alirezaaminzadeh/cybersec-retrieval-benchmark huggingface dataset:
Playbook for T1201 Password Policy Discovery. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (discovery), eradicate. Adversaries may attempt to access detailed information about the password policy used within an enterprise network or cloud environment. Password policies are a way to enforce complex passwords that are difficult to guess or crack through [Brute Force](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110). This information may help the adversary to create a list of common passwords and launch dictionary and/or brute force attacks which adheres to the policy (e.g. if the minimum password length should be 8,
Playbook for T1546 Event Triggered Execution. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (privilege escalation, persistence), eradicate. Adversaries may establish persistence and/or elevate privileges using system mechanisms that trigger execution based on specific events. Various operating systems have means to monitor and subscribe to events such as logons or other user activity such as running specific applications/binaries. Cloud environments may also support various functions and services that monitor and can be invoked in response to specific cloud events.(Citation: Backdooring an AWS account)(Citation: Varonis Power Automa
Playbook for T1546.004 Unix Shell Configuration Modification. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (privilege escalation, persistence), eradicate. Adversaries may establish persistence through executing malicious commands triggered by a user’s shell. User [Unix Shell](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/004)s execute several configuration scripts at different points throughout the session based on events. For example, when a user opens a command-line interface or remotely logs in (such as via SSH) a login shell is initiated. The login shell executes scripts from the system (<code>/etc</code>) and the user’s home directory (<code>~/</
Playbook for T1187 Forced Authentication. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (credential access), eradicate. Adversaries may gather credential material by invoking or forcing a user to automatically provide authentication information through a mechanism in which they can intercept. The Server Message Block (SMB) protocol is commonly used in Windows networks for authentication and communication between systems for access to resources and file sharing. When a Windows system attempts to connect to an SMB resource it will automatically attempt to authenticate and send credential information for the current
Playbook for T1134.005 SID-History Injection. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (stealth, privilege escalation), eradicate. Adversaries may use SID-History Injection to escalate privileges and bypass access controls. The Windows security identifier (SID) is a unique value that identifies a user or group account. SIDs are used by Windows security in both security descriptors and access tokens. (Citation: Microsoft SID) An account can hold additional SIDs in the SID-History Active Directory attribute (Citation: Microsoft SID-History Attribute), allowing inter-operable account migration between domains (e.g., all values
Playbook for T1599 Network Boundary Bridging. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (defense impairment), eradicate. Adversaries may bridge network boundaries by compromising perimeter network devices or internal devices responsible for network segmentation. Breaching these devices may enable an adversary to bypass restrictions on traffic routing that otherwise separate trusted and untrusted networks. Devices such as routers and firewalls can be used to create boundaries between trusted and untrusted networks. They achieve this by restricting traffic types to enforce organizational policy in an attempt to redu
Playbook for T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (impact), eradicate. Adversaries may encrypt data on target systems or on large numbers of systems in a network to interrupt availability to system and network resources. They can attempt to render stored data inaccessible by encrypting files or data on local and remote drives and withholding access to a decryption key. This may be done in order to extract monetary compensation from a victim in exchange for decryption or a decryption key (ransomware) or to render data permanently inaccessible in cases where the key
Playbook for T1690 Prevent Command History Logging. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (defense impairment), eradicate. Adversaries may impair command history logging to hide commands they run on a compromised system. Various command interpreters keep track of the commands users type in their terminal so that users can retrace what they have done. On Linux and macOS, command history is tracked in a file pointed to by the environment variable `HISTFILE`. When a user logs off a system, this information is flushed to a file in the user's home directory called `~/.bash_history`. The `HISTCONTROL` environment variable
Playbook for T1553 Subvert Trust Controls. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (defense impairment), eradicate. Adversaries may undermine security controls that will either warn users of untrusted activity or prevent execution of untrusted programs. Operating systems and security products may contain mechanisms to identify programs or websites as possessing some level of trust. Examples of such features would include a program being allowed to run because it is signed by a valid code signing certificate, a program prompting the user with a warning because it has an attribute set from being downloaded from
Playbook for T1548.004 Elevated Execution with Prompt. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (privilege escalation), eradicate. Adversaries may leverage the <code>AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges</code> API to escalate privileges by prompting the user for credentials.(Citation: AppleDocs AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges) The purpose of this API is to give application developers an easy way to perform operations with root privileges, such as for application installation or updating. This API does not validate that the program requesting root privileges comes from a reputable source or has been maliciously modified. Al
Playbook for T1592.003 Firmware. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (reconnaissance), eradicate. Adversaries may gather information about the victim's host firmware that can be used during targeting. Information about host firmware may include a variety of details such as type and versions on specific hosts, which may be used to infer more information about hosts in the environment (ex: configuration, purpose, age/patch level, etc.). Adversaries may gather this information in various ways, such as direct elicitation via [Phishing for Information](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1598).
