Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol
- ID
- T1048
- Tactics
- TA0010 Exfiltration
- Platforms
- ESXi, IaaS, Linux, macOS, Network Devices, Office Suite, SaaS, Windows
- Data sources
- Network Connection Creation, File Creation, Process Creation, File Access, File Modification, Network Traffic Flow, Network Traffic Content, Cloud Storage Access, Command Execution
- Source
- attack.mitre.org
- MITRE last modified
- 4 Sep 2026
Adversaries may steal data by exfiltrating it over a different protocol than that of the existing command and control channel. The data may also be sent to an alternate network location from the main command and control server.
Alternate protocols include FTP, SMTP, HTTP/S, DNS, SMB, or any other network protocol not being used as the main command and control channel. Adversaries may also opt to encrypt and/or obfuscate these alternate channels.
Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol can be done using various common operating system utilities such as Net/SMB or FTP.[5] On macOS and Linux curl may be used to invoke protocols such as HTTP/S or FTP/S to exfiltrate data from a system.[6]
Many IaaS and SaaS platforms (such as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, GitHub, and AWS S3) support the direct download of files, emails, source code, and other sensitive information via the web console or Cloud API.
Sub-techniques (3)
- T1048.001 Exfiltration Over Symmetric Encrypted Non-C2 Protocol
- T1048.002 Exfiltration Over Asymmetric Encrypted Non-C2 Protocol
- T1048.003 Exfiltration Over Unencrypted Non-C2 Protocol
Detection
- DET0131 Behavioral Detection Strategy for Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol
Data components: Network Connection Creation, File Creation, Process Creation, File Access, File Modification, Network Traffic Flow, Network Traffic Content, Cloud Storage Access, Command Execution
Mitigations (6)
- M1018 User Account Management
Configure user permissions groups and roles for access to cloud storage.[1] Implement strict Identity and Access Management (IAM) controls to prevent access to storage solutions except for the applications, users, and services that require access.[2] Ensure that temporary access tokens are issued rather than permanent credentials, especially when access is being granted to entities outside of the internal security boundary.[3]
- M1022 Restrict File and Directory Permissions
Use access control lists on cloud storage systems and objects.
- M1030 Network Segmentation
Follow best practices for network firewall configurations to allow only necessary ports and traffic to enter and exit the network.[4]
- M1031 Network Intrusion Prevention
Network intrusion detection and prevention systems that use network signatures to identify traffic for specific adversary command and control infrastructure and malware can be used to mitigate activity at the network level.
- M1037 Filter Network Traffic
Enforce proxies and use dedicated servers for services such as DNS and only allow those systems to communicate over respective ports/protocols, instead of all systems within a network. Cloud service providers support IP-based restrictions when accessing cloud resources. Consider using IP allowlisting along with user account management to ensure that data access is restricted not only to valid users but only from expected IP ranges to mitigate the use of stolen credentials to access data.
- M1057 Data Loss Prevention
Data loss prevention can detect and block sensitive data being uploaded via web browsers.
Groups (2)
Software (7)
References
- Microsoft Azure Storage Security, 2019
- Amazon S3 Security, 2019
- Amazon AWS Temporary Security Credentials
- TechNet Firewall Design
- Palo Alto OilRig Oct 2016
- 20 macOS Common Tools and Techniques