The Microsoft 365 kill chain and attack path management

“Know thy enemy” is a cornerstone of an effective cybersecurity and cyber resilience strategy. Unfortunately, however, many organizations have an erroneous understanding of how modern cybercriminals and cyberattacks actually work — and that misunderstanding prevents them from implementing effective controls and processes to defend themselves.

This white paper debunks the key misperceptions about modern cyberattacks and lays out the true phases of a cyberattack, reviewing some of the most common tactics and techniques used in each phase with a particular focus on the Microsoft 365 environment. Then it dives deep into one strategy that adversaries use to achieve their goals — exploiting attack paths — and provides effective options for defending your organization.