Playbook for T1573 Encrypted Channel. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (command and control), eradicate. Adversaries may employ an encryption algorithm to conceal command and control traffic rather than relying on any inherent protections provided by a communication protocol. Despite the use of a secure algorithm, these implementations may be vulnerable to reverse engineering if secret keys are encoded and/or generated within malware samples/configuration files.
Playbook for T1547.002 Authentication Package. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (persistence, privilege escalation), eradicate. Adversaries may abuse authentication packages to execute DLLs when the system boots. Windows authentication package DLLs are loaded by the Local Security Authority (LSA) process at system start. They provide support for multiple logon processes and multiple security protocols to the operating system.(Citation: MSDN Authentication Packages) Adversaries can use the autostart mechanism provided by LSA authentication packages for persistence by placing a reference to a binary in the Windows Registry
Playbook for T1218.010 Regsvr32. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (stealth), eradicate. Adversaries may abuse Regsvr32.exe to proxy execution of malicious code. Regsvr32.exe is a command-line program used to register and unregister object linking and embedding controls, including dynamic link libraries (DLLs), on Windows systems. The Regsvr32.exe binary may also be signed by Microsoft. (Citation: Microsoft Regsvr32) Malicious usage of Regsvr32.exe may avoid triggering security tools that may not monitor execution of, and modules loaded by, the regsvr32.exe process because of allowl
Playbook for T1567.003 Exfiltration to Text Storage Sites. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (exfiltration), eradicate. Adversaries may exfiltrate data to text storage sites instead of their primary command and control channel. Text storage sites, such as <code>pastebin[.]com</code>, are commonly used by developers to share code and other information. Text storage sites are often used to host malicious code for C2 communication (e.g., [Stage Capabilities](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1608)), but adversaries may also use these sites to exfiltrate collected data. Furthermore, paid features and encryption op
Playbook for T1592.002 Software. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (reconnaissance), eradicate. Adversaries may gather information about the victim's host software that can be used during targeting. Information about installed software may include a variety of details such as types and versions on specific hosts, as well as the presence of additional components that might be indicative of added defensive protections (ex: antivirus, SIEMs, etc.). Adversaries may gather this information in various ways, such as direct collection actions via [Active Scanning](https://attack.mitre.org/techniqu
Playbook for T1056 Input Capture. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (collection, credential access), eradicate. Adversaries may use methods of capturing user input to obtain credentials or collect information. During normal system usage, users often provide credentials to various different locations, such as login pages/portals or system dialog boxes. Input capture mechanisms may be transparent to the user (e.g. [Credential API Hooking](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1056/004)) or rely on deceiving the user into providing input into what they believe to be a genuine service (e.g. [Web Portal Capture
Playbook for T1566.004 Spearphishing Voice. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (initial access), eradicate. Adversaries may use voice communications to ultimately gain access to victim systems. Spearphishing voice is a specific variant of spearphishing. It is different from other forms of spearphishing in that it employs the use of manipulating a user into providing access to systems through a phone call or other forms of voice communications. Spearphishing frequently involves social engineering techniques, such as posing as a trusted source (ex: [Impersonation](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T16
Playbook for T1587.004 Exploits. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (resource development), eradicate. Adversaries may develop exploits that can be used during targeting. An exploit takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on computer hardware or software. Rather than finding/modifying exploits from online or purchasing them from exploit vendors, an adversary may develop their own exploits.(Citation: NYTStuxnet) Adversaries may use information acquired via [Vulnerabilities](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1588/006) to focus exp
Playbook for T1685 Disable or Modify Tools. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (defense impairment), eradicate. Adversaries may disable, degrade, or tamper with security tools or applications (e.g., endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus, logging agents, sensors, etc.) to impair or reduce visibility of defensive capabilities. This may include stopping specific services, killing processes, modifying or deleting tool configuration files and Registry keys, or preventing tools from updating. This may also include impairing defenses more broadly by disrupting
