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14 Step Checklist for a Flawless Network Security Audit If security policies aren’t periodically updated to meet modern threat demands, organizations risk introducing vulnerabilities into their IT security posture. Comprehensive audit reports help security leaders gain in-depth visibility into their organization’s cybersecurity strategy and assess the resilience of its network infrastructure. Network Security Audit Checklist: What Does Your IT Security Audit Need to Cover? Cybersecurity... Cyber Attacks & Incident Response 14 Step Checklist for a Flawless Network Security Audit Tsippi Dach 2 min read Tsippi Dach Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 12/20/23 Published 14 Step Checklist for a Flawless Network Security Audit If security policies aren’t periodically updated to meet modern threat demands, organizations risk introducing vulnerabilities into their IT security posture. Comprehensive audit reports help security leaders gain in-depth visibility into their organization’s cybersecurity strategy and assess the resilience of its network infrastructure . Network Security Audit Checklist: What Does Your IT Security Audit Need to Cover? Cybersecurity audits demand an extensive overview of the organization’s security posture and risk profile. It requires gathering and analyzing network data to identify security vulnerabilities, monitor access controls, and assess potential threats. It also includes an overview of operational security practices, penetration testing results, and incident response playbooks . Ultimately, comprehensive risk assessment data should guide the organization towards improving its security measures and preventing hackers from breaching critical data and assets. A complete network security audit should include provide in-depth visibility into the following: Security controls and their implementation. The availability of network devices and access points. High-impact security risks and their potential consequences. The effectiveness of information security management processes. Performance data on security systems and network assets like firewalls. What Do Network Security Audits Help You Achieve? Conducting in-depth security audits helps security leaders identify data breach risks and develop plans for managing those risks. Audit results play an incredibly important role in preventative risk management and in the remediation of cyberattacks. Organizations that regularly conduct these kinds of assessments are better equipped to address the security weaknesses that might arise when onboarding new users, adding new endpoints to the network, or installing new apps. Network audits and security assessments can also help you achieve other important goals as well, such as: Identifying network performance issues and addressing them to improve overall performance. Unlocking opportunities to leverage network assets and mobile devices more efficiently. Demonstrating compliance with regulatory frameworks like the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 1.1 , ISO 27001 and 27002 , and SOC 2 Type 2 . Present security performance information to core stakeholders to demonstrate the value of security policies and controls. Update system security processes to address new vulnerabilities and potential threats. Recommended Read: 20 Best Network Security Solutions + FAQs How to Perform a Network Security Audit The network audit process involves collecting data, analyzing it to identify potential threats, and using it to compile a formal audit report. Depending on the size and complexity of the organization, this audit may be performed by an individual network analyst, a third-party IT security audit specialist, or an entire team of internal security professionals. These are the steps that make up a typical network audit: 1. Plan for the audit and inform everyone involved The audit process will involve many different types of technical tasks. The specific steps you take will change depending on the complexity of your network and the specialist talent required to assess data security in different IT contexts. You will need to verify authentication protocols, operating system security, password policies, and more. It’s rare for an individual security auditor to have all the technical skills necessary to do this on every app, device, and platform an organization uses. In most cases, you’ll need to work with other employees, third-party service providers, and other stakeholders to obtain the data you need. 2. Document all procedures and processes associated with the audit Recording every process that takes place during the audit is crucial. When preparing your final report, you may want to go back and verify some of the processes that took place to ensure the fidelity and accuracy of your data. If methodological errors creep into your data, they can skew your final report’s findings and end up damaging your ability to secure sensitive data correctly. Documentation is especially important in network security audits because you are looking for systematic flaws in the way user accounts, network assets, and security systems interact with one another. These flaws may not reveal themselves without clear documentation. 