MITRE ATT&CK / Techniques / T1036.004

Masquerading: Masquerade Task or Service

ID
T1036.004
Tactics
TA0005 Stealth
Sub-technique of
T1036 Masquerading
Platforms
Linux, macOS, Windows
Data sources
Service Creation, Scheduled Job Creation, Process Creation, Scheduled Job Modification, Service Metadata, Scheduled Job Metadata
Source
attack.mitre.org
MITRE last modified
12 May 2026

Adversaries may attempt to manipulate the name of a task or service to make it appear legitimate or benign. Tasks/services executed by the Task Scheduler or systemd will typically be given a name and/or description.[1][2] Windows services will have a service name as well as a display name. Many benign tasks and services exist that have commonly associated names. Adversaries may give tasks or services names that are similar or identical to those of legitimate ones.

Tasks or services contain other fields, such as a description, that adversaries may attempt to make appear legitimate.[3][4]

Detection

Groups (24)

Software (64)

Showing 60 of 64. Full list on attack.mitre.org.

References

  1. TechNet Schtasks
  2. Systemd Service Units
  3. Palo Alto Shamoon Nov 2016
  4. Fysbis Dr Web Analysis