Instagram has an impressive 1 billion monthly active users—that’s millions of people logging in each day. It’s clearly a great place to connect with potential customers, particularly younger consumers (recent data shows nearly 62% of Instagram users are aged 18-34).
While there are many ways to promote your brand on the platform, including running ads and sponsoring posts, one of the most effective (and sometimes free) ways to grow your audience is by hosting an Instagram takeover.
A unique marketing tactic for your business, an Instagram takeover is when you partner with someone to take over your account for a short time, whether it’s one day or several. The host announces themselves to your audience and proceeds to post updates throughout the specified time. This host of the Instagram takeover can be an employee, an influencer, a business or an industry expert.
Takeovers help increase engagement and reach on Instagram. They give your audience a unique perspective of your business. They can also help elevate your brand, showcasing key products or differentiators to existing customers and new audiences.
Sometimes takeovers are more about elevating other people than simply promoting your brand. A great example of this is when the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) had their March Resident Scholar, Dr. Katherine Mills, take over their account for a day.
Dr. Mills posted to the ASA account throughout the day, highlighting meetings with ASA leadership and politicians during a trip to Washington, DC advocating for the physician anesthesiologists and safe care for patients.
With an Instagram takeover, you’re handing over the proverbial keys of your account over to a guest for a specified time, whether it’s for one day or a few days. That person (or business) posts their own content on your account. If this makes you nervous, don’t worry—we’ll explain how takeovers work (including how you can protect yourself from risks) and provide some tips on how to make sure your takeover is successful.
Instagram takeovers are a modern way to generate buzz about your brand or products. They provide many benefits to businesses, including the opportunity to collaborate with popular influencers or content creators who are relevant to your audience.
Here are some of our favorite benefits of Instagram takeovers:
When an influencer with a large following takes over your account, you have the potential to reach new audiences. Influencers will notify their followers of the takeover by posting an Instagram Story or post to head over to your account to follow along. Takeovers help build your followers on Instagram, as some of the guest host’s followers will likely start following and interacting with you as a result. This benefit can last long after the initial takeover has ended.
Partnering with a guest host helps establish trust with their followers.
This partnership gives your company credibility with a new audience who may not know about you or your business. It lends social proof since people trust the recommendations of others. When an influencer promotes your brand on their own page—and their followers see that content—you’re more likely to earn the trust of those individuals.
Engaging with an employee or industry insider gives you credibility with your own followers, particularly when that person is an expert in their field.
Instagram takeovers provide a compelling way to encourage more engagement on your posts. If you’re collaborating with someone who has an active, loyal following, you can expect to see more Instagram likes, comments and shares on your content. This increased engagement can also help increase your reach because Instagram’s algorithm favors posts with high engagement.
Takeovers on Instagram give your followers a glimpse under the hood of your business.
They help showcase an authentic side of your business and can highlight your company culture, products or services.
For example, let’s say you own a bakery. You could do an Instagram takeover with one of your pastry chefs and have them show your followers how they make some of your most popular desserts.
By increasing your brand’s reach and engagement, Instagram takeovers can also lead to more traffic and sales for your business. If you’re promoting a new product or service, an influencer takeover can help get the word out.
Make it easy for your followers to navigate to your website by coordinating your and your guest host’s Instagram link in bio tools. You can also use hashtags to increase exposure and discovery (more on that below).
Take some time to plan your strategy, identify your ideal guest hosts who align with your brand and values, and promote your event will help you get the most out of your Instagram takeover.
The following steps are focused on helping you plan the perfect takeover.
Before you start looking for guest hosts, it’s important to establish your goals for the takeover. What do you want to achieve (e.g., brand awareness, follower growth, improved post engagement, customer leads, etc.)?
Make sure to establish some KPIs (key performance indicators) so you can measure the takeover campaign’s performance. These could include:
The goals should be clear to everyone involved in the takeover, so posts can be tailored to help you achieve them.
