Resolute attackers will ultimately infiltrate their target’s corporate network, usually using social engineering stratagems to pinch IDs and get access. To fight APTs, it is critical that corporations get visibility into their inside networks to fill in gaps left by perimeter protection solutions.
How do APTs work?
Cutting-edge attackers often go to extreme lengths to aim at certain companies and employ specifically personalized amalgamations of threat vectors and unpatched susceptibilities to penetrate a specific setting. These attackers may have a long-term purpose of gathering information from a particular target network, which means that they must preserve access to the corporate network without being identified.
APT attackers will use muddying methods and even check their activities against frequently used protection products to stay under the radar. If one part of the threat attack bombs, they will carry on trying to break down the doors until they are able to gain entry. In addition, cutting-edge attackers can find methods to access more protected centralized offices using less-protected far-flung offices or even contractor or partner corporate networks, implying that nearly any enterprise or far flung site office may fall victim to an APT.
Due to the triumph of these tactics, monetarily driven cyber villains have also started to mimic some of the techniques used by APTs, further widening the swath of organizations that are susceptible to advanced attacks. Many of these operations involve well-funded organizations with large numbers of participants who have highly specialized skills. These factors contribute to their success, making them a very formidable threat.
APT Challenges
Unfortunately, there is a pervasive misunderstanding among a lot of security organizations that if they have an antivirus, a firewall, IDS/IPS, SIEM and a cutting-edge malware detection system, then they are well safeguarded from all threats which come their way. In a time of increasing insider attacks and APTs, this is just not true. In reality, we have malware functioning for years before any antivirus software can find it, and that malware usually will spread out by abusing zero-day protection susceptibilities for which there are no patches in existence, utilizing exploits that are not detectable.
Keeping in mind the tailored, persistent and well-supported nature of APTs, it is crucial that enterprises know what is happening inside their internal corporate networks to fill in the spaces left behind by orthodox protection mechanisms. A full audit trail of network activities can be utilized to completely evaluate the influence of a breach and search for continuing spying and information exfiltration happening in real time.
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