Alert Logic Report Reveals New Killchain Efficiencies and Cyber-Attack Automatio ...

New Tactics Subvert Traditional Security Measures and
Indiscriminately Strike Organizations of All Sizes HOUSTON (BUSINESS WIRE)

Alert

the leading provider of Security-as-a-Service

solutions, today released its latest cybersecurity analysis, “Critical

Watch Report: The State of Threat Detection 2018,” which shows cyber

attackers are gaining vastly greater scale through new techniques such

as killchain compression and attack automation, expanding the range of

organizations under constant attack regardless of industry or size.

To prepare the

cybersecurity

, Alert Logic Security Operations and Threat Intelligence team

members analyzed data from more than 1.2 billion anomalies, 7.2 million

security events, and 250,000 verified security incidents across the

Alert Logic customer base of more than 4,100 organizations over a

14-month period between 2017 and 2018.

Among the notable findings in the report is the end of the traditional

killchain 1 , with 88 percent of killchain attacks now gaining

efficiency and speed by combining what was formerly the first five

phases―”recon,” “weaponization,” “delivery,” “exploitation” and

“installation”―into a single action. In the traditional killchain model,

organizations focused on stopping cyber threats at the earlier phases;

however, the new killchain creates near-instantaneous cyber attacks that

make many established security practices ineffective.

The report also exposes evidence that attackers have greatly expanded

their use of automation to launch random and recursive attacks that are

changing the way organizations have to assess risk. These automated

“spray and pray” attacks roll through a set of IP addresses at massive

scale, seeking vulnerabilities, and immediately execute further

automation to exploit them. Because these highly automated attacks hit

small-, medium- and enterprise-sized organizations indiscriminately and

at a similar rate, industry and size are no longer reliable predictors

of threat risk.

Another key finding is that cryptojacking

is now rampant, with many attacks featuring this as their primary

motivation. In the data analyzed, for example, it was observed that 88

percent of recent WebLogic attacks were cryptojacking attempts. The

report also found that web application attacks remain the most frequent

and dominant type of attack, with SQL injection attempts comprising 43

percent of all attacks observed.

“It’s no secret that attackers push the envelope and innovate attacks to

abuse weaknesses anywhere they find them―in cloud and hybrid

deployments, containerized environments, and on-premises systems,” said

Rohit Dhamankar, Vice President of Threat Intelligence Products at Alert

Logic. “What is troublesome is the use of force-multipliers like

automation to scale attacks for increased financial gain. This report

demonstrates that attackers are gaining increasing sophistication in

their ability to weaponize trusted techniques to exploit common

vulnerabilities and misconfigurations for purposes such as cryptomining.”

The report also establishes the prevalence of attack vectors by industry

for government & education, financial services & insurance, health

services, information technology & services, media communications &

entertainment, not-or-profit organizations, production/manufacturing &

logistics, and retail & hospitality.

In addition to the research findings, the report provides best practices

for remediation and cyber hygiene, as well as recommendations on how to

improve visibility and address staffing shortages, to help organizations

improve their security posture.

“While attackers continue to innovate with improved agility, speed and

covertness, defenders also have opportunities to evolve the way they

approach their security processes, procedures, and technologies. With

our deep understanding of new and enhanced attack methods, Alert Logic

can be a trusted partner in helping them,” said Dhamankar.

To download a free copy of the full report, Critical Watch Report: The

State of Threat Detection 2018, visit here .

Additional Resources

Blog

@AlertLogic

LinkedIn

About Alert Logic

Alert Logic delivers better cybersecurity

for everyone, regardless of their company’s size or technology

environment. Our proactive threat management platform, always-current

threat intelligence, and 24×7, customer-obsessed analyst services

protect organizations cost-effectively and with fast time-to-value. More

than 4,000 organizations trust their security to Alert Logic every day

so they can focus on what matters most―running their business. Founded

in 2002, Alert Logic is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with offices in

Austin, Seattle, Dallas, Cardiff, Belfast, London and Cali, Colombia.

For more information, please visit www.alertlogic.com .

1 Developed by Lockheed Martin,the

Cyber

identifies what actions adversaries must complete in

order to achieve their objective.

Contacts

For Alert Logic Inquiries:

W2 Communications

Christine

703-877-8114

Public Relations

Christine@w2comm.com

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