When you’re planning your takeover, identify a host that makes sense for your brand. They should have a similar target audience and be respected in their field. Consider the following when selecting your host:
Their followers view them as experts in their niche. Collaborating with an influencer puts your brand in front of their loyal audience. Influencer posts, paired with hashtags, can also foster engagement and interest.
There’s more than one way to execute a successful Instagram takeover. It’s important to be creative, but also to align your takeover to your specific goals. Here are three common approaches to consider:
These behind-the-scenes, action-oriented strategies generate engaging content while giving your followers a sneak peek of something specific to your business.Once you’ve chosen your guest host and type of takeover, it’s time to create some guidelines. This will help ensure the guest’s posts are aligned with your brand voice and goals. Your guidelines should answer the following questions:
Don’t be too restrictive.
Set your expectations, but allow the guest host enough freedom to be creative and use their own voice.
Now it’s time to give your guest host access to your account. One way to do this is to provide the password to the guest host (just make sure this is someone you can trust).
If the guest host is an influencer, they’ll likely have their own Instagram Business Account. Connect their account with your
Business Account through the Instagram settings. This will allow them to post content to your feed as if they were posting from their own account.
You can also give guest hosts access to your Instagram account by adding them as a contributor to your Meta Business Manager. Meta provides detailed instructions for how to do this via their Help Center.
Alternatively, you can streamline permissions management by implementing an approval process with a social media management platform like Sprout Social. With a message approval workflow, you can collaborate effectively with partners and guests on tone and content.
You can promote your takeover ahead of time using Instagram hashtags. Any branded hashtags associated with the takeover should be easy to remember, specific and relevant.
Branded hashtags help your followers keep track of the takeover and see related posts in one place. You can also promote the hashtag to encourage your followers to use it when posting about the takeover to increase exposure and discovery.
The final step involves a few key details including choosing when to post. We’ve put together some best practices about when to post on social media to give you a starting point. However, you should also review your account analytics to see what times have historically been best for you.
This should also be the time to determine if you want a full account or semi-account takeover:
g., a day, 6 hours, a weekend).You’re ready to launch, but there’s one more thing…
With your takeover ready to launch, it’s time to start promoting it on Instagram and beyond. This will help ensure your followers are aware of the Instagram takeover and get them excited about the content to come.
Before the day: Tease the takeover on Instagram and your other social media channels. Send an email to your subscribers. Request the guest host post about the takeover to their followers and community. You can also announce the takeover on your website.
On the day of: Post a photo or video on your Instagram feed or Story to announce the start of the takeover and introduce the host.
Make sure to use the takeover hashtag. The guest host can repost this content to their followers as well.
After the day: Recap the takeover on your website and share highlights on social media. You can even create an Instagram Stories Highlight reel with the best posts from the takeover (your guest host will likely want to do this too).
And, of course, be sure to thank your host.
After the dust settles, review your takeover’s performance and evaluate metrics against the established KPIs. Take some time to understand what worked and what didn’t so you can optimize your takeover strategy for next time. Here are a few key metrics to measure:
A social media management tool like Sprout can simplify campaign measurement associated with an Instagram takeover. Sprout provides dashboard-style Instagram analytics that let you easily see post performance, hashtag usage, audience engagement and more.
Now that you know how to execute an Instagram takeover, check out some examples from brands that have done it well.
In May 2019, Samantha Pollino hosted an Instagram Story takeover on the official Hamilton Musical Instagram account. Pollino played Woman 2 in the Phillip Company production of the show. She did the takeover when the show was in Dallas, posting Story videos throughout the day of behind-the-scenes footage. She used Story elements, adding hashtags, Instagram handles, stickers and music to her posts. She also engaged with followers—for example, inviting them to ask questions which she promised to answer on Twitter.
Pollino has just under 21,000 followers on Instagram, so this is a great example of how an insider with a modest following can produce some engaging and unique content.
In 2019, the University of Pennsylvania Admissions department gave one of their student ambassador’s the keys to their Instagram Stories for a day. She recorded her day on campus as a UPenn student: walking to class with friends, enjoying a meal in the cafeteria and attending class. She even recorded one of her professors writing on a chalkboard.
