MITRE ATTACK Framework Reference for Azure Sentinel

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is utilized within Azure Sentinel to help classify threats to the organization and to provide quicker understanding of the level where intrusion exists. You’ll see this brandished as a timeline at the top of the Hunting blade in Azure Sentinel as follows in the next image:

As part of an extended Hunting module for a workshop I’ve put together for Azure Sentinel, I dig into the details of the escalation timeline for an attack using the MITRE ATT&CK framework as the basis. I plan to go into why it’s important to know the framework in an upcoming blog post, but for now, here’s something that I always leave with the customer as part of this module. It’s a useful tool as you become more familiar with the timeline and as a reference to use when creating your own Hunting queries.

Download the reference in PDF format:

P.S. I’ve also now included this information in an Azure Sentinel Workbook so you can have the information handy: https://github.com/rod-trent/SentinelWorkbooks/blob/master/MITREATTCKFrameworkReferenceforAzureSentinel.json

Here’s what’s contained in the download:

Initial access—Techniques used by the adversary to obtain a foothold within a network, such as targeted spear-phishing, exploiting vulnerabilities or configuration weaknesses in public-facing systems.

Execution—Techniques that result in an adversary running their code on a target system. For example, an attacker may run a PowerShell script to download additional attacker tools and/or scan other systems.

Persistence—Techniques that allow an adversary to maintain access to a target system, even following reboots and credential changes. An example of a persistence technique would be an attacker creating a scheduled task that runs their code at a specific time or on reboot.

Privilege escalation—Techniques leveraged by an adversary to gain higher-level privileges on a system, such as local administrator or root.

Defense evasion—Techniques used by attackers to avoid detection. Evasion techniques include hiding malicious code within trusted processes and folders, encrypting or obfuscating adversary code, or disabling security software.

Credential access—Techniques deployed on systems and networks to steal usernames and credentials for re-use.

Discovery—Techniques used by adversaries to obtain information about systems and networks that they are looking to exploit or use for their tactical advantage.

Lateral movement—Techniques that allow an attacker to move from one system to another within a network. Common techniques include “Pass-the-Hash” methods of authenticating users and the abuse of the remote desktop protocol.

Collection—Techniques used by an adversary to gather and consolidate the information they were targeting as part of their objectives.

Command and control—Techniques leveraged by an attacker to communicate with a system under their control. One example is that an attacker may communicate with a system over an uncommon or high-numbered port to evade detection by security appliances or proxies.

Exfiltration—Techniques used to move data from the compromised network to a system or network fully under control of the attacker.

Impact—Techniques used by an attacker to impact the availability of systems, networks, and data. Methods in this category would include denial of service attacks and disk- or data-wiping software.