3. Review standard operating procedures and how they are managed Protecting sensitive information and critical network assets from security threats takes more than sophisticated technology. It also requires strict adherence to security policies and best practices from human users. Security audits should verify that employees and third-party providers are observing security policies in their operating procedures, and provide evidence attesting to that fact. Reviewing the organization’s procedure management system should provide key insight into whether users are following procedures or not. If they are not, there is a high risk of shadow IT processes leading to phishing attacks and security breaches. This should be reported so that the security team can find ways to remediate these threats. 4. Assess the training logs and operations Human error is behind eight out of ten cyberattacks . All customer-facing employees should be trained to detect phishing and social engineering attacks, and internal staff should know how to prevent malware from infecting the network. Every employee should understand how their role contributes to the security profile of the organization as a whole. Verifying authentication processes, permissions, and password policy is also part of employee training. Every user account should be protected by a consistent policy that follows the latest guidelines for beating brute force and dictionary-based credential attacks. Data encryption policies should keep sensitive login credentials secure even if hackers successfully compromise network assets. 5. Confirm the security patches for network software are up-to-date Start by creating a list of every software application used on the network. This can be a long, time-consuming manual process, but there are automated vulnerability scanning solutions that can help you automate this step. You will have to investigate each item on the list and determine whether new security patches are installed in a reasonably tight time frame. Keep in mind that cybercriminals often exploit security patch releases by scanning for organizations that delay installing new patches. Patch release changelogs essentially broadcast known vulnerabilities directly to hackers, so exploiting late patch installations is a trivial task. 6. Confirm the penetration testing policy and process is sufficient Penetration testing is one of the best ways to identify vulnerabilities on a network. If your organization has invested in pentesting initiatives, you will need to review and confirm its policies as part of the network security audit process. If you haven’t yet invested in pentesting, you may wish to outline a potential path for incorporating it into your security processes here. You may wish to verify the size and scope of your pentesting processes at this point. Assess some of the vulnerabilities you have uncovered and determine whether the organization is investing the appropriate resources into pentesting, or whether other security initiatives should take precedence. 7. Identify gaps and misconfigurations in your firewall policies Your organization’s firewalls play an important role managing traffic between network assets. Firewall rules should not be static. They must be continuously updated to meet the needs of the organization as it changes and grows. These devices can enforce bring your own device (BYOD) mobile policies, prevent distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and contribute to proper network segmentation. Manually configuring firewall policies can be costly and time-consuming. Consider using an automated change management platform like AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer to rapidly identify potential vulnerabilities in your firewall rules. Document any changes you make and include those updates in your report. 8. Ensure all sensitive and confidential data is stored securely Every organization has to store some form of sensitive or confidential data. A major goal of network security audits is making sure this data is kept separate from non-sensitive data and protected by a higher standard of security. This data includes individuals’ names, addresses, phone numbers, financial information, and government ID data. Access to sensitive data should be only allowed when critical for business purposes, and every action involving sensitive data should generate comprehensive logs. The data itself should be encrypted so that even if attackers successfully breach the database, they won’t be able to use the data itself. It may also be worth considering an enterprise data backup solution to provide a failsafe in the event of a disaster. 9. Encrypt the hard disks on any company laptops Portable devices like laptops should not generally hold sensitive data. However, many employees can’t work without processing some amount of sensitive data and storing it on the local hard drive. This is usually less than critical data, but it can still contribute to a cyberattack if it falls into the wrong hands. Encrypting laptop hard disks can help prevent that from happening. If all the data on the device is encrypted, then the organization can avoid triggering a crisis-level security incident every time an employee misplaces or loses a company device. 