Indicators of compromise

Indicators of compromise (IOCs) serve as forensic evidence of potential intrusions on a host system or network. These artifacts enable information security (InfoSec) professionals and system administrators to detect intrusion attempts or other malicious activities. Security researchers use IOCs to better analyze a particular malware¡¯s techniques and behaviors. IOCs also provides actionable threat intelligence that can be shared within the community to further improve an organization¡¯s incident response and remediation strategies.

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Some of these artifacts are found on event logs and timestamped entries in the system, as well as on its applications and services. InfoSec professionals and IT/system administrators also employ various tools that monitor IOCs to help mitigate, if not prevent, breaches or attacks.

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Here are some indicators of compromise information security professionals and system administrators watch out for:

  • Unusual traffic going in and out of the network
  • Unknown files, applications, and processes in the system
  • Suspicious activity in administrator or privileged accounts
  • Irregular activities such as traffic in countries an organization doesn¡¯t do business with
  • Dubious log-ins, access, and other network activities that indicate probing or brute force attacks
  • Anomalous spikes of requests and read volume in company files
  • Network traffic that traverses in unusually used ports
  • Tampered file, Domain Name Servers (DNS) and registry configurations as well as changes in system settings, including those in mobile devices
  • Large amounts of compressed files and data unexplainably found in locations where they shouldn¡¯t be

Related terms:? Targeted attacks, data breach

Related papers or primers :
/vinfo/es/security/news/cyber-attacks/defending-against-data-breach-attacks

Related infographics :
/vinfo/us/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/empowering-the-analyst-indicators-of-compromise

Graphics :
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