Kill Chain

What is a Kill Chain?

A kill chain is a model that breaks down an attack into sequential stages to show how a threat progresses from setup to full exploitation. The original Cyber Kill Chain developed by Lockheed Martin describes seven stages used to characterize broad cyber intrusion activity. In digital fraud and account takeover scenarios, a simplified kill chain is often used to map how malicious assets drive users to impersonated pages, capture credentials, and attempt to convert those credentials into unauthorized account access.

How does a Kill Chain work?

Kill chains explain how an attack progresses from one stage to the next. In digital fraud and account takeover scenarios, a commonly used kill chain focuses on the credential theft path:

• A lure such as a cloned website, spoofed ad, or phishing link is deployed

• A user is diverted to the impersonated asset and believes it is legitimate

• Credentials or other sensitive data are harvested or tested

• The attacker replays the data against the real login page to attempt access

• If authentication succeeds, the account can be used for unauthorized actions

Fraud succeeds when attackers move through these stages without interruption.

How Memcyco Breaks the Kill Chain

Memcyco breaks the kill chain by infiltrating the attack timeline and deploying proactive countermeasures at multiple stages of the attacker workflow. Instead of allowing adversaries to progress step by step, Memcyco uses early-stage intelligence, protective controls, and advanced deception to stop attackers from advancing and prevent fraud before exploitation occurs.

How it works:

• Detects traffic arriving from cloned domains, malicious referrals, and impersonated assets

• Identifies targeted users and high-risk devices as the attack unfolds

• Applies advanced deception to neutralize harvested credentials with marked decoy data

• Blocks suspicious devices replaying credentials on the genuine site

• Provides real-time insight into targeted victims to support immediate intervention