Threat PerspectiveAs
briefly mentioned earlier, a Threat’s Perspective is the threat’s initial point of view. This perspective is used to build and shape a threat profile or scenario. A threat's perspective maybe that of an outsider, nearsider, or insider.
OutsiderAn entity that has no legitimate
access to specific software, systems, and networks. An outsider is anyone outside an organization.
An example would be a competitor’s employee who would not have authorized physical or digital access to any systems, network,
software, or hardware.
NearsiderAn entity that has no legitimate access to specific software, systems, and networks but may have physical access to buildings and equipment or access to systems that
integrate with target assetsAn example would be janitorial staff. They would not likely have authorized digital access to any systems or
networks, but may have physical access to buildings,
communication facilities, systems,
networks, etc.
InsiderAn entity that has legitimate access to specific software,
systems, and networks and has physical access to buildings and equipment
An example of a malicious insider is a rogue system administrator
who has authorized, privileged access and willingly removes information from target assets or modifies target assets to cause failure
An example of anon- malicious insider is an employee on the sales staff who has authorized access to the systems, networks,
software, and hardware required to perform sales.
The individual maybe an unknowing target during
initial access
There are several methods used to gain access to a target system. Initial access is debated too often during Red Team planning. Using a diagram like the one below during planning can help you decide a starting point based on goals. Each dot represents a potential starting point. The type of access needed at each point is different. Build this into the Red Team plan. The process of deciding the threat perspective is fundamental. The scenario and engagement goals drive this decision. For example, the goals of an engagement include measuring the ability for security operations to identify and respond to a threat moving through the company's network. The effective use of resources would be to start the engagement somewhere inside this network. Forcing a team to establish access from outside the network could waste the limited engagement time on steps that do not directly support engagement goals.
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