MITRE ATT&CK, a common language for cybersecurity professionals to communicate with each other and better understand real-world adversary behaviors, celebrates its 10th anniversary this fall. In this Help Net Security interview, project leader Adam Pennington discusses the framework, how defenders can best use it, and what’s next.

What were the main drivers behind the creation of the MITRE ATT&CK framework back in 2013?

The framework was born out of an internal exercise performed at MITRE’s Ft. Meade, Md. site in 2013. We put sensors on desktop computers to analyze a series of red and blue team cyber operations, which wasn’t common back then. White team observers noticed that the red team’s actions weren’t representative of real-world adversary behavior. When they requested that the red team adjust their tactics, they lacked a unified language to explain themselves.

The white team changed course by pulling actual cyber-attack scenarios from honey pots of real data for the blue and red teams to design operations around. Ultimately, the exercise culminated with a basic Excel spreadsheet outlining different intrusion techniques using a common language. It was incredibly helpful to us internally, so on the chance it would be useful to the rest of the world, we released it publicly as MITRE ATT&CK.

How has the framework evolved over the past decade, especially in the last five years, where we’ve seen a surge in its popularity?

What started out as an Excel spreadsheet identifying one adversary and one tactic has transformed into a framework referenced and contributed to by users across the world. By the time it reached the public, there were around 100 behaviors, and in 2016 we began tracking groups and software based on open-source threat intelligence reporting. In 2018, we amassed enough interest to launch ATT&CKcon (the fourth iteration of the user conference will run Oct. 24-25 at MITRE’s McLean, Va., headquarters).

In the last five years, we’ve expanded the core framework with ATT&CK for industrial control systems, mobile, Linux, various cloud platforms (Office 365, Azure, etc.), network devices (computer switches and routers), and more. We continue to make information digestible and user friendly by including both what adversary tactics are, and techniques users can employ to defend against them. To that end, we recently added pseudocode analytics directly to ATT&CK that people can use in their defenses as an “easy button.”

How does the framework stay up to date with real-world observations and contributions? How often is it updated?

As I’m answering this question, we’ve gotten at least one contribution from a community member via email—evidence that we receive updates often! ATT&CK is heavily community driven. Our framework isn’t effective without users keeping us abreast of the latest threats.

Additionally, we monitor social media, public reports from various government entities, and updates from incident response firms. Behind the scenes, we have large teams maintaining and organizing information for each respective arena.

We release a new version of ATT&CK every six months. After trying out shorter and longer timeframes, we found six months to be the sweet spot satisfying both organizations that bake ATT&CK into their products and defenses and those who want information fast.

Given the evolving nature of cyber threats, what long-term value does the MITRE ATT&CK framework offer to cybersecurity professionals?

ATT&CK continues to evolve right alongside adversaries, but historically this is a space that changes slowly over time. Bad actors exhibit relatively routine methods once they’ve gained entry into a network. Even though the exact piece of software, IP address, or even the human on the other end may differ, there are fundamental attack sequences that don’t often fluctuate. Behaviors documented in ATT&CK a decade ago are still seen today.

On the other hand, there are new spaces ripe for intrusion like cloud-based products. We’re expanding the framework in step with new technologies.

For organizations that find the initial implementation process complex, what advice do you have to ease this learning curve?

Start with bite size pieces. Time and time again, we’ve seen cybersecurity teams from small organizations attempt to comprehensively integrate ATT&CK into their defenses, just to quickly realize they’re in over their heads. The framework is not one-size-fits-all.

To solve for this challenge, we recommend multiple strategies focused on starting small. The framework is divided into techniques, so an organization may begin with a single tactic relevant to their system. For example, if you’re concerned with identity management, you can dig into how adversaries are stealing passwords and identify overlap between their behaviors. Once you reach those prioritization points, it’s easier work backwards and add protections against them.

What are some of the less obvious applications of the framework that professionals in the cybersecurity industry should be aware of?

We’re pleasantly surprised to see how ATT&CK is being leveraged in academic environments, from high schools to universities. One high school in Virginia invited our team to come in and speak to the work, which they previously integrated into their curriculum.

