Chainaanval

Chainaanval is a term used in Dutch cybersecurity literature to describe an attack that achieves its objective by chaining together a sequence of interdependent steps, exploits, or campaigns. The concept emphasizes that the attacker’s progress in one phase enables the next, rather than relying on a single, isolated vulnerability. The term mirrors the notion of an attack kill chain, highlighting the procedural nature of modern intrusions.

In practice, a chainaanval can involve multiple stages such as initial access, foothold maintenance, privilege escalation, lateral movement, and data exfiltration, where each stage relies on the success of the previous one. It often includes a combination of technical exploits and social engineering, and may exploit weaknesses in a supplier or partner ecosystem through a supply chain attack. The chaining may span hours, days, or longer, and can target individuals, organizations, or entire industries.

Impacts include extended breach dwell times, broader compromise, and increased difficulty in detection if defenses are not aligned along the attack sequence. Mitigation focuses on defense-in-depth and supply chain security: timely patching, vulnerability management, network segmentation, continuous monitoring, anomaly detection, strong identity and access management, multi-factor authentication, and incident response planning. Regular third-party risk assessments and security hygiene within the supply chain reduce exposure to chained attacks.

See also: cyber kill chain, supply chain security, multi-stage attack, phishing campaign, chain of trust.