Data Encoding

T1132

Technique with 2 sub-techniques.View on attack.mitre.org

About this technique

Adversaries may encode data to make the content of command and control traffic more difficult to detect. Command and control (C2) information can be encoded using a standard data encoding system. Use of data encoding may adhere to existing protocol specifications and includes use of ASCII, Unicode, Base64, MIME, or other binary-to-text and character encoding systems. Some data encoding systems may also result in data compression, such as gzip.

Detection rules4

Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1132 or one of its sub-techniques.

Sigma4

Splunk0

No Splunk rules are mapped to this technique yet.

Sub-techniques2

IDNameExamples
T1132.001Standard Encoding126
T1132.002Non-Standard Encoding18

Groups1

Software7

Campaigns0

None recorded.

Procedure examples8

Groups1

Used byProcedure example
GroupVelvet Ant

Velvet Ant sent commands to compromised F5 BIG-IP devices in an encoded format requiring a passkey before interpretation and execution.

Software7

Used byProcedure example
MalwareBADNEWS

After encrypting C2 data, BADNEWS converts it into a hexadecimal representation and then encodes it into base64.

Toolevilginx2

evilginx2 can randomly generate and Base64 encode parameters in phishing links to defeat static detection.

MalwareH1N1

H1N1 obfuscates C2 traffic with an altered version of base64.

MalwareLAMEHUG

LAMEHUG can encode queries sent to LLMs.

MalwareLinux Rabbit

Linux Rabbit sends the payload from the C2 server as an encoded URL parameter.

ToolMythic

Mythic provides various transform functions to encode and/or randomize C2 data.

MalwareUrsnif

Ursnif has used encoded data in HTTP URLs for C2.

References2

  1. Wikipedia Binary-to-text Encoding Open source
    Wikipedia. (2016, December 26). Binary-to-text encoding. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  2. Wikipedia Character Encoding Open source
    Wikipedia. (2017, February 19). Character Encoding. Retrieved March 1, 2017.

Data from MITRE ATT&CK® (Enterprise). ATT&CK® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.