Page 67 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2023

How Can We Turn a Hacker’s Toolkit Against

Them? The Evolution of a Phishing Email

By Jack Chapman, VP of Threat Intelligence, Egress

Hackers use many tools at each stage of an attack and with the sophistication of attacks escalating
rapidly, it’s vital we understand what they have in their arsenal. These tools are often readily available
online, both free of charge and to buy, and are easy to use for even non-technical cybercriminals.

Understanding a hacker’s tools and tactics is essential for cyber security practitioners and vendors aiming
to build effective defenses and stay one step ahead of a quickly evolving host of cyber threats. For
example, while attackers can change the content, graphics, and payloads of a phishing email, the right
technology can detect the tell-tale signs in its underlying structure, its context, and delivery mechanism.
Email is a high risk threat vector and with 91% of organizations reporting they had security incidents from
outbound email and 92% falling victim to phishing, according to the Egress Email Security Risk Report,
care is required when using it. At Egress we analyze thousands of phishing emails and investigate ways
to reverse engineer repeatable elements against hackers.

In this article, I walk through the various tools that support the first three stages of the cyber kill chain:
reconnaissance, weaponization, and delivery. Most importantly, this article will cover ways to defend

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2023 Edition 67
Copyright © 2023, Cyber Defense Magazine. All rights reserved worldwide.