The takeover provides a brief, but impactful, glimpse into the life of a student at Penn, complete with some compelling footage of the campus, classrooms and student spaces.
Many may know Jessica Capshaw as Dr.
Arizona Roberts in the long-running ABC show Grey’s Anatomy. Capshaw took over the show’s official Instagram Stories to celebrate the milestone 300th episode. This gave the show’s fans and followers a unique glimpse into the show’s production.
Capshaw’s posts included cameos from fellow cast members, a brief spotlight of the hair and makeup trailer, shots of the cast and crew gathering in a dining area and many more insider treats.
Instagram takeovers provide a powerful way for businesses to mix up their account’s content, increase engagement and reach new audiences. Sprout is the perfect tool to help you plan, execute and measure your Instagram takeover. With Sprout, you can easily see post performance, hashtag usage and audience engagement.
Download our Instagram for Brands guide and learn how to build a comprehensive high-impact Instagram marketing strategy.
Whether you’re trying to cross-promote content, grow your follower base, get the message out about a product or idea, engage a specific community, or just have a little fun with your feed, an Instagram takeover is never a bad idea.
But running a successful takeover requires a bit of planning and a whole lot of coordination. In this guide, we’ll cover everything brands and creators need to know to make sure your next collaboration is a hit.
What is an Instagram takeover?
Why should you do an Instagram takeover?
How to do an Instagram takeover in 7 steps
Frequently asked questions about Instagram takeovers
Bonus: Get the Instagram advertising cheat sheet for 2022. The free resource includes key audience insights, recommended ad types, and tips for success.
An Instagram takeover is when someone temporarily takes over another account to create and share content—usually on behalf of a brand. The takeover host might be a celebrity, an influencer, or even a team member.
It’s kind of like when your friend uses your phone to post a silly selfie while you’re in the bathroom.
Instagram takeovers just require much more planning and intentionality. (Oh, and your permission!)
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A post shared by MS Association of America (@msassociation)
The MS Association had actress Selma Blair take over its Instagram to promote its 52nd anniversary.
An Instagram takeover is one of the best organic marketing tools for your account. As long as you approach it strategically, it’s almost impossible to see a downside to the practice.
Whether you’re a social media marketer or an influencer, it’s the ultimate win-win scenario. In an Instagram takeover, both parties can benefit from one another in expected (and surprising) ways.
Read on to learn why an Instagram takeover is the right decision for you.
Here are a few ways an Instagram takeover can help your business.
Think of an Instagram takeover as a bridge that connects similar (but not identical) groups of people. If you invite someone to guest post on your account, many of their fans will likely follow along to see what happens. It’s a great way to gain high-quality followers.
If you have an important milestone approaching, a takeover makes perfect sense. An Instagram takeover is a great hype machine. Consider it a chance to drum up attention before launching a new product or service. It’s like a social media version of Kanye West’s Yeezy collabs with Adidas and the Gap or Travis Scott’s McDonald’s meal.
An Instagram takeover is a tacit endorsement of your account. This is especially valuable if you cater to a specific niche. For example, a meal kit company might work well with a family-oriented influencer.
A takeover is a way both parties can vouch for each other.
No one wants to flood the feed, but keeping up with consistent, timely, relevant posts is also important. Even the greatest marketing managers can occasionally feel stuck in a rut. Takeovers can be a great way to freshen up your marketing strategy and think outside the box (or, er, grid).
We know takeovers can be a great way for businesses to breathe new life into their Instagram feeds, but what’s in it for creators? Here’s how successful Instagram takeovers can be helpful for influencers.
If you’ve been invited to host an Instagram takeover, it’s a chance to share your voice with a brand new audience and showcase what you have to offer. Takeovers are a rare opportunity to connect with a group of people who have a proven interest in your niche.
When you partner with a brand, you tell their audience (and your own) that you’re a trusted voice in that space.
