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The digital universe really is a dangerous place. Hackers and cybercriminals lurk around every corner. To stay safe, organizations need to employ experienced cybersecurity teams equipped with the latest tools, technologies, and strategies for detecting and stopping threats. One especially interesting strategy is known as MITRE ATT&CK mapping.
MITRE ATT&CK mapping is the practice of aligning cybersecurity data with MITRE’s ATT&CK (Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge) framework. Adversary behavior, known incidents, and data derived from threat detections are all types of data that are of interest to data security experts.
By aligning it with MITRE ATT&CK data, security experts can make connections between observations made in the wild and known adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
More About the Framework
Discussions of MITRE ATT&CK mapping and TTPs might be lost on you if you are not heavily involved in cybersecurity. So let us break it down into more understandable terms. The MITRE ATT&CK framework is based on a proprietary but open knowledge base developed by MITRE. It catalogues vital information pertaining to:
- Tactics (an attacker’s goals or objectives)
- Techniques (the methods adversaries use to achieve each tactic)
- Procedures (real-world examples of how attackers deploy their techniques)
The database provides a variety of matrices to accommodate multiple network environments and configurations. Data can be specialized for Windows, Linux, macOS, and Cloud environments. It can also accommodate investigations by network type (i.e., enterprise, mobile, and industrial control systems).
Why MITRE ATT&CK Mapping Is Useful
So much of effective cybersecurity boils down to connecting the dots between different data points. Until the right connections are made, security experts find it challenging to develop preemptive strategies against their adversaries. MITRE ATT&CK mapping helps them make connections faster and more efficiently.
More specifically, here is what makes the practice so useful:
- Threat Intelligence – Mapping adversary actions to ATT&CK techniques aids investigators in developing enriched detection and threat modeling strategies.
- Detection and Response – Mapping security logs, alerts, and threat detections to known ATT&CK techniques facilitates a more comprehensive monitoring and response. Analysts are then better at prioritizing defenses.
- Adversary Emulation – Security teams can deploy mapped data to design simulations using matrix techniques that mimic real-world attacks. The simulations make it possible to develop new threat detection rules.
- Communication and Reporting – ATT&CK provides a shared language that enables seamless communication and reporting across various security teams. Teams can more easily report threats, share recommendations, and collaborate on improving safety.
The idea behind the MITRE ATT&CK framework is to continually build a data set that gives security experts access to as much information as possible. But it gets better. Organizations like DarkOwl can combine the framework with their OSINT tools and SOAR platforms through which automation can normalize and enrich the data for maximum effect.
Mapping Is an Active Process
It is worth noting that MITRE ATT&CK mapping is an active process. It normally occurs during other active events like incident response, detection engineering, and threat hunting. It is almost a companion exercise that takes work already being done and leverages it to contribute new data to the framework.
Mapping can be manual or automated. Some organizations do both in the knowledge that human expertise is capable of understanding links that might otherwise be missed by automated tools.
MITRE ATT&CK mapping brings structure to the practice of connecting cybersecurity dots. The structure encourages a proactive approach to threat detection and adversary tracking. Teams employing the strategy are better able to preemptively address a variety of known, emerging, and sophisticated cyber threats.
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