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Lakera

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The Alarming Surge Of Lateral Phishing – Are We All Just Sitting Ducks?

Let's face it; we all want to be good at solving problems and coming up with creative ideas. Whether you're a marketer, entrepreneur, or student, creativity and problem-solving skills are essential skills that can take you a long way. But here's the catch-22 situation: how do you foster these skills when you're a generalist and don't have a specific area of expertise? are masters of many trades but a jack of none. They have a broader perspective on things with the ability to connect different fields or ideas. This is where lateral thinking comes in handy. Lateral thinking is all about breaking the conventional pattern of thinking and looking at a problem from a different perspective. So yes, creativity and problem-solving skills are important, and lateral thinking helps enhance them. Generalists But how? In the following sections, we'll explore this topic more in detail. So, pull up your socks and get ready to boost your creativity and problem-solving skills as a generalist with lateral thinking. What is Lateral Thinking? It's a concept introduced by , a leading authority in the field of creative thinking. So what is lateral thinking? It's the ability to think creatively and approach problems from different angles rather than just the obvious ones. Lateral thinking is quite different from vertical thinking. Vertical thinking involves a logical and linear approach that follows a set of predefined rules and guidelines. In contrast, lateral thinking encourages individuals to think outside the box and explore different possibilities. Edward de Bono There are many benefits of lateral thinking. It not only leads to more creative problem-solving skills, but it can also improve communication, build teamwork, and increase productivity. Additionally, it can also help in personal growth by enhancing mental flexibility, improving decision-making skills, and reducing stress levels. Overall, incorporating lateral thinking into your problem-solving approach can lead to some great benefits personally and professionally. So why not try it out for yourself? The Relationship Between Generalists and Lateral Thinking Generalists and Lateral Thinking - a perfect match. Generalists are individuals who possess knowledge and skills in multiple fields, rather than specializing in a single field. Lateral thinking, on the other hand, is the ability to solve problems through an indirect and creative approach. It allows individuals to generate unconventional ideas and solutions to problems that might not be solvable through traditional methods. They can bring their multi-domain knowledge to tackle complex problems using a unique perspective. Their practical experience across various domains gives them an enormous problem-solving ability, helping them develop unconventional solutions to problems that specialists may not encounter. Another significant advantage of being a Generalist is the enhanced creativity they tend to possess. Due to their wide range of experiences and knowledge, they can visualize and create new, innovative ideas that specialists may not think of. They can connect various topics, thoughts, and ideas in unique ways, giving birth to something new and fascinating, which can add value. Lateral thinking and Generalism work hand in hand to enhance problem-solving skills and foster creativity. Generalists are not just jacks of all trades; they are masters of lateral thinking. Their diverse knowledge allows them to be creative in their solutions to problems and convert unconventional and challenging situations into opportunities. As Picasso said, “The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense.” Generalists can create something extraordinary by pushing the boundaries of conventional thinking. In short, lateral thinking is a valuable tool that Generalists possess and can leverage to not only improve their problem-solving skills but also foster creativity. A great combination indeed. But like any tool, it takes practice to get somewhat perfect at it. Techniques to Improve Lateral Thinking When it comes to thinking laterally, there are a variety of techniques you can use to help improve your abilities. is a great way to activate your brain's creative juices. Essentially, you select a random word and then try to find connections between that word and the problem you're trying to solve. Random Word Generation is another great technique, which involves flipping the problem on its head and trying to find a solution from a completely opposite perspective. Reverse Thinking is a powerful tool developed by Edward De Bono, which involves wearing six different hats, each representing a different way of thinking, to help you approach a problem from different angles. Another technique is to change perspectives. When you approach a problem from a different point of view - like that of a customer or competitor - you open yourself up to new ideas. The Six Thinking Hats Technique And lastly, This classic technique is tried and true. Get a group of people together, generate ideas, and build off of one another's thoughts to help develop creative solutions. While all of these techniques require effort and practice, consistently putting them into action is the key to success. With some dedication, you'll start to see improvements in your lateral thinking skills in no time. brainstorming. Tips for Generalists to Foster Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills Generalists can excel in problem-solving and creativity, challenging the notion that they cannot. Being a Generalist means having broad exposure to different fields, which naturally fosters creativity and problem-solving skills. There are several ways that Generalists can explore to enhance these abilities: Embrace a mindset of curiosity and exploration, as it can open up a world of new avenues for problem-solving and creativity. - Stay updated with the latest trends: Engaging with present-day topics can provide insights into new perspectives, enriching your problem-solving abilities. Cultivate your inquisitive side: The strength of a Generalist lies in their holistic approach, which enables them to draw from various domains to find innovative solutions. Explore diverse fields: Join groups or communities: Networking with like-minded individuals not only expands your professional circle but also offers opportunities to learn from others' experiences and ideas. Taking time to contemplate the lessons learned can sharpen the skills necessary for Generalists to succeed. Reflect on past experiences: Remember, Generalists have a unique advantage in problem-solving and creativity, and by embracing these alternative approaches, they can further enhance these skills. Final Thoughts Generalists possess a natural curiosity and adaptability that allows them to thrive in various fields, fueling their creativity and paving the way for innovative ideas. They can also seek inspiration and stay updated on the latest trends by engaging with communities and groups. Reflecting on their experiences can serve as a wellspring of novel approaches to problem-solving. By embracing lateral thinking techniques and actively immersing themselves in new encounters, generalists can unlock their problem-solving prowess and conquer intricate challenges through ingenuity. Step out of your comfort zone, explore unchartered territories, and dare to think beyond conventional boundaries! If you liked this article, please spread the word and let me know what you think! You can find me on or . Twitter LinkedIn For more content on generalists, subscribe to the ! Generalist Thinkbox newsletter ** This article is part of a series on the topic of generalists and how they can find their purpose. We’ll provide opinion pieces, but also practical guides as well as interviews with contemporary generalists who’ll share their journey with us. Stay tuned!

