July 11, 2024 at 10:36AM
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) conducted a SILENTSHIELD red team assessment against a Federal Civilian Executive Branch organization in early 2023. The red team mimicked the techniques, tradecraft, and behaviors of sophisticated threat actors to assess the organization’s security posture. The assessment revealed findings related to initial access, lateral movement, full enclave compromise, Windows domain exploitation, pivot into external trusted partners, defense evasion techniques, and areas of improvement. CISA provided detailed lessons learned, key findings, and mitigations, along with recommendations for network defenders and software manufacturers. The report also includes details on the MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques used by the red team.
Based on the meeting notes provided, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) conducted a SILENTSHIELD red team assessment against a Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) organization. The red team employed various tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to conduct a simulated long-term cyber operation to evaluate the organization’s security posture. They emulated a sophisticated nation-state actor and successfully compromised both the Solaris enclave and the Windows domain. The red team highlighted several weaknesses and provided extensive recommendations for improving the organization’s security posture.
The meeting notes also detail the lessons learned, key findings, and mitigations suggested by CISA. They recommend implementing defense-in-depth principles, robust network segmentation, and other strategies to improve security. CISA also encourages software manufacturers to embrace Secure by Design principles and implement the recommended mitigations to harden their products against malicious activity.
In conclusion, the meeting notes provide a comprehensive overview of the red team assessment conducted by CISA and offer valuable insights into strengthening the organization’s cybersecurity defenses.