Microsoft Sentinel SOC 101: How to Detect and Mitigate Drive-by Download Attacks with Microsoft Sentinel
In the driver's seat
Get this entire series in a free, downloadable eBook https://aka.ms/SentinelSOC101
Drive-by download attacks are a type of cyberattack that exploit vulnerabilities in web browsers or plugins to download and execute malicious code on the victim’s device without their consent or knowledge. These attacks can compromise the security and privacy of the device, as well as the data and credentials stored on it. Drive-by download attacks can also be used as a delivery mechanism for other types of malware, such as ransomware, spyware, or trojans.
Drive-by download attacks can be initiated by visiting a malicious website, clicking on a malicious link or advertisement, or opening a malicious email attachment. The malicious code can be embedded in the web page itself, or in a script, iframe, or file that is loaded from another source. The malicious code can exploit a known or unknown vulnerability in the browser or plugin or use social engineering techniques to trick the user into allowing the download or execution of the code.
Drive-by download attacks are difficult to detect and prevent, as they often use obfuscation, encryption, or polymorphism techniques to evade antivirus and firewall solutions. Moreover, they can exploit zero-day vulnerabilities that have not been patched by the vendors. Therefore, it is important to use a comprehensive and proactive approach to protect against drive-by download attacks.
Microsoft Sentinel
Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native security information and event management (SIEM) service that provides intelligent security analytics and threat detection across your enterprise. Microsoft Sentinel collects data from various sources, such as Azure services, Microsoft 365 services, devices, applications, and third-party solutions. Microsoft Sentinel applies advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to analyze the data and identify threats, anomalies, and suspicious activities. Microsoft Sentinel also enables you to investigate and respond to incidents, as well as automate workflows and actions using playbooks.
Microsoft Sentinel can help you detect and mitigate drive-by download attacks by providing the following capabilities:
Data collection: Microsoft Sentinel can collect data from various sources that are relevant to drive-by download attacks, such as web proxy logs, firewall logs, DNS logs, antivirus logs, endpoint detection and response (EDR) logs, browser history logs, and file activity logs. You can use connectors to integrate these sources with Microsoft Sentinel easily and securely.
Data enrichment: Microsoft Sentinel can enrich the collected data with additional information and context, such as threat intelligence feeds, geolocation data, user and device information, and reputation scores. You can use parsers to normalize and structure the data for better analysis.
Data analysis: Microsoft Sentinel can analyze the enriched data using rules, analytics, and machine learning models to detect drive-by download attacks. You can use built-in rules or create your own rules to define the logic and criteria for detection. You can also use notebooks to perform interactive analysis using Python code and libraries.
Data visualization: Microsoft Sentinel can visualize the analysis results using dashboards, workbooks, and hunting queries. You can use built-in dashboards or create your own dashboards to monitor key metrics and indicators. You can also use workbooks to create interactive reports with charts, tables, and graphs. You can also use hunting queries to explore the data and find patterns and anomalies.
Incident response: Microsoft Sentinel can create incidents based on the detection results and assign them to analysts for investigation and response. You can use built-in playbooks or create your own playbooks to automate actions and workflows using Azure Logic Apps. You can also use investigation graphs to visualize the relationships between entities involved in an incident.
Example Scenario
To illustrate how Microsoft Sentinel can help you detect and mitigate drive-by download attacks, consider the following example scenario:
A user receives an email from a spoofed sender claiming to be their bank. The email contains a link that directs the user to a phishing website that mimics the bank’s website.
The phishing website contains a malicious script that exploits a vulnerability in the user’s browser plugin to download a malicious executable file onto the user’s device.
The malicious executable file runs on the user’s device and installs a ransomware that encrypts the user’s files and demands a ransom for decryption.
In this scenario, Microsoft Sentinel can help you detect and mitigate drive-by download attacks by performing the following steps:
Collect data from various sources that are relevant to drive-by download attacks:
Email logs: Microsoft Sentinel can collect email logs from Microsoft 365 using the Office 365 connector.
Web proxy logs: Microsoft Sentinel can collect web proxy logs from Azure Firewall using the Azure Firewall connector.
Firewall logs: Microsoft Sentinel can collect firewall logs from Azure Firewall using the Azure Firewall connector.
DNS logs: Microsoft Sentinel can collect DNS logs from Azure DNS.
Antivirus logs: Microsoft Sentinel can collect antivirus logs from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
EDR logs: Microsoft Sentinel can collect EDR logs from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
Browser history logs: Microsoft Sentinel can collect browser history logs from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
File activity logs: Microsoft Sentinel can collect file activity logs from Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
Enrich data with additional information and context:
Threat intelligence feeds: Microsoft Sentinel can enrich the data with threat intelligence feeds from Microsoft Threat Intelligence and third-party providers using the Threat Intelligence connector. The threat intelligence feeds provide information about known malicious domains, IPs, URLs, files, and indicators of compromise (IOCs).
