MaxPatrol SIEM knowledge base

While detecting adversaries accessing credentials may be difficult without knowing they exist in the environment, it may be possible to detect adversary use of credentials they have obtained. Monitor the command-line arguments of executing processes for suspicious words or regular expressions that may indicate searching for a password (for example: password, pwd, login, secure, or credentials). See Valid Accounts for more information.

Monitor for an attempt by a user to gain access to a network or computing resource, often by providing credentials that may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.

Monitor for unexpected windows registry key being accessed that may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.

Monitor application logs for activity that may highlight malicious attempts to access application data, especially abnormal search activity targeting passwords and other artifacts related to credentials.

Monitor for suspicious file access activity, specifically indications that a process is reading multiple files in a short amount of time and/or using command-line arguments indicative of searching for credential material (ex: regex patterns). These may be indicators of automated/scripted credential access behavior. Monitoring when the user's .bash_history is read can help alert to suspicious activity. While users do typically rely on their history of commands, they often access this history through other utilities like "history" instead of commands like cat ~/.bash_history.

Monitor newly executed processes that may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.

Remove vulnerable Group Policy Preferences.

Ensure that developers and system administrators are aware of the risk associated with having plaintext passwords in software configuration files that may be left on endpoint systems or servers.

Restrict file shares to specific directories with access only to necessary users.

If it is necessary that software must store credentials in the Registry, then ensure the associated accounts have limited permissions so they cannot be abused if obtained by an adversary.

Use strong passphrases for private keys to make cracking difficult. Do not store credentials within the Registry. Establish an organizational policy that prohibits password storage in files.

There are multiple methods of preventing a user's command history from being flushed to their .bash_history file, including use of the following commands: set +o history and set -o history to start logging again; unset HISTFILE being added to a user's .bash_rc file; and ln -s /dev/null ~/.bash_history to write commands to /dev/nullinstead.

Limit network access to sensitive services, such as the Instance Metadata API.

Limit access to the Instance Metadata API. A properly configured Web Application Firewall (WAF) may help prevent external adversaries from exploiting Server-side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks that allow access to the Cloud Instance Metadata API.

When possible, store keys on separate cryptographic hardware instead of on the local system.

Preemptively search for files containing passwords or other credentials and take actions to reduce the exposure risk when found.

Apply patch KB2962486 which prevents credentials from being stored in GPPs.