Researcher Interest Analysis

5 automated security scanners

Exploit Researcher Specialization

Purpose: The Exploit Researcher Specialization Scanner is designed to analyze public records and open-source intelligence (OSINT) in order to uncover insights about an individual’s focus areas, career trajectory shifts, and expertise related to cybersecurity. This tool helps in identifying the technology stack experience, certifications, job roles, and historical data breaches or security incidents associated with a researcher.

What It Detects:

GitHub Repository Analysis: Identifies repositories that are focused on specific technologies or exploits, contributions to security advisories, and vulnerability disclosures.
LinkedIn Profile Scrapping: Extracts information about the technology stack experience (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and identifies certifications such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA compliance.
News API Coverage: Monitors news articles and security incident coverage mentioning the researcher to detect patterns related to data breaches, unauthorized access, and compromised systems.
Job Board Analysis: Analyzes job postings for technology stack disclosures relevant to the researcher’s expertise and identifies career trajectory shifts based on changes in job roles and responsibilities.
SEC EDGAR Risk Factor Disclosures: Reviews risk factor disclosures for mentions of cybersecurity risks and incidents, including data breaches, unauthorized access, and compromised systems.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): The primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): The company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial for cybersecurity professionals and investigators as it provides valuable insights into the technical background, expertise, and historical incidents of an individual or organization, which are essential for assessing potential security risks and vulnerabilities.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The scanner identifies significant data breaches, unauthorized access, or compromised systems that pose a high risk to organizational security.
High: The scanner detects substantial exposure to specific technologies without adequate security measures, indicating a medium to high risk of future incidents.
Medium: The scanner flags the use of less secure technology stacks or certifications not aligned with industry standards, which could lead to potential vulnerabilities in the system’s defenses.
Low: The scanner identifies minor deviations from standard cybersecurity practices but does not pose significant risks by itself.
Info: Provides informational findings about general trends and patterns within the public records and open-source intelligence that may be of interest for awareness or future planning purposes.

Example Findings:

A researcher has multiple contributions to GitHub repositories focused on exploiting vulnerabilities in AWS services, indicating a potential focus on cloud security weaknesses.
The LinkedIn profile shows no certifications related to cybersecurity, suggesting a gap in formal qualifications compared to industry standards.
News articles and job postings indicate several data breaches attributed to the company within the past year, highlighting significant risks for both internal and external stakeholders.

Vulnerability Research Investment

Purpose: The Vulnerability Research Investment Scanner is designed to help organizations gain insights into their security research practices by analyzing public records, OSINT sources, and job board disclosures. This tool aims to detect commercial exploit acquisition trends, identify bug bounty focus areas, cover security incidents, disclose technology stacks, and claim certifications, providing a comprehensive view of the company’s vulnerability management strategies.

What It Detects:

Commercial Exploit Acquisition Trends: Identifies mentions of acquiring or purchasing commercial exploits, discussing exploit marketplaces, and acquisition strategies.
Bug Bounty Focus Areas: Detects specific technologies or platforms mentioned in bug bounty programs, reflecting the company’s focus within its security research efforts.
Security Incident Coverage: Identifies data breaches, unauthorized access, and detailed descriptions of past security events covered in news articles.
Technology Stack Disclosure: Reveals mentions of specific technologies used by the company, such as AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, and more, based on job postings that outline required technical skills and tools.
Certification Claims: Identifies claims related to industry certifications like SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and HIPAA compliance, as evidenced by public statements and job descriptions.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): The primary domain of the organization to be analyzed, e.g., “acme.com”.
company_name (string): The name of the company for which statement searching is conducted, e.g., “Acme Corporation”.

Business Impact: Understanding where a company invests its resources in terms of security research and vulnerability management is crucial for assessing its overall security posture. This knowledge helps in prioritizing efforts to enhance security measures and mitigate potential risks effectively.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Conditions that directly lead to significant vulnerabilities or unauthorized access, such as detailed descriptions of past data breaches or cyber attacks.
High: Conditions indicating high risk areas, including mentions of commercial exploits, critical technology usage without proper certification, or severe security incidents.
Medium: Conditions suggesting moderate risks, such as general exposure to certain technologies in bug bounty programs or incomplete disclosure of security practices.
Low: Informal findings that do not pose significant threats but may indicate areas for improvement, like generic mentions of cloud services without specific details.
Info: General information about the company’s technology stack and participation in bug bounties, providing basic insights into its technical environment.

