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hunting-for-living-off-the-cloud-techniques

Hunts for adversary abuse of legitimate cloud services (Azure, AWS, GCP, and SaaS platforms) for command-and-control, data staging, and exfiltration, i.e. "living off the cloud" tradecraft that blends in with normal cloud API and service activity. Use when threat hunting for cloud-native C2 channels, abnormal use of storage/SaaS services for data staging, or exfiltration hidden in legitimate cloud traffic.

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hunting-for-living-off-the-cloud-techniques

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Use hunting-for-living-off-the-cloud-techniques to hunt for suspected living-off-the-cloud activity related to [threat intelligence or ATT&CK hypothesis] using the available EDR, SIEM, endpoint, and network telemetry; correlate validated findings and deliver a Hunt ID report with evidence, risk, confidence, and recommended response actions.

Required inputs

  • [threat intelligence or ATT&CK hypothesis]

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SKILL.md

name: hunting-for-living-off-the-cloud-techniquesdescription: Hunts for adversary abuse of legitimate cloud services (Azure, AWS, GCP,  and SaaS platforms) for command-and-control, data staging, and exfiltration, i.e.  "living off the cloud" tradecraft that blends in with normal cloud API and service  activity. Use when threat hunting for cloud-native C2 channels, abnormal use of  storage/SaaS services for data staging, or exfiltration hidden in legitimate cloud  traffic.domain: cybersecuritysubdomain: threat-huntingtags: - threat-hunting- mitre-attack- cloud-abuse- c2- lotc- saas- proactive-detectionversion: '1.0'author: mahipallicense: Apache-2.0d3fend_techniques: - Application Protocol Command Analysis- Network Isolation- Network Traffic Analysis- Client-server Payload Profiling- Network Traffic Community Deviationnist_csf: - DE.CM-01- DE.AE-02- DE.AE-07- ID.RA-05mitre_attack: - T1046- T1057- T1082- T1083- T1048

Hunting For Living Off The Cloud Techniques

When to Use

  • When proactively hunting for indicators of hunting for living off the cloud techniques in the environment
  • After threat intelligence indicates active campaigns using these techniques
  • During incident response to scope compromise related to these techniques
  • When EDR or SIEM alerts trigger on related indicators
  • During periodic security assessments and purple team exercises

Prerequisites

  • EDR platform with process and network telemetry (CrowdStrike, MDE, SentinelOne)
  • SIEM with relevant log data ingested (Splunk, Elastic, Sentinel)
  • Sysmon deployed with comprehensive configuration
  • Windows Security Event Log forwarding enabled
  • Threat intelligence feeds for IOC correlation

Workflow

  1. Formulate Hypothesis: Define a testable hypothesis based on threat intelligence or ATT&CK gap analysis.
  2. Identify Data Sources: Determine which logs and telemetry are needed to validate or refute the hypothesis.
  3. Execute Queries: Run detection queries against SIEM and EDR platforms to collect relevant events.
  4. Analyze Results: Examine query results for anomalies, correlating across multiple data sources.
  5. Validate Findings: Distinguish true positives from false positives through contextual analysis.
  6. Correlate Activity: Link findings to broader attack chains and threat actor TTPs.
  7. Document and Report: Record findings, update detection rules, and recommend response actions.

Key Concepts

ConceptDescription
T1102Web Service
T1567Exfiltration Over Web Service
T1537Transfer Data to Cloud Account

Tools & Systems

ToolPurpose
CrowdStrike FalconEDR telemetry and threat detection
Microsoft Defender for EndpointAdvanced hunting with KQL
Splunk EnterpriseSIEM log analysis with SPL queries
Elastic SecurityDetection rules and investigation timeline
SysmonDetailed Windows event monitoring
VelociraptorEndpoint artifact collection and hunting
Sigma RulesCross-platform detection rule format

Common Scenarios

  1. Scenario 1: C2 over Discord webhooks for command delivery
  2. Scenario 2: Data exfiltration to Telegram bot API
  3. Scenario 3: Malware using Azure Functions for dynamic C2
  4. Scenario 4: Staging stolen data on Google Docs or Notion pages

Output Format

Hunt ID: TH-HUNTIN-[DATE]-[SEQ]
Technique: T1102
Host: [Hostname]
User: [Account context]
Evidence: [Log entries, process trees, network data]
Risk Level: [Critical/High/Medium/Low]
Confidence: [High/Medium/Low]
Recommended Action: [Containment, investigation, monitoring]