The Power of Lateral Thinking: Boost Your Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills as a Generalist

El poder del pensamiento lateral: aumente su creatividad y sus habilidades para resolver problemas como generalista

Le pouvoir de la pensée latérale : améliorez votre créativité et vos compétences en résolution de problèmes en tant que généraliste

पार्श्विक सोच की शक्ति: एक सामान्यवादी के रूप में अपनी रचनात्मकता और समस्या-समाधान कौशल को बढ़ावा दें

水平思考の力: ジェネラリストとしての創造性と問題解決スキルを高める

O poder do pensamento lateral: aumente sua criatividade e habilidades de resolução de problemas como generalista

Sức mạnh của tư duy đa chiều: Tăng cường khả năng sáng tạo và kỹ năng giải quyết vấn đề của bạn với tư cách là một người tổng quát

横向思维的力量：提高你作为多面手的创造力和解决问题的能力

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . A Laceration In The Cottage Chapter VI. A Laceration In The Cottage He certainly was really grieved in a way he had seldom been before. He had rushed in like a fool, and meddled in what? In a love‐affair. “But what do I know about it? What can I tell about such things?” he repeated to himself for the hundredth time, flushing crimson. “Oh, being ashamed would be nothing; shame is only the punishment I deserve. The trouble is I shall certainly have caused more unhappiness.... And Father Zossima sent me to reconcile and bring them together. Is this the way to bring them together?” Then he suddenly remembered how he had tried to join their hands, and he felt fearfully ashamed again. “Though I acted quite sincerely, I must be more sensible in the future,” he concluded suddenly, and did not even smile at his conclusion. Katerina Ivanovna’s commission took him to Lake Street, and his brother Dmitri lived close by, in a turning out of Lake Street. Alyosha decided to go to him in any case before going to the captain, though he had a presentiment that he would not find his brother. He suspected that he would intentionally keep out of his way now, but he must find him anyhow. Time was passing: the thought of his dying elder had not left Alyosha for one minute from the time he set off from the monastery. There was one point which interested him particularly about Katerina Ivanovna’s commission; when she had mentioned the captain’s son, the little schoolboy who had run beside his father crying, the idea had at once struck Alyosha that this must be the schoolboy who had bitten his finger when he, Alyosha, asked him what he had done to hurt him. Now Alyosha felt practically certain of this, though he could not have said why. Thinking of another subject was a relief, and he resolved to think no more about the “mischief” he had done, and not to torture himself with remorse, but to do what he had to do, let come what would. At that thought he was completely comforted. Turning to the street where Dmitri lodged, he felt hungry, and taking out of his pocket the roll he had brought from his father’s, he ate it. It made him feel stronger. Dmitri was not at home. The people of the house, an old cabinet‐maker, his son, and his old wife, looked with positive suspicion at Alyosha. “He hasn’t slept here for the last three nights. Maybe he has gone away,” the old man said in answer to Alyosha’s persistent inquiries. Alyosha saw that he was answering in accordance with instructions. When he asked whether he were not at Grushenka’s or in hiding at Foma’s (Alyosha spoke so freely on purpose), all three looked at him in alarm. “They are fond of him, they are doing their best for him,” thought Alyosha. “That’s good.” At last he found the house in Lake Street. It was a decrepit little house, sunk on one side, with three windows looking into the street, and with a muddy yard, in the middle of which stood a solitary cow. He crossed the yard and found the door opening into the passage. On the left of the passage lived the old woman of the house with her old daughter. Both seemed to be deaf. In answer to his repeated inquiry for the captain, one of them at last understood that he was asking for their lodgers, and pointed to a door across the passage. The captain’s lodging turned out to be a simple cottage room. Alyosha had his hand on the iron latch to open the door, when he was struck by the strange hush within. Yet he knew from Katerina Ivanovna’s words that the man had a family. “Either they are all asleep or perhaps they have heard me coming and are waiting for me to open the door. I’d better knock first,” and he knocked. An answer came, but not at once, after an interval of perhaps ten seconds. “Who’s there?” shouted some one in a loud and very angry voice. Then Alyosha opened the door and crossed the threshold. He found himself in a regular peasant’s room. Though it was large, it was cumbered up with domestic belongings of all sorts, and there were several people in it. On the left was a large Russian stove. From the stove to the window on the left was a string running across the room, and on it there were rags hanging. There was a bedstead against the wall on each side, right and left, covered with knitted quilts. On the one on the left was a pyramid of four print‐covered pillows, each smaller than the one beneath. On the other there was only one very small pillow. The opposite corner was screened off by a curtain or a sheet hung on a string. Behind this curtain could be seen a bed made up on a bench and a chair. The rough square table of plain wood had been moved into the middle window. The three windows, which consisted each of four tiny greenish mildewy panes, gave little light, and were close shut, so that the room was not very light and rather stuffy. On the table was a frying‐pan with the remains of some fried eggs, a half‐eaten piece of bread, and a small bottle with a few drops of vodka. A woman of genteel appearance, wearing a cotton gown, was sitting on a chair by the bed on the left. Her face was thin and yellow, and her sunken cheeks betrayed at the first glance that she was ill. But what struck Alyosha most was the expression in the poor woman’s eyes—a look of surprised inquiry and yet of haughty pride. And while he was talking to her husband, her big brown eyes moved from one speaker to the other with the same haughty and questioning expression. Beside her at the window stood a young girl, rather plain, with scanty reddish hair, poorly but very neatly dressed. She looked