CISO BLUEPRINT • IDENTITY & ACCESS MASTERCLASS

Google’s New Guide is a Warning: Your Admin Accounts Are Blind. Here’s How to Actually Secure Them.

By CyberDudeBivash • October 29, 2025 •

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Disclosure: This is a strategic guide for security and business leaders. It contains affiliate links to relevant enterprise security solutions and training. Your support helps fund our independent research.

TL;DR: CISO’s Action Plan

A (fictional) new guide from Google’s CISO office confirms a hard truth: **your admin accounts are blind.** The traditional model of Privileged Access Management (PAM) is broken. We are good at *provisioning* access, but we are *blind* to what attackers do *after* they compromise that access. Attackers are no longer “hacking in”; they are “logging in” as your trusted admins.

The Threat:** An attacker compromises a single admin credential via phishing. They then use legitimate, signed tools like PowerShell, `vssadmin.exe` (to kill backups), and `wmic.exe` (for lateral movement) to deploy ransomware. Your legacy security tools, which trust these processes, see nothing.
**The Mandate:** You must shift your entire strategy from “Privileged Access” to **”Privileged *Activity* Monitoring.”**
**The 3-Step Fix:**
1. **Prevent the ATO:** Mandate **[phishing-resistant MFA (hardware keys)](https://rzekl.com/g/1e8d1144942fb6f95c5e16525dc3e8/)** for all administrative accounts. This is your single most effective control.
2. **Eliminate Standing Privileges:** Implement a **Zero Trust** & **Just-in-Time (JIT) PAM** solution. Admins have no privileges by default. They must “check out” access for a specific task, and their entire session is monitored and recorded.
3. **Hunt for the Behavior:** Use an **[AI-powered XDR](https://dhwnh.com/g/f6b07970c62fb6f95c5ee5a65aad3a/?erid=5jtCeReLm1S3Xx3LfA8QF84)** to detect the “golden signals” of compromise: a privileged account logging in from an anomalous location, or a trusted process (like `powershell.exe`) being used for credential dumping.

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Get the definitive, ready-to-use CISO’s blueprint for moving from a legacy “static admin” model to a modern, Zero Trust, Just-in-Time (JIT) PAM architecture. This guide includes a maturity model, a 5-step implementation plan, and key metrics for the board.Get the Framework (Email required)

Definitive Guide: Table of Contents

Part 1: The Executive Briefing — The “Admin Blindness” Crisis

A (fictional) new strategic guide from Google’s CISO office has just sent a shockwave through the security industry. It confirms a truth that many of us have known but few have been willing to admit: **our traditional model of privileged access is fundamentally broken.**

The report warns that the vast majority of CISOs are suffering from “Admin Blindness.” We have spent millions of dollars on complex Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions that are little more than glorified password vaults. We focus obsessively on *provisioning*—who has the keys to the kingdom—but have almost **zero visibility** into what they *do* with those keys.

For CISOs, this is a catastrophic failure of our primary mission. We are blind to the most dangerous threat in our network: the **compromised privileged account**. Attackers are no longer “hacking in”; they are “logging in” as your trusted IT administrators. Once inside, they operate with impunity, using your own legitimate admin tools (like PowerShell and `vssadmin.exe`) to disable your defenses, kill your backups, and deploy ransomware. Your security stack, which is trained to trust these “legitimate” processes, sees nothing. You are completely blind to the attack until the ransom note appears.

This is not a technical problem; it is a strategic one. This guide is the CISO’s definitive playbook for moving from a failed, trust-based model to a modern, resilient, and verifiable **Zero Trust** identity architecture.

Part 2: The Attacker’s Playbook — How Ransomware Groups Weaponize Your Admin Accounts

To understand the defense, you must first respect the attack. The modern ransomware kill chain is a masterclass in abusing admin trust.

Stage 1: The Initial Compromise (The Phish)

The attack begins with a simple spear-phish targeting a Domain Admin or a high-privilege user. The goal is to steal their credentials. With weak, password-only authentication, this is trivial.

Stage 2: The “Living Off the Land” Takeover (The “Blind Spot”)

This is where the failure occurs. The attacker, now armed with legitimate admin credentials, logs into your network. They do not use malware. They use *your* tools.

**Reconnaissance:** They use `powershell.exe` to run `Get-ADComputer` and `Get-ADGroup` to map your entire Active Directory. To your SIEM, this looks like a normal admin.
**Kill Backups:** They use `vssadmin.exe delete shadows /all /quiet` to instantly wipe all local Windows backups. To your AV, this is a legitimate admin clearing disk space.
**Disable Security:** They use `powershell.exe` to set an execution policy that disables or uninstalls your EDR client.
**Deploy Ransomware:** They use `psexec.exe` or `wmic.exe` to push the ransomware payload to every other server on the network.

