Stored Data Manipulation

What the technique is

Adversaries may insert, delete, or manipulate data at rest in order to influence external outcomes or hide activity, thus threatening the integrity of the data. By manipulating stored data, adversaries may attempt to affect a business process, organizational understanding, and decision making. Stored data could include a variety of file formats, such as Office files, databases, stored emails, and custom file formats. The type of modification and the impact it will have depends on the type of data as well as the goals and objectives of the adversary. For complex systems, an adversary would likely need special expertise and possibly access to specialized software related to the system that would typically be gained through a prolonged information gathering campaign in order to have the desired impact.

What MITRE says you would watch

• AN0555

  Identify unauthorized creation, deletion, or modification of business-critical stored data such as Office documents, database files, and log archives. Detect anomalous processes modifying stored data outside of expected workflows (e.g., non-database processes modifying database files).

• AN0556

  Detect suspicious file creation, modification, or deletion in stored data directories (e.g., /var/lib/mysql/, /var/log/, mail spools). Identify shell commands interacting directly with structured data files instead of legitimate database utilities.

• AN0557

  Monitor sensitive data files such as plist-based storage, mail archives, or Office files for unexpected modifications. Detect anomalous processes modifying stored data outside expected update cycles using FSEvents and Unified Logs.