Most Common

Cybersecurity Attack Vectors

and Breach Methods
When it comes to data breaches, 2019 was neither
the best of times nor the worst of times. It was more a
sign of the times. Billions of people were affected by
data breaches and cyberattacks in 2019—4.1 billion
records exposed in the first half of 2019 alone—with
losses surpassing tens of millions of dollars.

If you are cybersecurity professional, your mission

is to stay ahead of the bad guys and keep your
enterprise safe. This starts by understanding your
vulnerabilities, knowing the many ways your defenses
can be breached, and then putting in place the
protections needed to maintain a secure, resilient
cybersecurity posture. It’s a big job and critically
important to the well-being of your enterprise.

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Attack surface, attack vectors,
and breaches defined
Regardless of business or industry, here are three key terms that lie
at the heart of every enterprise’s cyber-defenses:

Attack surface—The sum-total of points on a network where attacks

can occur where an unauthorized user (the “attacker”) can try to
manipulate or extract data using a myriad of breach methods (the
“attack vectors”). If you consider a graph, where the x-axis lists all of
the devices and apps on your network (infrastructure, apps, endpoints,
IoT, etc.) and the y-axis lists the different breach methods such as
weak and default passwords, reused passwords, phishing, social
engineering, unpatched software, misconfigurations etc.—the plot is
your attack surface.

Attack vector—The method or way by an adversary can breach or

infiltrate an entire network/system. Attack vectors enable hackers to
exploit system vulnerabilities, including the human element.

Security breach—Any security incident in which sensitive, protected,

or confidential data is accessed or stolen by an unauthorized party,
jeopardizing an organization’s brand, customers, and assets. Incidents
such as DDoS, Bitcoin mining etc. are also security breaches. Data
breaches are the most common, but not all security incidents concern
data theft.

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Cyber-attacks 101
Here is a list of today’s most frequently launched attacks and the breach methods they use.

Compromised credentials
Compromised credentials describe a case And it is not only humans who hold credentials.
where user credentials, such as usernames and Servers, network devices and security tools often
passwords, are exposed to unauthorized entities. have passwords that enable integration and
This typically happens when unsuspecting users communication between devices. In the hands of
fall prey to phishing attempts and enter their login an intruder, these machine-to-machine credentials
credentials on fake websites. Privileged access can allow movement throughout the enterprise,
credentials, which give administrative access both vertically and horizontally, giving almost
to devices and systems, typically pose a higher unfettered access.
risk to the enterprise than consumer credentials.

DO THIS TO AVOID IT:

• Common usernames and • Password sharing across • Using two-factor authentication
weak passwords can lead to services makes all applications via a trusted second factor
compromised credentials, so that share credentials can reduce the number of
it’s important that the vulnerable as a consequence breaches that occur due to
enterprise has effective of the breach of one service compromised credentials
password policies that ensure or application in the cohort. within an organization.
suitable password strength. Do not reuse the same
password to access multiple
apps and systems.

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Weak and stolen credentials

Weak passwords and password Apps and protocols sending login were able to steal Active
reuse make credential exposure credentials over your network Directory credentials and
a gateway for initial attacker pose a significant security threat. propagate their attack into the
access and propagation. An attacker connected to your enterprise payment network.
Malware attacks such as Mirai network can easily locate and
highlight this threat not only for utilize these credentials for
managed devices but also IoT lateral movement. For example,
connected devices. in the Target attack, adversaries

DO THIS TO AVOID IT:

• Track password hygiene and use across your
entire enterprise to identify high risk users and
their devices.

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Malicious insiders
A malicious insider is an employee who exposes private
company information and/or exploits company vulnerabilities.
Malicious insiders are often unhappy employees. Users with
access to sensitive data and networks can inflict extensive
damage through privileged misuse and malicious intent.

DO THIS TO AVOID IT:

• Keep an eye out for disgruntled employees and monitor
data and network access for every device and user to
expose insider risk.

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Missing/poor encryption
DO THIS TO
Data encryption translates data into another form that only people
AVOID IT:
with access to a secret key or password can read. Encrypted data is
commonly referred to as ciphertext, while unencrypted data is called • Don’t rely solely on low-
plaintext. The purpose of data encryption is to protect digital data level encryption or assume
confidentiality as it is stored on computer systems and transmitted using that following compliance
means that the data is
the internet or other computer networks. Strong encryption must be securely encrypted.
applied to data at rest, in-motion, and where suitable, in-processing.
• Ensure that sensitive data
is encrypted at rest, in-
Missing / poor encryption leads to sensitive information including transit, and in processing.
credentials being transmitted either in plaintext, or using weak
cryptographic ciphers or protocols. This implies that an adversary
intercepting data storage, communication, or processing could get
access to sensitive data using brute-force approaches to break
weak encryption.

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Misconfiguration
Misconfiguration is when there is an error in system configuration.
For example, if setup pages are enabled or a user uses default
usernames and passwords, this can lead to breaches. With
setup/app server configuration not disabled, the hacker can
determine hidden flaws, and this provides them with extra
information. Misconfigured devices and apps present an easy
entry point for an attacker to exploit.

DO THIS TO
AVOID IT:
• Put procedures and systems
in place that tighten your
configuration process and use
automation wherever possible.
Monitoring application and
device settings and comparing
these to recommended best
practices reveals the threat for
misconfigured devices located
across your network.

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Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of cyber-extortion in which users are
unable to access their data until a ransom is paid. Users are
shown instructions for how to pay a fee to get the decryption
key. The costs can range from a few hundred dollars to
thousands, payable to cybercriminals in Bitcoin.

