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T1124 System Time Discovery

An adversary may gather the system time and/or time zone from a local or remote system. The system time is set and stored by the Windows Time Service within a domain to maintain time synchronization between systems and services in an enterprise network. 43

System time information may be gathered in a number of ways, such as with Net on Windows by performing net time \hostname to gather the system time on a remote system. The victim’s time zone may also be inferred from the current system time or gathered by using w32tm /tz.3

On network devices, Network Device CLI commands such as show clock detail can be used to see the current time configuration.1

This information could be useful for performing other techniques, such as executing a file with a Scheduled Task/Job5, or to discover locality information based on time zone to assist in victim targeting (i.e. System Location Discovery). Adversaries may also use knowledge of system time as part of a time bomb, or delaying execution until a specified date/time.2

Item Value
ID T1124
Sub-techniques
Tactics TA0007
Platforms Network, Windows
Version 1.3
Created 31 May 2017
Last Modified 12 April 2023

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S0331 Agent Tesla Agent Tesla can collect the timestamp from the victim’s machine.12
S0622 AppleSeed AppleSeed can pull a timestamp from the victim’s machine.13
S0373 Astaroth Astaroth collects the timestamp from the infected machine. 43
S1053 AvosLocker AvosLocker has checked the system time before and after encryption.37
S0344 Azorult Azorult can collect the time zone information from the system.4546
S0534 Bazar Bazar can collect the time on the compromised host.3132
S0574 BendyBear BendyBear has the ability to determine local time on a compromised host.63
S0268 Bisonal Bisonal can check the system time set on the infected host.75
S0657 BLUELIGHT BLUELIGHT can collect the local time on a compromised host.58
G0060 BRONZE BUTLER BRONZE BUTLER has used net time to check the local time on a target system.77
S0471 build_downer build_downer has the ability to determine the local time to ensure malware installation only happens during the hours that the infected system is active.11
C0015 C0015 During C0015, the threat actors used the command net view /all time to gather the local time of a compromised network.84
S0351 Cannon Cannon can collect the current time zone information from the victim’s machine.57
S0335 Carbon Carbon uses the command net time \127.0.0.1 to get information the system’s time.56
S1043 ccf32 ccf32 can determine the local time on targeted machines.14
G0114 Chimera Chimera has used time /t and net time \ip/hostname for system time discovery.76
S0660 Clambling Clambling can determine the current time.61
S0126 ComRAT ComRAT has checked the victim system’s date and time to perform tasks during business hours (9 to 5, Monday to Friday).24
S0608 Conficker Conficker uses the current UTC victim system date for domain generation and connects to time servers to determine the current date.2930
S0115 Crimson Crimson has the ability to determine the date and time on a compromised host.8
G0012 Darkhotel Darkhotel malware can obtain system time from a compromised host.79
S0673 DarkWatchman DarkWatchman can collect the time zone information from the system.50
S1033 DCSrv DCSrv can compare the current time on an infected host with a configuration value to determine when to start the encryption process.62
S0694 DRATzarus DRATzarus can use the GetTickCount and GetSystemTimeAsFileTime API calls to inspect system time.52
S0554 Egregor Egregor contains functionality to query the local/system time.33
S0091 Epic Epic uses the net time command to get the system time from the machine and collect the current date and time zone information.18
S0396 EvilBunny EvilBunny has used the API calls NtQuerySystemTime, GetSystemTimeAsFileTime, and GetTickCount to gather time metrics as part of its checks to see if the malware is running in a sandbox.19
S0267 FELIXROOT FELIXROOT gathers the time zone information from the victim’s machine.68
S1044 FunnyDream FunnyDream can check system time to help determine when changes were made to specified files.14
S0588 GoldMax GoldMax can check the current date-time value of the compromised system, comparing it to the hardcoded execution trigger and can send the current timestamp to the C2 server.910
