Deception Plays A Large Role in NIST SP 800-160
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-160 serves as a practical guide for achieving strong cyber resilience. It takes a systems engineering approach to the entire system lifecycle and integrates risk management processes. This allows organizations to leverage their own experience and expertise to decide what works best for them.
Businesses can choose and customize any of the cyber security elements—like goals, techniques, methods, and design principles—outlined in the guide. They can then apply these elements to their specific technical setups, operations, and threat environments to build more robust systems.
In NIST SP 800-160 deception is one of the key strategies highlighted as a proactive defense mechanism, as a key functionality of systems security engineering. It can be found in surprising places - for example, in core computer science concepts like encryption!
As the full SP is roughly 150 pages long, this blog post can be considered a brief around the main points regarding cyber deception. The full publication can be found here.
The Power of Deception in Cybersecurity
Deception in cybersecurity involves deliberately misleading or confusing adversaries to protect critical assets and information. By incorporating deceptive techniques, organizations can not only deter potential attacks but also gather valuable intelligence on threat actors’ behaviors and tactics.
NIST SP 800-160 emphasizes four primary deception techniques:
- Obfuscation
- Disinformation
- Misdirection
- Tainting
Each of these techniques contribute in a different way to enforce a robust security posture.
1. Obfuscation
Obfuscation is the practice of hiding or transforming information to make it unintelligible or less useful to unauthorized users. The goal is to conceal critical data and system components from adversaries, making it more difficult for them to execute successful attacks.
Techniques:
Encrypt Data at Rest and in Transit: Implementing strong encryption for stored data and during transmission (e.g., using VPNs) ensures that intercepted information remains unreadable.
Masking Identifiers: Replacing or encrypting user credentials, system identifiers, and other sensitive information prevents adversaries from gaining meaningful insights.
Randomizing Communication Patterns: Concealing or altering the patterns of network traffic can thwart traffic analysis attempts.
Onion Routing and Chaffing: Utilizing methods like onion routing to anonymize communications and adding irrelevant data (chaff) to confuse data analysis.
By effectively obfuscating information, organizations can reduce the attack surface and hinder adversaries’ reconnaissance efforts.
2. Disinformation
Disinformation involves providing false or misleading information to deceive adversaries. This technique aims to manipulate threat actors into making incorrect decisions or taking ineffective actions.
Techniques:
Planting False Data: Introducing fake credentials or “honeytokens” that, when used, alert security teams to unauthorized access attempts.
Public Misinformation: Posting misleading information in public forums or social media to divert attention away from actual system configurations or vulnerabilities.
Disinformation can be a powerful tool to confuse adversaries and gain insights into their intent and methodologies when they act on the false information provided.
3. Misdirection
Misdirection focuses on diverting adversaries away from valuable assets by directing them towards controlled environments designed to monitor and analyze their activities.
Techniques:
Honeypots and Honeynets: Setting up decoy systems that mimic real assets to attract attackers. These environments can capture detailed information about attack vectors and behaviors.
Decoy Files and Systems: Deploying fake files or system components that appear legitimate but serve no real operational purpose.
By engaging adversaries in these controlled environments, organizations can buy time to strengthen defenses and gather intelligence without risking actual assets.
4. Tainting
Tainting involves embedding covert capabilities within resources to track or disrupt adversaries’ actions. This technique can expose unauthorized activities and potentially lead to the identification of threat actors.
Techniques:
Beacon Traps: Incorporating hidden signals within data or systems that alert security teams when accessed.
Cache Poisoning: Manipulating network tables (like DNS or ARP) to misdirect adversaries or monitor their attempts to access certain resources.
Steganographic Data: Embedding hidden information within files that can reveal when and where the files are accessed.
Tainting not only helps in detecting unauthorized access but can also provide critical forensic data for post-incident analysis.
Mapping Deception to NIST Controls
NIST SP 800-160 provides a detailed framework for implementing security controls that support cyber resiliency techniques, including deception. The following are key controls from NIST Special Publication 800-53 (Revision 5) that align with the deception techniques we’ve discussed.
