Technique on mitre.org

T1491.002: External Defacement

An adversary may deface systems external to an organization in an attempt to deliver messaging, intimidate, or otherwise mislead an organization or users. External Defacement may ultimately cause users to distrust the systems and to question/discredit the system’s integrity. Externally-facing websites are a common victim of defacement; often targeted by adversary and hacktivist groups in order to push a political message or spread propaganda. External Defacement may be used as a catalyst to trigger events, or as a response to actions taken by an organization or government. Similarly, website defacement may also be used as setup, or a precursor, for future attacks such as Drive-by Compromise.

Positive Technologies products that cover the technique

MaxPatrol SIEM knowledge base

Monitoring of events related to unexpected modification of files on external web servers.

Expert Required. The technique is detected only with the combination of «PT Product + Expert»

Detection

ID	DS0022	Data source and component	File: File Modification	Description	Monitor external websites for unplanned content changes.

ID	DS0022	Data source and component	File: File Creation	Description	Monitor for newly constructed files that may deface systems external to an organization in an attempt to deliver messaging, intimidate, or otherwise mislead an organization or users.

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 deface systems external to an organization in an attempt to deliver messaging, intimidate, or otherwise mislead an organization or users.

ID	DS0029	Data source and component	Network Traffic: Network Traffic Content	Description	Monitor and analyze traffic patterns and packet inspection associated to protocol(s) that do not follow the expected protocol standards and traffic flows (e.g extraneous packets that do not belong to established flows, gratuitous or anomalous traffic patterns, anomalous syntax, or structure). Consider correlation with process monitoring and command line to detect anomalous processes execution and command line arguments associated to traffic patterns (e.g. monitor anomalies in use of files that do not normally initiate connections for respective protocol(s)).

ID	Data source and component	Description
DS0022	File: File Modification	Monitor external websites for unplanned content changes.
DS0022	File: File Creation	Monitor for newly constructed files that may deface systems external to an organization in an attempt to deliver messaging, intimidate, or otherwise mislead an organization or users.
DS0015	Application Log: Application Log Content	Monitor for third-party application logging, messaging, and/or other artifacts that may deface systems external to an organization in an attempt to deliver messaging, intimidate, or otherwise mislead an organization or users.
DS0029	Network Traffic: Network Traffic Content	Monitor and analyze traffic patterns and packet inspection associated to protocol(s) that do not follow the expected protocol standards and traffic flows (e.g extraneous packets that do not belong to established flows, gratuitous or anomalous traffic patterns, anomalous syntax, or structure). Consider correlation with process monitoring and command line to detect anomalous processes execution and command line arguments associated to traffic patterns (e.g. monitor anomalies in use of files that do not normally initiate connections for respective protocol(s)).

Mitigation

ID	M1053	Name	Data Backup	Description	Consider implementing IT disaster recovery plans that contain procedures for taking regular data backups that can be used to restore organizational data. Ensure backups are stored off system and is protected from common methods adversaries may use to gain access and destroy the backups to prevent recovery.

ID	Name	Description
M1053	Data Backup	Consider implementing IT disaster recovery plans that contain procedures for taking regular data backups that can be used to restore organizational data. Ensure backups are stored off system and is protected from common methods adversaries may use to gain access and destroy the backups to prevent recovery.