February 26, 2024 at 12:09PM
Russian cyberespionage threat actors are now targeting cloud services as organizations shift to cloud-based infrastructure, warned by government agencies in the Five Eye countries. This includes tactics like brute-force attacks, exploiting dormant accounts, using tokens to bypass multi-factor authentication, and deploying post-compromise tools, as well as utilizing residential proxies to hide malicious activity. Organizations are advised to implement strong security measures.
Based on the meeting notes, here are the key takeaways:
1. Russian cyberespionage threat actors linked to SVR are switching their focus to targeting cloud services, moving away from exploiting on-premises infrastructure vulnerabilities.
2. Their tactics include brute-force and password spraying attacks, targeting former employees’ dormant accounts, utilizing tokens to bypass multi-factor authentication, and using residential proxies to conceal their activities.
3. The group deploys sophisticated post-compromise tools and relies on MFA bombing and residential proxies to hide their malicious activity.
4. To mitigate the risk of compromise, organizations are advised to implement multi-factor authentication, use strong and unique passwords, apply the principle of least privilege, create canary service accounts, monitor sessions, configure device enrollment policies, and utilize application events and host-based logs to detect malicious behavior.
5. Protecting against SVR’s tactics for initial access is crucial for network defenders, especially for organizations that have transitioned to cloud infrastructure.
These takeaways emphasize the urgency for organizations to enhance their cybersecurity measures, particularly when transitioning to cloud-based infrastructure, in order to mitigate the risks posed by SVR’s evolving tactics.