10. Check the security of your wireless networks Wireless network security is vital for preventing hackers from conducting phishing attacks against employees and on-premises customers. If your organization’s Wi-Fi network is not secured, hackers can spoof the network and trick users into giving up vital information without their knowledge. All modern Wi-Fi equipment supports multiple security protocols. Avoid WEP and WPA – these are old protocols with well-known security vulnerabilities – and make sure your networks are using WPA2. If the organization has equipment that does not support WPA2, you must upgrade the equipment. 11. Scan for and identify any unauthorized access points Your network may have access points that were never set up or approved by the organization. Cybercriminals can use these unauthorized access points to steal data without triggering exfiltration alerts. Additional Wi-Fi frequencies are a common culprit here – your private Wi-Fi network may be configured to use the 2.4 GHz band even though you have equipment that supports 5 GHz frequencies. If someone sets up an access point on the 5 GHz frequency, you can easily overlook it. Data breaches can occur over a wide variety of similar media. USB and Bluetooth-enabled devices have introduced malware into corporate networks in the past. Your security audit should cover as many of these communication channels as possible. 12. Review the event log monitoring process The best way to verify security events is by analyzing the logs generated by network assets as they respond to user interactions. These logs can tell you who accessed sensitive data and report where and when that access took place. Security analysts can connect log data across applications to contextualize security incidents and understand how they took place. The problem is that even a small organization with a simple network can generate an enormous volume of log data every day. Your security audit should investigate the event log monitoring process and look for opportunities to streamline it. You may consider implementing a security information and event management (SIEM) platform or improving your existing one. 13. Compile a comprehensive report Once you’ve gathered all the relevant data and included your insight into the organization’s security posture, you are ready to create your audit report. This report should compile all of your findings into a single well-organized document, with evidence supporting the claims you make and clear recommendations for improving operational security moving forward. Consider creating customized data visualizations to showcase how key performance metrics change over time. The way you choose to communicate data can have a major impact on the way it is received, potentially convincing key stakeholders to implement the changes you suggest. 14. Send the final report to appropriate stakeholders and other key parties. Once you’ve finished your network security audit, you are ready to send it to your organization’s leaders and any other stakeholders who have an interest in your findings. Be prepared to explain your recommendations and justify the methods you used to collect and analyze the organization’s security data. The more confident you are in the accuracy of your findings, the better-equipped you’ll be to present them if called upon. Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

In the rapidly evolving landscape of technology, containers have become a cornerstone for deploying and managing applications... Cloud Network Security Enhancing container security: A comprehensive overview and solution Nitin Rajput 2 min read Nitin Rajput Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. cloudsecurity, cnapp, networksecurity Tags Share this article 1/23/24 Published In the rapidly evolving landscape of technology, containers have become a cornerstone for deploying and managing applications efficiently. However, with the increasing reliance on containers, understanding their intricacies and addressing security concerns has become paramount. In this blog, we will delve into the fundamental concept of containers and explore the crucial security challenges they pose. Additionally, we will introduce a cutting-edge solution from our technology partner, Prevasio, that empowers organizations to fortify their containerized environments. Understanding containers At its core, a container is a standardized software package that seamlessly bundles and isolates applications for deployment. By encapsulating an application’s code and dependencies, containers ensure consistent performance across diverse computing environments. Notably, containers share access to an operating system (OS) kernel without the need for traditional virtual machines (VMs), making them an ideal choice for running microservices or large-scale applications. Security concerns in containers Container security encompasses a spectrum of risks, ranging from misconfigured privileges to malware infiltration in container images. Key concerns include using vulnerable container images, lack of