disdainfully at Alyosha as he came in. Beside the other bed was sitting another female figure. She was a very sad sight, a young girl of about twenty, but hunchback and crippled “with withered legs,” as Alyosha was told afterwards. Her crutches stood in the corner close by. The strikingly beautiful and gentle eyes of this poor girl looked with mild serenity at Alyosha. A man of forty‐five was sitting at the table, finishing the fried eggs. He was spare, small and weakly built. He had reddish hair and a scanty light‐colored beard, very much like a wisp of tow (this comparison and the phrase “a wisp of tow” flashed at once into Alyosha’s mind for some reason, he remembered it afterwards). It was obviously this gentleman who had shouted to him, as there was no other man in the room. But when Alyosha went in, he leapt up from the bench on which he was sitting, and, hastily wiping his mouth with a ragged napkin, darted up to Alyosha. “It’s a monk come to beg for the monastery. A nice place to come to!” the girl standing in the left corner said aloud. The man spun round instantly towards her and answered her in an excited and breaking voice: “No, Varvara, you are wrong. Allow me to ask,” he turned again to Alyosha, “what has brought you to—our retreat?” Alyosha looked attentively at him. It was the first time he had seen him. There was something angular, flurried and irritable about him. Though he had obviously just been drinking, he was not drunk. There was extraordinary impudence in his expression, and yet, strange to say, at the same time there was fear. He looked like a man who had long been kept in subjection and had submitted to it, and now had suddenly turned and was trying to assert himself. Or, better still, like a man who wants dreadfully to hit you but is horribly afraid you will hit him. In his words and in the intonation of his shrill voice there was a sort of crazy humor, at times spiteful and at times cringing, and continually shifting from one tone to another. The question about “our retreat” he had asked as it were quivering all over, rolling his eyes, and skipping up so close to Alyosha that he instinctively drew back a step. He was dressed in a very shabby dark cotton coat, patched and spotted. He wore checked trousers of an extremely light color, long out of fashion, and of very thin material. They were so crumpled and so short that he looked as though he had grown out of them like a boy. “I am Alexey Karamazov,” Alyosha began in reply. “I quite understand that, sir,” the gentleman snapped out at once to assure him that he knew who he was already. “I am Captain Snegiryov, sir, but I am still desirous to know precisely what has led you—” “Oh, I’ve come for nothing special. I wanted to have a word with you—if only you allow me.” “In that case, here is a chair, sir; kindly be seated. That’s what they used to say in the old comedies, ‘kindly be seated,’ ” and with a rapid gesture he seized an empty chair (it was a rough wooden chair, not upholstered) and set it for him almost in the middle of the room; then, taking another similar chair for himself, he sat down facing Alyosha, so close to him that their knees almost touched. “Nikolay Ilyitch Snegiryov, sir, formerly a captain in the Russian infantry, put to shame for his vices, but still a captain. Though I might not be one now for the way I talk; for the last half of my life I’ve learnt to say ‘sir.’ It’s a word you use when you’ve come down in the world.” “That’s very true,” smiled Alyosha. “But is it used involuntarily or on purpose?” “As God’s above, it’s involuntary, and I usen’t to use it! I didn’t use the word ‘sir’ all my life, but as soon as I sank into low water I began to say ‘sir.’ It’s the work of a higher power. I see you are interested in contemporary questions, but how can I have excited your curiosity, living as I do in surroundings impossible for the exercise of hospitality?” “I’ve come—about that business.” “About what business?” the captain interrupted impatiently. “About your meeting with my brother Dmitri Fyodorovitch,” Alyosha blurted out awkwardly. “What meeting, sir? You don’t mean that meeting? About my ‘wisp of tow,’ then?” He moved closer so that his knees positively knocked against Alyosha. His lips were strangely compressed like a thread. “What wisp of tow?” muttered Alyosha. “He is come to complain of me, father!” cried a voice familiar to Alyosha—the voice of the schoolboy—from behind the curtain. “I bit his finger just now.” The curtain was pulled, and Alyosha saw his assailant lying on a little bed made up on the bench and the chair in the corner under the ikons. The boy lay covered by his coat and an old wadded quilt. He was evidently unwell, and, judging by his glittering eyes, he was in a fever. He looked at Alyosha without fear, as though he felt he was at home and could not be touched. “What! Did he bite your finger?” The captain jumped up from his chair. “Was it your finger he bit?” “Yes. He was throwing stones with other schoolboys. There were six of them against him alone. I went up to him, and he threw a stone at me and then another at my head. I asked him what I had done to him. And then he rushed at me and bit my finger badly, I don’t know why.” “I’ll thrash him, sir, at once—this minute!” The captain jumped up from his seat. “But I am not complaining at all, I am simply telling you ... I don’t want him to be thrashed. Besides, he seems to be ill.” “And do you suppose I’d thrash him? That I’d take my Ilusha and thrash him before you for your satisfaction? Would you like it done at once, sir?” said the captain, suddenly turning to Alyosha, as though he were going to attack him. “I am sorry about your finger, sir; but instead of thrashing Ilusha, would you like me to chop off my four fingers with this knife here before your eyes to satisfy your just wrath? I should think four fingers would be enough to satisfy your thirst for vengeance. You won’t ask for the fifth one too?” He stopped short with a catch in his throat. Every feature in his face was twitching and working; he looked extremely defiant. He was in a sort of frenzy. “I think I understand it all now,” said Alyosha gently and sorrowfully, still keeping his seat. “So your boy is a good boy, he loves his father, and he attacked me as the brother of your assailant.... Now I understand it,” he repeated thoughtfully. “But