Breaking the Kill Chain: How DPRM Prevents Active Directory Breaches Before They Happen

Active Directory (AD) exploitation is a priority target for ransomware attacks, with an estimated 70-80% of large-scale ransomware incidents involving AD manipulation. Attackers often exploit privilege escalation and lateral movement within IT systems to take control of entire networks, causing severe operational, reputational and financial damage. Many solutions promote a reactive approach, detecting and responding to threats as they happen – but shouldn’t the solution instead be to prevent attacks in the first place?

In this blog, we explore why organisations need to adopt a new approach to protecting their systems. By breaking the kill chain, we can stop attacks in their tracks – protecting the data rather than relying solely on network-based defenses.

Understanding the Ransomware Kill Chain

Before we dive into solutions, it’s crucial to understand the ransomware kill chain – the step-by-step process cybercriminals follow to execute an attack. It typically includes:

1. Recon – Gather intelligence about a target network
2. Delivery – Malware sent to target system
3. Exploitation – Malware executed on target system
4. Privilege escalation and lateral movement – Gains full control with admin-level privileges (gaining admin rights)
5. Data exfiltration – “Double Extortion” Steal sensitive data before encrypting local copy 
6. Encryption – Render data inaccessible to the victim 
7. Extortion and ransom demand – Demand payment to restore access

At Stage 4 – privilege escalation – the real danger begins. Attackers leverage legitimate admin tools within AD, taking control of critical systems and expanding their reach through lateral movement. This is the phase where traditional perimeter-based security systems often fail. Firewalls, antivirus software, and endpoint detection might detect the initial malware, but they’re too slow to stop the escalating damage once privileges are gained.

So, how can we stop this?

Breaking the Kill Chain with DPRM

Certes’ DPRM (Data Protection and Risk Mitigation) solution breaks the Kill Chain by focusing on Stage 4, where the attacker’s power grows exponentially. Instead of waiting for an inevitable attack to happen and reacting to it, Certes takes a proactive approach by isolating and protecting the data itself.

With Certes DPRM, data access is separated from network access, which means that even if attackers gain access to the network, they still can’t access the actual data. The result? Even if an attacker moves laterally across the network, they can’t escalate their access to the gold mine – your sensitive data.

How does DPRM break the kill chain?

• Preventing Escalated Privileges: Separate data access from network access to prevent lateral movement, ensuring no single breach can lead to full system compromise.
• Mitigating Data Exfiltration: Certes DPRM ensures that any data leaving the site is indecipherable to attackers. Protection policies controlled by the organisation’s security team render stolen data useless.
• Quantum-grade encryption: Policy-based crypto-segmentation protects AD from sophisticated attacks, preventing unauthorised access and manipulation of sensitive data.

The result is a kill chain broken at the most critical stage, preventing ransomware from spreading and stopping data exfiltration before it even starts.

Why Reactive Security Fails

Many organizations rely on traditional detection and response systems, but the problem with this approach is simple: it reacts after the breach has occurred. By then, the damage has already been done. 

With Certes DPRM, you’re not just detecting and recovering from a breach – you’re preventing it altogether. 

Are You Proactively Breaking the Kill Chain?

Are you relying on outdated network defenses that only slow attackers down, or are you ready to adopt a data-centric approach that stops ransomware in its tracks?

The best defense isn’t just about having the fastest detection – it’s about making your data valueless to attackers. Certes DPRM is leading the charge in proactive, data-centric security that stops attackers before they can escalate.

Contact us to find out how Certes DPRM can secure your data and help you break the ransomware kill chain.