Exfiltration Over Physical Medium
- ID
- T1052
- Tactics
- TA0010 Exfiltration
- Platforms
- Linux, macOS, Windows
- Data sources
- Process Creation, File Creation, File Access, Drive Creation, Command Execution
- Source
- attack.mitre.org
- MITRE last modified
- 4 Sep 2026
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data via a physical medium, such as a removable drive. In certain circumstances, such as an air-gapped network compromise, exfiltration could occur via a physical medium or device introduced by a user. Such media could be an external hard drive, USB drive, cellular phone, MP3 player, or other removable storage and processing device. The physical medium or device could be used as the final exfiltration point or to hop between otherwise disconnected systems.[3][4][5]
Sub-techniques (1)
Detection
- DET0123 Detection of Data Exfiltration via Removable Media
Data components: Process Creation, File Creation, File Access, Drive Creation, Command Execution
Mitigations (3)
- M1034 Limit Hardware Installation
Limit the use of USB devices and removable media within a network.
- M1042 Disable or Remove Feature or Program
Disable Autorun if it is unnecessary. [1] Disallow or restrict removable media at an organizational policy level if they are not required for business operations. [2]
- M1057 Data Loss Prevention
Data loss prevention can detect and block sensitive data being copied to physical mediums.
References
- Microsoft Disable Autorun
- TechNet Removable Media Control
- USB Drives Threaten Enterprise Security
- Tropic Trooper’s USBferry
- APT37 Adds New Capabilities for Air-Gapped Networks