How to carry out a watering hole attack: Examples and video walkthrough. FireEye detected a supply-chain attack on SolarWinds business software updates to spread malware. It could be something as simple as clicking on a link and providing your sensitive personal information to an authentic-looking phishing website. A watering hole attack was carried out a few months ago on the Oldsmar water plant in Florida. The security of the target website is another important factor in identifying the watering hole. Im just going to set it back to its default. Also referred to as strategic website compromise attack, this attack vector aims to infect the systems of the targeted users to gain unauthorized access to their organizations network. Then Im going to log in, and lets just pretend this is any site you visit frequently. In the cyber world, these predators stay . Instead, just by simply visiting a legitimate site the user can become prey to the watering hole attack. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Attacking a particular industry network or employees to steal data or to cause any kind of damage to the system is termed as a watering hole attack. The attacker pinpoints targets and identifies websites that the intended targets visit frequently. You can make use of tools like ThreatCop to make the training sessions more effective and engaging. But at times, they may also be a phishing attack, focusing on a broader group of people. 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Watering hole attacks often exploit security gaps and vulnerabilities to infiltrate computers and networks. That's why one of the best ways to defend against the threat is to prevent them entirely by raising awareness. 1. Performing a constructive analysis of your current security framework will provide you with all the critical data you need to protect your enterprise. Now, I am not affected by it because my browser is not affected by this vulnerability. MongoDB (part 2): How to manage data using CRUD operations, MongoDB (part 1): How to design a schemaless, NoSQL database, API Security: How to take a layered approach to protect your data, How to find the perfect security partner for your company, Security gives your company a competitive advantage, 3 major flaws of the black-box approach to security testing. Steps to defend your business from watering hole attacks Organizations use watering hole cybersecuritytools to detect watering hole domains. How does a watering hole attack occur? A "watering hole attack" is one of many techniques used by cybercriminals to breach an organization's online information system. This watering hole definition takes its name from animal predators that lurk by watering holes waiting for an opportunity to attack prey when their guard is down. to make them more vigilant. Copyright 2022 AVASOFT. There is hardly any industry we might come across wherein the computers are not being used. msf exploit(msll_050_mshtml_cobjectelement > sessions -i 1 Data theft, financial losses and damage to company reputation are some of the most common consequences of watering hole attacks. Can bug bounty programs replace dedicated security testing? Thus, it is not always necessary for the victim to interact with a website or click a link that looks prompting to fall a prey to watering hole attack. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Watering hole attack - Wikipedia Ltd. Talk to our cybersecurity warriors today! Below are a few instances where organizations faced water hole attacks. Failing to do so can create weaknesses in your security infrastructure and lead to cyber attacks. Im going to pick the services.exe which runs on every Windows system in the world, and Im going to try to migrate into that service which has a process identifier of 492. 4. I go ahead and launch the exploit. And these attacks usually happen in the form of social engineering attacks, requesting your users to provide their sensitive information. If the emails have watering hole masking in their email ids they will be detected. Also referred to as. This will reduce the impact of. Its a VM that you can get on the open-source web here from the OWASP website. In the year 2013, water hole attackers got information of users from the US Department of Labor. Secure Your Network Against Watering Hole Attacks This helps them in determining which type of websites and applications are often visited by the targeted users or the employees of the targeted organization. : All third-party traffic, no matter where it comes from, should be treated as untrusted until and unless it has been otherwise verified. msf exploit(msll_050_mshtml_cobjectelement) > ifconfig. Windows happily says, Okay, no problem. Lets go ahead and take a look at how that happens. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Do you know that no less than 1,000 end-user computers visited the site infected by the attackers during the 58-day window! Well actually see the victim visit that site after Ive put my code there. Social engineering pertaining to cybersecurity or information security involves manipulating the human mind and getting them to take actions that reveal sensitive data. Enable MFA: Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across all the applicable endpoints of your organizations networks. Keeping your operating system and software updated is highly recommended to prevent such attacks. How should your company think about investing in security? The term " watering hole " refers to initiating an attack against targeted businesses and organizations. Therefore, you need to have a comprehensive understanding of Read More. First of all, an attacker profiles his target by industry, job title, etc. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); +91 950 007 8300 What is Watering Hole Attack? | Analytics Steps By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. When the users visit the maliciously infected site, the users computes are infected and cybercriminals get access to the individuals laptop or network. Steps to defend your business from watering hole attacks Step 4: The hackers can now exploit the malware infection to initiate malicious activities. Ill go ahead and sign the guestbook, and we know it actually worked because now we can see on the page that we just signed theres our little iframe, our little site within a site. | Unlike many forms of web-based attacks, these attacks are personalized for . 5. Step 5: Once a users system is compromised, the threat actors can perform lateral movements within the network to ultimately breach the entire organization. