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There exists a wide range of verified and well documented techniques for obfuscating tooling like Mimikatz, meaning even an unsophisticated attacker can subvert basic string or hash-based detections. Traditional security approaches used to detect the download, installation, and use of Mimikatz are often insufficient.
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While some network administrators may use Mimikatz to perform internal vulnerability assessments, it is not readily available on Windows systems. It is an open-source utility used for the dumping of passwords, hashes, PINs and Kerberos tickets. Mimikatz differs from other tools in that it is not pre-installed on most systems.
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And, in the wrong hands, other trusted third-party administration tools on the network can also turn from friend to foe.Īs Living off the Land techniques evolve, a single typical attack is hard to determine. Once a device is infected, there are hundreds of system tools at the attacker’s disposal – these may be pre-installed on the system or downloaded via Microsoft-signed binaries. Therefore, Living off the Land attacks are a post-infection framework for network reconnaissance, lateral movement, and persistence. Hallmarks of a Living off the Land attackīefore a threat actor turns your infrastructure against you in a Living off the Land attack, they must be able to execute commands on a targeted system. And trends show that ransomware groups are opting for human-operated ransomware that relies heavily on Living off the Land techniques, instead of commodity malware.
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APT groups have long favored Living off the Land TTPs, since evasion is a top priority. So these stealthy, often fileless attacks, have pushed their way into the mainstream.Īnd concerningly, Living off the Land attacks have a particular history in highly organized, targeted hacking. In part, this is because the traditional approach of defensive security - blocklisting file hashes, domains, and other traces of threats encountered in previous attacks - is ill-equipped to identify these attacks. While the term was first coined in 2013, Living off the Land tools, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) have boomed in popularity in recent years. These tools are regularly used by network administrators as part of their daily routines, and traditional security tools reliant on static rules and signatures often have a hard time distinguishing between legitimate and malicious use.
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This strategy – known as ‘Living off the Land’ – involves threat actors leveraging the utilities readily available within the target organization’s digital environment to move through the cyber kill chain.Īmong some of the most commonly used tools exploited for nefarious purposes are Powershell, Windows Management Interface (WMI), and PsExec. It is often cheaper, easier, and more effective to make use of an organization’s own infrastructure in an attempt to attack. Cyber-criminals don’t need to write bespoke malware for every heist.
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