1. Obfuscation
Obfuscation aims to conceal critical information from adversaries, making it challenging for them to target assets effectively.
- SC-7(16): Boundary Protection | Prevent Discovery of Components and Devices
- Description: Implements measures to prevent unauthorized discovery of system components.
- Application: Hiding network devices and services to reduce the attack surface.
- SC-28(1): Protection of Information at Rest | Cryptographic Protection
- Description: Encrypts stored data to prevent unauthorized access.
- Application: Ensuring that sensitive data remains unintelligible if accessed unlawfully.
- SC-30: Concealment and Misdirection
- Description: Employs techniques to conceal system components and misdirect adversaries.
- Application: Using methods like network address translation (NAT) to hide internal IP addresses.
- SC-8(4): Transmission Confidentiality and Integrity | Conceal or Randomize Communications
- Description: Randomizes communication patterns to thwart eavesdropping.
- Application: Implementing frequency hopping in wireless communications.
- SC-40(2): Wireless Link Protection | Reduce Detection Potential
- Description: Reduces the likelihood of wireless communications being detected.
- Application: Adjusting signal strengths and using directional antennas.
2. Disinformation
Disinformation provides false data to mislead adversaries, causing them to make incorrect assessments.
- SC-30(4): Concealment and Misdirection | Misleading Information
- Description: Deliberately provides misleading information to adversaries.
- Application: Deploying fake system banners or login prompts.
3. Misdirection
Misdirection diverts adversaries to controlled environments, allowing organizations to monitor and analyze malicious activities.
- SC-26: Decoys
- Description: Implements decoy systems to attract and study adversaries.
- Application: Setting up honeypots and honeynets that mimic real systems.
- SC-35: External Malicious Code Identification
- Description: Identifies malicious code from external sources.
- Application: Analyzing malware in a sandboxed environment.
4. Tainting
Tainting embeds covert capabilities in resources to detect and track unauthorized use.
- SI-20: Tainting
- Description: Incorporates mechanisms to identify when data or resources have been compromised.
- Application: Using watermarking or embedding tracking code within sensitive documents.
Enhancing Cyber Resiliency through Deception Controls
Implementing these NIST controls enables organizations to operationalize deception techniques effectively. Here’s how each control contributes to cyber resiliency:
Strengthening Defense Layers: By obfuscating critical assets (SC-7(16), SC-28(1)), organizations add layers of complexity that adversaries must overcome, increasing the likelihood of detection.
Gathering Intelligence: Misdirection controls like SC-26 and SC-35 allow security teams to observe attacker behaviors in a controlled setting, providing valuable insights for improving defenses.
Preventing Lateral Movement: Controls that focus on concealment and misdirection (SC-30 series) inhibit adversaries from moving freely within a network, limiting the potential impact of breaches.
Detecting Unauthorized Access: Tainting mechanisms (SI-20) enable organizations to identify and respond to unauthorized use of resources promptly.
Practical Steps for Implementation
To effectively integrate these controls, consider the following steps:
Assessment: Evaluate your current security posture to identify gaps where deception techniques could be beneficial.
Strategy Development: Align deception controls with your organization’s risk management strategy and compliance requirements.
Implementation: Deploy the appropriate NIST controls, ensuring they are tailored to your operational environment.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Continuously monitor the effectiveness of deception techniques and adjust as necessary.
In Summary
Deception is a powerful tool in the cybersecurity arsenal, offering proactive defense mechanisms that can outpace and outmaneuver sophisticated adversaries. By mapping deception techniques to specific NIST controls, organizations can create a structured approach to enhance their cyber resiliency.
Embracing deception not only protects critical assets but also transforms the cybersecurity landscape from a reactive to a proactive domain.
Defused helps defenders restrict the adversarys ability to operate via decoy attack surface - helping security teams build a deception environment suited for them. Defused detect threats, rack up adversary ttp ‘s, helping security teams make informed decisions with the ultimate goal of eliminating cost of data breaches.
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