Several private sector organizations also have woven the framework into employee education. I recently spoke to somebody whose company regularly discusses a “technique of the week” pulled from the ATT&CK database.

What future enhancements or expansions do you envision for the MITRE ATT&CK framework?

As adversaries explore new exploitation methods, we’ll be there cataloging their every move. Our team continues to advance threat intelligence reporting on spaces growing in popularity, such as Linux and operating systems beyond Windows.

The goal is, and has always been, to build a community of cyber defenders. We know ATT&CK is a boon for larger organizations, but we’re working on ways to make it more accessible for smaller and less-resourced entities.

More resources

• Top 10 free MITRE ATT&CK tools and resources
• Three ways MITRE ATT&CK can improve your organizational security
• Aligning Security Operations with the MITRE ATT&CK Framework: Level up your security operations center for better security

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What is the MITRE ATT&CK Framework?

MITRE ATT&CK (Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge) is a widely adopted framework and knowledge base that outlines and categorizes the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used in cyberattacks. Created by the nonprofit organization MITRE, this framework provides security professionals with insights and context that can help them comprehend, identify, and mitigate cyber threats effectively.

The techniques and tactics in the framework are organized in a dynamic matrix. This makes navigation easy and also provides a holistic view of the entire spectrum of adversary behaviors. As a result, the framework is more actionable and usable than if it were a static list.

The MITRE ATT&CK Framework can be found here: https://attack.mitre.org/

Look Out: MITRE ATT&CK Framework Biases

According to Etay Maor, Senior Director of Security Strategy at Cato Networks, “The knowledge provided in the MITRE ATT&CK framework is derived from real-world evidence of attackers’ behaviors. This makes it susceptible to certain biases that security professionals should be aware of. It’s important to understand these limitations.”

• Novelty Bias – Techniques or actors that are new or interesting are reported, while techniques that are being used over and over are not.
• Visibility Bias – Intel report publishers have visibility biases that are based on how they gather data, resulting in visibility for some techniques and not others. Additionally, techniques are also viewed differently during incidents and afterward.
• Producer Bias – Reports published by some organizations may not reflect the broader industry or world as a whole.
• Victim Bias – Some victim organizations are more likely to report, or to be reported on, than others.
• Availability Bias – Report authors often include techniques that quickly come to mind in their reports.

MITRE ATT&CK Defender Use Cases

The MITRE ATT&CK framework helps security professionals research and analyze various attacks and procedures. This can help with threat intelligence, detection and analytics, simulations, and assessment and engineering. The MITRE ATT&CK Navigator is a tool that can help explore and visualize the matrix, enhancing the analysis for defensive coverage, security planning, technique frequency, and more.

Etay Maor adds, “The framework can go as deep as you want it to be or it can be as high level as you want it to be. It can be used as a tool to show the mapping and if we’re good or bad at certain areas, but it could go as deep as understanding the very specific procedure and even the line of code that was used in a specific attack.”

Here are a few examples of how the framework and the Navigator can be used:

Threat Actor Analysis

Security professionals can leverage MITRE ATT&CK to investigate specific threat actors. For example, they can drill down into the matrix and learn which techniques are used by different actors, how they are executed, which tools they use, etc. This information helps investigate certain attacks. It also expands the researchers’ knowledge and way of thinking by introducing them to additional modes of operation attackers take.

At a higher level, the framework can be used to answer C-level questions about breaches or threat actors. For example, if asked- “We think we might be a target for Iranian nation state threat actors.” The framework enables drilling down into Iranian threat actors like APT33, showing which techniques they use, attack IDs, and more.

Multiple Threat Actor Analysis

Apart from researching specific actors, the MITRE ATT&CK framework also allows analyzing multiple threat actors. For example, if a concern is raised that “Due to recent political and military events in Iran we believe there will be a retaliation in the form of a cyber attack. What are the common attack tactics of Iranian threat actors?”, the framework can be used to identify common tactics used by a number of nation-state actors.

