MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Command and Control T1573
Description

Adversaries may employ an encryption algorithm to conceal command and control traffic rather than relying on any inherent protections provided by a communication protocol. Despite the use of a secure algorithm, these implementations may be vulnerable to reverse engineering if secret keys are encoded and/or generated within malware samples/configuration files.

Supported Platforms
ESXi Linux macOS Network Devices Windows
Created

April 29, 2026

Last Updated

April 29, 2026

STIX Data
{'created': '2020-03-16T15:33:01.739Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': 'Adversaries may employ an encryption algorithm to conceal '
                'command and control traffic rather than relying on any '
                'inherent protections provided by a communication protocol. '
                'Despite the use of a secure algorithm, these implementations '
                'may be vulnerable to reverse engineering if secret keys are '
                'encoded and/or generated within malware samples/configuration '
                'files.',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1573',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1573'},
                         {'description': 'Butler, M. (2013, November). Finding '
                                         'Hidden Threats by Decrypting SSL. '
                                         'Retrieved April 5, 2016.',
                          'source_name': 'SANS Decrypting SSL',
                          'url': 'http://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/analyst/finding-hidden-threats-decrypting-ssl-34840'},
                         {'description': 'Dormann, W. (2015, March 13). The '
                                         'Risks of SSL Inspection. Retrieved '
                                         'April 5, 2016.',
                          'source_name': 'SEI SSL Inspection Risks',
                          'url': 'https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/cert/2015/03/the-risks-of-ssl-inspection.html'},
                         {'description': 'Gardiner, J.,  Cova, M., Nagaraja, '
                                         'S. (2014, February). Command & '
                                         'Control Understanding, Denying and '
                                         'Detecting. Retrieved April 20, 2016.',
                          'source_name': 'University of Birmingham C2',
                          'url': 'https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1408/1408.1136.pdf'}],
 'id': 'attack-pattern--b8902400-e6c5-4ba2-95aa-2d35b442b118',
 'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'command-and-control'}],
 'modified': '2025-10-24T17:49:17.042Z',
 'name': 'Encrypted Channel',
 '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_is_subtechnique': False,
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_platforms': ['ESXi', 'Linux', 'macOS', 'Network Devices', 'Windows'],
 'x_mitre_version': '1.2'}
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