Adversaries may encode data with a standard data encoding system to make the content of command and control traffic more difficult to detect. Command and control (C2) information can be encoded using a standard data encoding system that adheres to existing protocol specifications. Common data encoding schemes include ASCII, Unicode, hexadecimal, Base64, and MIME.(Citation: Wikipedia Binary-to-text Encoding)(Citation: Wikipedia Character Encoding) Some data encoding systems may also result in data compression, such as gzip.

Linked Issues

Issuelinks
Linktype Issue
is related to Techniques
is blocked by Behavior-chain detection for T1132.001 Data Encoding: Standard Encoding (Base64/Hex/MIME) across Windows, Linux, macOS, ESXi
is blocked by Network Intrusion Prevention
is blocked by Security, Compliance & Resilience Controls Oversight
is blocked by Secure Baseline Configurations
is blocked by Continuous Monitoring
is blocked by Malicious Code Protection (Anti-Malware)
is blocked by Boundary Protection
is blocked by Data Flow Enforcement – Access Control Lists (ACLs)
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