my brother Dmitri Fyodorovitch regrets his action, I know that, and if only it is possible for him to come to you, or better still, to meet you in that same place, he will ask your forgiveness before every one—if you wish it.” “After pulling out my beard, you mean, he will ask my forgiveness? And he thinks that will be a satisfactory finish, doesn’t he?” “Oh, no! On the contrary, he will do anything you like and in any way you like.” “So if I were to ask his highness to go down on his knees before me in that very tavern—‘The Metropolis’ it’s called—or in the market‐place, he would do it?” “Yes, he would even go down on his knees.” “You’ve pierced me to the heart, sir. Touched me to tears and pierced me to the heart! I am only too sensible of your brother’s generosity. Allow me to introduce my family, my two daughters and my son—my litter. If I die, who will care for them, and while I live who but they will care for a wretch like me? That’s a great thing the Lord has ordained for every man of my sort, sir. For there must be some one able to love even a man like me.” “Ah, that’s perfectly true!” exclaimed Alyosha. “Oh, do leave off playing the fool! Some idiot comes in, and you put us to shame!” cried the girl by the window, suddenly turning to her father with a disdainful and contemptuous air. “Wait a little, Varvara!” cried her father, speaking peremptorily but looking at her quite approvingly. “That’s her character,” he said, addressing Alyosha again. “And in all nature there was naught That could find favor in his eyes— or rather in the feminine: that could find favor in her eyes. But now let me present you to my wife, Arina Petrovna. She is crippled, she is forty‐ three; she can move, but very little. She is of humble origin. Arina Petrovna, compose your countenance. This is Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov. Get up, Alexey Fyodorovitch.” He took him by the hand and with unexpected force pulled him up. “You must stand up to be introduced to a lady. It’s not the Karamazov, mamma, who ... h’m ... etcetera, but his brother, radiant with modest virtues. Come, Arina Petrovna, come, mamma, first your hand to be kissed.” And he kissed his wife’s hand respectfully and even tenderly. The girl at the window turned her back indignantly on the scene; an expression of extraordinary cordiality came over the haughtily inquiring face of the woman. “Good morning! Sit down, Mr. Tchernomazov,” she said. “Karamazov, mamma, Karamazov. We are of humble origin,” he whispered again. “Well, Karamazov, or whatever it is, but I always think of Tchernomazov.... Sit down. Why has he pulled you up? He calls me crippled, but I am not, only my legs are swollen like barrels, and I am shriveled up myself. Once I used to be so fat, but now it’s as though I had swallowed a needle.” “We are of humble origin,” the captain muttered again. “Oh, father, father!” the hunchback girl, who had till then been silent on her chair, said suddenly, and she hid her eyes in her handkerchief. “Buffoon!” blurted out the girl at the window. “Have you heard our news?” said the mother, pointing at her daughters. “It’s like clouds coming over; the clouds pass and we have music again. When we were with the army, we used to have many such guests. I don’t mean to make any comparisons; every one to their taste. The deacon’s wife used to come then and say, ‘Alexandr Alexandrovitch is a man of the noblest heart, but Nastasya Petrovna,’ she would say, ‘is of the brood of hell.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘that’s a matter of taste; but you are a little spitfire.’ ‘And you want keeping in your place,’ says she. ‘You black sword,’ said I, ‘who asked you to teach me?’ ‘But my breath,’ says she, ‘is clean, and yours is unclean.’ ‘You ask all the officers whether my breath is unclean.’ And ever since then I had it in my mind. Not long ago I was sitting here as I am now, when I saw that very general come in who came here for Easter, and I asked him: ‘Your Excellency,’ said I, ‘can a lady’s breath be unpleasant?’ ‘Yes,’ he answered; ‘you ought to open a window‐ pane or open the door, for the air is not fresh here.’ And they all go on like that! And what is my breath to them? The dead smell worse still! ‘I won’t spoil the air,’ said I, ‘I’ll order some slippers and go away.’ My darlings, don’t blame your own mother! Nikolay Ilyitch, how is it I can’t please you? There’s only Ilusha who comes home from school and loves me. Yesterday he brought me an apple. Forgive your own mother—forgive a poor lonely creature! Why has my breath become unpleasant to you?” And the poor mad woman broke into sobs, and tears streamed down her cheeks. The captain rushed up to her. “Mamma, mamma, my dear, give over! You are not lonely. Every one loves you, every one adores you.” He began kissing both her hands again and tenderly stroking her face; taking the dinner‐napkin, he began wiping away her tears. Alyosha fancied that he too had tears in his eyes. “There, you see, you hear?” he turned with a sort of fury to Alyosha, pointing to the poor imbecile. “I see and hear,” muttered Alyosha. “Father, father, how can you—with him! Let him alone!” cried the boy, sitting up in his bed and gazing at his father with glowing eyes. “Do give over fooling, showing off your silly antics which never lead to anything!” shouted Varvara, stamping her foot with passion. “Your anger is quite just this time, Varvara, and I’ll make haste to satisfy you. Come, put on your cap, Alexey Fyodorovitch, and I’ll put on mine. We will go out. I have a word to say to you in earnest, but not within these walls. This girl sitting here is my daughter Nina; I forgot to introduce her to you. She is a heavenly angel incarnate ... who has flown down to us mortals,... if you can understand.” “There he is shaking all over, as though he is in convulsions!” Varvara went on indignantly. “And she there stamping her foot at me and calling me a fool just now, she is a heavenly angel incarnate too, and she has good reason to call me so. Come along, Alexey Fyodorovitch, we must make an end.” And, snatching Alyosha’s hand, he drew him out of the room into the street. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (2009). The Brothers Karamazov. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/28054/pg28054-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