visibility into container overlay networks, and the potential spread of malware between containers and operating systems. Recognizing these challenges is the first step towards building a robust security strategy for containerized environments. Introducing Prevasio’s innovative solution In collaboration with our technology partner Prevasio, we’ve identified an advanced approach to mitigating container security risks. Prevasio’s Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) is an unparalleled, agentless solution designed to enhance visibility into security and compliance gaps. This empowers cloud operations and security teams to prioritize risks and adhere to internet security benchmarks effectively. Dynamic threat protection for containers Prevasio’s focus on threat protection for containers involves a comprehensive static and dynamic analysis. In the static analysis phase, Prevasio meticulously scans packages for malware and known vulnerabilities, ensuring that container images are free from Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) or viruses during the deployment process. On the dynamic analysis front, Prevasio employs a multifaceted approach, including: Behavioral analysis : Identifying malware that evades static scanners by analyzing dynamic payloads. Network traffic inspection : Intercepting and inspecting all container-generated network traffic, including HTTPS, to detect any anomalous patterns. Activity correlation : Establishing a visual hierarchy, presented as a force-directed graph, to identify problematic containers swiftly. This includes monitoring new file executions and executed scripts within shells, enabling the identification of potential remote access points. In conclusion, container security is a critical aspect of modern application deployment. By understanding the nuances of containers and partnering with innovative solutions like Prevasio’s CNAPP, organizations can fortify their cloud-native applications, mitigate risks, and ensure compliance in an ever-evolving digital landscape. #cloudsecurity #CNAPP #networksecurity Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Navigating Compliance in the Cloud AlgoSec Cloud Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read Speak to one of our experts Speak to one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Schedule a call

Understand how to achieve and maintain firewall compliance with ISO/IEC 27001. Learn key requirements, best practices, and how to strengthen your overall security posture. Firewall ISO compliance: ISO/IEC 27001 explained ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Use these six best practices to simplify compliance and risk mitigation with the AlgoSec platform White paper Learn how AlgoSec can help you pass PCI-DSS Audits and ensure continuous compliance Solution overview See how this customer improved compliance readiness and risk management with AlgoSec Case study Choose a better way to manage your network

AlgoSec AutoDiscovery DS Download PDF Download PDF Add a Title Add a Title Add a Title Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Explore Algosec's customer success stories to see how organizations worldwide improve security, compliance, and efficiency with our solutions. Australia’s Leading Superannuation Provider Organization Retirement fund Industry Financial Services Headquarters Australia Download case study Share Customer
success stories "It’s very easy to let security get left behind. We want to make sure that security is not a roadblock to business performance,” said Bryce. “We need to be agile and we need to make sure we can deploy systems to better support our members. Automation can really help you see that return-on-investment." Network Security Policy Automation helps Superannuation company reduce costs to provide higher returns to members Background The company is one of Australia’s leading superannuation (pension) providers. Their job is to protect their client’s money, information, and offer long-term financial security. Challenges The company’s firewalls were managed by a Managed Service Security Provider (MSSP) and there had not been enough insight and analysis into their network over the years, leading to a bloated and redundant network infrastructure. Firewalls and infrastructure did not get the care and attention they needed. As a result, some of their challenges included: Legacy firewalls that had not been adequately maintained Difficulty identifying and quantifying network risk Lack of oversight and analysis of the changes made by their Managed Services Security Provider (MSSP) Change requests for functionality that was already covered by existing rules The Solution The customer was searching for a solution that provided: A strong local presence Repeatable and recordable change management processes As a result, the customer implemented AlgoSec. The client selected AlgoSec’s Security Policy Management Solution, which includes AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer and AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow. AlgoSec Horizon Security Analyzer delivers visibility and analysis of complex network security policies across on-premise, cloud, and