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T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information Mappings

Adversaries may attempt to make an executable or file difficult to discover or analyze by encrypting, encoding, or otherwise obfuscating its contents on the system or in transit. This is common behavior that can be used across different platforms and the network to evade defenses.

Payloads may be compressed, archived, or encrypted in order to avoid detection. These payloads may be used during Initial Access or later to mitigate detection. Sometimes a user's action may be required to open and Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information for User Execution. The user may also be required to input a password to open a password protected compressed/encrypted file that was provided by the adversary. (Citation: Volexity PowerDuke November 2016) Adversaries may also used compressed or archived scripts, such as JavaScript.

Portions of files can also be encoded to hide the plain-text strings that would otherwise help defenders with discovery. (Citation: Linux/Cdorked.A We Live Security Analysis) Payloads may also be split into separate, seemingly benign files that only reveal malicious functionality when reassembled. (Citation: Carbon Black Obfuscation Sept 2016)

Adversaries may also obfuscate commands executed from payloads or directly via a Command and Scripting Interpreter. Environment variables, aliases, characters, and other platform/language specific semantics can be used to evade signature based detections and application control mechanisms. (Citation: FireEye Obfuscation June 2017) (Citation: FireEye Revoke-Obfuscation July 2017)(Citation: PaloAlto EncodedCommand March 2017)

View in MITRE ATT&CK®

Mappings

Capability ID Capability Description Mapping Type ATT&CK ID ATT&CK Name Notes
SI-2 Flaw Remediation Protects T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
SI-3 Malicious Code Protection Protects T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
SI-4 System Monitoring Protects T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
SI-7 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity Protects T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
alerts_for_windows_machines Alerts for Windows Machines technique_scores T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
Comments
This control may detect usage of VBScript.Encode and base-64 encoding to obfuscate malicious commands and scripts. The following alerts may be generated: "Detected suspicious execution of VBScript.Encode command", "Detected encoded executable in command line data".
References
  1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/defender-for-servers-introduction
  2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/alerts-reference#alerts-windows
linux_auditd_alerts_and_log_analytics_agent_integration Linux auditd alerts and Log Analytics agent integration technique_scores T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
Comments
This control only provides detection coverage for the Compile After Delivery sub-technique while not providing detection for all other sub-techniques relevant to the Linux platform or most of its procedure examples. As a result of this minimal coverage, the overall score is assessed as Minimal.
References
  1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/defender-for-servers-introduction
  2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/alerts-reference#alerts-linux
azure_sentinel Azure Sentinel technique_scores T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
Comments
The Azure Sentinel Analytics "Powershell Empire cmdlets seen in command line" query can detect the use of Empire, which can obfuscate commands using Invoke-Obfuscation, but does not address other procedures.
References
  1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sentinel/overview
  2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sentinel/hunting
azure_defender_for_app_service Azure Defender for App Service technique_scores T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
Comments
This control only covers one platform and procedure for one of this technique's sub-techniques, resulting in a Minimal score.
References
  1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/alerts-reference
  2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/defender-for-app-service-introduction
  3. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/app-service/
  4. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/defender-for-servers-introduction
microsoft_antimalware_for_azure Microsoft Antimalware for Azure technique_scores T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
Comments
References
  1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/antimalware
  2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/antimalware-code-samples
microsoft_antimalware_for_azure Microsoft Antimalware for Azure technique_scores T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
Comments
References
  1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/antimalware
  2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/antimalware-code-samples

ATT&CK Subtechniques

Technique ID Technique Name Number of Mappings
T1027.004 Compile After Delivery 1
T1027.005 Indicator Removal from Tools 1
T1027.002 Software Packing 6