MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Impact T1496.004
Description

Adversaries may leverage compromised software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to complete resource-intensive tasks, which may impact hosted service availability. For example, adversaries may leverage email and messaging services, such as AWS Simple Email Service (SES), AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS), SendGrid, and Twilio, in order to send large quantities of spam / [Phishing](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1566) emails and SMS messages.(Citation: Invictus IR DangerDev 2024)(Citation: Permiso SES Abuse 2023)(Citation: SentinelLabs SNS Sender 2024) Alternatively, they may engage in LLMJacking by leveraging reverse proxies to hijack the power of cloud-hosted AI models.(Citation: Sysdig LLMJacking 2024)(Citation: Lacework LLMJacking 2024) In some cases, adversaries may leverage services that the victim is already using. In others, particularly when the service is part of a larger cloud platform, they may first enable the service.(Citation: Sysdig LLMJacking 2024) Leveraging SaaS applications may cause the victim to incur significant financial costs, use up service quotas, and otherwise impact availability.

Supported Platforms
SaaS
Created

April 29, 2026

Last Updated

April 29, 2026

STIX Data
{'created': '2024-09-25T14:05:59.910Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': 'Adversaries may leverage compromised software-as-a-service '
                '(SaaS) applications to complete resource-intensive tasks, '
                'which may impact hosted service availability. \n'
                '\n'
                'For example, adversaries may leverage email and messaging '
                'services, such as AWS Simple Email Service (SES), AWS Simple '
                'Notification Service (SNS), SendGrid, and Twilio, in order to '
                'send large quantities of spam / '
                '[Phishing](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1566) emails '
                'and SMS messages.(Citation: Invictus IR DangerDev '
                '2024)(Citation: Permiso SES Abuse 2023)(Citation: '
                'SentinelLabs SNS Sender 2024) Alternatively, they may engage '
                'in LLMJacking by leveraging reverse proxies to hijack the '
                'power of cloud-hosted AI models.(Citation: Sysdig LLMJacking '
                '2024)(Citation: Lacework LLMJacking 2024)\n'
                '\n'
                'In some cases, adversaries may leverage services that the '
                'victim is already using. In others, particularly when the '
                'service is part of a larger cloud platform, they may first '
                'enable the service.(Citation: Sysdig LLMJacking 2024) '
                'Leveraging SaaS applications may cause the victim to incur '
                'significant financial costs, use up service quotas, and '
                'otherwise impact availability. ',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1496.004',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1496/004'},
                         {'description': 'Alex Delamotte. (2024, February 15). '
                                         'SNS Sender | Active Campaigns '
                                         'Unleash Messaging Spam Through the '
                                         'Cloud. Retrieved September 25, 2024.',
                          'source_name': 'SentinelLabs SNS Sender 2024',
                          'url': 'https://www.sentinelone.com/labs/sns-sender-active-campaigns-unleash-messaging-spam-through-the-cloud/'},
                         {'description': 'Invictus Incident Response. (2024, '
                                         'January 31). The curious case of '
                                         'DangerDev@protonmail.me. Retrieved '
                                         'March 19, 2024.',
                          'source_name': 'Invictus IR DangerDev 2024',
                          'url': 'https://www.invictus-ir.com/news/the-curious-case-of-dangerdev-protonmail-me'},
                         {'description': 'Lacework Labs. (2024, June 6). '
                                         'Detecting AI resource-hijacking with '
                                         'Composite Alerts. Retrieved '
                                         'September 25, 2024.',
                          'source_name': 'Lacework LLMJacking 2024',
                          'url': 'https://www.lacework.com/blog/detecting-ai-resource-hijacking-with-composite-alerts'},
                         {'description': 'LLMjacking: Stolen Cloud Credentials '
                                         'Used in New AI Attack. (2024, May '
                                         '6). Alessandro Brucato. Retrieved '
                                         'September 25, 2024.',
                          'source_name': 'Sysdig LLMJacking 2024',
                          'url': 'https://sysdig.com/blog/llmjacking-stolen-cloud-credentials-used-in-new-ai-attack/'},
                         {'description': 'Nathan Eades. (2023, January 12). '
                                         'SES-pionage. Retrieved September 25, '
                                         '2024.',
                          'source_name': 'Permiso SES Abuse 2023',
                          'url': 'https://permiso.io/blog/s/aws-ses-pionage-detecting-ses-abuse/'}],
 'id': 'attack-pattern--924d273c-be0d-4d8d-af58-2dddb15ef1e2',
 'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'impact'}],
 'modified': '2025-04-15T22:03:40.356Z',
 'name': 'Cloud Service Hijacking',
 'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
 'revoked': False,
 'spec_version': '2.1',
 'type': 'attack-pattern',
 'x_mitre_attack_spec_version': '3.2.0',
 'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
 'x_mitre_detection': '',
 'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
 'x_mitre_impact_type': ['Availability'],
 'x_mitre_is_subtechnique': True,
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_platforms': ['SaaS'],
 'x_mitre_version': '1.0'}
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