hybrid networks. It automates and simplifies security operations including troubleshooting, auditing, and risk analysis. Using Horizon Security Analyzer, they can optimize the configuration of firewalls, and network infrastructure to ensure security and compliance. AlgoSec Horizon FireFlow enables security staff to automate the entire security policy change process from design and submission to proactive risk analysis, implementation, validation, and auditing. Its intelligent, automated workflows save time and improve security by eliminating manual errors and reducing risk. The Results “Straight away, we were able to see a return-on-investment,” said Stefan Bryce, Security Manager, a leading Australian superannuation provider. By using the AlgoSec Security Management Solution, the customer gained: Greater insight and oversight into their firewalls and other network devices Identification of risky rules and other holes in their network security policy. Easier cleanup process due to greater visibility Audits and accountability into their network security policy changes. They were able to ensure ongoing compliance and make sure that rules submitted did not introduce additional risk Identification and elimination of duplicate rules Faster implementation of policy changes Business agility and innovation because employees are better motivated to make changes due to seamless policy change process. Consolidation of their virtual firewall internal infrastructure Reduced ongoing costs to their MSSP Schedule time with one of our experts

Application Segmentation with Cisco Secure Workload and AlgoSec Download PDF Download PDF Add a Title Add a Title Add a Title Schedule time with one of our experts Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Learn the basics of managing multiple workloads in the cloud and how to create a successful enterprise level security management program Webinars Merging the Cloud with Application Connectivity Discover the hottest trends and best practices for application-based security management As more companies make the leap into distributed architecture, the smallest gaps in network security can quickly become targets for attack. While an application-based security strategy can help you protect your hybrid cloud estate better, this shift in focus comes with its own challenges. In this webinar, we discuss: How securing application connectivity plays a key role in hybrid cloud risk management Why application orchestration is critical to managing your network within the hybrid cloud environment How to achieve effective cloud security solutions and best practices To learn more, go to https://www.algosec.com/resources/hub/hybrid_cloud/ September 27, 2022 Hillary Baron Cloud Security Alliance Oren Amiram Director Product Management, Algosec Relevant resources Firewall Rule Recertification with Application Connectivity Keep Reading What is cloud network security? Keep Reading Cloud migration: How to move applications to the cloud Keep Reading Choose a better way to manage your network Choose a better way to manage your network Work email* First name* Last name* Company* country* Select country... Short answer* By submitting this form, I accept AlgoSec's privacy policy Continue

Learn how to manage security policies across AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises firewalls with visibility, governance, cleanup, and audit-ready evidence. How to manage security policies across AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises firewalls ---- ------- Schedule a Demo Select a size ----- Get the latest insights from the experts Choose a better way to manage your network

Leader in network security management solutions reports YoY growth of 26% in product revenues in H1 2020 AlgoSec Celebrates Strong Growth and Profitability in H1 2020 Leader in network security management solutions reports YoY growth of 26% in product revenues in H1 2020 August 25, 2020 Speak to one of our experts RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., August 25, 2020 – AlgoSec , the leading provider of business-driven network security management solutions, today announced strong year-on-year growth of 26% in product revenues and profitability in the first half of 2020. During H1, the company also hired 55 employees. “Thanks to the efforts of our staff and partners, we have achieved excellent results in the first half of 2020, despite the ongoing impact of the pandemic,” Said Yuval Baron, CEO of AlgoSec. “This highlights how demand for our solutions is growing, to help companies do more with less, and do it fast. AlgoSec enables organizations to automate their security policy change management in a business-driven manner while maintaining a strong security and compliance posture.” Solution innovations AlgoSec introduced new updates in 2020 to help enterprise customers address their network security management challenges. In April 2020, AlgoSec released the version A30.10 update of its core AlgoSec Network Security Management Suite, which offers new cloud security management capabilities for AWS and Azure. The AlgoSec Security Management Suite (ASMS) A30.10 builds on A30’s market-leading automation capabilities for