Cyber Kill Chain

The Cyber Kill Chain is a concept in cyber security. It is the process of stopping cyber attacks. In this article, we will learn about what is cyber kill chain and its types, and role of it’s in cybersecurity, how the cyber kill chain works and concerns related to it. Also, it covers the weaknesses of the cyber kill chain.

What is the Cyber Kill Chain?

It is also known as a cyber attack chain. It is a framework that provides a step-by-step approach to detecting and stopping cyber attacks and protecting against hackers. Seven phases present in the cyber kill chain determine a cyber attack’s activity, whether internal or external. In internal attacks, hackers target insider threats, while external attacks focus on external parties, In this attack the hacker steals the user credentials.

Role of Cyber Kill Chain in Cyber Security

The main role of the cyber kill chain is to help businesses or organizations. Organizations use various cyber security tools and techniques to stay protected from hackers.

Here are the points that protected our organization from hackers-

• In each stage, the attack should be detected by using various cyber security tools and techniques.
• Don’t share any information related to business data with third parties or unauthorized users.
• Stop giving access to unauthorized users for your system.
• Use multi-factor authentication and fingerprints to protect business-related information in an organization.

How does the Cyber Kill Chain Work?

Cyber kill chain gives the overview of cyber attacks so that organizations have an understanding of each stage and recover their businesses from attack. Each phase gives the overview of a specific type of attack in the cyber kill chain model. The cyber kill chain is the step-by-step techniques that identify, detects, and stops the vulnerable activity. It starts with the phase of reconnaissance and each phase represents the activities of cyber attacks. Organizations use various security tools to identify and detect these attacks.

Here are the phases that represent the working of the cyber kill chain:

Phases of Cyber kill chain

• Reconnaissance: It is the first phase in the cyber kill chain framework. It is also known as cyber intelligence gathering. It is a way of collecting data or information about vulnerabilities and potential targets. Attackers use reconnaissance as a tool that helps with their actual attack. There are two types of reconnaissance. The first one is active reconnaissance, and the second is passive reconnaissance. In active reconnaissance, attackers connect directly with computers and steal information by using techniques like manual testing and tools like ping, netcat, etc. The process is faster but creates more noise in the system. In passive reconnaissance, hackers do not interact with the system. It collects the information that is available publicly.

• Weaponization: In this phase, hackers use weaponization as a tool to attack their users. They send the malicious file in the mail, and when the user opens that file, hackers steal the information from their users. Hackers send the fake email to either businesses or vendors. The email looks real, but when the user opens that link, a hacker steals the information. Sometimes, hackers send a fake bank web page link when the user opens, and when they enter the username and password, hackers steal the information about the user’s account.

• Delivery: In the delivery phase, hackers wait for all the information they send to the user, like fake email attachment links, and when the user opens those links, they steal the information of the user.

• Exploitation: In the exploitation phase, hackers target the users, and after targeting the system, they execute the malware code on the target system. After executing successfully, the hackers have access to the target system and gather all the information.

• Installation: In the installation phase, hackers install software that connects the victim’s computer. In this phase, hackers take control of the victim’s account. Hackers install malware software that takes control of the user’s system and gains user information. They install malware via trojan horses, backdoors, etc.

• Command and control: In the command and control phase, the hackers took full control of the user system. Attackers establish command and control over the access and control of the target user network, which means hackers have full control of the user’s system and can perform any task in the user’s system.

• Actions on the objective phase: After the command and control phase, the next step or objective is to steal data and destroy the target user’s system. For example, the hacker withdraws the money from the user’s account or steals the credit card information.

Critiques and Concerns Related to Cyber Kill Chain

The cyber kill chain is the framework that helps organizations to create strategic thinking and use various cyber security tools and techniques to protect themselves from cyber-attacks.

• The first critique is perimeter security which provides a solutions of security that protect for any unauthorized access to our devices. It acts as the border between the organization and a hacker when a hacker tries to attack the system they detect and prevent their attack by using various approaches and security tools.

• The second critique is the attack vulnerabilities. Sometimes the organization has difficulty detecting the attack by using monitoring and analysis. The organization uses more advanced monitoring and analysis to detect the attack.

Weakness of Cyber Kill Chain

• One of the weaknesses in the cyber kill chain is that they have a limited number of attack detections, which means they do not detect other types of attacks.

• It also does not detect the unauthorized person who steals the user credentials.

• Some of the attackers do not follow the cyber kill chain step by step, which means they skip and add any of the steps, like delivery, and use the merge step of the kill chain.

• Cyber kill chain cannot detect insider threats, to misuse the company data or information An insider threat is an attack that goes into the organization or company whether the attacker is any former employee, any vendors, etc.

• Due to the increase in remote working, in that situation, hackers try to access the organization’s data by using various techniques and sometimes it would be challenging for an organization to identify and secure it.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, the Cyber kill chain model gives the full understanding of each phase that is helpful for organizations to always stay protected from these attacks. Organizations use various security tools and strategic thinking to recover their business information from attackers.

Frequently Asked Questions on Cyber Kill Chain – FAQs

What is the difference between active and passive reconnaissance?

The main difference between active and passive reconnaissance is that in active reconnaissance, attackers connect directly with the target system, and in passive reconnaissance, hackers do not interact with the target system. An example of active reconnaissance is to search the records of the user on their own, in that case, hackers interact with the system to search for this information. An example of passive reconnaissance is getting the information by calling the technical support team in that case, hackers do not interact with the system.

List the Security methods that prevent the Cyber kill chain.

There are five security methods that helpful for organization to prevent the attack:-

• Detect:- Detect the attack by using penetration testing.
• Deny:- Whenever the attack happens, it stops.
• Disrupt:- Stop the data communication that is carried out by the hacker.
• Degrade:- Create the steps that stop the attack easily.
• Deceive:- Give the wrong information to the hacker related to data, businesses, etc.