MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Impact T1485.001
Description

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.(Citation: AWS Storage Lifecycles)(Citation: GCP Storage Lifecycles)(Citation: Azure Storage Lifecycles) 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.(Citation: Palo Alto Cloud Ransomware)(Citation: Halcyon AWS Ransomware 2025) In addition to destroying data for purposes of extortion and [Financial Theft](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1657), adversaries may also perform this action on buckets storing cloud logs for [Indicator Removal](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1070).(Citation: Datadog S3 Lifecycle CloudTrail Logs)

Supported Platforms
IaaS
Created

April 29, 2026

Last Updated

April 29, 2026

STIX Data
{'created': '2024-09-25T13:16:14.166Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': 'Adversaries may modify the lifecycle policies of a cloud '
                'storage bucket to destroy all objects stored within.  \n'
                '\n'
                '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.(Citation: AWS Storage '
                'Lifecycles)(Citation: GCP Storage Lifecycles)(Citation: Azure '
                'Storage Lifecycles) If a threat actor has sufficient '
                'permissions to modify these policies, they may be able to '
                'delete all objects at once. \n'
                '\n'
                '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.(Citation: Palo Alto Cloud Ransomware)(Citation: Halcyon '
                'AWS Ransomware 2025) In addition to destroying data for '
                'purposes of extortion and [Financial '
                'Theft](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1657), '
                'adversaries may also perform this action on buckets storing '
                'cloud logs for [Indicator '
                'Removal](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1070).(Citation: '
                'Datadog S3 Lifecycle CloudTrail Logs)',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1485.001',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1485/001'},
                         {'description': 'AWS. (n.d.). Managing the lifecycle '
                                         'of objects. Retrieved September 25, '
                                         '2024.',
                          'source_name': 'AWS Storage Lifecycles',
                          'url': 'https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/object-lifecycle-mgmt.html'},
                         {'description': 'Google Cloud. (n.d.). Object '
                                         'Lifecycle Management. Retrieved '
                                         'September 25, 2024.',
                          'source_name': 'GCP Storage Lifecycles',
                          'url': 'https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/lifecycle'},
                         {'description': 'Halcyon RISE Team. (2025, January '
                                         '13). Abusing AWS Native Services: '
                                         'Ransomware Encrypting S3 Buckets '
                                         'with SSE-C. Retrieved March 18, '
                                         '2025.',
                          'source_name': 'Halcyon AWS Ransomware 2025',
                          'url': 'https://www.halcyon.ai/blog/abusing-aws-native-services-ransomware-encrypting-s3-buckets-with-sse-c'},
                         {'description': 'Microsoft Azure. (2024, July 3). '
                                         'Configure a lifecycle management '
                                         'policy. Retrieved September 25, '
                                         '2024.',
                          'source_name': 'Azure Storage Lifecycles',
                          'url': 'https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/lifecycle-management-policy-configure?tabs=azure-portal'},
                         {'description': 'Ofir Balassiano and Ofir Shaty. '
                                         '(2023, November 29). Ransomware in '
                                         'the Cloud: Breaking Down the Attack '
                                         'Vectors. Retrieved September 25, '
                                         '2024.',
                          'source_name': 'Palo Alto Cloud Ransomware',
                          'url': 'https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/prisma-cloud/ransomware-data-protection-cloud/'},
                         {'description': 'Stratus Red Team. (n.d.). CloudTrail '
                                         'Logs Impairment Through S3 Lifecycle '
                                         'Rule. Retrieved September 25, 2024.',
                          'source_name': 'Datadog S3 Lifecycle CloudTrail Logs',
                          'url': 'https://stratus-red-team.cloud/attack-techniques/AWS/aws.defense-evasion.cloudtrail-lifecycle-rule/'}],
 'id': 'attack-pattern--1001e0d6-ee09-4dfc-aa90-e9320ffc8fe4',
 'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'impact'}],
 'modified': '2025-04-15T19:58:06.787Z',
 'name': 'Lifecycle-Triggered Deletion',
 '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': ['IaaS'],
 'x_mitre_version': '1.1'}
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