Obfuscated Files or Information: Steganography
- ID
- T1027.003
- Tactics
- TA0005 Stealth
- Sub-technique of
- T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information
- Platforms
- Linux, macOS, Windows
- Data sources
- Process Creation, Network Connection Creation, File Access
- Source
- attack.mitre.org
- MITRE last modified
- 12 May 2026
Adversaries may use steganography techniques in order to prevent the detection of hidden information. Steganographic techniques can be used to hide data in digital media such as images, audio tracks, video clips, or text files.
Duqu was an early example of malware that used steganography. It encrypted the gathered information from a victim's system and hid it within an image before exfiltrating the image to a C2 server.[1]
By the end of 2017, a threat group used Invoke-PSImage to hide PowerShell commands in an image file (.png) and execute the code on a victim's system. In this particular case the PowerShell code downloaded another obfuscated script to gather intelligence from the victim's machine and communicate it back to the adversary.[2]
Detection
- DET0119 Detection Strategy for Steganographic Abuse in File & Script Execution
Data components: Process Creation, Network Connection Creation, File Access
Groups (10)
- G0060 BRONZE BUTLER
- G0065 Leviathan
- G0067 APT37
- G0069 MuddyWater
- G0081 Tropic Trooper
- G0099 APT-C-36
- G0127 TA551
- G0138 Andariel
- G1006 Earth Lusca
- G1056 TeamPCP
Software (19)
- S0139 PowerDuke
- S0231 Invoke-PSImage
- S0234 Bandook
- S0439 Okrum
- S0458 Ramsay
- S0469 ABK
- S0470 BBK
- S0471 build_downer
- S0473 Avenger
- S0483 IcedID
- S0495 RDAT
- S0511 RegDuke
- S0513 LiteDuke
- S0518 PolyglotDuke
- S0565 Raindrop
- S0644 ObliqueRAT
- S0654 ProLock
- S0659 Diavol
- S1145 Pikabot
