Identity Threat Detection & Response

Hackers go phishing

The Weaponization of Active Directory: An Inside Look at Ransomware Attacks Ryuk, Maze, and SaveTheQueen

  • Thomas Leduc
  • Oct 02, 2020

Like never before, Active Directory (AD) is in the attackers’ crosshairs. In this blog, we'll examine how ransomware attacks are abusing AD and how enterprises can evolve their defensive strategies to stay ahead of attackers.   First, a quick note about the recent privilege escalation vulnerability dubbed Zerologon, which allows an unauthenticated attacker with network access to…

Takeaways from Zerologon: The Latest Domain Controller Attack

Takeaways from Zerologon: The Latest Domain Controller Attack

  • Thomas Leduc
  • Sep 21, 2020

If there was ever a time to re-examine the security of your Active Directory, it’s now. In response to rising concerns about the notorious Zerologon vulnerability (CVE-2020-1472), the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an "Emergency Directive" to federal agencies to apply Microsoft's patch immediately. Enterprises would…

Detect, Recover, and Restore From Active Directory Events

New survey reveals dangerous gaps in crisis management plans 

  • Thomas Leduc
  • Aug 25, 2020

When a storm hits, the one who is most prepared is the one who will weather it best. For IT, this storm is digital, a flurry of cyberattacks that routinely touches down on the shores of Microsoft Active Directory (AD).  AD is a juicy target, and we all know why.…

Take Back the Keys to Your Kingdom with the Latest Release of Semperis Directory Services Protector

Take Back the Keys to Your Kingdom with the Latest Release of Semperis Directory Services Protector

  • Darren Mar-Elia
  • Jun 23, 2020

Active Directory is foundational to everything you do and the #1 new target for attackers. Since it wasn’t originally built with today’s threats in mind, Active Directory is riddled with inherent soft spots and risky configurations that attackers are readily taking advantage of.  We, here at Semperis, are excited to announce a new release of Directory Services Protector (DS Protector) and the powerful features it includes to detect dangerous vulnerabilities, intercept…

Semperis introduces tools to improve security resiliency of Windows Active Directory

Semperis introduces tools to improve security resiliency of Windows Active Directory

  • Byron Acohido
  • Apr 16, 2020

Ransomware continues to endure as a highly lucrative criminal enterprise. Ransomware hacking groups extorted at least $144.35 million from U.S. organizations between January 2013 and July 2019. That’s the precise figure recently disclosed by the FBI — the true damage is almost certainly a lot steeper, given only a portion of cyber…

How To Prepare For Cyberwar: It Starts With Identity

How To Prepare For Cyberwar: It Starts With Identity

  • Mickey Bresman
  • Mar 24, 2020

Cyberattacks are rapidly evolving in sophistication and scale. The line between the digital and the physical realm has become more blurred. Foreign cyberattackers have used destructive malware to erase data from hard drives and made moves to infiltrate industrial systems. They could make equally damaging moves in the future, given recent political…

Cyber Scenarios Expose Shortcomings of BMR

Cyber Scenarios Expose Shortcomings of BMR

  • Darren Mar-Elia
  • Oct 31, 2019

Ransomware and wiper attacks are causing organizations to re-evaluate their backup and recovery capabilities. An obvious concern is whether backups are safe – for example, are they offline where they can’t be encrypted or wiped. While this is a good first step, it’s just that. We also need to evaluate…

Why Most Organizations Still Can’t Defend against DCShadow

Why Most Organizations Still Can’t Defend against DCShadow

  • Darren Mar-Elia
  • Jul 16, 2019

DCShadow is a readily available technique that allows an attacker to establish persistent privileged access in Microsoft Active Directory (AD). Specifically, DCShadow allows an attacker with privileged access to create and edit arbitrary objects in AD without anyone knowing. This allows the attacker to create backdoors all over AD that…