Techniques › T1580 › AN0481
AN0481 Analytic 0481
IaaS · attack.mitre.org · ATT&CK Enterprise v19.2
<p>Defenders should monitor for suspicious enumeration of cloud infrastructure components via APIs or CLI tools. Observable behaviors include repeated listing or description operations for compute instances, snapshots, storage buckets, and volumes. From a defender’s perspective, risky activity is often identified by new or untrusted identities making discovery calls (e.g., DescribeInstances, ListBuckets, az vm list, gcloud compute instances list), enumeration from unusual geolocations or IPs, or rapid multi-service discovery in sequence. Correlating discovery API usage with later snapshot creation or instance modification provides further context of adversary behavior.</p>
- Detects
- T1580 Cloud Infrastructure Discovery
- Part of
- DET0169 Detection Strategy for Cloud Infrastructure Discovery
Log sources and channels
Exactly as MITRE states them in x_mitre_log_source_references. Where a channel is vague, it is vague in the source; kevmap does not tidy it.
| Log source | Channel | Data component |
|---|---|---|
| AWS:CloudTrail | DescribeInstances | DC0086 Instance Metadata |
| AWS:CloudTrail | ListBuckets | DC0017 Cloud Storage Enumeration |
| AWS:CloudTrail | DescribeDBInstances | DC0075 Instance Enumeration |
Mutable elements
Parameters MITRE marks as environment-specific. These are the knobs you are expected to tune; they are why an analytic is not a rule.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
UserContext | Identity performing the discovery operation; tuned to filter known administrative or inventory accounts. |
GeoLocation | Source region or IP of discovery requests; tuned to expected operational regions to detect unusual access. |
TimeWindow | Correlation period to link enumeration calls with subsequent provisioning or exfiltration activity. |
APIThreshold | Rate or volume of discovery calls; tuned to suppress noise from inventory management tools. |