Plus, you can add every successful brand partnership to your pitch deck and use those wins to generate even more deals.
You can (and should!) promote the takeover on your Instagram, too. If you’re taking over a brand’s account, you’ll likely have exclusive Stories and posts you can share with your followers.
Despite their high-profile nature, Instagram takeovers are relatively low-stakes. The posts can be as polished or rough-around-the-edges as you want, and the audience will roll with the punches. In fact, a change in tone or look might even garner more attention as your viewers poke around to figure out what’s going on. As long as you’re serious about strategy, there’s a lot of room to have some fun.
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A post shared by Broadway Plus (@broadwayplus)
Broadway Plus shares an engaging video and poster to advertise that Hadestown star Kimberly Marable will be taking over their Instagram Story to share a day in the life on tour.
Bonus: Get the Instagram advertising cheat sheet for 2022. The free resource includes key audience insights, recommended ad types, and tips for success.
Get the free cheat sheet now!
Start by asking yourself the big-picture questions. What are you hoping to accomplish with this Instagram takeover? Having a clear purpose will help you plan out every step of your strategy, from who will host to the measurable metrics for success.
Here are a few goals you could consider when planning an Instagram takeover:
An Instagram takeover is inherently collaborative, so you’ll want to choose someone who is the exact right fit for you.
Let’s break down the dos and don’ts of booking an Instagram takeover partner.
DO partner with someone who is aligned with your brand.
You’ll want to pick a creator who understands the product or service you have on offer. You should also make sure they fit the demographic of your target audience.
For example, a slang-heavy Gen Z influencer won’t make waves with a target audience of baby boomers. A super-polished millennial creator isn’t likely to connect with TikTok teens, either. Make sure a potential partner’s tone works for your audience.
DO partner with someone whose content you enjoy.
If you enjoy someone’s content, your followers probably will too. Take a look at your potential partner’s IG grid, stories and tagged page to get a feel for their personality and posting style. This is a fairly personal collaboration, so getting a feel for who you’re working with is important.
DON’T book someone just because they have lots of followers.
Your potential takeover partner might have a large follower count, but don’t go on numbers alone. Their engagement rate is also important. Do their followers seem interested in what they’re posting?
You can calculate engagement yourself, but your partner should also be able to supply these stats in their media kit.
DON’T book someone who only does sponsored posts.
Ideally, you want to partner with someone whose page has a healthy ratio of organic content to sponsored ads. If someone only participates in branded content, chances are they’re not going to do much for your business.
DO pick a partner that you authentically enjoy.
Your followers trust that they’re getting the most authentic version of you, and this is even more critical when marketing a product. If you’re not fully sold on something but agree to participate, you could hurt your personal brand in the long run. Being strategic about who you partner with can ensure your decisions are best for you.
DO research the brand to make sure you align with them.
Once you’ve decided you’d like to work with a brand, spend some time researching them. Even a quick Google will tell you if there are any controversies with their brand or product. The last thing you want is to be blind-sided by negative questions or comments during a takeover.
DON’T work with someone for the wrong reasons.
We know it’s tempting, but make sure you’re not working with someone just because they’ve offered you payment or a free product. Social media users can sniff out inauthenticity a mile away. If your takeover feels off, it will hurt your online reputation, too.
DON’T overextend your reach.
Instagram takeovers can be great for building your brand. But that doesn’t mean you should do them constantly. The point is to drum up hype with exciting events, but if you overextend yourself, you’ll hurt your overall influence in the long run.
There are many different kinds of Instagram posts, and each could serve a different purpose in your Instagram takeover. For example, you might be okay with your collaborator posting all over the feed or prefer they stick to Stories.
These Instagram formats are perfect for takeovers:
Instagram Stories
While it depends on the style of the takeover, you’ll likely want to plan your content around Instagram Story posts. After all, users know and love IG Stories as a place for both slick and rough-around-the-edges content. They’re great for trying out fun experiments.
Stories can also be customized with links and calls to action. Plus, you can save Stories in your highlights, so they don’t need to disappear forever when the takeover ends.