A Laceration In The Cottage

A Laceration In The Drawing‐Room

By Maya Levine, Technical Marketing Engineer, and Lior Sonntag, Security Analyst A sign of a truly sophisticated attack in the cloud is the ability to move laterally undetected. Doing so successfully requires knowledge of many techniques. In this latest installation of the : Attack and Investigation Series, we present the most involved attack flow yet. We will break down all of the steps a threat actor took to successfully exfiltrate data out of an AWS account. Cloud Threat Hunting This attack began with a compromised pair of AWS access keys. The first thing the threat actor does is obtain temporary credentials using the command. This is a form of defense evasion – if the permanent credentials the threat actor started with are deleted or disabled, they will still have access to the environment. get-session-token Next, the threat actor gets the user name associated with the credentials: Low-Priv. In order to understand what the permissions of this user will allow them to do, they run the command. Turns out, they do not have permissions to run that command. This is true for the two other commands they attempt: and which shows them managed policies for the user. list-user-policies list-attached-user-policies list groups for users At this point, they could resort to a brute force attack to obtain the permissions. This will require a lot of time and effort. So instead, they check for access to the account’s event history. Using the credentials they already obtained, they run the command to check for access to CloudTrail logs. The output shows them that the user has read-only permissions to CloudTrail logs. lookup-events This will give the threat actor the ability to understand what they can accomplish with this compromised user. They begin by searching CloudTrail events for that username. The results show that the user ran the command to the role. They also learn the default region of the user, the role session name, and most importantly – the role ARN. They copy the ARN to later assume the role. AssumeRole LambdaCreator The threat actor will check what events the role did in that session. Once they assume the role and move laterally, they will be able to execute those same commands. The first event was on a function called . The second event was on that same function. LambdaCreator UpdateFunctionConfiguration Automation-UpdateSSMParam UpdateFunctionCode Finishing up the reconnaissance from the CloudTrail logs, they will now run the command to escalate their privileges to this role. sts assume role LambdaCreator Once in the new role – they try the command but get an Access Denied error. Meaning, they cannot access the function’s code or environmental variables. So, they will turn to a form of social engineering: googling the function name. They find an AWS walkthrough which tells them that the role attached to this lambda function has permissions for . The name implies that if the threat actor is able to gain access to this role, they can easily abuse it, move laterally, and escalate their privileges. Additionally, the actor learns that the function uses boto3 library. get-function AmazonSSMFullAccess The walkthrough also tells them that the AWS name for this function ( ) is identical to the name in the victim’s account. This is a common mistake users make—defining resource names exactly as AWS defines them in their examples. It makes the jobs of threat actors infinitely easier. A simple Google search gave them all of the information they needed to continue in the attack. Automation-UpdateSSMParam Remember there were two permissions the LambdaCreator role used in the CloudTrail logs. Abusing involves changing the function’s code to be malicious and retrieving environmental variables through a reverse shell. This could break the functionality of the function and alert the victim of an attacker’s presence. So, the better alternative is using the permission to inject a malicious lambda layer to the function. This does not affect the functionality of the function whatsoever. UpdateFunctionCode UpdateFunctionConfiguration The code of Lambda layers is stored separately from the rest of the function. These layers can be shared cross-account. First, the actor creates the malicious layer in their own AWS account.  They insert malicious code into a boto3 library. When the lambda function is invoked, it will use this altered boto3 library instead of the default one. This malicious code will result in the lambda sending all it’s environments variables to the attackers IP, including the STS token of the function’s role. The actor makes this malicious layer publically available. Then, switching to the victim’s account, they run the command to insert the malicious backdoor layer. UpdateFunctionConfiguration They wait for the function to be invoked and set up a listener on port 4433. Once invoked, the function sends over all of it’s environmental parameters including: access key ID, secret access key, and session token. Together, these comprise the STS token of the function’s role. Once again, the threat actor can impersonate this, move laterally, and escalate their privileges. In this new role, they have permission. They will now repeat their previous technique of looking at CloudTrail to list the history events – this time related to the SSM service. SSMFullAccess One of the events is API call. This will start a connection to an EC2 instance. The actor copies the instance target ID. Using the STS token from before, they start a session to that target ID and login to that EC2 instance. SSM start session From there, they search for metadata service which by default is found under the IP 169.254.169.254. They now extract the EC2 instance’s role name: Users often name roles based on their permissions, which indicates to threat actors the scope of that role. The name clearly states that the role has full access to DynamoDB. DynamoDBFullAccess. The role name is added to the query, and the metadata service will output it’s STS token. From within the EC2 instance, they list the DynamoDB tables. The actor knows that the EC2 has DynamoDB full access, so they can scan the table. This reveals sensitive customer information like name, phone number, email, and last 4 digits of credit card numbers. Now how will the attacker exfiltrate this information? One option is to use the EC2 role STS token outside of the instance environment – but this can be easily detected as suspicious behavior. A more covert option is NTP or . The attacker uses NTP, which AWS frequently uses to sync the clocks of instances over the network. This allows the attacker to exfiltrate the data relatively silently and under the radar. DNS tunneling Investigation Even with an attack as sophisticated as this, CloudGuard will generate multiple relevant alerts for an investigation within the time frame of the attack. The first alert is . Permissions scan attempt executed by CLI This will show all the commands executed by the attacker from the CLI… , , , , and . The is indicating when the threat actor moved from the original role to the role. ListUserPolicies ListGroupsForUser ListAttachedUserPolicies GetSessionToken AssumeRole AssumeRole LowPriv LambdaCreator The command also prompts this alert: GetSessionToken Temporary Creds created from permanent user creds. The next logical step in an investigation is to take all the tokens from this event and create a new query that searches for CloudTrail logs with these tokens. Note that the command’s response has another token that was added to this query. AssumeRole This reveals more actions taken by the attacker once they moved laterally to a new role. Specifically, the call which was run on the function. UpdateFunctionConfiguration Automation-UpdateSSMParam Back in the alerts list, we see that there are 2 alerts related to the function. The first is . Automation-UpdateSSMParam Lambda configuration update The second is . Lambda Layer was added from an external account The logs show that the event has no known identity. They also show that a backdoor layer was inserted from a completely different AWS account. UpdateFunctionConfiguration From this same view we also see an command…the attacker escalated their privileges to the role. As part of the investigative process of “following the token”, we copy the access key ID of the role and insert it into the same query that has been built out slowly. AssumeRole LambdaSSM There were several alerts generated for the role as well…the first is . LambdaSSM Abuse of access token generated by STS dedicated for lambda The logs show a call from an external source with a Kali Linux user agent, therefore, this was not initiated from the lambda function itself. Most importantly, the call requests an ID. StartSession StartSession Searching for this ID reveals two alerts. First, is an alert called . This shows the malformed NTP traffic that was the attacker exfiltrating the data. Suspicious NTP packets volume per session The Statistics tab clearly shows the uptick in the traffic. The other alert is As the name suggests, it utilizes machine learning to do anomaly detection of network traffic. Anomaly Detection – Anomalous Network Traffic. The Statistics tab shows a pretty active traffic trend with ups and downs. However, the action caused a significant enough uptick to be deemed an anomaly. StartSession Altogether, all of these events indicate an incident. Throughout the course of the investigation, we followed the token. This allowed us to see the entire attack from beginning to end. From the , the move to , to with the . low-priv-user automation-updateSsmParam StartSession SSM role