Playbook for T1593.001 Social Media. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (reconnaissance), eradicate. Adversaries may search social media for information about victims that can be used during targeting. Social media sites may contain various information about a victim organization, such as business announcements as well as information about the roles, locations, and interests of staff. Adversaries may search in different social media sites depending on what information they seek to gather. Threat actors may passively harvest data from these sites, as well as use information gathered to create fa
Playbook for T1213.004 Customer Relationship Management Software. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (collection), eradicate. Adversaries may leverage Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to mine valuable information. CRM software is used to assist organizations in tracking and managing customer interactions, as well as storing customer data. Once adversaries gain access to a victim organization, they may mine CRM software for customer data. This may include personally identifiable information (PII) such as full names, emails, phone numbers, and addresses, as well as additional details such as purchase histo
Playbook for T1546.015 Component Object Model Hijacking. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (privilege escalation, persistence), eradicate. Adversaries may establish persistence by executing malicious content triggered by hijacked references to Component Object Model (COM) objects. COM is a system within Windows to enable interaction between software components through the operating system.(Citation: Microsoft Component Object Model) References to various COM objects are stored in the Registry. Adversaries may use the COM system to insert malicious code that can be executed in place of legitimate software through hijacking the COM r
Playbook for T1589.001 Credentials. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (reconnaissance), eradicate. Adversaries may gather credentials that can be used during targeting. Account credentials gathered by adversaries may be those directly associated with the target victim organization or attempt to take advantage of the tendency for users to use the same passwords across personal and business accounts. Adversaries may gather credentials from potential victims in various ways, such as direct elicitation via [Phishing for Information](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1598). Adversaries may also
Playbook for T1195.002 Compromise Software Supply Chain. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (initial access), eradicate. Adversaries may manipulate application software prior to receipt by a final consumer for the purpose of data or system compromise. Supply chain compromise of software can take place in a number of ways, including manipulation of the application source code, manipulation of the update/distribution mechanism for that software, or replacing compiled releases with a modified version. Targeting may be specific to a desired victim set or may be distributed to a broad set of consumers but only move on
Playbook for T1036.003 Rename Legitimate Utilities. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (stealth), eradicate. Adversaries may rename legitimate / system utilities to try to evade security mechanisms concerning the usage of those utilities. Security monitoring and control mechanisms may be in place for legitimate utilities adversaries are capable of abusing, including both built-in binaries and tools such as PSExec, AutoHotKey, and IronPython.(Citation: LOLBAS Main Site)(Citation: Huntress Python Malware 2025)(Citation: The DFIR Report AutoHotKey 2023)(Citation: Splunk Detect Renamed PSExec) It may be po
Playbook for T1102.002 Bidirectional Communication. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (command and control), eradicate. Adversaries may use an existing, legitimate external Web service as a means for sending commands to and receiving output from a compromised system over the Web service channel. Compromised systems may leverage popular websites and social media to host command and control (C2) instructions. Those infected systems can then send the output from those commands back over that Web service channel. The return traffic may occur in a variety of ways, depending on the Web service being utilized. For examp
Playbook for T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (execution), eradicate. Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code. Vulnerabilities can exist in software due to unsecure coding practices that can lead to unanticipated behavior. Adversaries can take advantage of certain vulnerabilities through targeted exploitation for the purpose of arbitrary code execution. Oftentimes the most valuable exploits to an offensive toolkit are those that can be used to obtain code execution on a remote system because they can be used to gain
Playbook for T1595.003 Wordlist Scanning. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (reconnaissance), eradicate. Adversaries may iteratively probe infrastructure using brute-forcing and crawling techniques. While this technique employs similar methods to [Brute Force](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110), its goal is the identification of content and infrastructure rather than the discovery of valid credentials. Wordlists used in these scans may contain generic, commonly used names and file extensions or terms specific to a particular software. Adversaries may also create custom, target-specific word