seamless, zero-touch security management across SDN, cloud and on-premise networks. Key features of A30.10 include extended support for Cisco ACI, Tetration and FirePower in addition to enhanced automation for F5 AFM and Juniper Junos Space. About AlgoSec The leading provider of business-driven network security management solutions, AlgoSec helps the world’s largest organizations align security with their mission-critical business processes. With AlgoSec, users can discover, map and migrate business application connectivity, proactively analyze risk from the business perspective, tie cyber-attacks to business processes and intelligently automate network security changes with zero touch – across their cloud, SDN and on-premise networks.Over 1,800 enterprises , including 20 of the Fortune 50, utilize AlgoSec’s solutions to make their organizations more agile, more secure and more compliant – all the time. Since 2005, AlgoSec has shown its commitment to customer satisfaction with the industry’s only money-back guarantee . All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners. *** Media Contacts:Tsippi [email protected] Craig CowardContext Public [email protected] +44 (0)1625 511 966

Update : Next two parts of the analysis are available here and here . As earlier reported by FireEye, the actors behind a global... Cloud Security Sunburst Backdoor: A Deeper Look Into The SolarWinds’ Supply Chain Malware Rony Moshkovich 2 min read Rony Moshkovich Short bio about author here Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Vitae donec tincidunt elementum quam laoreet duis sit enim. Duis mattis velit sit leo diam. Tags Share this article 12/15/20 Published Update : Next two parts of the analysis are available here and here . As earlier reported by FireEye, the actors behind a global intrusion campaign have managed to trojanise SolarWinds Orion business software updates in order to distribute malware. The original FireEye write-up already provides a detailed description of this malware. Nevertheless, as the malicious update SolarWinds-Core-v2019.4.5220-Hotfix5.msp was still available for download for hours since the FireEye’s post, it makes sense to have another look into the details of its operation. The purpose of this write-up is to provide new information, not covered in the original write-up. Any overlaps with the original description provided by FireEye are not intentional. For start, the malicious component SolarWinds.Orion.Core.BusinessLayer.dll inside the MSP package is a non-obfuscated .NET assembly. It can easily be reconstructed with a .NET disassembler, such as ILSpy , and then fully reproduced in C# code, using Microsoft Visual Studio. Once reproduced, it can be debugged to better understand how it works. In a nutshell, the malicious DLL is a backdoor. It is loaded into the address space of the legitimate SolarWinds Orion process SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost.exe or SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHostx64.exe . The critical strings inside the backdoor’s class SolarWinds.Orion.Core.BusinessLayer.OrionImprovementBusinessLayer are encoded with the DeflateStream Class of the .NET’s System.IO.Compression library, coupled with the standard base64 encoder. Initialisation Once loaded, the malware checks if its assembly file was created earlier than 12, 13, or 14 days ago. The exact number of hours it checks is a random number from 288 to 336. Next, it reads the application settings value ReportWatcherRetry . This value keeps the reporting status, and may be set to one of the states: New (4) Truncate (3) Append (5) When the malware runs the first time, its reporting status variable ReportWatcherRetry is set to New (4) . The reporting status is an internal state that drives the logic. For example, if the reporting status is set to Truncate , the malware will stop operating by first disabling its networking communications, and then disabling other security tools and antivirus products. In order to stay silent, the malware periodically falls asleep for a random period of time that varies between 30 minutes and 2 hours. At the start, the malware obtains the computer’s domain name . If the domain name is empty, the malware quits. It then generates a 8-byte User ID, which is derived from the system footprint. In particular, it is generated from MD5 hash of a string that consists from the 3 fields: the first or default operational (can transmit data packets) network interface’s physical address computer’s domain name UUID created by Windows during installation (machine’s unique ID) Even though it looks random, the User ID stays permanent as long as networking configuration and the Windows installation stay the same. Domain Generation Algorithm The malware relies on its own CryptoHelper class to generate a domain name. This class is instantiated from the 8-byte User ID and the computer’s domain name, encoded with a substitution table: “rq3gsalt6u1iyfzop572d49bnx8cvmkewhj” . For example, if the original domain name is “ domain “, its encoded form will look like: “ n2huov “. To generate a new domain, the malware first attempts to resolve domain name “ api.solarwinds.com “. If it fails to