Book Image

Incident Response Techniques for Ransomware Attacks

Book Image

Incident Response Techniques for Ransomware Attacks

Overview of this book

Ransomware attacks have become the strongest and most persistent threat for many companies around the globe. Building an effective incident response plan to prevent a ransomware attack is crucial and may help you avoid heavy losses. Incident Response Techniques for Ransomware Attacks is designed to help you do just that. This book starts by discussing the history of ransomware, showing you how the threat landscape has changed over the years, while also covering the process of incident response in detail. You’ll then learn how to collect and produce ransomware-related cyber threat intelligence and look at threat actor tactics, techniques, and procedures. Next, the book focuses on various forensic artifacts in order to reconstruct each stage of a human-operated ransomware attack life cycle. In the concluding chapters, you’ll get to grips with various kill chains and discover a new one: the Unified Ransomware Kill Chain. By the end of this ransomware book, you’ll be equipped with the skills you need to build an incident response strategy for all ransomware attacks.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
1
Section 1: Getting Started with a Modern Ransomware Attack
5
Section 2: Know Your Adversary: How Ransomware Gangs Operate
9
Section 3: Practical Incident Response

The Unified Ransomware Kill Chain

Throughout this book we have consumed quite a lot of cyber threat intelligence related to ransomware attacks, as well as looked at the most common techniques used by threat actors from a forensic perspective, so we have a good understanding of human-operated ransomware attacks and are ready to build a unique kill chain.

Gain Access to the Network

Ransomware affiliates may gain access to the target network themselves or purchase such access from the initial access brokers. Access may be granted to a certain host in the network, or to the network itself, for example, via compromised VPN credentials.

Ransomware affiliates may employ a wide range of techniques to gain access, from quite common techniques, such as brute-force attacks and phishing emails, to more advanced techniques, such as supply chain attacks.

Establish Foothold

This stage may include various activities. Ransomware affiliates may need to collect information about the compromised...