Playbook Objectives:
- To effectively test the company’s incident response capabilities against a ransomware attack.
- To identify weak points in the network and improve the response protocols.
- To train IT staff on attack isolation and mitigation techniques.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the current cybersecurity measures.
- To develop a swift and decisive action plan for ransomware attack scenarios and improve recovery time objectives (RTO).
- To enhance security awareness among employees.
Difficulty Level:
- Advanced. Participants should have a fundamental understanding of network infrastructure, cybersecurity principles, and incident response protocols.
Scenario:
- Company: Nexus Enterprises, a mid-sized financial services firm specializing in high-net-worth client management.
- Employees: John Doe (CISO), Jane Smith (IT Security Analyst), Mike Ross (Network Administrator), Amy Santiago (Incident Response Manager).
- Network: The company’s network includes a main office with several branch offices connected via a VPN. The main office hosts the core data center, which contains critical financial data. Each branch has its local servers, which mirror the data from the main data center.
- Context: Nexus Enterprises has recently been targeted by several phishing campaigns. The IT team has noted a rise in malicious activities and is concerned about the potential for a significant ransomware attack that could cripple operations and breach client trust.
Category:
- Incident Response, Malware Mitigation, Network Security.
Exercise Attack Steps:
- Initial Breach:
- An employee (an actor in the exercise) clicks on a malicious email link, which appears to be a security update.
- The malware payload is downloaded, and the ransomware begins encrypting the local machine’s files.
- Lateral Movement:
- The ransomware attempts to spread to networked shared drives and other systems within the branch office.
- Simulated alerts are generated, triggering the response from the IT team.
- Detection and Analysis:
- The IT team must identify the source of the infection, which systems are affected, and the type of ransomware used.
- The team analyzes the ransomware’s behavior and communicates findings to the incident response team.
- Containment:
- The infected machine and other potentially compromised systems must be isolated to prevent further spread.
- Network Administrator enforces stricter firewall rules and isolates the affected branch’s network from the rest of the company’s infrastructure.
- Eradication:
- IT Security Analyst works to remove the ransomware from all infected systems.
- All affected systems are wiped and re-imaged to ensure no remnants of the ransomware linger.
- Recovery:
- Data from unaffected backup systems is restored to the cleared systems.
- Integrity checks are performed to ensure that restored data is not infected or corrupted.
- Post-Incident:
- The team reviews the incident to identify lessons learned and what can be improved.
- Updates are made to the security policies, incident response plan, and employee training programs.
- Wrap Up:
- The CISO organizes a debriefing to go over the effectiveness of the playbook, note any shortcomings, and discuss necessary policy or infrastructure changes.