Team Canada invited different athletes to take over their Instagram Story to share a day in their lives.
Instagram Feed
The main Instagram feed, also known as the grid, is a more permanent home for your takeover content.
Generally, the grid isn’t best for tons of quick posts in quick succession (a.k.a. “flooding the feed”), but it can still work well for takeovers. Guest content will stand out on your feed, which means it can continue attracting attention long after your takeover. It’s also a great place to include Reels.
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A post shared by Canada Council for the Arts (@canada.
council)
The Canada Council for the Arts invites up-and-coming artists to share works in progress, musical performance and visual art as part of their ongoing takeover series.
Instagram Collabs
One of Instagram’s newest features is perfect for Instagram takeovers.
The Instagram Collab tool allows you to simultaneously post the same image or Reel on two accounts. The post appears on both party’s grids and is credited to both accounts.
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A post shared by Air (@air.hq)
Podcaster and meme-maker Premiles partnered with the tech company Air for a series of self-aware collaborative posts.
Collabs are a great way to boost your reach and engagement since your post will automatically be shared with two audiences at once.
With the right call-to-action, Collabs can be a powerful marketing tool. Who knows, they may even replace takeovers entirely someday.
Instagram Live
IG Live is another great option for a takeover. Livestreams just require some pre-planning and a great deal of trust.
With a livestream, there’s more room for error, but that spontaneity can be fun. Just make sure your content, goals and partnership are aligned before going live.
Scott Wolf and the cast of ‘Nancy Drew’ did a brief Instagram Live takeover that was captured on YouTube.
Once you’ve picked a partner and created a plan, it’s time to map out the details of the takeover.
How long will your partner be posting on your account? How many posts would you like from them, and what kind of content are you looking for? You also might be expected to pay an influencer rate, particularly if you expect the person taking over your account to post about it on their own feed. Put all of your expectations in writing, ideally in some form of contract.
You’ll also want to determine exactly how you plan to run the takeover. There are two main ways of doing so:
In most cases, we’d recommend choosing a partial takeover. It allows you to double-check that your partner’s content matches your expectations. Plus, you can schedule the takeover posts alongside your regular content using your social media scheduling tool of choice. (We like Hootsuite for this, of course, but we’re biased)
A full account takeover is riskier, but sometimes it’s the only option — if you want your takeover partner to go live, for example.
It means you’ll have less control over what your partner posts, though, and sharing your password makes you more vulnerable. Just make sure you create a new, temporary password and switch it back as soon as the takeover is complete.
You’ve successfully planned your takeover. Now, you need to make sure the world doesn’t miss it.
Treat it like an IRL event and hype it up in advance. Share a post in your main feed and remind your audience in Stories in the time leading up to the takeover. You might even consider throwing a few dollars behind the post to promote it further.
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A post shared by Choose DO (@aacom_do)
The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine shared this eye-popping poster to promote a Pride Month takeover.
Don’t forget to promote the takeover outside of Instagram, too. If you’ve got an audience on Twitter, Facebook, or TikTok, they also might want to know about it.
You might be letting someone else take over your account, but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook entirely. While your takeover is unfolding, keep an eye on the comments and make note of the live feedback.
You’ll also want to be around in case anything goes wrong. There’s nothing worse than needing a last-minute password reset and not having the resources to do so.
Once the takeover’s over, the real fun starts. It’s time to dig into the performance metrics to find out just how well you did. Measuring your results is the only way you’ll learn what worked and where you can improve next time.
The most important metrics for evaluating your takeover will depend on your goals. You’ll likely want to take a peek at Story views, engagement stats, and follower growth.
You can use Instagram’s native tools to review your analytics on a fairly high level. If you want detailed comparative metrics, though, you’ll need a more robust tool.
Among other things, the Hootsuite Analytics dashboard can help you:
Want some help measuring your results? Here are the best Instagram analytics tools. We’ve got more information on using IG Live analytics too!
