MITRE Shield will be retired on October 18th in favor of MITRE Engage. To learn more, click here.
Mapping To Turla
Turla is a Russian-based threat group that has infected victims in over 45 countries, spanning a range of industries including government, embassies, military, education, research and pharmaceutical companies since 2004. Heightened activity was seen in mid-2015. Turla is known for conducting watering hole and spearphishing campaigns and leveraging in-house tools and malware. Turla’s espionage platform is mainly used against Windows machines, but has also been seen used against macOS and Linux machines.
Disclaimer: We present this mapping to stimulate thinking about active defense options to combat this adversary, not to present all possibilities. We invite you to use this as a guide and add your own use cases for applying Shield techniques to counter each adversary action.
Note: All ATT&CK Group sub-technique mappings have been remapped to their parent technique and were derived from Group Technique mappings in ATT&CK v8.
Details
ATT&CK ID:
G0010
Associated Groups:
Turla, Waterbug, WhiteBear, VENOMOUS BEAR, Snake, Krypton
Note:
This page uses Adversary Group data from MITRE ATT&CK.
ATT&CK Technique |
Opportunity Space | AD Technique | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1005 - Data from Local System | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity to add legitimacy by ensuring the local system is with fully populated with content. | DTE0030 - Pocket Litter | A defender can stage a variety of pocket litter files to bolster the legitimacy of the local system. |
| T1005 - Data from Local System | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity provide content on a variety of topics to see what types of information seems to interest the adversary. | DTE0030 - Pocket Litter | A defender can stage a variety of pocket litter files in order to determine if an adversary is interested in specific file types, subjects, etc. |
| T1007 - System Service Discovery | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0003 - API Monitoring | A defender can monitor and analyze operating system functions calls for detection and alerting. |
| T1007 - System Service Discovery | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender could manipulate the command to display services an adversary would expect to see on a system, or to shown them unexpected services. |
| T1012 - Query Registry | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0011 - Decoy Content | A defender can create decoy registry objects and monitor access to them using Windows Registry Auditing. |
| T1016 - System Network Configuration Discovery | There is an opportunity to influence an adversary to move toward systems you want them to engage with. | DTE0011 - Decoy Content | A defender can create breadcrumbs or honeytokens to lure the attackers toward the decoy systems or network services. |
| T1018 - Remote System Discovery | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender can change the output of a recon commands to hide simulation elements you don’t want attacked and present simulation elements you want the adversary to engage with. |
| T1018 - Remote System Discovery | In an adversary engagement situation, there is an opportunity to add legitimacy by ensuring decoy systems are fully populated with information an adversary would expect to see during this recon process. | DTE0011 - Decoy Content | A defender can create entries in a decoy system's ARP cache, hosts file, etc. to add to the legitimacy of the device. |
| T1021 - Remote Services | There is an opportunity to monitor network traffic for different protocols, anomalous traffic patterns, transfer of data, etc. to determine the presence of an adversary. | DTE0027 - Network Monitoring | The defender can implement network monitoring for and alert on anomalous traffic patterns, large or unexpected data transfers, and other activity that may reveal the presence of an adversary. |
| T1021 - Remote Services | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity to introduce decoy systems that can influence an adversary's behavior or allow you to observe how they perform a specific task. | DTE0017 - Decoy System | A defender could implement a decoy system running a remote service (such as telnet, SSH, and VNC) and see if the adversary attempts to login to the service. |
| T1025 - Data from Removable Media | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity to seed content to influence an adversary's behaviors, test their interest in specific topics, or add legitimacy to a system or environment. | DTE0030 - Pocket Litter | A defender can stage a variety of pocket litter files on an attached storage space. This data may include topics that align to a persona, topics an adversary is interested in, etc. |
| T1025 - Data from Removable Media | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity provide content on a variety of topics to see what types of information seems to interest the adversary. | DTE0030 - Pocket Litter | A defender can stage a variety of pocket litter files in order to determine if an adversary is interested in specific file types, subjects, etc. |
| T1027 - Obfuscated Files or Information | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity to introduce decoy systems that can influence an adversary's behavior or allow you to observe how they perform a specific task. | DTE0017 - Decoy System | A defender could implement a decoy system to study how and when an adversary obfuscate files and hides information. |