Here’s what a visualized multiple threat actor analysis could look like, with red and yellow representing techniques used by different actors and green representing an overlap.

Gap Analysis

The MITRE ATT&CK framework also helps analyze existing gaps in defenses. This enables defenders to identify, visualize and sort which ones the organization does not have coverage for.

Here’s what it could look like, with colors used for prioritization.

Atomic Testing

Finally, the Atomic Red Team is an open source library of tests mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework. These tests can be used for testing your infrastructure and systems based on the framework, to help identify and mitigate coverage gaps.

The MITRE CTID (Center for Threat-Informed Defense)

The MITRE CTID (Center for Threat-Informed Defense) is an R&D center, funded by private entities, that collaborates with both private sector organizations and nonprofits. Their objective is to revolutionize the approach to adversaries through resource pooling and emphasizing proactive incident response rather than reactive measures. This mission is driven by the belief, inspired by John Lambert, that defenders must shift from thinking in lists to thinking in graphs if they want to overcome attackers’ advantages.

Etay Maor comments, “This is very important. We need to facilitate collaboration between the Defenders across different levels. We’re very passionate about this.”

A significant initiative within this context is the “Attack Flow” project. Attack Flow tackles the challenge faced by defenders, who often focus on individual, atomic attacker behaviors. Instead, Attack Flow uses a new language and tools to describe the flow of ATT&CK techniques. These techniques are then combined into patterns of behavior. This approach enables defenders and leaders to gain a deeper understanding of how adversaries operate, so they can refine their strategies accordingly.

You can see here what an Attack Flow looks like.

With these attack flows, defenders can answer questions like:

• What have adversaries been doing?
• How are adversaries changing?

The answers can help them capture, share and analyze patterns of attack.

Then, they will be able to answer the most important questions:

• What is the next most likely thing they will do?
• What have we missed?

CTID invites the community to participate in its activities and contribute to its knowledge base. You can contact them on LinkedIn.

To learn more about the MITRE ATT&CK framework, watch the entire masterclass here.

Aligning Security Operations with the MITRE ATT&CK Framework: Level up your security operations center for better security

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The Top 10 Most Prevalent MITRE ATT&CK Techniques Used by Adversaries – Report via Picus Security

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Unmasking/Uncovering the Real Insider Threat

According to the Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, insiders are responsible for around 22% of security incidents. That is clearly a significant number and insider threats are quickly becoming one of the most common cybersecurity threats organizations face today. The challenge that continues to remain high with insider threats is that it is difficult to differentiate between normal and abnormal user behavior for any user since they already have access to the environment compared to external threats. Therefore, it makes a very important case to correlate content, threat and behavior to make an accurate prediction for an insider threat. 

The significance of insider threats can be seen in the last update by MITRE where the version of ATT&CK for Enterprise contains 14 Tactics, 185 Techniques, and 367 Sub-techniques, among which are those used in insider threat attacks. In this analysis, we’ll look at a selection of the techniques published in the update and examine how they are used, the motivations and the types of attacks they are used for. 

What is Considered an Insider Threat?

An insider threat is a security threat that originates internally from within an organization. It’s usually someone who uses their authorized access—intentionally or unintentionally—to compromise an organization’s network, data or devices. Due to the authorized access, the attacker doesn’t need to raise a request or hack some credentials to gain access. There are three most common categories of an inside attacker. 

• Malicious Insider – As the name suggests, the malicious insider is an employee or contractor who conducts nefarious activities that may or may not be financially motivated to gain or steal information.
• Compromised Insider – This is a scenario where user credentials are compromised with the attacker using the compromised account to gain or steal information. In most cases the main target of these attacks are employees who are easily targeted via phishing. 
• Negligent Insider – Negligent insiders are people who make errors and disregard policies, which place their organizations at risk. There is a huge uptick in this type of attacks as we see more and more configuration errors, which results in exposing internal data of the organization to the public. 

Let’s take a look at some of the recent insider attacks to understand the magnitude of the impact.  – Updated MITRE ATT&CK TTPs Used in Insider Threat Attacks

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