DO THIS TO AVOID IT:

• Make sure you have systems in place that protect all
your devices from ransomware including keeping your
operating system patched and up-to-date to ensure you
have fewer vulnerabilities to exploit and not installing
software or giving it administrative privileges unless
you know exactly what it is and what it does.

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Phishing
Phishing is a cybercrime tactic in which the targets are contacted
by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a
legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive
data such as personally identifiable information, banking and
credit card details, and passwords. It continues to be one of
the most effective social engineering attack vectors.

DO THIS TO
AVOID IT:
• Measuring web browsing and
email click-through behavior
for users and devices provides
valuable risk insight for your
enterprise.

• When in doubt, it’s best to call

the organization you received
the email from to determine if it
is a phishing scam or not.

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Trust relationships
DO THIS TO
Trust relationships refer to a certain level of trust that exists between
AVOID IT:
users and systems. For example, trust relationships can connect
two domains, so a user only has to log in once in order to access • Managing trust
resources. The two domains in a trust relationship are the trusted relationships can help
domain (the domain that authenticates the user the first time), and you limit or eliminate the
impact or damage an
the trusting domain (the domain that relies on the trusted domain attacker can inflict.
to authenticate users and gives access to its resources without Google’s BeyondCorp is
re-authenticating the user). One common breach scenario example an example of zero-trust
security practice.
is when credentials are cached on the trusted client, which then
gets breached, wreaking havoc.

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OTHER BREACH METHODS:

Zero-day vulnerabilities
This is a vulnerability that nobody is aware of until the breach
happens (hence the name zero day, as there is no time elapsed
between when the attack happens, and the vulnerability is made
public). If a developer has not released a patch for the zero-
day vulnerability before a hacker exploits that vulnerability,
then the following attack is known as a zero-day attack.
Having the red team write POC exploits is a way to mitigate
zero-day vulnerabilities.

Brute force attack

This is a relentless attack based on trial and error where the
hacker attempts to determine passwords or access encrypted
data. Similar to the thief who is attempting to crack a safe, the
brute force attack tries numerous different combinations until
one finally works. Brute force works across all attack vectors
described above; including password attacks, breaking weak
encryption etc., so it is not technically an attack vector on its own.

DDoS
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is a cyberattack against
a network resource (e.g., server, website) by numerous
compromised computer systems. The network resource is
flooded with extraneous messages, which causes the target to
slow down and/or crash, making it inaccessible to authorized
users and systems. A DDoS attack normally occurs due to
multiple systems being compromised. A potential mitigation
method for this is to use CDNs, reverse proxies, HA proxies,
etc. that put layers of defense in between systems serving
content and clients requesting content.

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Four exposures 1 High-risk software components such as
to keep on your Java, Flash, and IE are prone to zero-day
attacks due to a large number of inherent
radar screen vulnerabilities—many of which are not
publicly disclosed. Devices containing
such high-risk software that are actively
exposed to the web are especially prone
to attack.

2 Misconfigured devices and apps present

an easy entry point for an attacker to
exploit. Monitoring application and
device settings and comparing these
to recommended best practices can
help you identify misconfigured devices
located across your network.

3 Unencrypted or weakly encrypted

network connections and protocols leave
your enterprise susceptible to man-in-the-
middle attacks. Additionally, devices and
users that connect to insecure networks
and apps are at risk and can also be
compromised.

4 Unpatched vulnerabilities are easily

exploited by malware to infect your
endpoint or server. Although vulnerability
management products provide a list of
devices that need to be patched, the real
challenge is to identify high-risk devices
that can be readily used/hijacked to
launch attacks. Vulnerabilities in critical
infrastructure or devices with access to
sensitive data present a significant risk to
your enterprise.

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Balbix uses deep learning
and advanced AI algorithms
to enable you to:
Understand your attack surface. Balbix continuously observes
your extended enterprise network inside-out and outside-in,
to discover the attack surface and analyze the hundreds of
millions (or more) of data points that impact your risk.

Get an accurate read on your risk. Balbix calculates

your enterprise’s real-time risk, taking into account open
vulnerabilities, business criticality, applicable threats and the
impact of compensating controls. Analysis of all possible
breach scenarios—the various combinations of attack starting
points, target systems and propagation paths—and precise
determination of the riskiest scenarios is key. This real-time
risk model is surfaced to relevant stakeholders in the form
of highly visual drill-down risk heatmaps and Google-like
natural-language search. You can ask questions like “where
will attacks start” or “what is the risk to customer data”, get a
relevant, highly visual answer within milliseconds, and then
drill-down into the details.

Obtain prioritized action items with prescriptive fixes.

Balbix generates a prioritized list of actions that will affirmably
reduce risk. Security posture issues with the greatest risk
are addressed first before working down the list of smaller
contributors. For each issue, responsible owners for the
corresponding assets are identified and then prioritized tickets
containing all relevant context are generated and assigned
to these owners. Progress is closely tracked and fed back to
relevant stakeholders.

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Conclusion
The ultimate goal of adversaries and malicious insiders is to access your high value devices,
apps, and data. Left unsecured, devices and users with access to sensitive apps, data, and
networks will pose a significant risk to your enterprise.

To stay ahead of the bad guys, you need to start by understanding your vulnerabilities,
knowing the many ways your defenses can be breached, and then putting in place the
protections needed to maintain a secure, resilient cybersecurity posture. Keeping the
attack surface as small as possible should be considered a basic security measure. Also
managing trust relationships can help you limit or eliminate the impact or damage an
attacker can inflict.

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