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Be aware of all the requests for information Watering hole attacks are usually conducted against companies that have high security on their employee email accounts and Internet access. Establish a Cyber Resilient Work Environment: Educate your employees about watering hole attacks to make them more vigilant. A watering hole attack is a form of cyberattack that targets groups of users by infecting websites that they commonly visit. Organizations undertake extra layers of protection inclusive of behavioural analysis which is easier to detect threats on daily basis. Following are few ways to detect the water hole attacks. Slack Migration; G Suite . The hacker uses search trends, social media, and similar data to identify such websites. You must have witnessed this kind of attack in the animal kingdom, where a crocodile may find it difficult to hunt its prey while it is grazing in the field, but it can easily get hold of the preys neck when the prey comes to drink water in the watering hole. His primary duties include overseeing the Infosec Resources website, working with the team of Infosec Skills instructors to share their expertise, and shepherding the Cyber Work series, which aims to help people break into cybersecurity, get hands-on experience, and create a community for aspiring and existing cybersecurity professionals. On this site, Im going to go ahead and post a comment, as we would anywhere else. To protect yourselves and your organizations against such attacks, it is essential to know how they are carried out. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Now in the world of Windows, the highest possible privilege you can ever have is that of the system, which is the Windows equivalent to what we call root in Linux. All Rights Reserved. Once we connect to that session, we now have complete control of that victims machine. Just by taking a look at the software developers website you can always ensure whether the software you are using has the latest updates. At this point, what Ive done is set up the exploit thats going to exploit whoevers browser happens to visit my site. And that means the attacker now has access to the victims computer because they visited that site. Such resources can be used by a threat actor to compromise an organization's internal network. Do you have any more suggestions for preventing watering hole attacks? So I go ahead and do the migration. : Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) across all the applicable endpoints of your organizations networks. How to Avoid Watering Hole Attack and Steps to Mitigate it - AVASOFT So, have you made up your mind to make a career in Cyber Security? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This is how you get around like filters on Facebook and places like that that would otherwise block this attack. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Be Wary of Third-party Traffic: All third-party traffic, no matter where it comes from, should be treated as untrusted until and unless it has been otherwise verified. What is a watering hole attack, how do they work and what can you do to defend against them? Another watering hole attack exampleis from the year 2019; a holy water campaign was launched targeting charity groups of Asian religions. Several Vietnamese newspapers plus other blog websites. So theres all my stuff. Now that you know what a watering hole attack is, it's important to know how to avoid one. So, watering hole cyber attackis a serious threat for organizations. meterpreter > screenshot. A commonly used way to prevent waterhole attacks by organizations is by disabling above mentioned programs from users access. Providing your staff with proper cyber security awareness training is the best way of creating a cyber resilient work environment. An infrastructure contractor placed malware on the water treatment company's website to poison the plant's water. Practice computer security. Similar to that here cybercriminals compromise the website that is frequently visited by the users and lure them to a malicious website. C:\Windows\system32>net localgroup administrators infosec /ADD. The most prominent highlight of watering hole attacks is that the victims may not even realize that theyve been compromised until much later. In that comment, Im going to put in an iframe tag that points to the server that we were just on, which is the machine that were sitting on now. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. As well as the speculated targets, OceanLotus managed to compromise some other popular websites, as well. Cybercriminals use watering hole social engineeringtechniques to identify the websites that are frequently used by the targeted users. With cyber crimes rising every day, organizations around the world are striving to stay ahead of this growing threat. C:\Windows\system32>net user infosec P@ssw0rd$$ /ADD. Make it a habit to check the software developer's website for any security patches. Im going to go ahead and go to stored cross-site scripting. msf exploit(msll_050_mshtml_cobjectelement) > exploit. Once the cybercriminals have compromised a website, they wait patiently till they can get targets to their malicious net. So lets go ahead and dive into it. The defence mechanism is implemented while downloading any files or documents via the internet. Similarly in a watering hole attack, instead of directly attacking the target group, the digital hijackers compromise the sites that are likely to be visited by a specific group of people with common interests. During this download the security solution checks for malware presence. Any traffic arriving into the network is considered to be that of a third party. msf exploit(msll_050_mshtml_cobjectelement) > set URIPATH aa With the frequency and severity of these attacks growing rapidly, it is essential to take every precaution you can to make sure your organization stays safe. Now this will ensure an enhanced security posture for your enterprise and keep all the malicious attacks at bay! In this blog lets take a look at what is a watering hole attack, watering hole attack definition, and watering hole attack preventionto safeguard our data. Finally, well switch over and look at it from the victims perspective. With all the digital transformation that you are welcoming, your threat landscape is also increasing at an accelerated speed!
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