Having the knowledge about security to safeguard personal devices from malware attacks should be a priority. To make the process simple and effective, threat analysts have designed various models to identify and prevent stages of cybersecurity attacks. In fact, developers have provided weak spots to break this chain and to avert malware attack with ease. So, one of the models that can help you to prevent your computer is the Cyber Kill Chain, which is developed by Lockheed Martin. But before moving forward let’s understand what is the cyber kill chain and steps of cyber kill chain.
What’s Cyber Kill Chain?
Cyber kill chain is a phase-based model that can define the various stages of an attack. These steps also help to protect your machine against such attacks.
Steps Of Cyber Kill Chain:
Cyber Kill Chain has seven different phases and every step has its own benefits. The cyber kill chain can relate to a stereotypical burglary. The cybercriminals and attackers observe your machine for a while before targeting it to gain benefits. After deciding the target, attackers take a few more steps before trapping you. So, here are the seven phases you should know to protect your machine against cybersecurity kill chain:
Step 1: Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the first step that is needed of any sophisticated attack to recognize and finalize the target. The attacker first decides the motive to attack the victim and then decide the type of the victim such as an individual or a company. Attackers choose the target for the value of the information that they have.
Attackers first collect the information about the victim and after gathering enough info, they look out for the vulnerabilities to exploit.
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Protect Your Machine Against Reconnaissance
Being anonymous is the best and most prevalent approach to stay safe from the potential attacks. It is recommended to keep your social media accounts private and keep your personal information away from public eye to reduce potential attack and eliminate the risk of being victimized. Also, never store your private and sensitive information on public company websites.
Step 2: Weaponization/Packaging
Weaponization is the second step that attackers use when they make malware for delivery to users or victims. This step takes various forms such as watering hole attacks, compound document vulnerabilities, and web app exploitation. It can be prepared based on the outcome of reconnaissance, opportunistic or extremely precise intelligence on a target.
Protect Your Machine Against Weaponization
You can’t avert evil people from preparing malware and other infections. However, it is possible to take precautions to make sure you won’t end up being a victim. Having the proper and correct knowledge about security to keep your machine will always be a help to identify suspicious and malicious emails and subscribe to a stable security attitude.
Step 3: Delivery
Delivery is another step when cyber attackers bring the malware to the target. This could be done through any suspicious link or phishing email that criminal can send to a victim.
Protect Your Machine Against Delivery
Security education and appropriate security controls can protect and prevent you against delivery. Using the email filter options and controls will let you disable email hyperlinks to diminish phishing emails. If you think any of your emails are suspicious or infected, you can set up an alert to your IT department asking them to block the attempt. In fact, they can keep a tab on the attempts to find out the rate of recurrence of such efforts.
Step 4: Exploitation
At this stage, it occurs when the target is vulnerable to the network and machine can be easily exploited by accessing the malicious links, attachments, and emails.
Protect Your Machine Against Exploitation
The moment cybercriminals know the weak spot of your machine, an attacker can begin the exploiting process via scripted code that conceals the process under the working layer. Users can use anti-malware tools to block and prevent infected attachments, links, and emails. In fact, a user can use the web proxy to prevent you from opening suspicious files.
Step 5: Installation
Under this step, a malware is downloaded and installed on your victims system without your knowledge. This remote access backdoor helps the attacker to build continuity inside the host’s environment.
Protect Your Machine Against Installation
You can use a reliable network and antivirus tools that can straightforwardly find out all the unwanted downloads and get rid of them before the cybercriminals utilize the installed program. You can focus on the sandbox downloads that lets antivirus tool track suspicious behaviors by using the apps in a controlled environment.
Step 6: Command and Control
In this phase, attackers take control of the victim’s system and that allows the attackers to get into the company’s network and keeps playing with the environment checking for the crown jewels.
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Protect Your Machine Against Command and Control
This is the last phase to take an action to protect your machine by obstructing Command and Control. After performing this, it will be difficult for adversaries to issue any commands and protectors can easily safeguard their impression.
Step 7: Actions on Objective
This happened at the exfiltration stage when the cybercriminals can steal your data and move it out of your network and demand ransom in return.
Protect Your Machine Against Actions on Objective
Well, this the final stage and game changer phase, that lets you easily change the victory into the defeat and vice-versa. The moment cyber criminals reach this phase, they have succeeded in their attack and now your aim is to be exposed and avert the unwanted behavior in order to recover from the attack.
Track and protect your machine against cybersecurity kill chain model can be easily done by applying an extra layer of security and blocking the attacks. In fact, delivery is considered as one of the most tempting stages as well as a crucial stage that attackers opt to contact and enter your network through malicious links, attachments, and emails.
Please keep in mind not each attack can turn into the Cyber Kill Chain. However, if you’ve any doubts, then there is no harm in setting a tighter security and network to protect against cybersecurity kill chain.
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