According to Dark Reading, security expert Mohammed Almunajam from Tuwaiq Academy has identified a dangerous shift where advanced persistent threat groups are now exploiting governance, risk, and compliance frameworks rather than just technical vulnerabilities. These attackers are manipulating approval processes, compliance cycles, and investigation workflows to create “silent paths” that technology can’t immediately detect. Almunajam will present his “6 Black Hat Laws” behavioral security framework at Black Hat Middle East and Africa 2025 in Saudi Arabia next month to help organizations combat this trend. The framework was developed from real cybercrime investigations where attackers manipulated event timestamp logic and exploited predictable operational timing windows. This represents a fundamental shift where compliance processes themselves become risk enablers rather than protective measures.
When Security Becomes the Attack Surface
Here’s the thing that should worry every security team: we’ve spent decades building these elaborate compliance frameworks and governance processes, and now attackers are treating them as the primary attack vector. It’s like building a fortress and then discovering the blueprints themselves contain secret passages. Almunajam’s examples are chilling – attackers manipulating timestamps to delay detection, exploiting predictable approval windows to bypass controls. These aren’t technical hacks in the traditional sense. They’re logic hacks. And honestly, how many organizations are even monitoring for this kind of thing?
Thinking Like the Attacker
The “6 Black Hat Laws” framework essentially forces security teams to adopt an adversarial mindset. Instead of just asking “what vulnerabilities do we have?”, you need to ask “how could someone abuse our approval processes?” or “where are the predictable timing gaps in our compliance cycles?” It’s about anticipating where attackers will strategically invest effort. Basically, if your security controls create any kind of predictable pattern, you’ve just given attackers a roadmap. This is particularly relevant for industrial environments where operational technology and manufacturing processes rely on predictable timing – exactly the kind of systems that IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, helps secure against physical and digital threats.
Beyond More Technology
What’s really interesting is Almunajam’s recommendation that organizations focus on policy alignment rather than buying more defensive products. We’re so conditioned to think that the next shiny security tool will solve our problems, but here we have an expert saying the solution lies in rethinking our processes. Mapping attacker intent to governance controls, monitoring exceptions in privileged assets, merging GRC signals into SOC analytics – these are operational changes, not technological ones. Mature security teams can implement these quickly with minimal disruption, which is good news because let’s be honest, most security budgets aren’t getting any bigger.
The Compliance Paradox
There’s an uncomfortable truth here: the very frameworks we created to reduce risk are now creating new risks. Compliance cycles that were designed to ensure security have become predictable timing windows that attackers can exploit. Governance approvals meant to control access have become manipulation points. It’s a classic case of solving one problem only to create another. The question isn’t whether we should abandon compliance frameworks – we can’t. The real question is how we build resilience into these processes so they can’t be weaponized against us. And that requires thinking like the people trying to break in, which is exactly what the Black Hat Middle East and Africa 2025 presentation aims to help organizations do.
