The MITRE ATTACK framework is a global knowledge base used by security professionals to model and understand different attack strategies used by cyber criminals to infiltrate organizations.
It takes into account real-world observations and tracks the tactics and techniques used by adversaries across the entire attack lifecycle. It’s not just a framework poised as a collection of data; it gives genuine insights in real-time, deduces their motivations, and maps out their actions and how they work to different classes and categories of defenses.
Key components of the MITRE ATTACK framework
The key components of the MITRE ATTACK framework are as follows:
Tactics & Techniques
- Tactics correlate to different phases of the attack lifecycle that the adversary targets. It includes their “why” behind the attack and covers aspects such as execution, persistence, initial access, and privilege escalation. It will also cover lateral movement, exfiltration, data collection, impact, evasion of defense, and credential access.
- Techniques involve the “how” of an adversary’s attack strategy or objective. It explores their multiple attack techniques and examines how they gain initial access. These may include exploiting public-facing apps, spear phishing, and the usage of valid user accounts.
Matrices (Enterprise, Mobile, ICS)
Matrices are used for emulating adversarial behaviors and in enhancing detection capabilities. They are a part of red and blue teaming. Matrices will also document attacker techniques and tactics for various environments like iOS and Android, enterprise platforms such as Linux, cloud, macOS, and Windows, and even for Industrial Control Systems (ICS). They will categorize adversarial actions under reconnaissance and impact. Matrices will also include sub-techniques and specific techniques that can be unique to targeted systems like industrial control networks and mobile devices.
Procedures and Mitigations
- Procedures are processes employed by adversaries. They are used as real-world examples and also include case studies of techniques in action.
- Mitigations are recommendations used to counteract techniques. The MITRE ATT&CK framework will include potential mitigation procedures to assist security professionals in building better defense systems.
How is MITRE ATT&CK Different From Cyber Kill Chain?
At first glance, the MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK framework looks similar to the Lockheed Martin Cyber Kill Chain. Both frameworks offer different models of threat behaviors and objectives.
The Cyber Kill Chain is broken into 7 steps:
- Reconnaissance
- Weaponization
- Delivery
- Exploitation
- Installation
- Command and control
- Actions on objectives
The MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK framework has 10 steps:
- Initial access
- Execution
- Persistence
- Privilege escalation
- Defense evasion
- Credential access
- Discovery
- Lateral movement
- Collection and exfiltration
- Command and control
MITRE ATTACK framework stages go deep into adversary behaviors whereas the Cyber Kill Chain provides a high-level overview of a single attack, which is broken down into seven stages via a linear model. That is the main difference between the MITRE attack framework vs Cyber Kill Chain.
How to Use the MITRE ATT&CK Framework
Before you even use the MITRE ATT&CK Framework, just be aware that it contains the following items:
- Descriptions of attack techniques
- List of sub-techniques related to those techniques
- A list of known detection and mitigation methods
- Metadata related to attack techniques
- Additional resources related to attack techniques and references
What is the MITRE attack framework used for? You get 14 tactics which are categorized under the MITRE ATT&CK framework which cover the entire cyber kill chain. These will include the additional impacts of attacks, initial information gathering, data exfiltration, and other aspects. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here is how you can actually start using the MITRE ATT&CK Framework below.
Threat modeling
Threat modeling with MITRE ATT&CK starts with understanding your organization’s critical assets and the adversaries most likely to target them. Begin by identifying your high-value data, systems, and operational components that require protection. Map these assets to the relevant technology platforms they operate on, such as Windows, Linux, cloud services, or mobile devices.
You’ll have to research which threat groups actively target your industry sector or geographic region. The framework maintains detailed profiles of known adversary groups, including their preferred tactics, techniques, and procedures. You can cross-reference these group profiles with your identified critical assets to create a tailored threat model specific to your organization.
Gap assessment & mapping
Start by inventorying your existing security controls and detection capabilities across your infrastructure. Map these controls to the specific ATT&CK techniques they address, creating a coverage matrix that shows which adversary behaviors you can currently detect or prevent.
Identify gaps in your defensive coverage. Compare your current capabilities against the techniques used by relevant threat groups. Pay attention to techniques that have high visibility in your threat model but lack adequate detection or mitigation measures.
Assess your data sources and log collection capabilities against the data sources recommended in each ATT&CK technique. Many organizations discover they have insufficient logging or monitoring in place to detect certain adversary behaviors. Document which data sources you need to implement or enhance to improve coverage.
Detection engineering
Detection engineering with MITRE ATT&CK involves building analytics and rules to identify adversary behaviors in your environment. Start by selecting high-priority techniques from your threat model and gap assessment results.
For each technique, examine the detection section to understand what data components and sources you need. The framework provides specific guidance on what artifacts, logs, and telemetry sources can reveal each technique in action. Build detection rules that look for these behavioral indicators rather than just specific tools or signatures.
Implement detection-as-code practices by writing rules in portable formats like Sigma or your SIEM’s natively supported language. Include ATT&CK technique mappings in your rule metadata to maintain traceability between detections and the framework. You can test your detections using various tools or use custom scripts to safely simulate the techniques you want to detect.
Red & blue team applications
Red teams have been able to use the MITRE ATT&CK framework to design effective attack campaigns that reflect real-world adversary behavior. Select techniques from relevant threat groups to build attack scenarios that test specific defensive capabilities. Map your planned activities to ATT&CK techniques during the planning phase, then document which techniques you successfully executed during the operation.