Cloud Threat Hunting: Investigating Lateral Movement

Gaining access to a single system is rarely the end goal for an attacker. Once inside a network, attackers will almost always need to move off that endpoint to maintain persistence, conduct reconnaissance, and look for ways to escalate their privileges. They’ll look for credentials to steal, files to infect, vulnerabilities to exploit, and attack paths that provide access to their ultimate targets. The recent attack on the Colonial Pipeline , effectively demonstrating the depth of the problem. That attack was not an isolated incident—nearly every major breach now involves lateral movement, and stopping it must be a top priority for today’s enterprises. involved significant lateral movement Lateral Movement and Active Directory Lateral movement broadly applies to an attacker’s activity within the network after penetrating perimeter defenses, using various tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Today’s organizations must understand those TTPs and ensure that their controls are effective across on-premises, remote, and cloud attack surfaces. The plays a beneficial role in organizing techniques and tactics, providing organizations with a guide to identify security gaps and controls they can use to cover them. MITRE ATT&CK framework It is important to think about the role played by both endpoint protection and identity protection and how these security tools work together. Active Directory (AD) is usually co-owned by multiple departments, and organizational complexity can often leave this highly vulnerable and critical application inadequately protected. Incorporating AD into a lateral movement program should be a priority—after all, if attackers can compromise AD, it is effectively game over. Stages of Lateral Movement The first stage of lateral movement is reconnaissance. As its name implies, this is the stage where attackers explore the areas of the network they have access to, identify vulnerabilities, and look for critical assets. This activity helps attackers understand organizational data like host naming conventions and network hierarchies and helps them locate valuable information and systems. Attackers often use tools like Netstat and PowerShell to get the lay of the land within the network and learn about its defenses. These tools can be complicated for defenders to detect and often help with activities like port scanning. Effective reconnaissance helps attackers plan their movements better. The next stage involves credential misuse. Valid credentials are like gold to attackers. The (DBIR) found that 61% of all breaches now involve credential data such as stolen or leaked credentials. Social engineering tactics like phishing and business email compromise (BEC) attacks are typical tactics attackers use to covertly obtain valid credentials, though they are far from the only methods. Using valid credentials is a great way for attackers to move within the network without setting off any alarms. 2021 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report Next comes privilege escalation. Attackers want to exploit AD to help with network discovery and to gain privileges that allow them to change security controls and remain hidden. Ultimately, attackers want to escalate their privileges to administrator status, which usually means compromising AD. If the attacker can compromise AD, they essentially have the keys to the castle, and it is tough to remove them from the network. Suppose an attacker has been able to conduct reconnaissance, gain access to credentials, and escalate their privileges. In that case, they will likely repeat the process across various hosts until they find what they are looking for—user data, financial information, intellectual property, or other assets. Without robust in-network security, attackers can search for valuable data indefinitely. Putting a stop to this behavior is possible—and becomes more manageable when organizations use technique-based detection rather than relying solely on matching patterns or identifying signatures. Detecting Lateral Movement Active Directory is notoriously difficult to secure, with red teams often noting that they can compromise AD close to 100% of the time in security exercises—which means attackers can, too. Recent incidents underscore the fact that it is impossible to stop every single attack, so having a plan for what happens once an attacker is inside the network is critical. Organizations must visualize potential attack paths and detect exposed and otherwise at-risk credentials, permissions, and entitlements because attackers will target them. Attack path visibility can also help defenders anticipate attackers’ actions, allowing them to automate some aspects of defense. A little trickery can go a long way here. Detecting lateral movement isn’t just about identifying and remediating vulnerabilities—defenders can also cloak or hide real credentials, AD objects, and the files that attackers are after. Hiding production items and feeding fake information back to attack tools throws attackers off course. In addition, cyber deception based on deceptive credentials and other decoy assets designed to appear authentic can trick attackers into interacting with them and giving away their presence. Once an attacker has engaged with the decoy environment, defenders can safely study and gather intelligence on the attacker—who remains blissfully unaware that the environment they are in is not real. This tactic is especially valuable when it comes to protecting AD. Logs and SIEM management provide incomplete information and represent a reactive approach to security rather than a proactive one. Hiding critical AD objects and local administrator accounts can prevent attackers from extracting the information they need to elevate their privileges and escalate their attacks. Effective alerting on unauthorized or suspicious queries to AD can raise alerts at the point of attacker observation, which will mitigate the progress they can make and the damage they can cause. Focus on Lateral Movement Lateral movement detection remains a critical but underserved area of security. Today’s enterprises must shift their focus away from perimeter protection and toward in-network defenses capable of preventing and detecting lateral movement. It is essential to understand that lateral movement is not just one technique—and for comprehensive protection, defenders need the ability to detect credentials misuse and attacks on AD. A security program without in-network detection is like a house with no interior support beams—it might appear stable from the outside, but sooner or later, it is bound to come crashing down. Lead image via TheDigitalArtist on Pixabay

