Evolving threats, evolving tools.

As cybercrime gets smarter, attackers leverage advanced technologies to build sophisticated malware and vulnerability scanners for their intended targets - this is known as the reconnaissance phase - the quiet before the storm, so to speak. Would-be attackers use various tools to understand the target’s networks and systems to determine the possible entry points and exploitable vulnerabilities.

In this post, we explore what the reconnaissance phase is and how to prepare for and overcome it.

The Reconnaissance Phase

Reconnaissance is the information-gathering stage before hackers can stage an attack. In particular, attackers conduct reconnaissance activities before attempting an attack to:

• Uncover the potentially exploitable vulnerabilities
• Determine whether they can launch stealth malware attacks
• Know the security layout of the target network and how to bypass the implemented controls
• Generally understand who they are dealing with.

This is a critical phase where attackers collect the necessary information to understand their victims. Understanding this initial step can assist companies in detecting cyberattacks early to prevent data breaches, network intrusions, and the execution of malware payloads.

The Increasing Reconnaissance Activities

During the reconnaissance stage, hackers utilize techniques like digital research and physical tools to probe a network for weaknesses. For example, social engineering scams, which account for 98% of successful attacks, enable attackers to trick employees of a targeted organization into revealing information about a system’s weaknesses and design an attack based on the collected information. They can gather relevant target information by probing the network for security flaws, such as outdated patches, open ports, and security misconfigurations, to determine how to exploit them and compromise customer or company sensitive information. Techniques like port scanning, packet sniffing, and ping sweeps allow hackers to gather the necessary information.

According to a report published by Chainalysis, ransomware payouts reached an unprecedented height at over $1 Billion worldwide. According to the 2024 Global Threat Intelligence Report, the top most-attacked vectors are manufacturing and technology.

But the good news is that there are preventative measure that organizations can take to detect and prevent reconnaissance activities to protect themselves.

Ethical hacking and penetration testing can help reveal what your company’s cybersecurity looks like to cyber adversaries, implement preemptive solutions to mitigate possible security flaws, and diagnose attacker behaviors to derail their attack campaigns. Deloitte Cyber Reconnaissance and Analytics revealed that reconnaissance activities can:

• Reveal at least 1,000 exploits that attackers can exploit to attack a target organization
• Uncover privileged targets, such as critical infrastructure and personnel with privileged access, that hackers can target to cause the most damage
• Identify potential entry points through which hackers can gain illegal access to a network and essential data.

Making Reconnaissance Harder is Key to Preventing Attacks

A reconnaissance activity aims to enable attackers to identify a weakness or vulnerability that can help them bypass the implemented cybersecurity controls to breach and exfiltrate data, use ransomware to hold crucial assets hostage for a ransom payment or sabotage critical systems for malicious reasons. A reactive cybersecurity approach prevents organizations from identifying and stopping reconnaissance activities, exposing them to destructive attacks. Nevertheless, making reconnaissance harder for cybercriminals is vital to stopping attacks. Several measures can help companies to limit attackers’ reconnaissance actions, disrupt their planning stages, and stop attacks before they begin.

1. Securing the Network Design

Preventing attackers’ ability to perform reconnaissance activities begins with implementing a secure network design. The network is a company’s front door because it provides a pathway for communicating to the outside world through the internet. Thus, it is a potential source of reconnaissance activities. Moving the network’s point of access to the internet to dispersed geographical locations can limit reconnaissance activities. For example, disguising network pathways at the interaction points and varying the IP addresses can limit the time an attacker requires to perform reconnaissance, restricting their ability to detect weak points or confirm whether you are the target.

2. Red Teaming and Penetration Testing

It is always a matter of when your organization will fall under an attacker’s radar. By arming yourself with the knowledge of how vulnerable you are to attacks, you can implement proactive cybersecurity measures to increase resilience and the overall security posture. Red teaming and penetration testing are essential elements you can use to stop reconnaissance. A team of ethical or white hat hackers evaluates your network and system security from a hacker’s mindset to determine how a malicious hacker can compromise vulnerabilities to execute malware attacks or data breaches. In other words, ethical hackers help identify and mitigate the security weaknesses hackers look for during a reconnaissance activity. Mitigating them means attackers will not find useful security weaknesses, thus halting their reconnaissance and attack attempts.

3. Leverage Smart Cybersecurity Solutions

Combating the modern, sophisticated cyberattacks requires scalable and holistic cybersecurity infrastructure that provides full visibility across the deployed technology stack. Such solutions include extended detection and response (XDR), endpoint detection and response (EDR), and SIEM systems. Smart cybersecurity solutions leverage powerful AI and ML technologies coupled with managed service providers’ security professionals to continuously monitor your networks and systems for threat activities. These include reconnaissance processes. Detecting patterns in the early stages of an attack can ensure real-time response to stop hackers from nosing around your network, thus protecting against breaches, intrusions, and attacks.

Stop Reconnaissance Activities with Sentia

Sentia, with the help of industry-leading vendors, designs custom security solutions to keep your business safe.  Our experts will work with your team to identify and fix weaknesses before attackers can exploit them. Sentia will work with your team to design the optimal solution to keep your IT infrastructure safe and operational. View our full range of cybersecurity solutions here. 

Let Sentia simplify your security. Contact us today to get a conversation started.