Leveraging In-Use Deception to Align with NIST 800-172 Enhanced Security Requirements
At Frenetik, our approach to cybersecurity isn’t simply reactive; it’s proactive, strategic, and deeply aligned with emerging compliance frameworks. Building upon our previous discussions about In-Use Deception and turning counter-reconnaissance into a strategic advantage, we’re highlighting how Frenetik’s specific deception capabilities directly address key enhanced security requirements outlined in the latest NIST SP 800-172 Initial Public Draft (November 2024), which themselves map to NIST SP 800-53.
Discoverable Information: Strategic Control of Exposure
Organizations continuously face risks from adversaries collecting publicly discoverable information. Frenetik proactively addresses this by disassociating communication handles (email addresses) and static usernames from the underlying authentication mechanism, ensuring any information gleaned is either not useful in planning and conducting an attack, or short lived.
This aligns directly with NIST 800-172 Control 03.11.11E (Discoverable Information), leveraging controlled exposure and intentional deception to mitigate reconnaissance risks.
Mapped Source Control (NIST 800-53): RA-05(04) – Identifying and mitigating discovered system information prevents unauthorized reconnaissance, critical for industries targeted by advanced persistent threats.
Randomness as a Defensive Measure
Unpredictability creates friction for attackers. Through Frenetik, administrators can easily schedule username rotations, remote access accessible hostname updates, WiFi SSID changes, and edge FQDN rotations at unpredictable intervals, creating a continuously evolving environment that significantly complicates adversarial reconnaissance and targeting.
This implementation precisely supports NIST Control 03.13.02E (Randomness), enhancing the resilience of organizational systems against targeted threats.
Mapped Source Control (NIST 800-53): SC-30(02) – Randomness reduces predictability, complicating adversaries’ ability to exploit vulnerabilities effectively.
Concealment and Misdirection: Outmaneuvering Adversaries
Effective deception isn’t just random—it’s intelligent. Frenetik employs comprehensive concealment and misdirection through the use of, and then abandonment and conversion of real resources into decoy identities and honeypots, redirecting adversaries from genuine critical assets and providing real-time alerts when interactions occur.
These strategies align seamlessly with Control 03.13.03E (Concealment and Misdirection), significantly reducing attackers’ targeting effectiveness.
Mapped Source Control (NIST 800-53): SC-30 – Concealment and misdirection create complexity and uncertainty, essential for protecting critical infrastructure from advanced persistent threats.
Dynamic Defense through Moving Targets
Static targets are vulnerable targets. Frenetik dynamically rotates resources and their accessibility, leveraging cloud integrations (AWS, Entra, GCP), and on-premises integrations (AD, Linux, Windows, NGINX, Palo Alto, many more) – features readily manageable via our streamlined GUI interface. This capability significantly complicates adversarial targeting and aligns with NIST Control 03.13.05E (Change Processing and Storage Locations).
Mapped Source Control (NIST 800-53): SC-30(3) – Dynamic defense increases adversarial effort, crucial for entities facing sophisticated, persistent attacks.
Decoys: Real Resources Turned Deceptive
What truly sets Frenetik apart is our unique approach to converting genuine, in-use resources into deceptive elements. Initially, all Frenetik-managed resources are real and actively utilized by legitimate users. This authenticity makes it effortless to “sell” the environment to adversaries, as the resources observed by attackers genuinely represent real organizational assets. Upon scheduled random rotations, legitimate users are discreetly notified through out-of-band communication to transition to new identities, resources, or network access points. The previously genuine resources remain in place but are now effectively transformed into decoys, which are traps set to detect and analyze adversary behaviors.
This strategic conversion from authentic resources to honeypots directly fulfills Control 03.13.08E (Decoys), greatly increasing the realism and effectiveness of your deception strategy.
Mapped Source Control (NIST 800-53): SC-26 – Decoys enable proactive threat detection and response, critical for securing highly sensitive assets.
Non-Persistent Information and System Components
Persistent data and static system components pose long-term risks. Frenetik proactively rotates identities, hostnames, etc – utilizing non-persistent, components in your environment that regularly reset to a new state. These capabilities directly satisfy Controls 03.14.05E (Non-Persistent Information) and 03.14.15E (Non-Persistent System Components), enhancing resilience against prolonged adversarial campaigns where traditional networks and modes of operation are static and ripe for sustained compromise.
Mapped Source Control (NIST 800-53): SI-14(02), SI-14 – Frequent refreshing and virtualization of components drastically reduce adversarial opportunities, particularly beneficial for high-value targets facing persistent threats.
Integrated Compliance, Superior Security
Frenetik doesn’t merely comply with evolving standards—it sets new benchmarks and ways of thinking. Our deception-driven, moving target defense approach, supported by an intuitive GUI, and easy integrations with what you already have and use, directly align with both Draft NIST SP 800-172r3 and foundational NIST 800-53 controls, significantly enhancing the security posture for organizations most at risk.
Stay proactive, stay unpredictable, and stay ahead—move quickly with Frenetik.