The remote management/access software problem
Since 2020, the use of remote system management/access tools such as AnyDesk and TeamViewer has exploded in popularity due to forced work-from-home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whether used by an IT help desk technician to fix a user’s remote system or by co-workers for collaboration, these tools play an essential role in most corporations’ digital functions. However, this convenience comes at a cost. These tools introduce the ability for an adversary to potentially take full remote control of a system, are easy to download and install, and can be very difficult to detect since they are considered legitimate software.
Further complicating the task of recognizing the malicious use of these tools, many organizations struggle to combat “shadow IT” in which individual users or overly proactive IT personnel might install unauthorized remote management tools to accomplish a benign goal.
Cisco Talos Incident Response (Talos IR) is seeing adversaries capitalize on this opportunity in the wild. We recently noted in our Quarterly Trends report for the third quarter of 2023, “AnyDesk was observed in all ransomware and pre-ransomware engagements [. . .], underscoring its role in ransomware affiliates' attack chains.”
While AnyDesk is a le ..
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