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Passive Defense vs Active Defense

Cyber security defenses can be passive or active. Passive solutions focus on “denial”; essentially denying access to an asset when an attack against it is detected. Active Defense cyber security proactively detects and diverts attacks and engages the adversary to learn the attack tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). It is also about dynamically changing the network landscape or the attacker’s perception to detect and mitigate attacks early.

Passive Defense (Denial) Active Defense (Deception)
Endpoint Detect and block suspicious activity on endpoint elements. Introduce deception elements (breadcrumbs and baits) into the endpoint to feed deception data and redirect attacks.
Network Detect and block suspicious lateral movement to network elements. Introduce deception assets into the network to engage with the attackers and collect TTPs.
Identity Detect and block suspicious access attempts to identities / Active Directory. Introduce deception identities (on endpoints and in Active Directory) to slow down and redirect attacks.
MITRE Engage for active defense

MITRE Engage

MITRE Engage is a knowledge base for Active Defense and adversary engagement. It’s no surprise that MITRE Engage features deception technology as the most effective solution for adopting an Active Defense strategy. Deception technology is the perfect choice because deceptions can be used to detect and respond to malicious activities, without affecting legitimate traffic and transactions.

Cyber Deception detects threats by overlaying a fabric of pervasive deceptions across the enterprise network. Deceptions are not part of the enterprise business processes and systems. So, any interaction with a deception generates a high-fidelity alert. This form of threat detection, which can detect even zero-day exploits, is increasingly acknowledged as an important cyber security defense layer.

Cyber deception has been around for a couple of decades mostly as honeypots – cleverly crafted fake computing resources, placed as to seem part of the enterprise IT network and containing valuable information. Honeypots, though effective, have been difficult to deploy at scale and to manage by keeping them fresh and relevant.

The state of cyber deception has evolved significantly in the recent years. ShadowPlex is a state-of-the-art distributed deception platform, which can automatically deploy thousands of deceptions corresponding to any network element, across distributed and hybrid enterprise networks.

Deception is NOT just Honeypots

ShadowPlex cyber deception provides a comprehensive deception palette that includes decoys (also called honeypots), breadcrumbs, baits, Honey Accounts, and Honeytokens. These deceptions are blended into and deployed throughout the distributed (and hybrid) network, on enterprise endpoints, and in credential stores such as Active Directory. Legitimate users of the organization will not look for or try to use a deployed deception. So, an alert generated by an adversary accessing a deception is a high-fidelity alert.
Different types of threat deceptions
Acalvio's architecture for active defense

Start with Decoy Types

Low Interaction Decoys

  • Network services and applications
  • Attacker cannot login
  • Often done via emulation leading to lower quality decoys
  • Can deploy many decoys

High Interaction Decoys

  • Real VM Hosts, Applications, Database Servers, Shares
  • Attacker can login – full interaction decoys that provide deeper engagement

Make Decoys Attractive

Introduce weaknesses in decoys to make them attractive

Vulnerabilities in OS, applications, protocols

Weak configurations and permissions

Deception service accounts for important apps

Acalvio Innovation

  • Extensible framework for the customer to add custom decoys
Adding lures makes decoys attractive
Breadcrumbs and baits for cyber deception

Lead Attacks to Decoys

Many uses for Breadcrumbs / Baits

  • Act as micro-sensors
  • Display (mis)information
  • Redirect attacks to decoys

Acalvio Innovation

  • Completely automated configuration, deployment and management of breadcrumbs and baits

Blend Deception

Deception needs to blend into the environment continuously to be effective

  • Networks can change
  • Adversary behavior will change
  • Threats will change

Acalvio Innovation

  • Integrated AI keeps track of network neighborhood and endpoint settings across the enterprise and automatically blends deceptions.
Blend Deception

Keep Cyber Deception Dynamic

Static Deception

Static Deceptions

  • Hardly changes
  • Easy to fingerprint & avoid
Dynamic Deception

Acalvio Innovation: Dynamic Deceptions

  • Continuously updated to fit the neighborhood
  • Hard to identify or fingerprint

Automate, Automate, Automate

Deception technology has been proven to work, but it has remained mainly in the research world for decades. The primary reason is that deployment and management of effective and enterprise-scale cyber deceptions cannot be done manually. Deceptions have to be present in every subnet and multiple endpoints for early detection of attacks – we are looking at thousands of decoys and deceptions on tens of thousands on endpoints. Deception definition must be automated. The Security team cannot be expected to study assets in the neighborhood and then define deceptions. Deceptions must blend into every part of the network and always be relevant. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the only way to realize the promise of cyber deception.

How does deception-based Active Defense work?

