T1213: Data from Information Repositories

Adversaries may leverage information repositories to mine valuable information. Information repositories are tools that allow for storage of information, typically to facilitate collaboration or information sharing between users, and can store a wide variety of data that may aid adversaries in further objectives, or direct access to the target information. Adversaries may also abuse external sharing features to share sensitive documents with recipients outside of the organization.

The following is a brief list of example information that may hold potential value to an adversary and may also be found on an information repository:

Policies, procedures, and standards
Physical / logical network diagrams
System architecture diagrams
Technical system documentation
Testing / development credentials
Work / project schedules
Source code snippets
Links to network shares and other internal resources

Information stored in a repository may vary based on the specific instance or environment. Specific common information repositories include web-based platforms such as Sharepoint and Confluence, specific services such as Code Repositories, IaaS databases, enterprise databases, and other storage infrastructure such as SQL Server.

Positive Technologies products that cover the technique

MaxPatrol SIEM knowledge base

mssql_database: PT-CR-410: MSSQL_dump_database: An attempt to create a database backup on a hard disk

Detection

ID	DS0028	Data source and component	Logon Session: Logon Session Creation	Description	Monitor for newly constructed logon behavior within Microsoft's SharePoint can be configured to report access to certain pages and documents. Sharepoint audit logging can also be configured to report when a user shares a resource. The user access logging within Atlassian's Confluence can also be configured to report access to certain pages and documents through AccessLogFilter. Additional log storage and analysis infrastructure will likely be required for more robust detection capabilities.

ID	DS0015	Data source and component	Application Log: Application Log Content	Description	Monitor for third-party application logging, messaging, and/or other artifacts that may leverage information repositories to mine valuable information. Information repositories generally have a considerably large user base, detection of malicious use can be non-trivial. At minimum, access to information repositories performed by privileged users (for example, Active Directory Domain, Enterprise, or Schema Administrators) should be closely monitored and alerted upon, as these types of accounts should generally not be used to access information repositories. If the capability exists, it may be of value to monitor and alert on users that are retrieving and viewing a large number of documents and pages; this behavior may be indicative of programmatic means being used to retrieve all data within the repository. In environments with high-maturity, it may be possible to leverage User-Behavioral Analytics (UBA) platforms to detect and alert on user based anomalies.

ID	Data source and component	Description
DS0028	Logon Session: Logon Session Creation	Monitor for newly constructed logon behavior within Microsoft's SharePoint can be configured to report access to certain pages and documents. Sharepoint audit logging can also be configured to report when a user shares a resource. The user access logging within Atlassian's Confluence can also be configured to report access to certain pages and documents through AccessLogFilter. Additional log storage and analysis infrastructure will likely be required for more robust detection capabilities.
DS0015	Application Log: Application Log Content	Monitor for third-party application logging, messaging, and/or other artifacts that may leverage information repositories to mine valuable information. Information repositories generally have a considerably large user base, detection of malicious use can be non-trivial. At minimum, access to information repositories performed by privileged users (for example, Active Directory Domain, Enterprise, or Schema Administrators) should be closely monitored and alerted upon, as these types of accounts should generally not be used to access information repositories. If the capability exists, it may be of value to monitor and alert on users that are retrieving and viewing a large number of documents and pages; this behavior may be indicative of programmatic means being used to retrieve all data within the repository. In environments with high-maturity, it may be possible to leverage User-Behavioral Analytics (UBA) platforms to detect and alert on user based anomalies.

Mitigation

ID	M1032	Name	Multi-factor Authentication	Description	Use two or more pieces of evidence to authenticate to a system; such as username and password in addition to a token from a physical smart card or token generator.

ID	M1017	Name	User Training	Description	Develop and publish policies that define acceptable information to be stored in repositories.

ID	M1018	Name	User Account Management	Description	Enforce the principle of least-privilege. Consider implementing access control mechanisms that include both authentication and authorization.

ID	M1047	Name	Audit	Description	Consider periodic review of accounts and privileges for critical and sensitive repositories.

ID	Name	Description
M1032	Multi-factor Authentication	Use two or more pieces of evidence to authenticate to a system; such as username and password in addition to a token from a physical smart card or token generator.
M1017	User Training	Develop and publish policies that define acceptable information to be stored in repositories.
M1018	User Account Management	Enforce the principle of least-privilege. Consider implementing access control mechanisms that include both authentication and authorization.
M1047	Audit	Consider periodic review of accounts and privileges for critical and sensitive repositories.