| T1049 - System Network Connections Discovery | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender can manipulate the output of commands commonly used to enumerate a system's network connections. They could seed this output with decoy systems and/or networks or remove legitimate systems from the output in order to direct an adversary away from legitimate systems. |
| T1055 - Process Injection | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity to implement security controls to support your defensive objectives over a prolonged engagement. | DTE0032 - Security Controls | A defender could implement security controls to have an effect on process injection techniques such as AppLocker or an Antivirus/EDR tool designed to watch for CreateRemoteThread events. |
| T1057 - Process Discovery | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender can modify commands such that the true list of running processes is not revealed, hiding necessary active defense processes from the adversary. |
| T1057 - Process Discovery | There is an opportunity to present decoy processes to an adversary to influence their behaviors, test their interest, or add legitimacy to a system or environment. | DTE0016 - Decoy Process | A defender can run decoy processes on a system to entice an adversary. |
| T1059 - Command and Scripting Interpreter | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender can manipulate the output of system commands issued to alter information the adversary might use during their activity. |
| T1059 - Command and Scripting Interpreter | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender can modify the functionality of commands used to delete files so that the files are copied to a safe location before they are deleted. |
| T1059 - Command and Scripting Interpreter | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0034 - System Activity Monitoring | A defender can detect the presence of an adversary by monitoring for processes that are created by commands and/or scripts they execute on a system. |
| T1069 - Permission Groups Discovery | In an adversary engagement operation, there is an opportunity to impact what an adversary sees when they execute commands on a system. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender could manipulate a system's software to alter the results of an adversary enumerating permission group information. |
| T1071 - Application Layer Protocol | There is an opportunity to monitor network traffic for different protocols, anomalous traffic patterns, transfer of data, etc. to determine the presence of an adversary. | DTE0027 - Network Monitoring | The defender can implement network monitoring for and alert on anomalous traffic patterns, large or unexpected data transfers, and other activity that may reveal the presence of an adversary. |
| T1082 - System Information Discovery | There is an opportunity to feed content to an adversary to influence their behaviors, test their interest in specific topics, or add legitimacy to a system or environment. | DTE0011 - Decoy Content | A defender can use decoy content to give the false impression about the system when an adversary performs system information discovery. |
| T1083 - File and Directory Discovery | There is an opportunity to feed content to an adversary to influence their behaviors, test their interest in specific topics, or add legitimacy to a system or environment. | DTE0011 - Decoy Content | A defender can utilize decoy files and directories to provide content that could be used by the adversary. |
| T1087 - Account Discovery | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender could alter the output from account enumeration commands to hide accounts or show the presence of accounts which do not exist. |
| T1087 - Account Discovery | In an adversary engagement operation, there is an opportunity to present decoy accounts to the adversary during the enumeration process. | DTE0010 - Decoy Account | During an adversary engagement operation, a defender can utilize decoy accounts to provide content to an adversary and encourage additional activity. |
| T1087 - Account Discovery | There is an opportunity to use decoy accounts of varying types to see what an adversary is most interested in. | DTE0013 - Decoy Diversity | A defender can make a variety of decoy accounts and see if the adversary seems to be drawn to accounts of a specific type, with specific permissions, group access, etc. |
| T1090 - Proxy | There is an opportunity to block an adversary that is seeking to use a proxied connection. | DTE0026 - Network Manipulation | A defender could block traffic to known anonymity networks and C2 infrastructure through the use of network allow and block lists. |
| T1102 - Web Service | There is an opportunity to detect the presence of an adversary by identifying and alerting on anomalous behaviors. | DTE0007 - Behavioral Analytics | A defender can detect the use of external web services for communication relay. By implementing behavior analytics anomalies in what domains a system is communicating with, how frequently, and at what times, a defender can potentially identify malicious traffic. |
| T1105 - Ingress Tool Transfer | There is an opportunity to collect network data and analyze the adversary activity it contains. | DTE0028 - PCAP Collection | Collecting full packet capture of all network traffic allows you to review what happened over the connection and identify command and control traffic and/or exfiltration activity. |
