When Training Goes Awry: How a Fresh Grad’s Error Exposed a Canadian Financial Institution

Incident Response + SIEM + Articles + News + Financial Mjolnir Security todayJanuary 27, 2025 14

Background
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Introduction

In the fast-paced world of cybersecurity, even small mistakes can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Such was the case with a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) tasked with protecting a Canadian Financial Institution. An incident involving a fresh graduate in training spiraled into a full-blown crisis, culminating in a breach that exposed sensitive client data and tested the resilience of the MSSP and its client.

Mjolnir Security was brought in to clean up the aftermath, leveraging our unparalleled expertise in incident response (IR) and proactive defense services like Mjolnir Shield. This blog explores how the breach unfolded, the investigative process, and the lessons learned.


The Breach Timeline

  1. Training Mishap: During a training exercise, a fresh graduate exited the controlled training environment and logged into the bank’s network, mistaking it as part of the exercise. To work remotely, the grad saved sensitive passwords in Pastebin—a practice explicitly prohibited by the isolation protocols. The login credentials were left on a post it note next to the manager’s laptop.
  2. Threat Actor (TA) Infiltration: Threat actors, routinely monitoring Pastebin for exposed credentials, accessed these passwords and quickly compromised the bank’s systems.
  3. MSSP’s Fumble: The MSSP’s incident response team hit a roadblock due to isolation protocols. A tech was asked to create a firewall rule to enable access but, lacking expertise, consulted Reddit and implemented an “any-any” rule, inadvertently granting attackers unrestricted access. This mistake allowed the TA to exfiltrate even more data.
  4. Escalation: As the situation deteriorated, the bank’s vendor escalated the issue, and Mjolnir Security was called in to take over the IR process.

Mjolnir Security’s Incident Response Process

  1. Containment:
    • Network Segmentation: Mjolnir’s team immediately reviewed and rectified the firewall rules. Using our Mjolnir Shield service, we rapidly deployed virtual micro-segmentation policies to limit lateral movement by threat actors.
    • Credential Hygiene: All exposed credentials were revoked and replaced. We also implemented Just-In-Time (JIT) access policies for critical accounts.
  2. Forensic Investigation:
    • Data Backtracking: Our analysts used endpoint detection and response (EDR) telemetry and SIEM logs to trace attacker activity, reconstructing the timeline of events.
    • Pastebin Monitoring: Leveraging Mjolnir Shield’s intelligence, we identified when and how the credentials were accessed.
    • Firewall and Cloud Review: Firewall logs, Azure configurations, and audit trails were scrutinized to identify all exfiltration paths.
  3. Eradication:
    • TA Removal: All compromised endpoints were isolated and sanitized using our proprietary incident response playbooks.
    • Policy Hardening: We reviewed and fortified isolation protocols to prevent future mishandling.
  4. Recovery:
    • Data Integrity Check: Mjolnir’s team verified the integrity of the bank’s data and ensured backups were uncompromised.
    • Business Continuity: Our experts facilitated a phased restoration process, minimizing downtime and ensuring regulatory compliance.
  5. Root Cause Analysis:
    • Training Audit: A comprehensive review of the MSSP’s training materials and protocols highlighted the gaps that led to this breach.
    • Lessons Learned: We provided actionable recommendations to enhance training environments and isolation protocols.

Proactive Defense with Mjolnir Shield

Mjolnir Shield played a pivotal role in mitigating this crisis. Its capabilities include:

  • Real-Time Threat Monitoring: Rapid identification of anomalies.
  • Dark Web Monitoring: Identifying leaked credentials before threat actors can exploit them.
  • Zero Trust Enforcement: Minimizing the attack surface with policy-driven access controls.

Thought Leadership Tip

While technology and tools are critical, people remain the weakest link in cybersecurity. Effective incident response requires:

  • Holistic Training: Ensure that fresh graduates and junior staff are thoroughly trained on protocols, with realistic simulations that mimic high-stakes environments.
  • Expert-Led Oversight: Avoid letting unseasoned employees operate unsupervised on critical systems.
  • Layered Security: Implement robust defense-in-depth strategies like Mjolnir Shield to detect, contain, and mitigate breaches.

By fostering a culture of vigilance and leveraging advanced solutions like Mjolnir Shield, organizations can stay ahead of threats and ensure that a minor oversight doesn’t escalate into a major breach.


Conclusion

This incident underscores the importance of combining technical expertise with a proactive security posture. Mjolnir Security’s comprehensive approach—spanning containment, eradication, recovery, and prevention—not only resolved the immediate crisis but fortified the bank’s defenses against future threats. When every second counts, trust Mjolnir Security to turn chaos into control.

Written by: Mjolnir Security

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