Offensive security encompasses a range of practices that simulate cyberattacks in a controlled environment, allowing businesses to identify security risks in their systems and address them before attackers can exploit them. The core components of offensive security include vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, malware analysis, cyber forensics, and reverse engineering.
Key recovery attacks refer to attempts by malicious actors to retrieve encryption keys used to secure data within an organisation. By obtaining these keys, attackers can decrypt sensitive information, impersonate legitimate users, or perform unauthorised operations, leading to potential data breaches and other cyber risks. These attacks typically target encryption keys stored insecurely, in compromised systems, or within weakly protected environments.
Malware analysis is the process of studying malware samples to understand their purpose, functionality, and impact on infected systems. By examining how malware operates, analysts can craft countermeasures, detect similar threats, and improve organisational security.
Boards typically comprise a mix of internal directors (executives from within the company) and external directors (independent individuals unconnected to the organisation). This blend ensures a balance of insights—insiders bring deep organisational knowledge, while outsiders contribute objectivity and fresh perspectives.
Cyber forensics is crucial in post-incident response, enabling organisations to understand the full scope of an attack and attribute it to specific entities. Malware analysis is a systematic investigation into malicious software to understand its intent, functionality, and impact. The process can be broken down into two primary methodologies: static analysis and dynamic analysis.