It’s well within standard practices to pay an influencer for their participation. But some partners may be willing to participate for free or in exchange for your product.
It’s really a case-by-case basis.
Just make sure both parties communicate their expectations in writing before the takeover. You can also check out our guide to influencer marketing for more details.
Again, this will depend on your goals and strategy. You might want them to highlight a product or hype up a specific element of your brand.
But you also might just want them to be themselves. Sometimes, the thrill of the unknown is more rewarding than having someone be “salesy” on your account.
The web series Critical Role invites guests to share a day in their lives as part of their Instagram Stories takeovers.
Obviously, there are always going to be risks when sharing your account with someone else. The safest, simplest bet will be to have your takeover partner submit their content to you and then posting it yourself.
But if you’ve opted for IG Live, that’s not necessarily an option. In that case, change your password before sharing it with your partner. Then, change it again once the takeover is complete.
If you use Hootsuite, you can use your past performance metrics to find the best time for your particular audience. There’s also a long-running Instagram trend for “Takeover Tuesdays.”
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A post shared by Kevin J DeBruin 🚀 Space + Life (@kevinjdebruin)
NASA rocket scientist Kevin J DeBruin highlights different women in STEM for his weekly Takeover Tuesday posts.
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As a rule, it is better to use alternative methods, since hacking is punishable by law. Use the LoveReport.ru online service to analyze your soulmate's Instagram and find out with whom he/she communicates, who comments and likes his/her posts the most
Users are interested in the question of how to hack Insta. Usually it is necessary:
Hacking is often used by scammers who want to extort funds or some information. It is important to consider this possibility in order to take care of the security of the profile.
Under current law, gaining access to someone else's Instagram data using various hacking methods is a punishable crime. Separately, the issue of using personal information for its dissemination and blackmailing an individual is considered.
If outsiders have taken over the data, you must contact the police, since illegal access to protected information is a violation of the integrity of this object.
In addition to hacking, the situation may take another unpleasant turn. Fraudsters use the victim's data to obtain funds from bank cards, fraud and other blackmail methods.
There are several effective ways to hack Instagram.
It is recommended that all methods be treated with caution and not be used for illegal purposes.
The easiest and most affordable way to quickly hack another user's Instagram. To infiltrate another user's page, you can request the ability to recover a forgotten password. You only need to know the login to activate the function. The Insta hacking procedure looks like this:
This is the simplest, most obvious and best-to-implement hacking method that does not require much effort.
You can download a special program that will save keystrokes on someone else's smartphone. To hack a profile, it remains to wait until the user enters the login information for their Instagram account. This method of hacking does not require much time and effort - it is enough to choose proven software with reviews.
Screenshots are a good way to avoid complex techniques. In the screenshots, you can see the correspondence of a person and his other actions on the social network.
You can take screenshots on Insta without having superuser rights, just check the box when working with a social network so that screenshots are saved at a certain frequency. You can get them around the clock, which allows you to find out everything you need.
This is the easiest and most effective way to hack someone else's Instagram. It is considered illegal as it refers to a gross form of fraud. This is one of the possible methods, but it is not recommended to resort to it in practice.
It is important to know what methods are used to deceive users.
The method is to create a fake Instagram login page. As a result, the user enters his login information there, after which the attacker gets all the information and access to his personal profile.
There are various programs for hacking Instagram. They can be downloaded in the public domain. Allocate paid and shareware applications. Among the shareware are popular:
Among the paid hacking applications that you can download are:
You need to download it to your computer or laptop. An effective program for hacking and parental control. Application data is easily deleted after use, so you can hide traces of presence for the owner.
It is quite possible to hack someone else's Instagram. When resorting to any of these methods, you should remember about their illegality. Therefore, you should think several times before proceeding with any action.
PT Network Attack Discovery Traffic Analysis Systems Corporation (NTA) Positive Technologies
Positive Technologies has introduced PT Network Attack Discovery version 11.
