Description
An adversary may revert changes made to a cloud instance after they have performed malicious activities in attempt to evade detection and remove evidence of their presence. In highly virtualized environments, such as cloud-based infrastructure, this may be accomplished by restoring virtual machine (VM) or data storage snapshots through the cloud management dashboard or cloud APIs.
Another variation of this technique is to utilize temporary storage attached to the compute instance. Most cloud providers provide various types of storage including persistent, local, and/or ephemeral, with the ephemeral types often reset upon stop/restart of the VM.(Citation: Tech Republic - Restore AWS Snapshots)(Citation: Google - Restore Cloud Snapshot)
Platforms
References
- Google. (2019, October 7). Restoring and deleting persistent disk snapshots. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
- Hardiman, N.. (2012, March 20). Backing up and restoring snapshots on Amazon EC2 machines. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is T1578.004 (Revert Cloud Instance)?
T1578.004 is a MITRE ATT&CK technique named 'Revert Cloud Instance'. It belongs to the Defense Impairment tactic(s). An adversary may revert changes made to a cloud instance after they have performed malicious activities in attempt to evade detection and remove evidence of their presence. In highly virtualized envir...
How can T1578.004 be detected?
Detection of T1578.004 (Revert Cloud Instance) typically involves monitoring system logs, network traffic, and endpoint telemetry. Use SIEM rules, EDR solutions, and behavioral analytics to identify suspicious activity associated with this technique.
What mitigations exist for T1578.004?
Follow defense-in-depth principles including network segmentation, least privilege access, security monitoring, and regular patching to reduce the risk of this technique.
Which threat groups use T1578.004?
While specific threat group attribution may vary, this technique has been observed in various real-world attacks. Check the MITRE ATT&CK website for the latest threat intelligence.