Understanding the Cyber Kill Chain

The Cyber Kill Chain is attributed to Lockheed Martin, who derived it from a military model used to effectively neutralize targets by anticipating their attacks, engaging them strategically, and stopping them. Despite how fancy it sounds, in reality the Cyber Kill Chain is just a step-by-step description of how hackers attack. The model describes the steps of adversaries from the beginning phases of attack until a system is exploited, these steps include:

1. Reconnaissance
2. Weaponization
3. Delivery
4. Exploitation
5. Installation
6. Command and Control (C2)
7. Actions on Objectives

Organizations use this model to better understand threat actors so they can track and prevent cyber intrusions at their different stages. This has been done with varying degrees of success against ransomware, hacking attempts, and APTs (advanced persistent threats). As a defense strategist your goal will be to understand the attacker...