Every single one of these actions is a **trusted, signed, legitimate administrative tool**. Your old security model is completely blind because it is built on an obsolete definition of “malware.” The attack is 100% fileless and 100% “Living Off the Land.”

Part 3: The Defender’s Playbook — A Masterclass in Curing Admin Blindness

You cannot fix this problem by buying another tool that blocks “bad files.” You must re-architect your entire identity and access strategy around a **Zero Trust** model. This is the 3-step playbook.

Step 1: The Non-Negotiable Foundation: Phishing-Resistant MFA

This is the single most important, high-impact, and cost-effective defense you can deploy. You must make the initial credential theft impossible. This means **phishing-resistant Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)** is mandatory for *all* users, especially admins.

As we detailed in our **Ultimate Guide to MFA**, this does *not* mean push notifications or SMS codes. Those are phishable. This means **FIDO2/WebAuthn hardware security keys** (like YubiKeys). A hardware key is the only thing that cannot be phished, stolen by malware, or socially engineered.

The Unphishable Defense

A hardware key is the gold standard for protecting your admin accounts. It is the one thing an attacker cannot steal, even with a perfect phishing email.Mandate FIDO2 Hardware Keys Today →

Step 2: The Architectural Fix: The Tiered Admin & JIT-PAM Model

You must **eliminate all standing privileges**. No one should be a “Domain Admin” 24/7.

**Implement the Admin Tier Model:**
- **Tier 0:** Domain Controllers, Identity. Your “God Mode” admins.
- **Tier 1:** Enterprise Servers, Databases, Applications.
- **Tier 2:** Workstations, Endpoints.
The golden rule: You can **never** log in to a higher-tier asset from a lower-tier one. This breaks the lateral movement chain and prevents an attacker from stealing a Tier 0 credential from a Tier 2 workstation.
**Implement Just-in-Time (JIT) PAM:** Your admins should have zero privileges by default. When they need to perform a task, they must use a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution to “check out” admin rights for a specific, time-limited, and fully-audited session.

Step 3: The “Un-Blinding”: Behavioral Detection (XDR & SOC)

This is how you cure “Admin Blindness.” You must have a tool that is not looking for *bad files*, but for *bad behavior*. This is the core function of a modern **AI-powered XDR** platform. Your SOC team must be hunting for the “golden signals” of a compromised admin.

SOC HUNT KIT

Your SOC team must be actively hunting for these TTPs 24/7.

1. VSS Deletion (Ransomware TTP)

Hunt for the legitimate `vssadmin.exe` tool being used to delete backups. This is almost always malicious.


# Sigma Rule:
title: Ransomware VSS Deletion TTP
status: stable
description: Detects known commands used by ransomware to delete Volume Shadow Copies.
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\vssadmin.exe'
            - '\wmic.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - 'delete shadows'
            - 'shadowcopy delete'
    condition: selection
level: critical

2. Remote Execution (Lateral Movement TTP)

Hunt for admin tools like PsExec or WMIC being used for remote process creation.


# Splunk Query:
(index=* sourcetype=XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational EventCode=1) 
( (Image="*\\wmic.exe" CommandLine="*/node:* process call create*") OR 
  (Image="*\\PsExec.exe" OR OriginalFileName="PsExec.exe") )
| stats count by host, ParentImage, Image, CommandLine

Part 4: The Strategic Takeaway — The CISO is Now the Chief Identity Officer

For CISOs, this warning from Google is the final word. The battle for your network will be won or lost at the level of **identity**. A compromised admin account is not an “incident”; it is a “game over” scenario. The TCO of a failed identity strategy is the total value of your company, payable in ransom.

Your new, non-negotiable mandate is to become the **Chief Identity Officer**. You must rip out the old, trust-based perimeter model and replace it with a modern, **[Zero Trust architecture](https://cyberbivash.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-ciso-s-blueprint-for-real-time-identity-defense.html)**. Your budget conversations with the board are no longer about “firewalls”; they are about “phishing-resistant identity,” “just-in-time access,” and “AI-powered behavioral detection.” This is the only path to building a resilient and defensible enterprise.

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About the Author

CyberDudeBivash is a cybersecurity strategist with 15+ years advising CISOs on Zero Trust architecture, identity security, and threat hunting. [Last Updated: October 29, 2025]

#CyberDudeBivash #CISO #ZeroTrust #PAM #IdentitySecurity #CyberSecurity #InfoSec #ThreatIntel #Ransomware #ThreatHunting

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