Page 134 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2025

Attackers rely on reconnaissance, deception, and lateral movement because they understand the human
patterns within enterprise security:

- SOC fatigue = more alert noise = easier evasion

- Over-reliance on signatures = blind spots to behavioral anomalies

- Rigid playbooks = predictable response windows

Their mindset is: "How can I live inside the environment without triggering alarm bells?" That’s not
hacking—it’s infiltration psychology.

Case Study: Operation Quiet Wolf

In one red team engagement I led, we simulated a persistent adversary against a financial firm. Rather
than launching a brute-force phishing campaign, we weaponized patience. We spent two weeks profiling
helpdesk behavior, building spoofed identities that mimicked internal contractors. The initial access came
from a Slack impersonation, not a malicious payload.

We bypassed EDR not by disabling it, but by using signed binaries and trusted paths. We didn't trip the
alarms—because we thought like the blue team and danced around its visibility.

Lesson: Tools evolve, but attacker psychology—the hunger to blend in—remains consistent. And most
defenders aren’t trained to anticipate that level of discipline.

What CISOs Must Adopt from Threat Actors

1. Asymmetric Thinking: Attackers look for what’s not expected. CISOs must challenge their teams to
threat-model their own systems as if they were the adversary.

2. Deception as Defense: Honeypots, fake credentials, and traps aren’t optional anymore—they’re
necessary to increase attacker cost.

3. Live-Fire Testing: Annual pen-tests are outdated. Simulate persistent threats using red/purple teaming
with adversary emulation frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK.

4. Emotional Intelligence: Understand that threat actors often play on psychology—urgency, trust, and
routine. Defensive awareness training must address human behavior, not just phishing.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2025 Edition 134
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