| T1106 - Native API | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender can modify system calls to break communications, route things to decoy systems, prevent full execution, etc. |
| T1106 - Native API | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0003 - API Monitoring | A defender can monitor operating system functions calls to look for adversary use and/or abuse. |
| T1110 - Brute Force | There is an opportunity to create a detection with a moderately high probability of success. | DTE0034 - System Activity Monitoring | A defender can monitor for user login activity that may reveal an adversary leveraging brute force techniques. |
| T1112 - Modify Registry | There is an opportunity to utilize known good copies of registry information and restore it if an adversary makes any changes. | DTE0006 - Baseline | A defender can enable Registry Auditing on specific keys to produce an alerts whenever a value is changed and revert those keys to baseline. |
| T1112 - Modify Registry | There is an opportunity to study the adversary and collect first-hand observations about them and their tools. | DTE0034 - System Activity Monitoring | A defender can monitor processes and command-line arguments which could be used by an adversary to change or delete information in the Windows registry. |
| T1120 - Peripheral Device Discovery | There is an opportunity to gauge an adversary's interest in connected peripheral devices. | DTE0029 - Peripheral Management | A defender can connect one or more peripheral devices to a decoy system to see if an adversary has any interest in them. |
| T1120 - Peripheral Device Discovery | There is an opportunity to determine adversary capabilities or preferences by controlling aspects of the engagement environment. | DTE0029 - Peripheral Management | A defender can plug in a USB drive and see how quickly the adversary notices and inspects it. |
| T1124 - System Time Discovery | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | If the defender knows the specific regions an adversary is targeting, they can alter the output of commands which return systems times to return data consistent with what an adversary would want to see. |
| T1134 - Access Token Manipulation | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender could feed or redirect requests for credentials with false data that can be used to direct an adversary into a decoy network or system. |
| T1134 - Access Token Manipulation | There is an opportunity to detect the presence of an adversary by identifying and alerting on anomalous behaviors. | DTE0007 - Behavioral Analytics | A defender could use implement behavioral analytics that detects common access token manipulation techniques and allow or deny these actions. |
| T1140 - Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0003 - API Monitoring | A defender can monitor and analyze operating system functions calls for detection and alerting. |
| T1189 - Drive-by Compromise | There is an opportunity to study the adversary and collect first-hand observations about them and their tools. | DTE0017 - Decoy System | A defender can use a decoy system to access a compromised website to see how it works (study the exploit sequence, collect relevant artifacts, etc.). |
| T1189 - Drive-by Compromise | There is an opportunity to discover who or what is being targeting by an adversary. | DTE0013 - Decoy Diversity | A defender could use a decoy or set of decoys with different network addresses, operating systems, web browsers, language settings, and etc. to determine if every system that visits a compromised website receives its malicious payload or only specific systems receive it. |
| T1189 - Drive-by Compromise | There is an opportunity to use a compromised drive-by site to start long term engagement with the adversary and observe the adversary's post-exploit TTPs. | DTE0014 - Decoy Network | A defender seeking to learn about post compromise adversary activity could visit the compromised website with a system in a decoy network that has been designed to sustain an adversary engagement past the initial compromise. |
| T1201 - Password Policy Discovery | In an adversary engagement operation, there is an opportunity to impact what an adversary sees when they execute commands on a system. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender can alter the output of the password policy description so the adversary is unsure of exactly what the requirements are. |
| T1204 - User Execution | There is an opportunity to study the adversary and collect first-hand observations about them and their tools. | DTE0018 - Detonate Malware | A defender can execute adversary malware on a decoy system and examine its behaviors or potentially engage with the adversary to obtain further intelligence. |
| T1213 - Data from Information Repositories | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity to seed content to influence an adversary's behaviors, test their interest in specific topics, or add legitimacy to a system or environment. | DTE0030 - Pocket Litter | A defender can stage a variety of pocket litter files on an attached storage space. This data may include topics that align to a persona, topics an adversary is interested in, etc. |
| T1213 - Data from Information Repositories | In an adversary engagement scenario, there is an opportunity provide content on a variety of topics to see what types of information seems to interest the adversary. | DTE0030 - Pocket Litter | A defender can stage a variety of pocket litter files in order to determine if an adversary is interested in specific file types, subjects, etc. |