resolve it, it quits. The first part of the newly generated domain name is a random string, produced from the 8-byte User ID, a random seed value, and encoded with a custom base64 alphabet “ph2eifo3n5utg1j8d94qrvbmk0sal76c” . Because it is generated from a random seed value, the first part of the newly generated domain name is random. For example, it may look like “ fivu4vjamve5vfrt ” or “ k1sdhtslulgqoagy “. To produce the domain name, this string is then appended with the earlier encoded domain name (such as “ n2huov “) and a random string, selected from the following list: .appsync-api.eu-west-1[.]avsvmcloud[.]com .appsync-api.us-west-2[.]avsvmcloud[.]com .appsync-api.us-east-1[.]avsvmcloud[.]com .appsync-api.us-east-2[.]avsvmcloud[.]com For example, the final domain name may look like: fivu4vjamve5vfrtn2huov[.]appsync-api.us-west-2[.]avsvmcloud[.]com or k1sdhtslulgqoagyn2huov[.]appsync-api.us-east-1[.]avsvmcloud[.]com Next, the domain name is resolved to an IP address, or to a list of IP addresses. For example, it may resolve to 20.140.0.1 . The resolved domain name will be returned into IPAddress structure that will contain an AddressFamily field – a special field that specifies the addressing scheme. If the host name returned in the IPAddress structure is different to the queried domain name, the returned host name will be used as a C2 host name for the backdoor. Otherwise, the malware will check if the resolved IP address matches one of the patterns below, in order to return an ‘address family’: IP Address Subnet Mask ‘Address Family’ 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 Atm 172.16.0.0 255.240.0.0 Atm 192.168.0.0 255.255.0.0 Atm 224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 Atm fc00:: fe00:: Atm fec0:: ffc0:: Atm ff00:: ff00:: Atm 41.84.159.0 255.255.255.0 Ipx 74.114.24.0 255.255.248.0 Ipx 154.118.140.0 255.255.255.0 Ipx 217.163.7.0 255.255.255.0 Ipx 20.140.0.0 255.254.0.0 ImpLink 96.31.172.0 255.255.255.0 ImpLink 131.228.12.0 255.255.252.0 ImpLink 144.86.226.0 255.255.255.0 ImpLink 8.18.144.0 255.255.254.0 NetBios 18.130.0.0 255.255.0.0 NetBios 71.152.53.0 255.255.255.0 NetBios 99.79.0.0 255.255.0.0 NetBios 87.238.80.0 255.255.248.0 NetBios 199.201.117.0 255.255.255.0 NetBios 184.72.0.0 255.254.0.0 NetBios For example, if the queried domain resolves to 20.140.0.1 , it will match the entry in the table 20.140.0.0 , for which the returned ‘address family’ will be ImpLink . The returned ‘address family’ invokes an additional logic in the malware. Disabling Security Tools and Antivirus Products If the returned ‘address family’ is ImpLink or Atm , the malware will enumerate all processes and for each process, it will check if its name matches one of the pre-defined hashes. Next, it repeats this processed for services and for the drivers installed in the system. If a process name or a full path of an installed driver matches one of the pre-defined hashes, the malware will disable it. For hashing, the malware relies on Fowler–Noll–Vo algorithm. For example, the core process of Windows Defender is MsMpEng.exe . The hash value of “ MsMpEng ” string is 5183687599225757871 . This value is specifically enlisted the malware’s source under a variable name timeStamps : timeStamps = new ulong[1] { 5183687599225757871uL } The service name of Windows Defender is windefend – the hash of this string ( 917638920165491138 ) is also present in the malware body. As a result, the malicioius DLL will attempt to stop the Windows Defender service. In order to disable various security tools and antivirus products, the malware first grants itself SeRestorePrivilege and SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege privileges, using the native AdjustTokenPrivileges() API. With these privileges enabled, the malware takes ownership of the service registry keys it intends to manipulate. The new owner of the keys is first attempted to be explicitly set to Administrator account. If such account is not present, the malware enumerates all user accounts, looking for a SID that represents the administrator account. The malware uses Windows Management Instrumentation query “ Select * From Win32_UserAccount ” to obtain the list of all users. For each enumerated user, it makes sure the account is local and then, when it obtains its SID, it makes sure the SID begins with S-1-5- and ends with -500 in order to locate the local administrator account. Once such account is found, it is used as a new owner for the registry keys, responsible for manipulation of the services of various security tools and antivirus products. With the new ownership set, the malware then disables these services by setting their Start value to 4 (Disabled): registryKey2.SetValue(“Start”), 4, RegistryValueKind.DWord); HTTP Backdoor If the returned ‘address family’ for the resolved domain name is NetBios , as specified in the lookup table above, the malware will initialise its HttpHelper class, which implements an HTTP backdoor. The backdoor commands are covered in the FireEye write-up, so let’s check only a couple of commands to see what output they produce. One of the backdoor commands is CollectSystemDescription . As its name suggests, it collects system information. By running the code reconstructed from the malware, here is an actual example of the data collected by the backdoor and delivered to the attacker’s C2 with a separate backdoor command UploadSystemDescription : 1. %DOMAIN_NAME% 2. S-1-5-21-298510922-2159258926-905146427 3. DESKTOP-VL39FPO 4. UserName 5. [E] Microsoft Windows NT 6.2.9200.0 6.2.9200.0 64 6. C:\WINDOWS\system32 7. 