Atomic Threat Coverage: operationalized ATT&CK

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Presented at BSidesCDMX 2019 by

There are plenty decent projects which provide analytics (or functionality) of specific focus (Sigma, Atomic Red Team, MITRE CAR). All of them have one weakness — they exist in the vacuum of their area. In reality everything is tightly connected — data for alerts doesn’t come from nowhere, and generated alerts don’t go nowhere. Each function, i.e. data collection, security systems administration, threat detection, incident response etc are parts of big and comprehensive process, implemented by multiple departments, which demands their close collaboration.Sometimes problems of one function could be solved by methods of other function in a cheaper, simpler and more efficient way. Most of the tasks couldn’t be solved by one function at all. Each function is based on abilities and quality of others. There is no efficient way to detect and respond to threats without proper data collection and enrichment. There is no efficient way to respond to threats without understanding of which technologies/systems/measures could be used to block specific threat. There is no reason to conduct penetration test or Red Team exercise without understanding of abilities of processes, systems and personal to combat cyber threats. All of these require tight collaboration and mutual understanding of multiple departments.In practice there are difficulties in collaboration due to:Absence of common threat model/classification, common terminology and language to describe threatsAbsence common goals understandingAbsence of simple and straightforward way to explain specific requirementsDifference in competence level (from both depth and areas perspectives)That’s why we decided to create Atomic Threat Coverage — project which connects different functions/processes under unified Threat Centric methodology (Lockheed Martin Intelligence Driven Defense® aka MITRE Threat-based Security), threat model (MITRE ATT&CK) and provide security teams an efficient tool for collaboration on one main challenge — combating threats.