The main thing in the release is the detection of an even greater (+20%) number of current cyber threats using a new behavioral traffic analysis module. In particular, the product detects the Kerberoasting attack, DNS tunnels, remote command execution in Windows, as well as brute force and password spraying. PT NAD 11 can now be installed on the Russian operating system Astra Linux and deployed in just 15 minutes.
“Classic firewalls (IPS, NGFW) primarily use signature methods and indicators of compromise to detect attacks. They are suitable for protecting the network perimeter from known attacks, but are often useless for detecting targeted attacks and intruders already on the company's network. For these purposes, it is necessary to use more complex algorithms based on profiling and behavior analysis. Using these approaches and our unique expertise, we are constantly improving the capabilities of PT NAD and automating the detection of complex threats, thereby facilitating the work of information security specialists”, - comments Dmitry Efanov, head of development at PT Network Attack Discovery, PositiveTechnologies .
Detects more attacks
PT NAD 11 detects Kerberoasting . The analysis of the security of Russian companies, conducted by Positive Technologies experts, shows that in every second company, the use of this technique allows an attacker to develop an attack and obtain credentials. The danger of Kerberoasting is that at the first stage of the attack, when attackers request access to various services, the activity is displayed as legitimate, and the second stage - brute force to obtain passwords for collected access - is carried out locally, on the side of the attackers. Because of this, the probability of detecting this attack by signature methods is extremely low.
“PT NAD has become easier to work with,” tells Alexey Lednev , Head of Expert Services and SOC Development at Positive Technologies. - We supplement simple detection using rules and indicators of compromise with more advanced tools: analytics modules, machine learning tools, collecting statistics and training the product on its data.
All this so that an information security specialist can, without additional research, look at the activity feed in a moment and understand: are these the actions of an attacker or a regular user? And the freed up time that he used to spend on checking positives can be devoted to more advanced tasks, such as proactive threat hunting.
According to the results of penetration tests conducted by Positive Technologies in the second half of 2020 - early 2021, an attacker can penetrate the network perimeter of most companies using password guessing, including brute force and spraying. With the help of behavior analysis, PT NAD more effectively detects attempts to hack accounts by guessing a username and password (brute force), including by guessing an account with a weak password (spraying). The new version of PT NAD also adds a universal module for discovering DNS tunnels of any type, whether it's a self-written hacking tool or a utility from GitHub. The module helps to quickly identify attackers in the network and stop them in a timely manner on the way to the implementation of unacceptable events, which each company determines for itself.
In addition, PT NAD now detects activity such as the creation of new services and Windows Scheduler tasks for remote command execution and intra-perimeter movement tactics. The new analytics module in PT NAD covers open and encrypted traffic cases. In the case of generating encrypted traffic, the system defines such activity as a deviation from the profile and highlights for the operator a specific computer and the user from which it comes.
Activity feed exception
The product now has the ability to add exceptions for threat detection modules. Now the operator can configure detections in more detail and analyze the most relevant triggers. This helps to pay attention to current events and not waste time analyzing incidents that do not pose a danger. The activity feed, which aims to focus PT NAD users on important cyber threats and help track responses to them, has become more user-friendly in the new release.
Integration with other systems
Starting with version 11, events from the PT NAD activity feed can be viewed in the interface of the MaxPatrol SIEM information security event monitoring system.
For companies that use SIEM solutions from other developers, integration mechanisms have been added using syslog, webhook, and a number of others. Thanks to these mechanisms, you can configure the transmission of reputation lists, rules, and events from the activity feed to third-party systems. They also allow you to flexibly customize PT NAD, for example by integrating it with Telegram (for this you need to write code).
Another important innovation is the expansion of the context of notifications in the feed. Now the operator receives more data about the activity of interest to him: for example, in the notification, in addition to detecting traffic by a certain filter, the nodes on which this traffic originated, client-servers, and other necessary context are indicated.
Astra Linux support and installation in 15 minutes
Astra Linux support is implemented, which is especially important for authorities, state corporations, CII entities and other Russian companies that, according to media reports, are switching to this OS as part of import substitution.
