successful phishing attack that led to a data breach. The

attack began with a threat actor sending a well$-$crafted

phishing email to several employees, appearing to come

from a trusted source. The email contained a malicious

attachment that, once opened, downloaded malware onto

the victim's computer.

The attacker was able to escalate their privileges on the

compromised system by exploiting an unpatched

vulnerability. They used evasion techniques to avoid

detection, deploying endpoint protection and network

analysis to hide their tracks. The threat actor established

command and control communication using the

company's unsegmented network and weak firewall rules.

which allowed them to remotely control the compromised

system and exfiltrate sensitive data.

To maintain persistence, the attacker leveraged security

patch mismanagement and bypassed single$-$factor

authentication. They also performed late movement

within the network, compromising additional systems by

exploiting the lack of network segmentation and

insufficient intrusion detection systems in place.