Example Findings:

“Acme Corporation” has been found to mention purchasing commercial exploits in discussions around security strategies, indicating a potential vulnerability to exploit.
The company does not disclose specific certifications like SOC 2 or PCI DSS compliance clearly in public statements, which could be considered low transparency and medium risk due to potential gaps in regulatory compliance.

Tech Stack Exploit Alignment

Purpose: The Tech_Stack_Exploit_Alignment Scanner is designed to identify potential vulnerabilities and exploit opportunities that are relevant to a company’s infrastructure by detecting zero-day disclosures aligned with their technology stack. This tool aims to safeguard the organization against emerging threats by analyzing public records, job postings, GitHub repositories, and other sources for mentions of critical technologies and security incidents.

What It Detects:

Zero-Day Disclosure Mentions: The scanner identifies mentions of zero-day exploits in various forms such as public records, news articles, and security advisories using patterns like zero\\s+day and unknown\\s+vulnerability.
Technology Stack Disclosures: It searches for specific technology stack components mentioned in job postings, GitHub repositories, and other public sources. Examples include mentions of AWS, Azure, GCP, Terraform, Ansible, Docker, Splunk, Datadog, Elastic, etc.
Security Incident Coverage: The scanner looks for coverage of security incidents in news articles and press releases that involve the organization’s technology stack, looking for patterns related to security incident, unauthorized access, compromised, etc.
Breach History: It checks for breach history related to the organization using public databases like HaveIBeenPwned, identifying data breaches and security compromises.
Certification Claims: The scanner identifies claims of various certifications and compliance standards in public records and job postings, including SOC 2 Type I/II, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and HIPAA compliant.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial as it helps organizations proactively identify potential vulnerabilities and exploit opportunities that could be exploited by malicious actors, thereby enhancing the security posture of the organization against emerging threats aligned with its technology stack.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Conditions where critical severity findings are identified, potentially leading to immediate system compromise or significant data loss.
High: Conditions where high severity issues are detected, such as unauthorized access attempts or substantial data breaches that require urgent attention.
Medium: Conditions where medium severity vulnerabilities are present, requiring mitigation plans and scheduled updates to be implemented.
Low: Conditions where low severity risks are identified, typically informational in nature but still worth addressing for continuous improvement.
Info: Informational findings that do not pose immediate risk but can contribute to a more secure environment if addressed.

If specific risk levels are not specified in the README, they have been inferred based on the scanner’s purpose and impact.

Example Findings:

The scanner might flag a zero-day vulnerability mentioned in a GitHub repository discussing advanced security practices.
A breach history indicating multiple data breaches across different services could be critical for compliance reporting and enhancing security measures.

Security Tool Efficacy Research

Purpose: The Security Tool Efficacy Research Scanner is designed to uncover bypass techniques employed by deployed security tools and identify strategies used for evading Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) measures. By analyzing public records, open-source intelligence (OSINT), and other relevant sources, this tool aims to provide insights into how organizations might be circumventing their own security protocols or avoiding detection.

What It Detects:

Bypass Technique Mentions: Identifies mentions of specific bypass techniques such as DLL injection, process hollowing, and code signing certificate abuse. The scanner also detects discussions on common evasion methods like userland hooks and inline hooking.
EDR Evasion Strategies: Detects references to EDR evasion tactics including hooking APIs, disabling security software, and using unsigned binaries. It searches for mentions of specific tools or scripts used for these evasion strategies.
Security Incident Coverage: Analyzes news articles, blog posts, and press releases to identify patterns indicating potential EDR evasion during incident response.
Technical Stack Disclosure: Examines job postings and technology stack disclosures on platforms like LinkedIn and GitHub to understand the tools and technologies in use that could be relevant to bypass or evasion strategies.
Breach History Analysis: Checks breach history using the HaveIBeenPwned API to find incidents involving sophisticated attack vectors or EDR evasion, analyzing breach descriptions for patterns indicating potential bypass techniques used by attackers.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): The primary domain of the organization under analysis, such as “acme.com.”
company_name (string): The official name of the company, e.g., “Acme Corporation.”

