Adversaries may schedule data exfiltration to be performed only at certain times of day or at certain intervals. This could be done to blend traffic patterns with normal activity or availability.
When scheduled exfiltration is used, other exfiltration techniques likely apply as well to transfer the information out of the network, such as Exfiltration Over C2 Channel or Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol.
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S0045 | ADVSTORESHELL |
ADVSTORESHELL collects, compresses, encrypts, and exfiltrates data to the C2 server every 10 minutes.[1] |
| S0154 | Cobalt Strike |
Cobalt Strike can set its Beacon payload to reach out to the C2 server on an arbitrary and random interval.[2] |
| S0126 | ComRAT |
ComRAT has been programmed to sleep outside local business hours (9 to 5, Monday to Friday).[3] |
| S0200 | Dipsind |
Dipsind can be configured to only run during normal working hours, which would make its communications harder to distinguish from normal traffic.[4] |
| S0696 | Flagpro |
Flagpro has the ability to wait for a specified time interval between communicating with and executing commands from C2.[5] |
| G0126 | Higaisa |
Higaisa sent the victim computer identifier in a User-Agent string back to the C2 server every 10 minutes.[6] |
| S0283 | jRAT |
jRAT can be configured to reconnect at certain intervals.[7] |
| S0265 | Kazuar |
Kazuar can sleep for a specific time and be set to communicate at specific intervals.[8] |
| S0395 | LightNeuron |
LightNeuron can be configured to exfiltrate data during nighttime or working hours.[9] |
| S0211 | Linfo |
Linfo creates a backdoor through which remote attackers can change the frequency at which compromised hosts contact remote C2 infrastructure.[10] |
| S0409 | Machete |
Machete sends stolen data to the C2 server every 10 minutes.[11] |
| S0223 | POWERSTATS |
POWERSTATS can sleep for a given number of seconds.[12] |
| S0596 | ShadowPad | |
| S0444 | ShimRat | |
| S0668 | TinyTurla |
TinyTurla contacts its C2 based on a scheduled timing set in its configuration.[15] |
| ID | Mitigation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| M1031 | Network Intrusion Prevention |
Network intrusion detection and prevention systems that use network signatures to identify traffic for specific adversary command and control infrastructure and malware can be used to mitigate activity at the network level. Signatures are often for unique indicators within protocols and may be based on the specific obfuscation technique used by a particular adversary or tool, and will likely be different across various malware families and versions. Adversaries will likely change tool command and control signatures over time or construct protocols in such a way to avoid detection by common defensive tools. [16] |
| ID | Data Source | Data Component |
|---|---|---|
| DS0029 | Network Traffic | Network Connection Creation |
| Network Traffic Flow |
Monitor process file access patterns and network behavior. Unrecognized processes or scripts that appear to be traversing file systems and sending network traffic may be suspicious. Network connections to the same destination that occur at the same time of day for multiple days are suspicious.