Exchange Online Security

Email remains the number one attack vector. A fully secured Exchange Online tenant is the most important line of defense against ransomware, spearphishing, and Business Email Compromise (BEC).

Your Strategy

Implement a multi-layered email defense (defense-in-depth). Use strict email authentication (DMARC) to protect your own reputation, and advanced threat protection (safe links/attachments) to neutralize incoming threats.

Best Practices

  • Authentication: Enforce DMARC with 'p=reject' and disable legacy protocols.
  • Transparency: Use transport rules to clearly flag external emails.
  • Permissions: Continuously monitor mailbox delegations and full access for anomalies.

STRIDE-LM Design Risks

SpoofingS-EXO-01

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Takeover of mailboxes to conduct fraud (e.g., CEO fraud).

SpoofingS-EXO-02

Legacy Auth Exploitation

Use of outdated protocols (POP3, IMAP) to bypass MFA.

RepudiationR-01

Audit Log Manipulation

Deleting or altering traces of an action.

Information DisclosureI-M365-01

Exfiltration via Inbox Rules

Automated forwarding of emails to external addresses.

Denial of ServiceD-01

Resource Exhaustion

Overloading systems through massive requests or resource hogging.

Elevation of PrivilegeE-01

Privilege Escalation

Gaining privileges beyond what is intended.

Lateral MovementL-01

Lateral Movement

Accessing further internal systems after initial login.

Monitoring GapsM-01

Insufficient Logging

Missing or inadequate recording of security-relevant events.

MITRE ATT&CK® Techniques

Initial Access
T1566

Phishing

ATT&CK

Delivering malicious content via electronic communication.

Mitigated by
Anti-Phishing & Anti-Spam PoliciesBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 9.2NIST: PR.PT-4
Mailflow Rules (Transport Rules)Baseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 9.3NIST: PR.DS-2
Email Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)Baseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 9.1NIST: PR.DS-2
ATP Safe Links & AttachmentsBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 9.2NIST: PR.IP-1
FIDO2 EnforcementBaseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 6.5NIST: PR.AC-7OWASP: A07:2021
Conditional Access PoliciesBaseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 6.1NIST: PR.AC-7OWASP: API2
Output Content FilteringBaseline ProtectionLow
NIST: AI-1.2OWASP: LLM02
T1566-001

Spearphishing Attachment

ATT&CK

Delivering harmful file attachments to specific targets.

Mitigated by
Anti-Phishing & Anti-Spam PoliciesBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 9.2NIST: PR.PT-4
Email Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)Baseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 9.1NIST: PR.DS-2
T1566-002

Spearphishing Link

ATT&CK

Delivering malicious links to obtain credentials.

Mitigated by
Anti-Phishing & Anti-Spam PoliciesBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 9.2NIST: PR.PT-4
T1566-003

Spearphishing via Service

ATT&CK

Phishing via trusted cloud services (Teams, LinkedIn).

Mitigated by
Anti-Phishing & Anti-Spam PoliciesBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 9.2NIST: PR.PT-4
T1078

Valid Accounts

ATT&CK

Exploiting existing credentials for access.

Mitigated by
Email Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)Baseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 9.1NIST: PR.DS-2
Modern Auth EnforcementBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 6.1NIST: PR.AC-1
FIDO2 EnforcementBaseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 6.5NIST: PR.AC-7OWASP: A07:2021
Unified Audit Log (UAL)Baseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 8.2NIST: PR.PT-1
Conditional Access PoliciesBaseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 6.1NIST: PR.AC-7OWASP: API2
Execution
T1137

Office Application Startup

ATT&CK

Exploitation of Office startup processes for code execution.

Mitigated by
Mailbox Delegation MonitoringExtended ProtectionLow
CIS: 6.2NIST: DE.AE-2
Restricted App ConsentBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 16.1NIST: PR.AC-1
Unified Audit Log (UAL)Baseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 8.2NIST: PR.PT-1
Persistence
T1098

Account Manipulation

ATT&CK

Changing permissions or creating new accounts.

Mitigated by
Mailbox Delegation MonitoringExtended ProtectionLow
CIS: 6.2NIST: DE.AE-2
Restricted App ConsentBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 16.1NIST: PR.AC-1
Unified Audit Log (UAL)Baseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 8.2NIST: PR.PT-1
Credential Access
T1557

Adversary-in-the-Middle

ATT&CK

Intercepting communication between two parties.

Mitigated by
Privileged Access Workstation (PAW)Extended ProtectionHigh
CIS: 6.4NIST: PR.AC-3
T1539

Steal Web Session Cookie

ATT&CK

Capturing active session tokens to bypass authentication.

Mitigated by
Modern Auth EnforcementBaseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 6.1NIST: PR.AC-1
FIDO2 EnforcementBaseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 6.5NIST: PR.AC-7OWASP: A07:2021
Conditional Access PoliciesBaseline ProtectionMedium
CIS: 6.1NIST: PR.AC-7OWASP: API2
T1552

Credentials from Password Stores

ATT&CK

Extracting passwords from web browsers or password managers.

Mitigated by
Output Content FilteringBaseline ProtectionLow
NIST: AI-1.2OWASP: LLM02
Collection
T1114-003

Email Forwarding Rule

ATT&CK

Automated exfiltration through inbox rules.

Mitigated by
Mailflow Rules (Transport Rules)Baseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 9.3NIST: PR.DS-2
Mailbox Delegation MonitoringExtended ProtectionLow
CIS: 6.2NIST: DE.AE-2
Unified Audit Log (UAL)Baseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 8.2NIST: PR.PT-1
T1114-002

Remote Email Collection

ATT&CK

Harvesting emails directly from the server.

Mitigated by
Mailflow Rules (Transport Rules)Baseline ProtectionLow
CIS: 9.3NIST: PR.DS-2

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