A Compromise Assessment Test is a hunting test for suspicious activities on every layer of the suspected network to detect unknown security breaches, malware, and signs of unauthorized access. More specifically, the assessment seeks to find attackers currently in the environment or who have been active in the recent past.

Over the years, compromise assessments only existed in limited forms as specialized services.

Due to the rapid growth of disclosed breaches that reached a fevered pitch, organizations need to adopt an “assumption of breach” mentality to intensify their efforts in maintaining the effectiveness of their cyber defenses.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

To be universally applicable, the compromise assessment should be:

• Practical — Detecting all known variants of malware, remote access tools, and indications of unauthorized access using advanced offerings and solutions should have the ability to go deeper into the detection of unknown (zero-day) malware variants as well.
• Fast — Assess network within hours/days.
• Affordable — The average organization should be able to conduct it proactively and regularly

For solid protection, the executed compromise assessment test should be efficient enough to run at least once a month for the average-sized organization and seek to optimize time, cost, and effectiveness.

Ultimately, the goal of the assessment is to rapidly identify hostile activity or malicious logic — not to perform a complete forensic examination. After completing and assessing the collected evidence, recommendations should be made for a proper response, and collected evidence should be packaged for the organization to allow the testers to investigate the root cause or actors behind the attack.

It is worth noting that the cyber compromise assessment test goes beyond discovering hostile activities; it has a broader scope in general. It also identifies the existing gaps, vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, excessive privileges, and other security issues. It can be used in combination with a penetration test, but it is not a substitute. The pen test reveals vulnerabilities that could lead to a potential compromise, encouraging you to implement protective measures; meanwhile, the cybersecurity compromise assessment reveals active threat vectors present in your environment.

To know more about Compromise Assessment Test, request a meeting with our experts for a free demo assessment.

Originally published at Mazen N. Daccache | LinkedIn