Techniques › T1608 › T1608.006
T1608.006 SEO Poisoning
resource development — PRE · attack.mitre.org · JSON
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MITRE detection strategy
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analytics
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Sigma rules tagged attack.t1608.006
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KEV CVEs mapped here
<p>Adversaries may poison mechanisms that influence search engine optimization (SEO) to further lure staged capabilities towards potential victims. Search engines typically display results to users based on purchased ads as well as the site’s ranking/score/reputation calculated by their web crawlers and algorithms.</p><p>To help facilitate Drive-by Compromise, adversaries may stage content that explicitly manipulates SEO rankings in order to promote sites hosting their malicious payloads (such as Drive-by Target) within search engines. Poisoning SEO rankings may involve various tricks, such as stuffing keywords (including in the form of hidden text) into compromised sites. These keywords could be related to the interests/browsing habits of the intended victim(s) as well as more broad, seasonably popular topics (e.g. elections, trending news).</p><p>In addition to internet search engines (such as Google), adversaries may also aim to manipulate specific in-site searches for developer platforms (such as GitHub) to deceive users towards Supply Chain Compromise lures. In-site searches will rank search results according to their own algorithms and metrics such as popularity which may be targeted and gamed by malicious actors.</p><p>Adversaries may also purchase or plant incoming links to staged capabilities in order to boost the site’s calculated relevance and reputation.</p><p>SEO poisoning may also be combined with evasive redirects and other cloaking mechanisms (such as measuring mouse movements or serving content based on browser user agents, user language/localization settings, or HTTP headers) in order to feed SEO inputs while avoiding scrutiny from defenders.</p>
KEV CVEs mapped to this technique · CTID Mappings Explorer
None. No KEV entry in the public mapping names this technique. Given that 74.7% of KEV has no mapping at all, this says more about the mapping than about the technique.
Detection strategy · ATT&CK Enterprise v19.2
- DET0881 Detection of SEO Poisoning v1.0
AN2013 PREIf infrastructure or patterns in the malicious web content related to SEO poisoning or Drive-by Target have been previously identified, internet scanning may uncover when an adversary has staged web content supporting a strategic web compromise. Much of this activity will take place outside the visibility of the target organization, making detection of this behavior difficult. Detection efforts may be focused on other phases of the adversary lifecycle, such as Drive-by Compromise or Exploitation for Client Execution.
Sigma rules · SigmaHQ da9bb07d64, tag attack.t1608.006
No Sigma rule carries this tag. MITRE publishes a detection strategy above, so the behaviour is specified; what is missing is public detection content.
Rules tagged at the parent level (attack.t1608) 2
These target the parent technique, not this sub-technique specifically. Listed for completeness, not counted as coverage.
Author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
· 2021-12-27 (modified 2022-08-02) · logsource: product=windows category=process_creation · 00d49ed5-4491-4271-a8db-650a4ef6f8c1
Detects suspicious ways to download files from Microsoft domains that are used to store attachments in Emails or OneNote documents
Author: Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research)
· 2021-04-12 (modified 2022-11-27) · logsource: product=windows category=registry_event · ac8866c7-ce44-46fd-8c17-b24acff96ca8
Detects the installation of the Azure Hybrid Connection Manager service to allow remote code execution from Azure function.