MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Command and Control T1001.002
Description

Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult. Steganographic techniques can be used to hide data in digital messages that are transferred between systems. This hidden information can be used for command and control of compromised systems. In some cases, the passing of files embedded using steganography, such as image or document files, can be used for command and control.

Supported Platforms
Linux macOS Windows ESXi
Created

April 29, 2026

Last Updated

April 29, 2026

STIX Data
{'created': '2020-03-15T00:37:58.963Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': 'Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command '
                'and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult. '
                'Steganographic techniques can be used to hide data in digital '
                'messages that are transferred between systems. This hidden '
                'information can be used for command and control of '
                'compromised systems. In some cases, the passing of files '
                'embedded using steganography, such as image or document '
                'files, can be used for command and control. ',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1001.002',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1001/002'},
                         {'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--eec23884-3fa1-4d8a-ac50-6f104d51e235',
 'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'command-and-control'}],
 'modified': '2025-10-24T17:49:35.060Z',
 'name': 'Steganography',
 'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
 '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': True,
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_platforms': ['Linux', 'macOS', 'Windows', 'ESXi'],
 'x_mitre_version': '1.1'}
Quick Actions
Related Threat Actors (1)
Axiom
High