Detecting Pass The Hash Attacks

Detecting Pass The Hash Attacks

Overview

Cybersecurity skill for detecting pass the hash attacks. Follows industry best practices and security standards.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "detecting pass the hash attacks"

• "When proactively hunting for indicators of detecting pass the hash attacks in th"

• "After threat intelligence indicates active campaigns using these techniques"

• "During incident response to scope compromise related to these techniques"

• When proactively hunting for indicators of detecting pass the hash attacks in the environment

• After threat intelligence indicates active campaigns using these techniques

• During incident response to scope compromise related to these techniques

• When EDR or SIEM alerts trigger on related indicators

• During periodic security assessments and purple team exercises

When NOT to Use

• When you lack proper authorization for testing
• For production systems without change management
• When the task requires legal or compliance expertise beyond technical scope

Prerequisites

• EDR platform with process and network telemetry (CrowdStrike, MDE, SentinelOne)
• SIEM with relevant log data ingested (Splunk, Elastic, Sentinel)
• Sysmon deployed with comprehensive configuration
• Windows Security Event Log forwarding enabled
• Threat intelligence feeds for IOC correlation

Workflow

# Example: IOC detection
import re

IOC_PATTERNS = {
    "ip": r"\b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b",
    "domain": r"\b[a-z0-9-]+\.[a-z]{2,}\b",
    "hash_md5": r"\b[a-f0-9]{32}\b",
    "hash_sha256": r"\b[a-f0-9]{64}\b",
}

def extract_iocs(text: str) -> dict:
    return {k: re.findall(v, text) for k, v in IOC_PATTERNS.items()}

1. Define Detection Scope — Identify the specific pass the hash attacks techniques or indicators to hunt. Map to MITRE ATT&CK tactics/techniques where applicable.
2. Collect Baseline Data — Gather historical logs and establish normal behavior patterns for pass the hash attacks.
3. Build Detection Queries — Write detection rules, Sigma rules, or SIEM queries targeting pass the hash attacks indicators.
4. Execute Hunts — Run queries against the collected data, starting with broad filters and narrowing down.
5. Triage Results — Investigate alerts, filter false positives, and validate findings against known-good behavior.
6. Document Findings — Record confirmed detections, IOCs, and affected systems. Update detection rules based on findings.

Tools

• SIEM Platform — Central log aggregation and query execution
• Sigma Rules — Vendor-agnostic detection rule format
• MITRE ATT&CK Navigator — Technique mapping and coverage analysis

Process

1. Reconnaissance — Gather target information, identify attack surface, enumerate services
2. Analysis/Exploitation — Execute the technique, analyze results, document findings
3. Reporting — Document IOCs, write findings, provide remediation recommendations

Verification

• All pass the hash attacks procedures executed completely and documented
• Findings validated against multiple data sources
• False positives identified and filtered
• Results documented with evidence and timestamps
• Recommendations provided with risk-based prioritization

Anti-Rationalization Table