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T1098.002 Additional Email Delegate Permissions

T1098.002 Additional Email Delegate Permissions

Adversaries may grant additional permission levels to maintain persistent access to an adversary-controlled email account.

For example, the <code>Add-MailboxPermission</code> PowerShell cmdlet, available in on-premises Exchange and in the cloud-based service Office 365, adds permissions to a mailbox.(Citation: Microsoft - Add-MailboxPermission)(Citation: FireEye APT35 2018)(Citation: Crowdstrike Hiding in Plain Sight 2018) In Google Workspace, delegation can be enabled via the Google Admin console and users can delegate accounts via their Gmail settings.(Citation: Gmail Delegation)(Citation: Google Ensuring Your Information is Safe)

Adversaries may also assign mailbox folder permissions through individual folder permissions or roles. In Office 365 environments, adversaries may assign the Default or Anonymous user permissions or roles to the Top of Information Store (root), Inbox, or other mailbox folders. By assigning one or both user permissions to a folder, the adversary can utilize any other account in the tenant to maintain persistence to the target user’s mail folders.(Citation: Mandiant Defend UNC2452 White Paper)

This may be used in persistent threat incidents as well as BEC (Business Email Compromise) incidents where an adversary can add Additional Cloud Roles to the accounts they wish to compromise. This may further enable use of additional techniques for gaining access to systems. For example, compromised business accounts are often used to send messages to other accounts in the network of the target business while creating inbox rules (ex: Internal Spearphishing), so the messages evade spam/phishing detection mechanisms.(Citation: Bienstock, D. - Defending O365 - 2019)

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CRI Profile Mappings

Capability ID	Capability Description	Mapping Type	ATT&CK ID	ATT&CK Name	Notes
PR.IR-01.05	Remote access protection	Mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	Comments This diagnostic statement implements security controls and restrictions for remote user access to systems. Remote user access control involves managing and securing how users remotely access systems, such as through encrypted connections and account use policies, which help prevent adversary access. References
PR.AA-05.02	Privileged system access	Mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	Comments This diagnostic statement protects against Additional Email Delegate Permissions through the use of privileged account management and the use of multi-factor authentication. References
DE.CM-06.02	Third-party access monitoring	Mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	Comments This diagnostic statement protects against Additional Email Delegate Permissions through the use of privileged account management. Employing auditing, privilege access management, and just in time access protects against adversaries trying to obtain illicit access to critical systems. References
PR.PS-01.07	Cryptographic keys and certificates	Mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	Comments This diagnostic statement protects against Account Manipulation through the use of revocation of keys and key management. Employing limitations to specific accounts along with access control mechanisms provides protection against adversaries attempting to add permissions to accounts. References
DE.CM-03.03	Privileged account monitoring	Mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	Comments This diagnostic statement implements mechanisms and tools to mitigate potential misuse of privileged users and accounts. Continuous monitoring of role and attribute assignments and activity is essential to prevent and detect unauthorized access or misuse. References
PR.IR-01.06	Production environment segregation	Mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	Comments This diagnostic statement provides protections for production environments. Measures such as network segmentation and access control reduce the attack surface, restrict movement by adversaries, and protect critical assets and data from compromise. References
PR.AA-01.01	Identity and credential management	Mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	Comments This diagnostic statement protects against Additional Email Delegate Permissions through the use of hardened access control policies, secure defaults, password complexity requirements, multifactor authentication requirements, and removal of terminated accounts. References

NIST 800-53 Mappings

Capability ID	Capability Description	Mapping Type	ATT&CK ID	ATT&CK Name
CM-06	Configuration Settings	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
CM-05	Access Restrictions for Change	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
IA-05	Authenticator Management	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
SI-07	Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
AC-20	Use of External Systems	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
IA-02	Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
SI-04	System Monitoring	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
AC-02	Account Management	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
AC-03	Access Enforcement	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
AC-05	Separation of Duties	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions
AC-06	Least Privilege	mitigates	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions

VERIS Mappings

Capability ID	Capability Description	Mapping Type	ATT&CK ID	ATT&CK Name	Notes
attribute.integrity.variety.Modify privileges	Modified privileges or permissions	related-to	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions

GCP Mappings

Capability ID	Capability Description	Mapping Type	ATT&CK ID	ATT&CK Name	Notes
identity_platform	Identity Platform	technique_scores	T1098.002	Additional Email Delegate Permissions	Comments Identity Platform can help protect your app's users and prevent account takeovers by offering multi-factor authentication (MFA) and integrating with Google's intelligence for account protection. This will help mitigate adversaries from gaining access to permission levels. References ['https://cloud.google.com/identity-platform/docs/concepts']