0 8. %PROXY_SERVER% Description: Killer Wireless-n/a/ac 1535 Wireless Network Adapter #2 MACAddress: 9C:B6:D0:F6:FF:5D DHCPEnabled: True DHCPServer: 192.168.20.1 DNSHostName: DESKTOP-VL39FPO DNSDomainSuffixSearchOrder: Home DNSServerSearchOrder: 8.8.8.8, 192.168.20.1 IPAddress: 192.168.20.30, fe80::8412:d7a8:57b9:5886 IPSubnet: 255.255.255.0, 64 DefaultIPGateway: 192.168.20.1, fe80::1af1:45ff:feec:a8eb NOTE: Field #7 specifies the number of days (0) since the last system reboot. GetProcessByDescription command will build a list of processes running on a system. This command accepts an optional argument, which is one of the custom process properties enlisted here . If the optional argument is not specified, the backdoor builds a process list that looks like: [ 1720] svchost [ 8184] chrome [ 4732] svchost If the optional argument is specified, the backdoor builds a process list that includes the specified process property in addition to parent process ID, username and domain for the process owner. For example, if the optional argument is specified as “ ExecutablePath “, the GetProcessByDescription command may return a list similar to: [ 3656] sihost.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\sihost.exe 1720 DESKTOP-VL39FPO\UserName [ 3824] svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe 992 DESKTOP-VL39FPO\UserName [ 9428] chrome.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe 4600 DESKTOP-VL39FPO\UserName Other backdoor commands enable deployment of the 2nd stage malware. For example, the WriteFile command will save the file: using (FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Append, FileAccess.Write)) { fileStream.Write(array, 0, array.Length); } The downloaded 2nd stage malware can then the executed with RunTask command: using (Process process = new Process()) { process.StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(fileName, arguments) { CreateNoWindow = false, UseShellExecute = false }; if (process.Start()) … Alternatively, it can be configured to be executed with the system restart, using registry manipulation commands, such as SetRegistryValue . Schedule a demo Related Articles Q1 at AlgoSec: What innovations and milestones defined our start to 2026? AlgoSec Reviews Mar 19, 2023 · 2 min read 2025 in review: What innovations and milestones defined AlgoSec’s transformative year in 2025? 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de sécurité AlgoSec Bienvenue! La gestion de votre politique de sécurité réseau sur les firewall à la demande et des paramètres de sécurité dans le cloud sont des exercices d'équilibriste délicats. D'un côté, vous devez réduire les risques en minimisant la surface d'attaque. De l'autre, vous devez encourager la productivité en assurant la connectivité des applications métiers essentielles. Toutefois, les processus de gestion de politique de sécurité réseau ont toujours été complexes, chronophages et criblés d'erreur. Ce n'est pas une fatalité. Que cela soit à la demande ou dans le cloud, AlgoSec facilite et automatise la gestion de politique de sécurité réseau afin de rendre votre entreprise plus agile, plus sécurisée et plus conforme et cela de façon constante. Une approche unique de la gestion du cycle de vie des politiques de sécurité AlgoSec est unique car il gère l'ensemble du cycle de vie des politiques de sécurité afin d'assurer une connectivité continue et sécurisée de vos applications métiers. Par le biais d’une interface unique, vous pouvez découvrir vous-même les exigences en matière de connectivité d'applications, analyser les risques de façon proactive, organiser et exécuter rapidement des modifications de sécurité réseau et déclasser des règles de firewall en toute sécurité, tout ceci sans intervention et orchestré de façon harmonieuse sur votre environnement hétérogène. Avec AlgoSec, vous pouvez Unifier votre gestion de politique de sécurité réseau sur des environnements Cloud et à la demande Assurer une conformité continue et réduire de façon drastique les efforts en matière de préparation d'audit de Firewall Assurer la connectivité d'applications de façon rapide et sécurisée et éviter des disfonctionnements liés au réseau Aligner les équipes de sécurité, de réseau et d'applications et encourager DevSecOps Automatiser la gestion de modification de Firewall et éliminer les mauvaises configurations Réduire le risque via une configuration de sécurité correcte et une segmentation réseau effective La solution de gestion de sécurité AlgoSec Analyse de réseau de politique de sécurité Plus d'informations Firewall Analyzer Automatisation des modifications de politique de sécurité Plus d'informations FireFlow Calculer votre ROI Livre Blanc AlgoSec Contact commercial Alexis Luc Bouchauveau Phone: +33 613 200 885
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