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'}