Threat actors deploying ransomware typically gain access to victims’ networks through either phishing emails that get them access to a victim computer or exploiting external access like a vulnerable server or network device. Figuring out ways to stop the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by the threat actors can help your organization be more prepared and resilient to ransomware and other attacks. Our series of blog posts, “One Weird Trick,” will give you a few ideas on how to block these TTPs and give your organization an edge against the shifting cyber landscape to prevent cyber security incidents from occurring.
One common threat actor tactic is to send emails to victims with a password-protected file containing a payload. The email may also contain a password for the victim to use to open the password-protected file, or they may send it separately. The file might be a zip file, or as in a recent sample obtained by SANS, it was an encrypted Excel spreadsheet. Another common ransomware access tool is IcedID, who until recently was often emailing encrypted zip files to deliver a Microsoft Word document containing a malicious macro.
During regular business, many users are not going to be sending or receiving password-protected emails. Many organizations now have file sharing capabilities through services like Microsoft 365, Citrix ShareFile, Egnyte Platform, and Google Drive that allow users to share files securely without having to separately encrypt them. So blocking (or at the very least quarantining) these emails with password-protected attachments can have a positive impact on your organization’s cyber security posture with limited impact to business.
If an organization is using Microsoft 365 or Exchange for its email platform, the Microsoft Exchange Admin Center can be used to block these password-protected documents easily. Google Workspace Gmail also provides an easy rule creation workflow to quarantine these messages.
Microsoft 365 and Exchange
Within the Exchange Admin Center, go to the Mail Flow > Rules screen. Once there, you’ll be able to create a new rule:
Once you get to the Create New Rule screen (opens in a new pop-up window), open More Options to select the conditions to block.
Depending on your organization’s processes, you may want to create separate rules for each of the content types being blocked. From the list of potential rules for attachments, there are four conditions to block based on the TTPs in this post:
Content can’t be inspected
Didn’t complete scanning
Has executable content
Is password protected
Once you select the condition, then select the action “deliver to hosted quarantine” and “stop processing more rules.”
After creating the rules, your Exchange Mail Flow rules should show the four rules.
Google Workspace Gmail
Within Gmail, administrators can block password protected documents and compressed files. Once logged into the Google Workspace Admin Console, navigate to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Compliance, then scroll down to Attachment compliance. Next, add a rule for inbound email messages. Create two expressions for conditions. The first condition would be Office documents which are encrypted, and the second condition is compressed files which are encrypted.
After configuring expressions, the rule should look like this:
After configuring the expressions, set the action in Step 3 to “Quarantine message” and scroll down to save.
The attachment compliance rule will now look like this:
Another compliance expression that can be added would be any compressed file (even if not encrypted).
Conclusion
Hopefully this email filtering “trick” can help your organization make itself more resilient to future phishing emails containing malware.
However, a security program cannot operate solely on tricks alone. Helm Information Security is here to help improve your security program. We can help with our Cyber CPR program which involves coaching for preparation and resilience through assessments and tabletops. We can perform limited assessments to track down the most critical risks, or we can help with a more holistic approach to addressing your cyber security needs.
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