Geolocation data: Microsoft Sentinel can enrich the data with geolocation data using the Azure Maps connector. The geolocation data provides information about the physical location of the source and destination IP addresses.
User and device information: Microsoft Sentinel can enrich the data with user and device information from Azure Active Directory and Microsoft Intune using the Azure Active Directory and Microsoft Intune connectors. The user and device information provides information about the identity, role, group, device type, device state, and device compliance of the source and destination entities.
Reputation scores: Microsoft Sentinel can enrich the data with reputation scores using the VirusTotal connector. The reputation scores provide information about the trustworthiness and risk level of the domains, IPs, URLs, and files involved in the data.
Analyze data using rules, analytics, and machine learning models to detect drive-by download attacks
Built-in rules: Microsoft Sentinel provides built-in rules that can detect drive-by download attacks based on predefined logic and criteria. For example, the rule “Potential drive-by download attack” can detect when a user visits a malicious URL that downloads a malicious file onto their device.
Custom rules: Microsoft Sentinel allows you to create custom rules that can detect drive-by download attacks based on your own logic and criteria. For example, you can create a custom rule that can detect when a user visits a phishing website that mimics a legitimate website.
Notebooks: Microsoft Sentinel allows you to use notebooks to perform interactive analysis using Python code and libraries. For example, you can use a notebook to perform anomaly detection, clustering, or classification on the data to find patterns and outliers that indicate drive-by download attacks.
Visualize analysis results using dashboards, workbooks, and hunting queries
Built-in dashboards: Microsoft Sentinel provides built-in dashboards that can visualize key metrics and indicators related to drive-by download attacks. For example, the dashboard “Threat Intelligence” can show you the number of incidents, alerts, entities, and IOCs related to drive-by download attacks.
Custom dashboards: Microsoft Sentinel allows you to create custom dashboards that can visualize any metrics and indicators that you want to monitor related to drive-by download attacks. For example, you can create a custom dashboard that can show you the number of users, devices, files, and domains involved in drive-by download attacks.
Workbooks: Microsoft Sentinel allows you to use workbooks to create interactive reports with charts, tables, and graphs related to drive-by download attacks. For example, you can use a workbook to create a report that shows you the timeline, impact, and root cause of drive-by download attacks.
Hunting queries: Microsoft Sentinel allows you to use hunting queries to explore the data and find patterns and anomalies related to drive-by download attacks. For example, you can use a hunting query to find any suspicious or unusual file downloads or executions on your devices.
Create incidents based on detection results and assign them to analysts for investigation and response
Incidents: Microsoft Sentinel creates incidents based on the detection results from rules or analytics. Incidents contain information about the severity, status, owner, description, entities,
Playbooks: Microsoft Sentinel allows you to use playbooks to automate actions and workflows related to incidents using Azure Logic Apps. Playbooks can perform tasks such as sending notifications,
Investigation graphs: Microsoft Sentinel allows you to use investigation graphs to visualize the relationships between entities involved in an incident. Investigation graphs can help you understand the scope,
Mitigation
Some things that security teams can do to mitigate drive-by download attacks against their users are:
Educate and train the users on how to recognize and avoid drive-by download attacks. For example, teach them how to spot phishing emails, malicious websites, or malvertisements, and how to check the security and validity of the links or downloads they encounter.
Implement and enforce security policies and best practices for the users. For example, require them to use strong passwords, update their software regularly, use reputable antivirus programs, and report any suspicious or unusual activity on their devices.
Monitor and filter the network traffic and web activity of the users. For example, use a web proxy or firewall to block access to known malicious domains, IPs, URLs, or files, and use a traffic filtering software to detect and prevent any malicious downloads or connections that may occur during a drive-by download attack.
Use a security information and event management (SIEM) service like Microsoft Sentinel to collect, analyze, and respond to security data from various sources. For example, use Microsoft Sentinel to integrate data from web proxy logs, firewall logs, DNS logs, antivirus logs, endpoint detection and response (EDR) logs, browser history logs, and file activity logs. Use Microsoft Sentinel to enrich the data with threat intelligence feeds, geolocation data, user and device information, and reputation scores. Use Microsoft Sentinel to detect drive-by download attacks using rules, analytics, and machine learning models. Use Microsoft Sentinel to visualize the analysis results using dashboards, workbooks, and hunting queries. Use Microsoft Sentinel to create incidents based on the detection results and assign them to analysts for investigation and response. Use Microsoft Sentinel to automate actions and workflows using playbooks.
[Want to discuss this further? Hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn]
[Subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog]
[Subscribe to the Weekly Microsoft Sentinel Newsletter]
[Subscribe to the Weekly Microsoft Defender Newsletter]
[Subscribe to the Weekly Azure OpenAI Newsletter]
[Learn KQL with the Must Learn KQL series and book]
[Learn AI Security with the Must Learn AI Security series and book]