Business Impact: Understanding and addressing bypass techniques and EDR evasion strategies is crucial for enhancing security measures against sophisticated cyber threats. This tool helps organizations to better prepare their defenses by identifying potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers, thereby improving overall security posture.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Conditions where bypass techniques are actively being used in real-time attacks or when the organization’s critical systems are at risk.
High: When there is evidence of sophisticated evasion methods being employed that could potentially evade existing detection mechanisms, posing a significant security threat.
Medium: Indications of moderate complexity evasion tactics which might require immediate attention to strengthen defenses without high urgency.
Low: Informal mentions or isolated instances of less complex evasion techniques that do not pose an immediate risk but should be monitored for trends.
Info: General discussions or theoretical mentions about bypass techniques, requiring further investigation and contextual understanding before assigning a severity level.

Example Findings:

“The recent data breach disclosed by Acme Corporation involved the use of process hollowing techniques to evade traditional security measures.”
“During the incident response for XYZ Corp., it was found that attackers used DLL injection as a means to bypass certain EDR tools in place.”

Exploit Focus Monitoring

Purpose: The Exploit Focus Monitoring Scanner is designed to identify potential security risks and areas of focus for attackers by detecting mentions of a specified brand or technology in public sources such as GitHub proof-of-concept (PoC) repositories, Exploit-DB entries, conference talks, news articles, and job board listings. This tool helps organizations proactively monitor their vulnerabilities and stay ahead of emerging threats.

What It Detects:

GitHub PoC Repositories: Scans for code snippets and descriptions containing the specified brand or technology within GitHub repositories, potentially indicating exploits related to vulnerabilities associated with the target brand or technology.
Exploit-DB Entries: Searches for entries in Exploit-DB that are relevant to the specified brand or technology, highlighting publicly available exploits that could exploit known weaknesses in the target’s systems.
Conference Talks: Analyzes slides and transcripts from cybersecurity conferences for mentions of the specified brand or technology, identifying discussions or presentations about vulnerabilities or attack vectors relevant to the target brand or technology.
News Articles: Scrapes news articles for mentions of the specified brand or technology in the context of security incidents or vulnerabilities, detecting media coverage that may indicate emerging threats or areas of focus for attackers.
Job Board Listings: Searches job board listings for technology stack disclosures related to the specified brand or technology, identifying roles and responsibilities that involve working with the target brand or technology, which can indicate potential attack vectors.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): The primary domain to analyze, such as acme.com, providing a focus for the scanner’s activities.
company_name (string): The company name for statement searching, e.g., “Acme Corporation,” which helps in identifying relevant mentions across different platforms.

Business Impact: This tool is crucial for organizations looking to proactively identify and address potential security vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors. By detecting mentions of specified brands or technologies in public repositories, exploit databases, conference discussions, news articles, and job listings, the scanner helps in developing targeted mitigation strategies and improving overall cybersecurity posture.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The tool detects a critical vulnerability that has been publicly disclosed with detailed exploits available.
High: The tool identifies potential vulnerabilities or mentions of the specified brand or technology in contexts that could indicate future exploitation, such as job listings suggesting exposure to sensitive information.
Medium: The tool flags areas where the specified brand or technology is mentioned but without clear evidence of immediate exploitability, requiring further investigation and monitoring.
Low: The tool identifies benign mentions or discussions about the specified brand or technology that do not pose an immediate risk but could be indicative of future trends or developments in the cybersecurity landscape.
Info: The tool flags informational findings such as general discussions or mentions without specific details about vulnerabilities or exploits, which may require further analysis for actionable insights.

These risk levels are inferred based on the purpose and impact of the scanner to help prioritize actions and responses to detected issues.

Example Findings:

A GitHub repository containing a PoC exploit for a known vulnerability in Acme Corp’s software, indicating potential security risks that need immediate attention.
An Exploit-DB entry detailing an exploit for a critical flaw in the specified brand or technology, highlighting a significant risk to organizations using this technology.