Compass Security Blog

Offensive Defense

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Challenging Your Forensic Readiness with an Application-Level Ransomware Attack

Ransomware focuses on encrypting data on a filesystem-level, either locally on infected client systems or remotely on accessible file servers. However, what if ransomware would start encrypting data on an application-level too?

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Investigating Data Leakage via External Storage Devices

Contents Introduction Background Story External Device Access Auditing with Windows Security Event Logs Audit Plug and Play Activity Audit Removable Storage Activity External Device Access Auditing with Default Windows Artifacts Other Ways to Monitor External Device Usage Conclusion References Introduction Have you ever investigated a data leakage case involving a suspect potentially leaking data to […]

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Windows Forensics with Plaso

Present State of Affairs We have been teaching forensics and network incident analysis for quite a while. We have investigated into a reputable number of cases and we are not the only doing so. Hence, one would expect a certain degree of automation in analysis. However, the high frequency of software release cycles somehow leads […]

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Hidden Inbox Rules in Microsoft Exchange

Contents Introduction Attack Overview Step-by-Step Detection Email Clients Administration Tools Exchange Compliance Features MAPI Editor Eradication Microsoft Security Response Center Swiss Cyber Storm 2018 Conclusion References Introduction In recent investigations, Compass recognized a raise in popularity for attackers to compromise Microsoft Exchange credentials. As one of the first steps after having obtained the credentials (most […]

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Forensic Readiness

Introduction Every year Bitkom and others publish the statistics of detected attacks. These numbers are increasing (30% in 2014, 51% in 2015, 69% in 2016 each regarding the last two years). According to annual Mandiant reports, the duration until an attack is detected is 148 days in median. 148 days is a long time to gain […]

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Exchange Forensics

Introduction The number one form of communication in corporate environments is email. Alone in 2015, the number of business emails sent and received per day were estimated to be over 112 billion [1] and employees spend on average 13 hours per week in their email inbox [2]. Unfortunately, emails are at times also misused for illegitimate […]

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APT Detection & Network Analysis

Until recently, the majority of organizations believed that they do not have to worry about targeted attacks, because they consider themselves to be “flying under the radar”. The common belief has been: “We are too small, only big organizations like financial service providers, military industry, energy suppliers and government institutions are affected”. However, this assumption […]

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Wie stiehlt man KMU-Geheimnisse?

Ein Hintegrundartikel zur SRF Einstein Sendung vom Donnerstag, 3. September 2015 um 21:00 Uhr zum Thema “Cybercrime, wie sicher ist das Know-how der Schweiz”. (Trailer online) In diesem Artikel zeigen wir Ihnen die Vorgehensweisen von Angreifern auf, die versuchen unerlaubten Zugriff auf fremde Systeme zu erlangen — beispielsweise im Netzwerk eines KMUs. Schematisch sind diese Vorgehensweisen […]

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Netzwerktraffic und APT Analyse

Compass Security wird vermehrt von Kunden bzgl. Verdacht auf Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) kontaktiert. Unter die Bezeichnung “APT” fallen komplexe, zielgerichtete und äusserst effektive Angriffe auf kritische und zuweilen gar unternehmenswichtige Computersysteme bzw. deren gespeicherte Informationen. Die Analyse von potentiell infiltrierten Netzen und Systemen gestaltet sich jedoch als enorm aufwändig, da Unmengen von Datensätzen und […]

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Challenges in Log Management

Recently, SANS Institute has published the 9th log management survey (2014). The paper identifies strengths and weaknesses in log management systems and practices. It further provides advice to improve visibility across systems with proper log collection, normalization and analysis. Log management is very important to Compass as it heavily influences forensic investigations. Evidently, accurate information […]

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