In the endless quest to research additional Windows system forensic artifacts to use during an Incident Response investigation, I stumbled across something I thought was cool. This definitely wasn’t a new artifact, it was just a specific native Windows XML file that I wasn’t aware of. I noticed this file was not commonly used from…
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Nearly three weeks after news regarding the widespread compromise of SolarWinds Orion customers became public, TrustedSec continues to receive inquiries from clients seeking more granular detail about the nature of the compromise. In most cases, clients have received a list of command and control (C2) domains from a major vendor and require assistance in investigating…
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Over the last several days, TrustedSec has received queries on the best ways to contain, eradicate, and remediate the SolarWinds backdoor (aka #solarigate aka Sunburst). The TrustedSec Incident Response team has put together a playbook of recommended actions to provide some level of assurance that your organization is no longer affected by the backdoor. This…
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In the wake of recent revelations regarding a supply chain compromise of the SolarWinds Orion platform by a nation-state actor, and subsequent targeting of private sector and government organizations by said actor, the TrustedSec Incident Response team is releasing the following summary and guidance. This guidance reflects information from industry counterparts as well as recommendations…
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They say, “Everything old is new again.” Or, if you are a Game of Thrones fan, “What is dead may never die.” For me, however, a mentor once told me, “Everyone is going forward. I’m going backward.” Enter NetSync… I find Twitter to be a good source for InfoSec tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Anytime…
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This is a continuation of The Tale of the Lost, but not Forgotten, Undocumented NetSync (part 1) and in this section, we will look to answer: What are Some Early Indicators to Detect NetSync at the Host-based Level? What are Some Possible Controls to Deter NetSync? In an accompanying blog post, Are You Seeing What…
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Opener The goal of this blog post is to provide an approach to analyzing a text-based phish link. I will primarily focus on the initial steps to properly view the phish site from a non-mobile browser, provide OPSEC setup and browsing analysis recommendations, and conclude with defense measures to protect against such attacks. Analysis Background…
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In this second installment of the ‘Become a Malware Analyst Series,” Principal Incident Response & Research Consultant Scott Nusbaum focuses on PowerShell obfuscation by analyzing a PowerShell sample that was identified during an incident response. Scott will also touch on methods and tools to identify common Metasploit function hashes.
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In this video, Senior Incident Response & Research Consultant Scott Nusbaum demonstrates a method to extract and deobfuscate code from a malicious document. Upon rendering the code readable, Nusbaum works to gain an understanding of the goals the malware was attempting to accomplish and the processes by which it undertook that effort. This video is…
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Over the last several months, I’ve noticed something when discussing Incident Response (IR) with clients. There is often confusion between the expectation and reality concerning the end results of an IR investigation. My goal here is to clarify and set those expectations, and to show how Threat Hunting factors in. When TrustedSec gets called to…
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