: NIST 800-63-3) Where possible, also enable multi factor authentication on external facing services. |
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. |
Password Policies |
Set and enforce secure password policies for accounts. |
Detection
Monitor authentication logs for system and application login failures of Valid Accounts. If authentication failures are high, then there may be a brute force attempt to gain access to a system using legitimate credentials. Also monitor for many failed authentication attempts across various accounts that may result from password spraying attempts. It is difficult to detect when hashes are cracked, since this is generally done outside the scope of the target network.
References
- ClearSky Cyber Security. (2021, January). “Lebanese Cedar” APT Global Lebanese Espionage Campaign Leveraging Web Servers. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
- Singer, G. (2020, April 3). Threat Alert: Kinsing Malware Attacks Targeting Container Environments. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- Nettitude. (2018, July 23). Python Server for PoshC2. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- Sebastian Feldmann. (2018, February 14). Chaos: a Stolen Backdoor Rising Again. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis Team. (2014, August 7). The Epic Turla Operation: Solving some of the mysteries of Snake/Uroburos. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- Bromiley, M. and Lewis, P. (2016, October 7). Attacking the Hospitality and Gaming Industries: Tracking an Attacker Around the World in 7 Years. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
- Higgins, K. (2015, October 13). Prolific Cybercrime Gang Favors Legit Login Credentials. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- Golovanov, S. (2018, December 6). DarkVishnya: Banks attacked through direct connection to local network. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
- CISA. (2020, December 1). Russian State-Sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat Actor Compromises U.S. Government Targets. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ClearSky. (2020, December 17). Pay2Key Ransomware – A New Campaign by Fox Kitten. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- Grassi, P., et al. (2017, December 1). SP 800-63-3, Digital Identity Guidelines. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- CERT-FR. (2020, April 1). ATTACKS INVOLVING THE MESPINOZA/PYSA RANSOMWARE. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
- Burt, T. (2020, September 10). New cyberattacks targeting U.S. elections. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
- Hacquebord, F., Remorin, L. (2020, December 17). Pawn Storm’s Lack of Sophistication as a Strategy. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
- Hacquebord, F. (n.d.). Pawn Storm in 2019 A Year of Scanning and Credential Phishing on High-Profile Targets. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
- byt3bl33d3r. (2018, September 8). SMB: Command Reference. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
- Breitenbacher, D and Osis, K. (2020, June 17). OPERATION IN(TER)CEPTION: Targeted Attacks Against European Aerospace and Military Companies. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- Davis, S. and Caban, D. (2017, December 19). APT34 - New Targeted Attack in the Middle East. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
- Hawley et al. (2019, January 29). APT39: An Iranian Cyber Espionage Group Focused on Personal Information. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
- Kuzmenko, A. et al. (2021, September 2). QakBot technical analysis. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- CS. (2020, October 7). Duck Hunting with Falcon Complete: A Fowl Banking Trojan Evolves, Part 2. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- Sette, N. et al. (2020, June 4). Qakbot Malware Now Exfiltrating Emails for Sophisticated Thread Hijacking Attacks. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- SecureWorks 2019, August 27 LYCEUM Takes Center Stage in Middle East Campaign Retrieved. 2019/11/19
- DHS/CISA. (2020, August 26). FASTCash 2.0: North Korea's BeagleBoyz Robbing Banks. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
Связанные риски
Каталоги
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