MITRE ATT&CK: Meaning, Uses, Benefits

Table of Contents

What is MITRE ATT&CK?
MITRE ATT&CK Framework Uses
MITRE ATT&CK Framework Tactics
MITRE ATT&CK Framework Benefits

What is  MITRE ATT&CK?

MITRE ATT&CK is a cybersecurity framework introduced by MITRE Corporation in 2013 to help enterprises understand their security posture, identify vulnerabilities in their defenses and describe adversarial tactics and techniques based on real-world scenarios and observations. In this framework, ATT&CK stands for Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge. The framework is a comprehensive and systematic matrix of tactics and techniques used by red teamers, threat actors, security teams, or defenders to characterize cyberattacks better, assess a business’s risk, and defend their enterprises against known and emerging threats.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework and associated matrices have emerged as industry standards for knowledge and preventive tools related to adversary behavior. The MITRE ATT&CK matrix has been divided into various matrices, including multiple tactics and techniques.

• Enterprise ATT&CK: The enterprise ATT&CK matrix focuses on adversarial behavior in Windows, MacOS, Linux, Google Workspace, Office 365, and cloud environments.
• Mobile ATT&CK: The mobile ATT&CK matrix focuses on Android OS and iOS adversarial behavior.
• Pre-ATT&CK: The Pre-ATT&CK matrix focuses on adversarial behavior on reconnaissance, target identification, weaponization, attack planning, and delivery stages of an attack.
• Industrial Control System (ICS): The ICS matrix focuses on adversarial behavior while operating within an ICS network.

MITRE ATT&CK Framework Uses

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is used worldwide in different fields, such as threat hunting, risk management, red teaming, intrusion detection, cyber threat intelligence, etc. Let us look at some uses of the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

• Adversary simulation: Companies can use the framework to develop real-world scenarios and adversary simulation strategies and verify their defenses against adversary tactics and techniques.
• Prioritize threat detection: The framework can be helpful as it provides a blueprint that helps security teams to prioritize their threat detection efforts and strengthen their cybersecurity posture.
• Red teaming: The framework can be used to design and manage red team operations to remediate specific network protective measures.
• Track adversary behavior: Security teams can use the framework to track the behavior and techniques of adversaries and adversary groups that pose the most severe threat.
• Gap analysis: The framework assesses existing defensive tools and monitors the existing defenses to identify gaps and analyze them to improve security posture.
• Cyber threat intelligence: The framework can be helpful to cyber threat intelligence as it can comprehensively understand the adversary groups and prevalent threat actors and identify tactics to detect and mitigate them.
• SOC maturity assessment: The framework can be used to assess a SOC’s efficiency and its maturity level in identifying, analyzing, and responding to breaches.
• Create playbooks: The framework can be used to create playbooks for various types of cyberattacks. Incident response teams use these playbooks to detect and respond to cyberattacks promptly.

MITRE ATT&CK Framework Tactics

The MITRE Enterprise ATT&CK framework consists of 14 tactics.

• Reconnaissance
• Resource Development
• Initial Access
• Execution
• Persistence
• Privilege Escalation
• Defense Evasion
• Credential Access
• Discovery
• Lateral Movement
• Collection
• Command and Control
• Exfiltration
• Impact

MITRE ATT&CK Framework Benefits

There are several benefits of the MITRE ATT&CK framework. Let us look at some of them:

• Damage mitigation: Security teams can take immediate and appropriate action to mitigate the damage by understanding how adversaries work and the efforts they may intend to take to acquire initial access and uncover data.
• Supports threat hunting: The framework enables Threat Hunters to assess the visibility of their environment to targeted attacks and comprehend the various adversary tactics and techniques.
• Remediate infections: The incident response team can quickly determine what has to be done to prevent a cyberattack currently in progress, allowing them to remediate infections.
• Risk assessment: Red teamers and defenders can better understand their business’s adversaries and categorize attacks, enabling them to assess and improve their enterprises’ risk posture.
• Remediate vulnerabilities: Security teams and defenders can better understand their SOC’s defensive strengths and vulnerabilities to remediate the vulnerabilities quickly.
• Real-world attack simulation: With adversary simulation scenarios, red teamers can simulate the behaviors of real-life threat actors.
• Knowledge and research tools: The framework can help businesses by providing their newly recruited security teams with the required knowledge and research tools to identify and eliminate any threat quickly.

MITRE ATT&CK with InfosecTrain

InfosecTrain provides instructor-led training and certification courses on MITRE ATT&CK. We offer this training for individuals who want to deepen their understanding of cybersecurity, which is used to counteract and defend various cybersecurity threats. The training will help you understand the multiple adversary tactics and techniques used to protect a network based on real-world cyberattacks.

AUTHOR
Ruchi Bisht

“ My Name is Ruchi Bisht. I have done my BTech in Computer Science. I like to learn new things and am interested in taking on new challenges. Currently, I am working as a content writer in InfosecTrain. “