Breach Attack Stimulation is an advanced cybersecurity technique that attempts to penetrate security systems in order to find vulnerabilities and potential attack vectors that could be used by malicious actors.
What is Breach Attack Simulation?
Breach Attack Simulation, or BAS, is an automated security testing protocol that continually tries to breach the wall of an organization’s security posture. BAS provides insight into the vulnerabilities in an organization’s Attack Surface by actively trying to find attack vectors and use them to cause a system breach. Attack vectors are potential pathways a malicious threat could use to breach security controls. This ensures that your security posture can effectively repel any advanced and persistent threat, otherwise referred to as an APT.
Every security measure an organization implements is time-consuming and costly, be it cloud security, antivirus protections, end-point protection response, firewalls, or content filtering.
Each of these measures is important to the safety of your digital assets and organization as a whole, but if they are no longer effective at blocking the ever-evolving malicious attacks by cyber terrorists, what good are they? The only surefire way to know that your company’s security posture is effective is by continuous testing through an automated breach attack simulation.
How Does BAS Work?
There are three main stages of each test run by a Breach Attack Simulation. The first stage is where an organization can choose what kind of attacks they want to run in the simulation. Just like manual security testing done by red or blue teams, Breach Attack Simulation has several stages and can be customized for your organization’s needs. Thanks to the extensive database of cyberattacks created and maintained by Mitre Att&ck, the BAS can use real attacks like malware attacks on endpoint data and data exfiltration methods. Security teams can continually update the attack methods used in the Breach Attack Simulation by monitoring the Mitre Att&ck framework for the latest methodology used by real-world cyber attack groups. The Mitre Att&ck framework breaks down each attack, allowing BAS operators to create accurate attacks.
The last two stages of Breach Attack Simulation go hand in hand. First, the BAS tool executes the attacks against the security posture in place. Then the operators (typically the red and/or blue teams) observe and quantify the security system’s response. The security team and IT departments can then shore up any weak spots where the simulation was able to break through.
What are the benefits of Automated Breach Attack Simulation?
There are many benefits to using an automated break attack simulation, which is why many security teams rely on automated BAS to continually implement security tests on their system. Purple teaming, while effective, lacks several of the benefits of automated BAS. However, more and more purple teams are using the automated BAS system while also running manual tests. Here are some additional benefits of an automated Breach Attack Simulation:
- Documentation- Due to the fast-paced nature of manual breach attack simulation, there is often a lack of concise documentation when it comes to the detail of the test.
- Time-Automation saves time in most areas of technology, and it’s true with security posture testing as well. Breach Attack Simulations also allow for better coordination between red and blue teams. Not only that, Red team members are often highly skilled and could be putting their time to better use writing defensive coding.
- Safety-Automated BAS is safer than manually attacking a security team’s posture because it is scheduled, expected, and monitored.
Breach Attack Simulation: An Invaluable Tool
With all the care and effort organizations go through to implement layers of security around their digital and physical assets, it’s unsurprising that they want to make sure all that effort is actually effective from real-world cyber attacks.
With Breach Attack Simulation, you can rest assured that your security posture is working and will continue to work as threats evolve. Are you worried that your security posture might not repel malicious threats? Click HERE for more info on how Randori can help your organization get the best out of your security systems.
