In the first part of this series, we provided a brief overview of the Windows Restart Manager. In this blog post, we examine how these mechanisms can be exploited by adversaries and review how the CrowdStrike Falcon platform can detect and prevent these attacks.

The cloud has become the new battleground for adversary activity: CrowdStrike observed a 95% increase in cloud exploitation from 2021 to 2022 and a 288% jump in cases involving threat actors directly targeting the cloud. Defending your cloud environment requires understanding how threat actors operate: how they’re breaking in and moving laterally, which resources they target and how they evade detection.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework provides the cybersecurity industry with a common language for describing adversary behaviors, making it invaluable for organizations building or operating cyber defenses, as well as advancing research across the threat landscape.

Malware utilizes a multitude of techniques to avoid detection, and threat actors are continuously uncovering and exploiting new methods of attack. One of the less common techniques includes the exploitation of the Windows Restart Manager. To stay ahead of malicious authors, it is important to be aware of them and understand how they work.

Adversaries are doubling down on identity-based attacks. According to Nowhere to Hide: CrowdStrike 2023 Threat Hunting Report, we’ve seen an alarming 583% year-over-year increase in Kerberoasting attacks — a form of identity-based threat — and a 147% increase in access broker advertisements on the dark web. Adversaries are evolving their tradecraft, building custom tooling and leveraging more than usernames and passwords to breach your environments.

Hospitals are seeking creative ways to fund technology and cybersecurity protection measures amid a perfect storm of operational challenges that affect quality of care.

IT administrators and security teams are back to school and busy preparing for new students and new challenges. Technology is now an integral part of K-12 education — since the pandemic, ChromeOS devices like Chromebooks have revolutionized the learning experience, enabling students and educators to access a wealth of resources and collaborate seamlessly from almost anywhere, evolving the way students learn and teachers teach.

The IT future is a cloudy one. Organizations are increasingly relying on cloud servers, as today’s IT environments use a combination of public and private clouds alongside on-premise infrastructure. Gartner® estimates that by 2026, 75% of organizations will adopt a digital transformation model predicated on the cloud as the fundamental underlying platform.

CrowdStrike Counter Adversary Operations is committed to analyzing active exploitation campaigns and detecting and blocking zero-days to protect our customers. In July 2023, the CrowdStrike Falcon® Complete managed detection and response (MDR) team discovered an unknown exploit kit leveraging a still-unknown vulnerability affecting the Windows Error Reporting (WER) component.

CrowdStrike is proud to announce the launch of CrowdStrike Counter Adversary Operations, a newly formed, first-of-its kind team that brings together CrowdStrike Falcon® Intelligence and the CrowdStrike® Falcon OverWatch™ threat hunting team to disrupt today’s adversaries and ultimately raise their cost of doing business.