APT Emulation

5 automated security scanners

Advanced Persistence Techniques

Purpose: The Advanced Persistence Techniques Scanner is designed to identify potential vulnerabilities and malicious activities that could indicate advanced persistent threats (APTs) or supply chain attacks. By analyzing domain-related threat intelligence data from sources like Shodan, VirusTotal, CISA KEV, and the NVD/CVE database, this scanner helps detect firmware persistence mechanisms, identifies mentions of supply chain attacks or third-party components that may have been compromised, looks for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) identifiers in the domain’s data, detects malware types such as ransomware and trojans, and searches for command and control servers used by APTs for communication with compromised systems.

What It Detects:

Firmware Persistence Indicators: Identifies mentions of firmware updates or memory flashing that could indicate persistence mechanisms (Pattern: firmware\\s+update|flash\\s+memory|bootloader).
Supply Chain Implant Indicators: Detects references to supply chain attacks or third-party components that may have been compromised (Pattern: supply\\s+chain\\s+attack|third[- ]?party\\s+component).
Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV): Looks for CVE identifiers in the domain’s data, indicating known exploited vulnerabilities (Pattern: CVE-[0-9]{4}-[0-9]+).
Malware Indicators: Identifies mentions of malware types that could be used in persistent attacks or supply chain compromises (Pattern: malware|ransomware|trojan).
Command and Control (C2) Indicators: Detects references to command and control servers, which are often used by APTs for communication with compromised systems (Pattern: command\\s*(?:and|&)\\s*control|c2|c&c).

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com) - This is the essential input needed for the scanner to perform its analysis on a specific target domain.

Business Impact: This scanner plays a crucial role in enhancing cybersecurity by proactively identifying potential threats that could compromise systems and networks, thereby supporting better security posture and incident response efforts. It helps organizations stay informed about the latest APT tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and provides actionable intelligence to mitigate risks associated with advanced persistent threats and supply chain attacks.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The scanner flags conditions that are highly critical for immediate attention as they pose a significant risk of severe damage or disruption to the system. This includes instances where firmware updates, memory flashing, or bootloader settings indicate potential persistence mechanisms.
High: Conditions considered high risk involve mentions of supply chain attacks, third-party components, and malware indicators such as ransomware and trojans. These are crucial for investigation and mitigation due to their potential to lead to significant security breaches.
Medium: Medium severity findings pertain to known exploited vulnerabilities (KEV) that have been identified in the domain’s data. While these do not pose immediate critical threats, they should be monitored closely as part of ongoing risk management practices.
Low: Informational findings at the low severity level are generally non-critical and may include benign activities or configurations that do not directly indicate malicious intent but could still warrant monitoring for unusual activity patterns.
Info: This category includes purely informational indicators such as general mentions of command and control servers, which while important to track, typically do not pose significant security risks on their own.

Example Findings: The scanner might flag a domain that frequently mentions firmware updates or memory flashing, suggesting potential persistence mechanisms. Another example could be a domain consistently referencing third-party components in communications, raising suspicions of compromised supply chain elements.

Purpose: The Targeted Social Engineering Scanner is designed to detect custom pretexts and organization-specific attacks by analyzing threat intelligence feeds and domain-specific data. It aims to identify potential social engineering vectors in phishing emails, customized for specific organizations, as well as attacks tailored to the organization’s structure, data, and employees.

What It Detects:

Custom Pretext Detection: Identifies phishing emails with customized content that mimics internal communications or trusted entities, targeting specific organizations.
Organization-Specific Attacks: Searches for indicators of attacks that exploit insider knowledge about the organization’s systems and data.
Threat Intelligence Indicators: Scans Shodan API for exposed services and vulnerabilities, checks VirusTotal API for domain/IP reputation, queries CISA KEV for known exploited vulnerabilities, examines AbuseIPDB for IP reputation, and looks up NVD/CVE database for vulnerability details.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): The primary domain to analyze, such as acme.com.

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial for organizations looking to protect themselves against sophisticated social engineering attacks that could lead to data breaches and other security incidents. By identifying potential threats early on, organizations can implement preventive measures to safeguard their sensitive information and critical infrastructure.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Detects highly targeted and customized phishing attempts or insider-specific attack vectors that have been confirmed in the field.
High: Identifies widespread vulnerabilities or significant exposure of data through exposed services, domain reputation checks indicating malicious activity, or known exploited vulnerabilities.
Medium: Indicates potential risks such as common vulnerabilities affecting a broad range of organizations but not yet actively exploited.
Low: Flags informational findings that may suggest areas for improvement in security practices without immediate risk.
Info: Provides general information about the domain’s online presence and threat intelligence indicators, useful for baseline assessments.

Example Findings:

A phishing email with content tailored to Acme Corporation, using language patterns similar to internal communications.
An attack vector that leverages insider knowledge of Acme Corporation’s systems and databases to gain unauthorized access or data exfiltration.

Nation-State TTPs

Purpose: The Nation-State TTPs Scanner is designed to detect advanced persistent threat (APT) emulation and nation-state tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) by analyzing domain information through various threat intelligence feeds. This tool helps organizations identify potential sophisticated cyber threats targeting their infrastructure.

What It Detects:

CVE Identifiers: Patterns like CVE-[0-9]{4}-[0-9]+ are used to detect known vulnerabilities in the domain information.
Malware and Ransomware Terms: The scanner identifies patterns related to malware, ransomware, and trojan that indicate malicious activities.
Command and Control (C2) Indicators: Patterns like command\\s*(?:and|&)\\s*control|c2|c&c are used to detect references to command and control servers within the domain information.
Phishing and Credential Harvesting: The scanner can identify phishing attempts or credential theft activities using patterns such as phishing|credential\\s+harvesting.
Exposure Indicators: It detects data exposure incidents and unauthorized access attempts with patterns like exposed|leaked|breached and unauthorized\\s+access.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): The primary domain to analyze, such as acme.com, is essential for the scanner to gather information from various sources.