Understanding Lateral Movement and How to Detect It

Following my previous article on HT I was contacted Huobi Research, and have had the privilege of gaining early access to their extremely comprehensive H1 2018 Global Blockchain Industry Strategic Overview in an exclusive sneak peak. I will break down the contents and deliver what I believe to be the most interesting things in 3 parts, so as to share the knowledge with you all. This is part two of three. Read part one here . So, we’ve evaluated the overall landscape and compared the 2017 bull run to the previous two, so the next step is to look forward and figure out what exactly is going to take us back to the new highs that many aspire to. According to the Huobi Research report there are six distinct drivers for the next crypto asset bull run, namely: Financial Penetration: Crypto finance will penetrate traditional finance Application: Specifically designing applications and blockchains for individual use cases M&A: Acquisition of quality internet applications through crypto assets The bl_ockchain user base will keep growing_ Users: Generation: Average age of users continue to increase Gender: More women are expected to enter the market, which is currently largely male In will briefly delve into each driver and relay the rationale behind them here. Financial Penetration The biggest impact of crypto assets on traditional finance lies in the payment sector, especially cross-border payment and the way firms conduct businesses. Using crypto assets like Bitcoin as media of exchange can significantly reduce the time and expense in cross-border payments whilst increasing efficiency, and distributed ledger technology and smart contracts can be widely adopted in applications such as clearing and financial back office (something MATRIX AI Network has expressed interest in), helping to reduce the cost of operation and compliance. The advent of the cryptofinance era does indeed seem to be upon us. More and more cryptocurrency projects and firms are taking different approaches and we are seeing huge investment bank backed firms such as Circle making big strides with new products, as well as projects like Stellar, Ripple and FUSION bringing unique use cases and solutions to the table with impressive stakeholders in the world of traditional finance. It should be clear to readers that the bridging of this gap will certainly inject a new life into cryptocurrency, and given that finance is the lifeblood of the world’s strongest economies, moving some of that capital from pure finance into cryptofinance will make a huge difference to the landscape. Application Huobi Research closely tracked DApps on built on Ethereum, and the ones with the most daily active users thus far (not including decentralised exchanges) are blockchain games. There are yet to be any ‘serious’ dApps adding value to every day lives in ways that applications like Facebook and Twitter do for some. As current blockchain technology is still in the early stage, most of the blockchain applications are premature and limited in functions. Huobi identifies that the main barrier for adoption of blockchain applications now is that the blockchain is coming before the use case, and that “use cases first, blockchain second” is the right way to embrace blockchain. They express the importance in finding common needs and real use cases, add blockchain as a fundamental technology to optimize user experiences within these cases. then Mergers and Acquisitions In traditional financial, M&A is one of the main drivers of a project’s market cap. In a distributed crypto market, the circulation of new crypto assets is similar to an IPO, which in parallel is also the main driver currently for the crypto market at present. With the ongoing maturity of blockchain infrastructures, Huobi expects to see M&A techniques being applied in the blockchain in the future; great numbers of blockchain platforms, to supplement their own dApp ecosystems, will start to acquire quality internet applications, both centralised and decentralised, which will in turn provide new exit strategies for budding internet start-ups. This is already happening on quite a large scale as we have seen in the news recently — the cryptocurrency giant Coinbase has made multiple acquisitions this year in different application areas with Earn.com and Cipher Browser being the most recent. I share the opinion of Huobi Research in this respect and do believe that M&A will be a prolific driver in the cryptocurrency space not only for companies like Coinbase but also for projects. I envision that when the space is more mature and platforms begin to act truly as decentralised autonomous organisations we will witness the first ever distributed company acquisitions. User Growth Figure 1: Number of Active Bitcoin Address vs Time (in thousands) (Huobi Research, 2018) Currently, there are over 24 million and 32 million wallet addresses for Bitcoin and Ethereum respectively. Total number of blockchain users is expected to be around 20 million worldwide, less than 0.3% of global population. According to and , there are over 4 billion internet users globally in 2017, with only 2% penetration of blockchain. Huobi Research believes that the growing of the total user base will stimulate the market activity, accelerate the development of community, thus driving up the crypto market. Moreoever, with more and more institutional investors regarding crypto assets as a new asset class to diversify their portfolios, market depth and capacity will be significantly impacted. We have seen this effect in action during bull runs too. Figure 1 displays the number of active Bitcoin user addresses as a function of time, and the trend is clear. Historically, more users begets greater prices. We Are Social Hootsuite Generation: from younger generation to the masses Figure 2: Age distribution of BTC community (Huobi Research, 2018) Up to now, cryptocurrency has by some been seen as a rebellion. A rebellion towards the establishment, towards the ‘boomer’ generation by youth. Though this is true in some respects, in order to take over the world and reach full potential, cryptocurrency will have to be intergenerational, and the positive news is that this is happening. According to the latest survey conducted by Huobi Research, 39% of the users in the Bitcoin community are between 25 and 34 years old, and 55% of the users in total are under 35 years old, decreasing from 60% in 2015 announced by CoinDesk. Huobi posits that crypto assets will become more and more widely accepted by the masses in the future, rather than a concept that only resonates among the younger generation. More middle-aged individuals with higher risk tolerance and greater spending power will look to crypto assets as a new asset allocation vehicle, and dApps targeting users at various ages will also appear. Gender Interestingly, the final driver considered by Huobi Research is gender. According to survey by the firm, currently about 17% of the bitcoin community users are females, which represents a 7% of increase from 10% in 2015, announced by CoinDesk. Huobi Research believes that female investors are typically more cautious and prefer sustainable and longer-term growth, and that they have more general spending incentives and as such can create new application areas for dApp developers to look to, such as online shopping, where females are typically greater represented than males. In sum, Huobi Research asserts that the crypto market will experience a paradigm shift from “investment driven” towards “investment + application” driven. Various use cases and demands will be tokenised on-chain and this will be reflected in market capitalisation of cryptos. The six drivers described above will each in their own way contribute to this shift, and it is my belief that the Financial Penetration, M&A and general User Growth will be the main three drivers. Taking these thoughts into account, we must note that the crypto assets do not exist in a bubble. Every one of those drivers will have within them features which will be regulated by governments and overseers, and as such, careful attention must be paid to the regulatory landscape to evaluate which drivers are most likely to allow projects to flourish in the near future. Part 3, Looking Laterally, will delve into the increasingly pivotal regulatory landscape, and provide an insight into what developers, investors and users must be aware of when attempting successfully navigate this space. The full report being discussed will be released first exclusively to attendants of Blockchain Festival Vietnam , and you can get 50% off when buying tickets with code WRITE50.

