Identification of Attack Paths Using Kill Chain and Attack Graphs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel kill chain attack graph that combines kill chain and attack graph concepts to identify multi-step cyber threats and suggest targeted countermeasures, validated on real-world data.

Contribution

A new approach merging kill chain and attack graphs to model and identify attack paths, aiding security focus and mitigation strategies.

Findings

Effective identification of attack paths in real-world scenarios

Supports targeted security measures based on attack phases

Provides a proof-of-concept tool for attack graph generation

Abstract

The ever-evolving capabilities of cyber attackers force security administrators to focus on the early identification of emerging threats. Targeted cyber attacks usually consist of several phases, from initial reconnaissance of the network environment to final impact on objectives. This paper investigates the identification of multi-step cyber threat scenarios using kill chain and attack graphs. Kill chain and attack graphs are threat modeling concepts that enable determining weak security defense points. We propose a novel kill chain attack graph that merges kill chain and attack graphs together. This approach determines possible chains of attacker's actions and their materialization within the protected network. The graph generation uses a categorization of threats according to violated security properties. The graph allows determining the kill chain phase the administrator should focus on and applicable countermeasures to mitigate possible cyber threats. We implemented the proposed approach for a predefined range of cyber threats, especially vulnerability exploitation and network threats. The approach was validated on a real-world use case. Publicly available implementation contains a proof-of-concept kill chain attack graph generator.