| T1518 - Software Discovery | There is an opportunity to provide a variety of applications to an adversary to see what things an adversary prefers or to influence their operations. | DTE0004 - Application Diversity | A defender can install an array of various software packages on a system to make it look used and populated. This will give an adversary a collection of software to interact with and possibly expose additional techniques. |
| T1546 - Event Triggered Execution | There is an opportunity to use tools and controls to stop an adversary's activity. | DTE0006 - Baseline | A defender can revert a system to a verified baseline a frequent, recurring basis in order to remove adversary persistence mechanisms. |
| T1546 - Event Triggered Execution | There is an opportunity to study the adversary and collect first-hand observations about them and their tools. | DTE0001 - Admin Access | A defender can allow Admin access on a decoy system or network to allow an adversary to use event triggered execution. |
| T1547 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution | There is an opportunity to use tools and controls to stop an adversary's activity. | DTE0006 - Baseline | A defender can store good copies of registry startup keys and restore them on a frequent basis. This can prevent an adversary from using them to launch malware on system startup. |
| T1555 - Credentials from Password Stores | In order to prolong an adversary engagement operation or enable detections, there is an opportunity to introduce credentials to an adversary that you want them to collect and use. | DTE0012 - Decoy Credentials | A defender can plant decoy credentials across an array of locations to increase the chances of an adversary finding and using them. |
| T1560 - Archive Collected Data | There is an opportunity for the defender to observe the adversary and control what they can see, what effects they can have, and/or what data they can access. | DTE0036 - Software Manipulation | A defender might alter APIs to expose data that is being archived, encoded, and/or encrypted. This can also be used to corrupt the action so the data isn't usable. |
| T1562 - Impair Defenses | There is an opportunity to study the adversary and collect first-hand observations about them and their tools. | DTE0004 - Application Diversity | A defender can plant AV or monitoring tools which are easy for an adversary to remove. If an adversary removes these, they may be enticed to act more openly believing they have removed monitoring from the system. |
| T1562 - Impair Defenses | There is an opportunity to create a detection with a moderately high probability of success. | DTE0034 - System Activity Monitoring | A defender can monitor for signs that security tools and other controls are being tampered with by an adversary. |
| T1562 - Impair Defenses | There is an opportunity to create a detection with a moderately high probability of success. | DTE0033 - Standard Operating Procedure | A defender can define operating procedures for modifying GPOs and alert when they are not followed. |
| T1566 - Phishing | A phishing email can be detected and blocked from arriving at the intended recipient. | DTE0019 - Email Manipulation | A defender can intercept emails that are detected as suspicious or malicious by email detection tools and prevent deliver to the intended target. |
| T1566 - Phishing | A phishing email can be detected and moved from the intended recipient to a decoy account for reading and execution. | DTE0023 - Migrate Attack Vector | A defender can move suspicious emails to a decoy system prior to opening and examining the email. |
| T1566 - Phishing | Users trained and encouraged to report phishing can detect attacks that other defenses do not. | DTE0035 - User Training | A program to train and exercise the anti-phishing skills of users can create "Human Sensors" that help detect phishing attacks. |
| T1566 - Phishing | There is an opportunity to discover who or what is being targeting by an adversary. | DTE0015 - Decoy Persona | A defender can seed information about the decoy persona's personal accounts on systems to see if the adversary collects and uses that information in future activity. |
| T1567 - Exfiltration Over Web Service | There is an opportunity to detect the presence of an adversary by identifying and alerting on anomalous behaviors. | DTE0007 - Behavioral Analytics | Defenders can detect adversaries attempting to exfiltrate over web services by implementing behavioral analytics. This can detect a system connecting to these web services that it might not normally connect to, or during a time when it normally doesn't do so. |
| T1570 - Lateral Tool Transfer | There is an opportunity to monitor network traffic for different protocols, anomalous traffic patterns, transfer of data, etc. to determine the presence of an adversary. | DTE0027 - Network Monitoring | The defender can implement network monitoring for and alert on anomalous traffic patterns, large or unexpected data transfers, and other activity that may reveal the presence of an adversary. |
| T1570 - Lateral Tool Transfer | There is an opportunity to manipulate the network to allow/deny certain types of traffic, to degrade network traffic, or otherwise impact an adversary's activity. | DTE0026 - Network Manipulation | A defender can block certain adversary used protocols used between systems in order to prevent lateral tool transfer. |