Prominent Real Estate Developer's Project Management Portal Secured: Admin Access Breach Prevented

Challenge

CloudSEK’s contextual AI digital risk platform XVigil discovered exfiltrated stored credentials from a browser present on the personal computer of an employee associated with a prominent real estate developer.

The tool discovered compromised stealer logs acquired through a malware, which affected critical endpoints.

Similar stolen credentials are regularly exploited by financially motivated and state-sponsored attackers to conduct lateral movement, exfiltrate sensitive data, attack critical infrastructure, maintain persistence, and launch ransomware attacks.

Impact

‍Exposed credentials can be used by threat actors to access the internal network and steal sensitive files and information.

The compromised credentials posed a significant risk, enabling threat actors to gain unauthorized entry into the developer’s network, potentially resulting in the spread of malware, manipulation, or unauthorized extraction of sensitive information.

Attackers may attempt to log into other portals as employees often reuse the same credentials across various personal and professional sites, aiding attackers in generating custom wordlists for brute force attacks.

Solution

‍CloudSEK XVigil promptly identified and addressed the compromised credentials, ensuring that sensitive data was protected and access was restricted.

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Implementation:

Detection:

• CloudSEK XVigil discovered the compromised computer associated with the real estate developer on the dark web, leaking credentials associated with their domains.

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Threat Analysis:

• The exposed credentials could allow threat actors to gain unauthorized access to internal systems, potentially exposing sensitive data and internal infrastructure.
• Attackers could use the exposed credentials to conduct targeted attacks, social engineering, and identity theft.

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Immediate Actions:

• Invalidate all the exposed credentials and notify the employee about the malware infection.
• Isolate the compromised computer and verify the successful quarantine or removal of the malware to ensure the device's security.
• Review access logs for potential data exfiltration/manipulation and backdoors.
• Conduct a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) of the malware infection to uncover its origins and implement preventive measures against future infections.

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Preventive Measures:

• Educate employees on the importance of avoiding untrusted links, email attachments, and unverified executable files.
• Enforce a strong password policy and change passwords on a periodic basis.
• Encourage employees not to store passwords in their web browsers.