Adversaries may modify the lifecycle policies of a cloud storage bucket to destroy all objects stored within.

Cloud storage buckets often allow users to set lifecycle policies to automate the migration, archival, or deletion of objects after a set period of time.^[1],[2],[3] If a threat actor has sufficient permissions to modify these policies, they may be able to delete all objects at once.

For example, in AWS environments, an adversary with the PutLifecycleConfiguration permission may use the PutBucketLifecycle API call to apply a lifecycle policy to an S3 bucket that deletes all objects in the bucket after one day.^[4],[5] In addition to destroying data for purposes of extortion and Financial Theft, adversaries may also perform this action on buckets storing cloud logs for Indicator Removal.^[6]

References

1. AWS. (n.d.). Managing the lifecycle of objects. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
2. Google Cloud. (n.d.). Object Lifecycle Management. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
3. Microsoft Azure. (2024, July 3). Configure a lifecycle management policy. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
4. Ofir Balassiano and Ofir Shaty. (2023, November 29). Ransomware in the Cloud: Breaking Down the Attack Vectors. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
5. Halcyon RISE Team. (2025, January 13). Abusing AWS Native Services: Ransomware Encrypting S3 Buckets with SSE-C. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
6. Stratus Red Team. (n.d.). CloudTrail Logs Impairment Through S3 Lifecycle Rule. Retrieved September 25, 2024.

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