Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol
Adversaries may steal data by exfiltrating it over a different protocol than that of the existing command and control channel. The data may also be sent to an alternate network location from the main command and control server.
Alternate protocols include FTP, SMTP, HTTP/S, DNS, SMB, or any other network protocol not being used as the main command and control channel. Different protocol channels could also include Web services such as cloud storage. Adversaries may also opt to encrypt and/or obfuscate these alternate channels.
Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol can be done using various common operating system utilities such as Net/SMB or FTP.(Citation: Palo Alto OilRig Oct 2016) On macOS and Linux curl
may be used to invoke protocols such as HTTP/S or FTP/S to exfiltrate data from a system.(Citation: 20 macOS Common Tools and Techniques)
Procedure Examples |
|
Name | Description |
---|---|
Bundlore |
Bundlore uses the |
PoetRAT |
PoetRAT has used a .NET tool named dog.exe to exiltrate information over an e-mail account.(Citation: Talos PoetRAT April 2020) |
TeamTNT |
TeamTNT has sent locally staged files with collected credentials to C2 servers using cURL.(Citation: Cisco Talos Intelligence Group) |
Chaes |
Chaes has exfiltrated its collected data from the infected machine to the C2, sometimes using the MIME protocol.(Citation: Cybereason Chaes Nov 2020) |
FrameworkPOS |
FrameworkPOS can use DNS tunneling for exfiltration of credit card data.(Citation: SentinelOne FrameworkPOS September 2019) |
Kobalos |
Kobalos can exfiltrate credentials over the network via UDP.(Citation: ESET Kobalos Feb 2021) |
Hydraq |
Hydraq connects to a predefined domain on port 443 to exfil gathered information.(Citation: Symantec Hydraq Jan 2010) |
Mitigations |
|
Mitigation | Description |
---|---|
Network Segmentation |
Architect sections of the network to isolate critical systems, functions, or resources. Use physical and logical segmentation to prevent access to potentially sensitive systems and information. Use a DMZ to contain any internet-facing services that should not be exposed from the internal network. Configure separate virtual private cloud (VPC) instances to isolate critical cloud systems. |
Data Loss Prevention |
Use a data loss prevention (DLP) strategy to categorize sensitive data, identify data formats indicative of personal identifiable information (PII), and restrict exfiltration of sensitive data.(Citation: PurpleSec Data Loss Prevention) |
Filter Network Traffic |
Use network appliances to filter ingress or egress traffic and perform protocol-based filtering. Configure software on endpoints to filter network traffic. |
Network Intrusion Prevention |
Use intrusion detection signatures to block traffic at network boundaries. |
Detection
Analyze network data for uncommon data flows (e.g., a client sending significantly more data than it receives from a server). Processes utilizing the network that do not normally have network communication or have never been seen before are suspicious. Analyze packet contents to detect communications that do not follow the expected protocol behavior for the port that is being used. (Citation: University of Birmingham C2)
References
- Gardiner, J., Cova, M., Nagaraja, S. (2014, February). Command & Control Understanding, Denying and Detecting. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
- Phil Stokes. (2021, February 16). 20 Common Tools & Techniques Used by macOS Threat Actors & Malware. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
- Grunzweig, J. and Falcone, R.. (2016, October 4). OilRig Malware Campaign Updates Toolset and Expands Targets. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
- Salem, E. (2020, November 17). CHAES: Novel Malware Targeting Latin American E-Commerce. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
- Microsoft. (2004, February 6). Perimeter Firewall Design. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
- Darin Smith. (2022, April 21). TeamTNT targeting AWS, Alibaba. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
- Mercer, W, et al. (2020, April 16). PoetRAT: Python RAT uses COVID-19 lures to target Azerbaijan public and private sectors. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
- Kremez, V. (2019, September 19). FIN6 “FrameworkPOS”: Point-of-Sale Malware Analysis & Internals. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- M.Leveille, M., Sanmillan, I. (2021, February 2). Kobalos – A complex Linux threat to high performance computing infrastructure. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
- Lelli, A. (2010, January 11). Trojan.Hydraq. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
Связанные риски
Каталоги
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