S0531 Grandoreiro Grandoreiro can determine the time on the victim machine via IPinfo.41
S0237 GravityRAT GravityRAT can obtain the date and time of a system.74
S0690 Green Lambert Green Lambert can collect the date and time from a compromised host.3435
S0417 GRIFFON GRIFFON has used a reconnaissance module that can be used to retrieve the date and time of the system.65
G0126 Higaisa Higaisa used a function to gather the current time.80
S0376 HOPLIGHT HOPLIGHT has been observed collecting system time from victim machines.54
S0260 InvisiMole InvisiMole gathers the local system time from the victim’s machine.2627
S1051 KEYPLUG KEYPLUG can obtain the current tick count of an infected computer.53
G0032 Lazarus Group A Destover-like implant used by Lazarus Group can obtain the current system time and send it to the C2 server.39
S0455 Metamorfo Metamorfo uses JavaScript to get the system time.20
S0149 MoonWind MoonWind obtains the victim’s current time.38
S0039 Net The net time command can be used in Net to determine the local or remote system time.7
S0353 NOKKI NOKKI can collect the current timestamp of the victim’s machine.15
S0439 Okrum Okrum can obtain the date and time of the compromised system.25
S0264 OopsIE OopsIE checks to see if the system is configured with “Daylight” time and checks for a specific region to be set for the timezone.51
C0012 Operation CuckooBees During Operation CuckooBees, the threat actors used the net time command as part of their advanced reconnaissance.83
C0014 Operation Wocao During Operation Wocao, threat actors used the time command to retrieve the current time of a compromised system.85
S0501 PipeMon PipeMon can send time zone information from a compromised host to C2.66
S0139 PowerDuke PowerDuke has commands to get the time the machine was built, the time, and the time zone.59
S0238 Proxysvc As part of the data reconnaissance phase, Proxysvc grabs the system time to send back to the control server.39
S0650 QakBot QakBot can identify the system time on a targeted host.70
S0148 RTM RTM can obtain the victim time zone.40
S0596 ShadowPad ShadowPad has collected the current date and time of the victim system.22
S0140 Shamoon Shamoon obtains the system time and will only activate if it is greater than a preset date.4748
S0450 SHARPSTATS SHARPSTATS has the ability to identify the current date and time on the compromised host.36
G0121 Sidewinder Sidewinder has used tools to obtain the current system time.78
S0692 SILENTTRINITY SILENTTRINITY can collect start time information from a compromised host.6
S0615 SombRAT SombRAT can execute getinfo to discover the current time on a compromised host.1617
S0380 StoneDrill StoneDrill can obtain the current date and time of the victim machine.21
S1034 StrifeWater StrifeWater can collect the time zone from the victim’s machine.73
S0603 Stuxnet Stuxnet collects the time and date of a system when it is infected.67
S1064 SVCReady SVCReady can collect time zone information.23
S0098 T9000 T9000 gathers and beacons the system time during installation.60
S0011 Taidoor Taidoor can use GetLocalTime and GetSystemTime to collect system time.42
S0586 TAINTEDSCRIBE TAINTEDSCRIBE can execute GetLocalTime for time discovery.44
S0467 TajMahal TajMahal has the ability to determine local time on a compromised host.69
G0089 The White Company The White Company has checked the current date on the victim system.81
S0678 Torisma Torisma can collect the current time on a victim machine.28
G0010 Turla Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover the system time by using the net time command.18
S0275 UPPERCUT UPPERCUT has the capability to obtain the time zone information and current timestamp of the victim’s machine.49
S0466 WindTail WindTail has the ability to generate the current date and time.64
S0251 Zebrocy Zebrocy gathers the current time zone and date information from the system.7172
S0330 Zeus Panda Zeus Panda collects the current system time (UTC) and sends it back to the C2 server.55
G0128 ZIRCONIUM ZIRCONIUM has used a tool to capture the time on a compromised host in order to register it with C2.82

Detection

ID Data Source Data Component
DS0017 Command Command Execution
DS0009 Process OS API Execution

References

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