Playbook for T1667 Email Bombing. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (impact), eradicate. Adversaries may flood targeted email addresses with an overwhelming volume of messages. This may bury legitimate emails in a flood of spam and disrupt business operations.(Citation: sophos-bombing)(Citation: krebs-email-bombing) An adversary may accomplish email bombing by leveraging an automated bot to register a targeted address for e-mail lists that do not validate new signups, such as online newsletters. The result can be a wave of thousands of e-mails that effectively overloads the victim’s
Playbook for T1137.004 Outlook Home Page. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (persistence), eradicate. Adversaries may abuse Microsoft Outlook's Home Page feature to obtain persistence on a compromised system. Outlook Home Page is a legacy feature used to customize the presentation of Outlook folders. This feature allows for an internal or external URL to be loaded and presented whenever a folder is opened. A malicious HTML page can be crafted that will execute code when loaded by Outlook Home Page.(Citation: SensePost Outlook Home Page) Once malicious home pages have been added to the user’s mai
Playbook for T1573.002 Asymmetric Cryptography. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (command and control), eradicate. Adversaries may employ a known asymmetric encryption algorithm to conceal command and control traffic rather than relying on any inherent protections provided by a communication protocol. Asymmetric cryptography, also known as public key cryptography, uses a keypair per party: one public that can be freely distributed, and one private. Due to how the keys are generated, the sender encrypts data with the receiver’s public key and the receiver decrypts the data with their private key. This ensures
Playbook for T1567.002 Exfiltration to Cloud Storage. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (exfiltration), eradicate. Adversaries may exfiltrate data to a cloud storage service rather than over their primary command and control channel. Cloud storage services allow for the storage, edit, and retrieval of data from a remote cloud storage server over the Internet. Examples of cloud storage services include Dropbox and Google Docs. Exfiltration to these cloud storage services can provide a significant amount of cover to the adversary if hosts within the network are already communicating with the service.
Playbook for T1570 Lateral Tool Transfer. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (lateral movement), eradicate. Adversaries may transfer tools or other files between systems in a compromised environment. Once brought into the victim environment (i.e., [Ingress Tool Transfer](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1105)) files may then be copied from one system to another to stage adversary tools or other files over the course of an operation. Adversaries may copy files between internal victim systems to support lateral movement using inherent file sharing protocols such as file sharing over [SMB/Windows Adm
Playbook for T1574.009 Path Interception by Unquoted Path. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (stealth, execution), eradicate. Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking vulnerable file path references. Adversaries can take advantage of paths that lack surrounding quotations by placing an executable in a higher level directory within the path, so that Windows will choose the adversary's executable to launch. Service paths (Citation: Microsoft CurrentControlSet Services) and shortcut paths may also be vulnerable to path interception if the path has one or more spaces and is not surrounded by quotat
Playbook for T1608.003 Install Digital Certificate. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (resource development), eradicate. Adversaries may install SSL/TLS certificates that can be used during targeting. SSL/TLS certificates are files that can be installed on servers to enable secure communications between systems. Digital certificates include information about the key, information about its owner's identity, and the digital signature of an entity that has verified the certificate's contents are correct. If the signature is valid, and the person examining the certificate trusts the signer, then they know they can use
Playbook for T1037.005 Startup Items. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (persistence, privilege escalation), eradicate. Adversaries may use startup items automatically executed at boot initialization to establish persistence. Startup items execute during the final phase of the boot process and contain shell scripts or other executable files along with configuration information used by the system to determine the execution order for all startup items.(Citation: Startup Items) This is technically a deprecated technology (superseded by [Launch Daemon](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1543/004)), and thus the app
Playbook for T1614.001 System Language Discovery. Validate telemetry, scope hosts, contain, hunt related tactics (discovery), eradicate. Adversaries may attempt to gather information about the system language of a victim in order to infer the geographical location of that host. This information may be used to shape follow-on behaviors, including whether the adversary infects the target and/or attempts specific actions. This decision may be employed by malware developers and operators to reduce their risk of attracting the attention of specific law enforcement agencies or prosecution/scrutiny from other entities.(Citation: Malware