Audit NTDS.DIT using DSINTERNALS

Ok this assumes you know how to get the NTDS.DIT and SYSTEM registry hive out from a domain controller, if you don’t go looking, we might have blogged a few ways to do that! Now then, firstly, let’s Install DSInternals. From PowerShell 5 onwards you can simply run:

Install-Module -Name DSInternals -Force

You will likely need to set your execution policy:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

Now to dump the hashes we use: Read more “Audit NTDS.DIT using DSINTERNALS” →

Defense

Dumping Credentails with MIMIKATZ and Passing the Hash (PTH)

I kid you not, I forget the commands, so I thought, hey let’s write a small blog post on credential dumping and pass the hash.

To achieve this we need: Debug privileges on a single machine or we need access to a disk that does not have full disk encryption. We also need the password to be re-used.

Mimikatz

Ok for this demo I’m going to run with the out of the box release for Mimikatz on a domain joined windows PC with Defender disabled.

To gain system we launch mimikatz from an admin shell and run:

privilege::debug

token::elevate

Now we are SYSTEM we access a range of high privilege level areas. Read more “Dumping Credentails with MIMIKATZ and Passing the Hash (PTH)” →

Defense

Hacking Guide – AESREPRoast and Kerberoasting

Kerberos Pre-Authentication Hash Retrieval and Cracking

We can enumerate active directory to find accounts that do not require pre-authentication. There’s a simple way of doing this using Rubeus:

.\Rubeus.exe asreproast /format:hashcat

We can see there is a vulnerable account that has Kerberos Pre-Authentication disabled.

This hash can be loaded into hashcat and possibly cracked (the hash in the screenshot is weak on purpose) Read more “Hacking Guide – AESREPRoast and Kerberoasting” →

Defense

Executing/Creating a process via WMI Methods

WMI is an awesome technology capability for Windows administration, I’ve been using WMI since the Windows 2000 era, I’ve written WMI based scripts/tools to defeat malware, yay, however with any tool the use can be for good and for evil!

This post is going to focus on Win32_Process:Create (there are other methods as well!) Read more “Executing/Creating a process via WMI Methods” →

Defense

Ransomware Defence: Part 2a – Persistence, Privilege Escalation and…

Recap

In Part 1 (Initial Access Defence and Checklist) we looked at ways of hardening your attack surface to defend against initial access. When it comes to ransomware there is a range of elements and variables in the kill chain that need to be successful for the outcomes to be achieved by the criminals. Here we are going to move further into the kill chain to look at further defences. Remember you need to have an “Assume Breach” mindset if you are going to be able to defend against ransomware, that being said, there is a hell of a lot of things you can do for 0 to low investment costs that provide a great ROI. Now some of this is going to be repeated guidance from part 1, that’s ok repetition is good (make sure you are covered from multiple perspectives). Ok let us get to it! Read more “Ransomware Defence: Part 2a – Persistence, Privilege Escalation and Lateral Movement” →

Breach

Following a Kill Chain – Defending against Babuk group’s…

Washington Police Department Pwn3d by Ransomware Group Babuk

So it’s all over the news outlets, a police department (Washington DC PD) has been hit by a ransomware syndicate, Babuk. So firstly, let’s be realistic everyone can get pwn3d and at this time our thoughts go out to those affected and to the teams working the response. Being hit by ransomware is NOT fun and not something we would wish upon anyone. That being said this isn’t an ambulance chase, what I want to do hear is look at the TTPs from Babuk in a bit more detail so hopefully we can help inform and educate people so they can strengthen their security postures.

References

https://news.sky.com/story/russian-hackers-target-washington-dc-police-department-in-apparent-ransomware-attack-12288183

https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/27/washington_dc_police_ransomware/ Read more “Following a Kill Chain – Defending against Babuk group’s TTPs” →

Defense

Hardening Office 365 PowerShell Access

Only admins can use PowerShell, right? Wrong! In Office 365 and Azure AD standard users can connect using PowerShell.

In this quick post we are going to look at how to disable users from being able to read other users data using the MSOL cmdlets. (this also appears to limit AzureAD cmdlets access as well)

Disable MSOL Read Access

Run the following command as a global admin: Read more “Hardening Office 365 PowerShell Access” →

Defense

The anatomy of designing resilience, recoverability, and contingency into…

I want a simple way of restoring service in the event of a disaster

Foreward

I wrote this over 5 years ago and wanted to see if it stood the test of time – I also see too often that organisations don’t have the right capabilitites to recover so I figured this is a good post on the subject.

Defense

Endpoint Security – The Essentials

It’s called essentials it’s not called advanced!

Have you ever wondered what the absolute minimum you should do is to protect against cyber criminals? I’ll be honest I haven’t, that minimalistic approach to be seems kind of risky… BUT the world is not me and if you want to achive greatness you need a good foundation! So the essentials are good to know.

Defense

Threat Modelling 101

What is a threat?

https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/threat

According to those clever people at NIST it is:

“Any circumstance or event with the potential to adversely impact organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organizational assets, or individuals through an information system via unauthorized access, destruction, disclosure, modification of information, and/or denial of service. Also, the potential for a threat-source to successfully exploit a particular information system vulnerability.” Read more “Threat Modelling 101” →