T1496.004 Cloud Service Hijacking

Adversaries may leverage compromised software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to complete resource-intensive tasks, which may impact hosted service availability.

For example, adversaries may leverage email and messaging services, such as AWS Simple Email Service (SES), AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS), SendGrid, and Twilio, in order to send large quantities of spam / Phishing emails and SMS messages.(Citation: Invictus IR DangerDev 2024)(Citation: Permiso SES Abuse 2023)(Citation: SentinelLabs SNS Sender 2024) Alternatively, they may engage in LLMJacking by leveraging reverse proxies to hijack the power of cloud-hosted AI models.(Citation: Sysdig LLMJacking 2024)(Citation: Lacework LLMJacking 2024)

In some cases, adversaries may leverage services that the victim is already using. In others, particularly when the service is part of a larger cloud platform, they may first enable the service.(Citation: Sysdig LLMJacking 2024) Leveraging SaaS applications may cause the victim to incur significant financial costs, use up service quotas, and otherwise impact availability.

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CSA CCM Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
IAM-16 Authorization Mechanisms mitigates T1496.004 Cloud Service Hijacking
Comments
This control requires both CSP and CSC to independently enforce formal approval processes for user access, implement dynamic and explicit authorization mechanisms. The guidance focuses on implementing technical measures to verify authorization and prevent unauthorized access and execution.
References
    DCS-18 Datacenter Operations Resilience mitigates T1496.004 Cloud Service Hijacking
    Comments
    Adversaries may leverage compromised software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to complete resource-intensive tasks, which may impact hosted service availability. This control establishes and regularly evaluates processes, procedures, and technical measures to ensure continuous operations of the datacenter, mitigating attacker techniques such as denial‑of‑service and other availability‑impacting attacks that seek to disrupt business and operational continuity.
    References
      AIS-02 Application Security Baseline Requirements mitigates T1496.004 Cloud Service Hijacking
      Comments
      This control guidance requires organizations to establish security baseline requirements for different cloud applications. Security requirement examples include access control, encryption, and configuration management for applications to prevent misuse, abuse, and exploitation. When it comes to Cloud Service Hijacking, adversaries may leverage compromised software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to complete resource-intensive tasks, which may impact hosted service availability.
      References