Looking Back, Looking Forward, Looking Laterally — Part Two. What will spark the next bull run?

Following my previous article on HT I was contacted Huobi Research, and have had the privilege of gaining early access to their extremely comprehensive H1 2018 Global Blockchain Industry Strategic Overview in an exclusive sneak peak. I will break down the contents and deliver what I believe to be the most interesting things in 3 parts, so as to share the knowledge with you all. The crypto asset class experienced its third bull market in 2017. This time bitcoin was no longer the only subject of everyone’s attention, rather, a vast number of ERC20 tokens were created and flourished thanks to the flourishing of Ethereum at the beginning of the year — this marked Entering 2018, the market started to cool down after an eruption of interest and prices in December 2017, but according to a sentiment survey conducted by Huobi Research, with 71.4% of the responders believing that the market cap will increase more than 30%. a paradigm shift in the crypto asset market, from consensus on peer to peer cash like Bitcoin to consensus on smart contracts. global investors are still optimistic toward the market in the second half of 2018, We all know that the price of Bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency market cap is down since the start of the year, but what else has changed? The research finds that along with prices we have seen a reduction in new token issuance and general interest, but interestingly the amount of capital raised in token sales is still far higher than in 2017, but has been declining since February. This perhaps displays behavior of people turning to ‘small caps’ and ‘high risk high reward’ plays during times of downturns. Figure 1 — Top 5 Crypto Assets Prices Index Evolution Chart (Huobi Research, 2018) Figure 2 — Cryptocurrency search index (Note: Figures represent search activities relative to the highest level during a certain period. 100 = highest level, 0 = no related search) (Huobi Research, 2018) As can be seen in figures 1 and 2, as price wanes, so does general interest, but this should not be taken as a surprise. Comparing the 2017 bull run with the previous two, there are some clear similarities, but also many differences. Figure 3 — The first bull run. April 2011 to June 2011, 60 days and 38x from 0.75 USD to 30 USD During the 60-day bull market, Bitcoin price jumped 38 times from $0.75 to $30. Compared to $0.06 when Bitcoin first came into being, price increased 492x. The short bull market was triggered by the launch of a Bitcoin/GBP exchange in March. Later, media pieces from TIME and Forbes gave new credibility to the ‘magic internet money’, and promoted bitcoin investment. Soon after though, the well-known hack of Mt.Gox exchange happened, bringing bitcoin price down by 92%. Fundamentally a different reason for the ‘crash’ of 2018. Figure 4— The first bull run. One year from 13 USD to 1147 USD The second bull market lasted for one year, when Bitcoin increased 82x from $13 to $1,147, and the peak price was already 20 thousand times of the initial Bitcoin price. The cause of this bull market according to the research was the credit crisis resulting from the debt crisis in Cyprus. Later 2013, some countries in Europe announced their friendly policy towards bitcoin, boosting the market even further. However, in January 2015, the price went down again by 82% down to $210. Figure 4 — The third bull run. One year from 789 USD to 19343 USD The third bull market also lasted for about one year. Bitcoin went from $789 to $19,343 despite seeing a slight fall from $4,950 to $3,226 on the way up due to China restricting crypto assets on September 4th 2017. This time, the bitcoin peak price was almost 320 thousand times of the initial price and the booming ICO was a major cause of this run. Similar to what happened in the past, the market fell significantly in 2018, with Bitcoin price falling by 69% down to $6,000 in February 2018. It should be noted that compared with the first two runs, this fall has actually not been as bad in terms of percentages. Perhaps this is due to increased interest and credibility in the space. In a private, leaked JP Morgan report from February (which I may write about separately) they concluded and subsequently advised one of their clients that cryptocurrencies can in some cases offer a better hedge for fund managers than traditional assets, and often trend inversely in times of traditional downturns. Further to this, it is clear from anybody paying attention that there has been an influx of traditional finance interest, with many famous venture capitalists such as Tim Draper (many), Jim Breyer (Circle), John Wu (MATRIX) giving votes of confidence towards the space with their investment decisions. Looking Forward: What will drive crypto assets back above and beyond December 2018 levels? Find out in Part Two! Within it are astute insights into what will drive the next bull run. To any readers who want access to the full report, it is being released first exclusively to attendants of , and you can get 50% off when buying tickets with code WRITE50. 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