NSA and partners team up to tackle Living-Off-the-Land Threats

TLDR:
– The National Security Agency (NSA) and its partners have released joint guidance on mitigating LOTL (Living-Off-the-Land) threats.
– The guidance includes threat detection information and best practices for mitigating LOTL activities, such as applying authentication controls and implementing logging for better detection of malicious activities.

The National Security Agency (NSA), in collaboration with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI, and the U.K. National Cyber Security Center, has issued joint guidance on identifying and mitigating living-off-the-land (LOTL) threats. The guidance provides information on threat detection and outlines best practices for countering LOTL activities. Key elements of the guidance include the application of authentication controls, the implementation of logging to detect malicious activities, and the maintenance of user and admin privilege restrictions. The NSA and its partners also call on software and technology manufacturers to conduct audits of remote access software, establish baseline behaviors, and enhance monitoring tools and alert mechanisms. The guidance aims to address the risks associated with LOTL techniques and increase awareness of the threats posed by such attacks. Rob Joyce, the director of cybersecurity at the NSA, emphasized the importance of cooperation among partners and allies to combat attacks in the digital domain. The guidance serves as a framework for organizations to enhance their security posture and protect critical infrastructure from cyber threats.