Business Impact: This tool is crucial for organizations looking to safeguard their digital assets against sophisticated cyber threats that could compromise sensitive information and operational capabilities. By identifying potential APT activities and TTPs early, organizations can take proactive measures to mitigate risks and protect their networks.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The scanner identifies known exploited vulnerabilities (KEV) based on CVE identifiers from the CISA KEV list, which are critical for immediate attention as they pose significant security risks.
High: Patterns related to malware, ransomware, trojan, and unauthorized access indicate high risk, requiring urgent investigation and response to prevent potential data breaches or system compromises.
Medium: Phishing activities and exposure of sensitive information can be identified at the medium risk level, which still requires attention but may not pose an immediate threat compared to critical issues.
Low: Informational findings such as typical phishing terms are considered low risk unless they escalate into more severe indicators.
Info: These include general exposure and unauthorized access statements that provide basic information about potential risks without being critical.

If specific conditions for each risk level were not detailed in the README, we inferred them based on the purpose of the scanner and its impact on security posture.

Example Findings: The scanner might flag a known CVE related to a recently exploited vulnerability or identify unusual activity indicative of malware infection patterns. It could also detect references to command and control servers that are not standard for legitimate operations, which would be considered high risk due to the potential for malicious intent.

Advanced Malware Development

Purpose: The Advanced Malware Development Scanner is designed to detect custom implants and evasion techniques used by advanced persistent threats (APTs) to maintain persistence and avoid detection within a network. This tool leverages threat intelligence feeds to identify suspicious activities and potential security vulnerabilities associated with APT emulation.

What It Detects:

Custom Implant Detection: Identifies unique malware signatures not covered by standard antivirus solutions and looks for obfuscated code patterns indicative of custom development.
Evasion Technique Identification: Detects common evasion techniques such as process hollowing, direct system calls, and rootkit functionalities. It also scans for indicators of fileless malware operations.
Vulnerability Exploitation Patterns: Identifies known vulnerabilities (CVEs) that are commonly exploited by APTs and checks for signs of exploitation based on CISA KEV and NVD/CVE database entries.
Command and Control (C2) Communication Indicators: Searches for patterns related to C2 communication channels, including domain names and IP addresses. It also detects unusual outbound network traffic indicative of C2 activity.
Dark Web Activity Monitoring: Monitors dark web sources for mentions of the target domain or company name in relation to potential threats. It identifies compromised credentials or data dumps that may indicate a breach.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial for organizations looking to proactively identify and mitigate the risks associated with advanced persistent threats, ensuring their security posture remains robust against sophisticated malware development and evasion techniques.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The scanner identifies a vulnerability that has been actively exploited in the wild or poses an imminent risk to critical systems without mitigation.
High: The scanner detects a significant weakness in system configuration, access control, or other critical security controls that could be easily exploited by adversaries.
Medium: The scanner identifies potential weaknesses that may require attention but are less likely to be exploited due to technical complexity or the presence of protective measures.
Low: The scanner flags minor issues that do not pose significant risks and can often be addressed through standard security practices.
Info: The scanner provides informational findings that enhance understanding of system configurations, usage patterns, or threat landscape without immediate action required.

If specific risk levels are not detailed in the README, they have been inferred based on typical severity assessments for cybersecurity tools.

Example Findings:

A custom implant with obfuscated code was detected, indicating potential self-modifying and stealthy behavior that could evade standard antivirus solutions.
The scanner identified a known vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) being exploited in real-time network traffic, which poses a significant risk to the integrity and availability of critical infrastructure systems.

Red Team Infrastructure

Purpose: The Red Team Infrastructure Scanner is designed to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities associated with a target domain by analyzing information through various threat intelligence feeds, including Shodan, VirusTotal, CISA KEV, and others. This tool helps in detecting command and control (C2) infrastructure and operational security issues.

What It Detects:

CVE Indicators: Identifies known vulnerabilities using patterns like CVE-[0-9]{4}-[0-9]+.
Malware and Ransomware Indicators: Detects mentions of malware, ransomware, or trojans using patterns like malware|ransomware|trojan.
Command and Control (C2) Indicators: Looks for C2 infrastructure references with patterns like command\\s*(?:and|&)\\s*control|c2|c&c.
Phishing and Credential Harvesting Indicators: Identifies phishing attempts or credential harvesting activities using patterns like phishing|credential\\s+harvesting.
Exposure Indicators: Detects data exposure, leaks, or breaches with patterns like exposed|leaked|breached and unauthorized access issues.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com).

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial for organizations looking to enhance their security posture by identifying potential threats associated with their domains. Detecting vulnerabilities early can help in mitigating risks and protecting sensitive information from malicious actors.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Findings that indicate critical issues such as high-severity CVE vulnerabilities or unauthorized access to sensitive data.
High: Issues that pose a significant risk, such as widespread malware infections or exposure of large amounts of data.
Medium: Vulnerabilities or exposures that are moderately risky but still require attention, such as the presence of phishing activities.
Low: Informative findings that do not directly impact security but can be useful for awareness and preventive measures.
Info: General information about the domain’s online presence without significant risk.

Example Findings:

A critical vulnerability found in a subdomain using pattern CVE-[0-9]{4}-[0-9]+.
Evidence of malware or ransomware activity indicated by pattern malware|ransomware|trojan.
Indications of unauthorized access detected through patterns like unauthorized\\s+access and potential data dump alerts.