End-user breach example

Phishing

  • Initial foothold
  • Attacker has remote command & control
  • Initial recon

Establish Additional Beachheads

  • Redundancy
  • Sacrificial lambs

Lateral move towards Mission Objective(s)

  • Data exfiltration
  • Disruption
Deception based active defense How does deception-based active defense work
Decoy workstation

Decoys

  • Dense Minefield
  • Detect Adversary as Beachheads Established
Breadcrumb for cyber deception

Breadcrumbs

  • Present False Trail
  • Deceive Adversary During Recon
  • Divert Away from Mission Objective to Decoy
Baits for cyber deception

Baits

  • Tripwires

Proactive cyber defense based on deceptions provides a completely different way to detect attacks. It complements and augments existing security solutions that are based on signatures and behavioral models. Cyber deception has proven to be very effective, but the first-generation solutions had limitations. Acalvio solved the limitations with innovative technology that enables enterprise scale and autonomous deception.

Please follow the “Read More” link to understand why you need Active Defense when you have other security solutions already deployed in your enterprise network.

Why is Active Defense Important?

The importance of Active Defense lies in its ability to protect organizations from sophisticated cyber threats that traditional security measures cannot detect. It is a proactive approach that continuously detects and responds to threats in real time, enabling organizations to respond quickly and effectively to security incidents, thereby reducing the impact of a breach. Active Defense improves an organization’s security posture by identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses, helping the organization save money by reducing the cost of cleaning up after a breach, protecting their reputation by minimizing the impact of a breach, and helping them meet compliance requirements. Active Cyber Defense plays a critical role in helping organizations stay ahead of cyber threats.

Strengthening Cybersecurity with Acalvio’s Active Defense

Active Defense provided by Acalvio can be used to detect threats in real time, enabling organizations to respond quickly and effectively to security incidents. The Acalvio solution combines artificial intelligence and Acalvio’s cybersecurity domain expertise to provide advanced threat detection and response capabilities. In addition, the Acalvio solution provides comprehensive visibility across the attack surface and actionable insights, which help organizations improve their security posture and reduce the risk of attacks.

FAQs:

How is Active Defense evolving, and what can we expect to see?

Active Defense is evolving rapidly, with new technologies and strategies being developed to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. AI-powered Active Defense solutions can provide deceptions that are agnostic to the TTPs of existing and new cyber threats. In addition, there is emphasis on integrating Active Defense with other security solutions, such as passive defense solutions, to create a comprehensive, defense-in-depth security strategy.

How is Active Defense used in cybersecurity?

The primary use case of Active Defense in cybersecurity is to detect and respond to threats in real time. This involves using various tactics, such as deception and attack disruption, to detect adversaries and initiate response actions. Active Cyber Defense can be used to protect networks, endpoints, and cloud environments from cyber threats. It also helps improve an organization’s security posture by identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses that the security team can fix.

How does deception technology fit into an overall network security strategy?

Deceptions are an Active Defense measure that can be used to detect and deflect cyber threats. Deceptions are designed to appear like valuable IT assets or data to an adversary, but they cannot be used for anything by the adversary. Overall, Acalvio’s deception technology complements and augments the detection capabilities of traditional security solutions. The Acalvio solution has built-in integration with widely used security solutions, such as EDR, SIEM, and SOAR. This enables Acalvio to be the deception layer in the defense-in-depth strategy adopted by an organization.

What are the different types of deceptions and their motivations?

The Acalvio solution provides deceptions in various form factors. Decoys that look like apps, workstations, and servers. Breadcrumbs and baits are deceptive credentials, files, and data deployed on workstations and servers. Honey Accounts are deceptive identities registered in Microsoft Active Directory. Honeytokens are identity artifacts derived from Honey Accounts and deployed on endpoints. These deceptions detect adversaries and deflect them away from real assets in the network. Together, these deceptions can detect cyberattacks from any quarter and in any kind of network, IT, OT/IoT, or cloud.

How can organizations deploy and manage Active Defense cyber security measures effectively?

Organizations can deploy and manage Active Defense cyber security measures effectively by implementing a comprehensive security strategy that includes Active Defense, passive defense, and threat intelligence. The Acalvio solution can be used to first gain visibility into the attack surface and attack paths. After addressing issues that can be resolved, the organization should then deploy deceptions provided by the Acalvio solution. Threats detected by these deceptions can be investigated in depth by the Threat Investigation capabilities provided by the Acalvio solution. Response actions can be auto-initiated through Acalvio’s built-in integrations with solutions, such as EDRs, that provide response capabilities.

What is an example of Active Defense using deception technology?

Endpoint-centric attacks typically target credentials cached by the operating system and application. These credentials include passwords, hashes, Kerberos tickets, and auth tokens. Adversaries target these credentials as a means for lateral movement. Acalvio provides Honeytokens, which are deceptive credential profiles added to identity caches on endpoints. When an adversary locates and uses a Honeytoken, an alert is immediately raised and response actions are initiated.

Next Steps

Explore our patented technologies to enable Active Defense and Identity Protection in your enterprise.

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