T1020.001 Traffic Duplication
Adversaries may leverage traffic mirroring in order to automate data exfiltration over compromised infrastructure. Traffic mirroring is a native feature for some devices, often used for network analysis. For example, devices may be configured to forward network traffic to one or more destinations for analysis by a network analyzer or other monitoring device. 24
Adversaries may abuse traffic mirroring to mirror or redirect network traffic through other infrastructure they control. Malicious modifications to network devices to enable traffic redirection may be possible through ROMMONkit or Patch System Image.76
Many cloud-based environments also support traffic mirroring. For example, AWS Traffic Mirroring, GCP Packet Mirroring, and Azure vTap allow users to define specified instances to collect traffic from and specified targets to send collected traffic to.135
Adversaries may use traffic duplication in conjunction with Network Sniffing, Input Capture, or Adversary-in-the-Middle depending on the goals and objectives of the adversary.
Item | Value |
---|---|
ID | T1020.001 |
Sub-techniques | T1020.001 |
Tactics | TA0010 |
Platforms | IaaS, Network |
Version | 1.2 |
Created | 19 October 2020 |
Last Modified | 14 April 2023 |
Mitigations
ID | Mitigation | Description |
---|---|---|
M1041 | Encrypt Sensitive Information | Ensure that all wired and/or wireless traffic is encrypted appropriately. Use best practices for authentication protocols, such as Kerberos, and ensure web traffic that may contain credentials is protected by SSL/TLS. |
M1018 | User Account Management | In cloud environments, ensure that users are not granted permissions to create or modify traffic mirrors unless this is explicitly required. |
Detection
ID | Data Source | Data Component |
---|---|---|
DS0029 | Network Traffic | Network Connection Creation |
References
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Amazon Web Services. (n.d.). How Traffic Mirroring works. Retrieved March 17, 2022. ↩
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Cisco. (n.d.). Cisco IOS XR Interface and Hardware Component Configuration Guide for the Cisco CRS Router, Release 5.1.x. Retrieved October 19, 2020. ↩
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Google Cloud. (n.d.). Packet Mirroring overview. Retrieved March 17, 2022. ↩
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Juniper. (n.d.). Understanding Port Mirroring on EX2200, EX3200, EX3300, EX4200, EX4500, EX4550, EX6200, and EX8200 Series Switches. Retrieved October 19, 2020. ↩
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Microsoft. (2022, February 9). Virtual network TAP. Retrieved March 17, 2022. ↩
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Omar Santos. (2020, October 19). Attackers Continue to Target Legacy Devices. Retrieved October 20, 2020. ↩
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US-CERT. (2018, April 20). Alert (TA18-106A) Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Targeting Network Infrastructure Devices. Retrieved October 19, 2020. ↩