Create a coverage tracking system, sometimes called “ATT&CK Bingo,” to monitor which techniques get tested across multiple campaigns. Aim to introduce 3-5 new techniques in each engagement to keep blue teams challenged with varied attack patterns.
Blue teams can prepare for exercises by implementing detections and response procedures for techniques likely to be used by the red team.
Use Cases on MITRE Attack Framework
Here are different MITRE Attack Framework use cases for organizations:
Enterprise security operations
You can import threat intelligence feeds and recent threat actor activity into the MITRE ATT&CK Navigator’s layers to enhance your cybersecurity strategy. You can create seperate layers for each threat actor your business faces. It can help you decide which defenses to use against which attack methods.
You can also map security controls and find gaps in your detection capabilities. Highlight any areas of coverage and quickly find detection gaps. You can customize your layers to specific attack scenarios and also update them over time to track how your response maturity improves.
Incident response & forensics
Security professionals can use the framework during incident response investigations to systematically identify and trace attacker actions throughout an entire attack lifecycle. When an incident occurs, responders can quickly pinpoint the methods used by adversaries and predict possible next steps, which speeds up containment and remediation phases.
Digital forensics teams can use it to build a complete picture of security breaches. It can help them determine the scope of incidents and identify all affected systems and data. You will find that documenting incidents within the ATT&CK context creates better post-incident reviews.
Threat hunting
You can map existing controls against ATT&CK techniques to pinpoint vulnerabilities and areas requiring enhancement.
You can create visual heatmaps that show different colors indicating coverage levels for each technique, ranging from fully mitigated to no coverage. These visual representations provide a quick and intuitive understanding of defensive strengths and weaknesses.
The framework helps organizations track specific threat actor groups and the techniques they employ, informing threat hunting and incident response processes. You can analyze the behavior patterns of different adversary groups to understand their goals and objectives better.
Industry-specific examples
The MITRE ATT&CK is used by healthcare companies to detect undetected lateral movement in their networks. Financial institutions use it to map activities and malicious behaviors in transactions. Energy companies use ATT&CK’s adversary emulation plans to reveal critical vulnerabilities in industrial control systems.
Government agencies also use the ATT&CK framework to train cybersecurity teams in using simulated attack scenarios to enhance their defensive strategies. Law enforcement agencies reference the framework to analyze cybercrime tactics and improve their investigative capabilities.
MITRE ATTACK Tools and Resources
MITRE Engenuity only publishes the raw data results from the evaluations. Interpreting the data and drawing conclusions is up to the reader. The SentinelOne team has provided a whitepaper MITRE ATT&CK Evaluation – Carbanak and Fin7 to help with understanding the results. You can read about the different MITRE attack steps also in it.
MITRE ATTACK Evaluations
The MITRE ATTACK evaluations will help you make more informed security decisions. They are your resource to protect your organizations against known adversaries. The sixth evaluation examined common behaviors that were prevalent across prolific ransomware campaigns in 2024. It featured an intro into macOS, delved deep into adversary behavior inspired by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) targeting of macOS, and more.
MITRE ATTACK techniques are executed logically in steps and provide depth of ATT&CK coverage. The Evaluations methodology bridges the gap between security solution providers and their users/customers by enabling clients to better understand adversaries and become ready to deal with them.
How Does MITRE ATTACK Evaluate Security Products?
MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations evaluate security products by emulating real-world tactics and techniques used by adversaries in realistic lab environments. It provides unbiased and transparent data on how security solutions work instead of simple ranks or scores. Its adversary emulation reconstructs cyberattacks based on the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of known threat groups. It can categorize product performance for each stage of the attack and highlight different levels of visibility and context.
Vendors can interpret the results posted by the framework as they are. They can learn about their strengths and weaknesses and understand different detection types and angles to get the complete picture. They also get an idea about their detection quality and see how detection occurs without manual intervention or huge delays. You can also compare your use cases and use the framework to evaluate how certain vendors perform against specific threat groups across different industries.
Why Does the MITRE ATTACK Evaluation Matter?
The MITRE ATT&CK evaluation matters because it gives a transparent, independent, and realistic assessment of your security product, vendor, and strategy. It’s not like competitive ratings because you get in-depth data. You can make informed security decisions and get clear and objective insights to validate and improve your security posture.
You can find blind spots in your existing defenses and prioritize investments to close gaps. You won’t fall for marketing tactics and see security products for what they actually are by assessing their true capabilities. MITRE ATT&CK Framework techniques can also be used to map attack behaviors and help security operations center (SOC) teams to improve their incident responses and threat hunting efforts.
Conclusion
With the MITRE attack framework explained, you now have a clear understanding of how to view the rankings of security solutions. If you want to know how good a vendor or where your security product stands in the industry, then using the MITRE ATT&CK evaluations is a great start. SentinelOne had proved itself in defending against sophisticated cyber threats in the 2024 MITRE ATT&CK® Evaluations: Enterprise. Its products had 88% less noise, 100% detections, and zero delays, five years in a row. SentinelOne detected all 16 attack steps and 80 substeps, proving the platform’s defense against advanced real-world cyber threats.
It also provided the most granular insight into attacker actions across Windows, Linux, and MacOS, aligned with the MITRE ATT&CK framework. To know more, talk to the SentinelOne team.
Mitre Attack Framework FAQs
What is the MITRE ATT&CK Framework?
The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a public knowledge base of real-world attacker tactics, techniques, and procedures. Security teams use it to understand how adversaries operate, identify weaknesses, and improve defenses. The framework maps out every phase of an attack, from initial access to data exfiltration.
What are the MITRE ATT&CK Techniques?
MITRE ATT&CK techniques cover how attackers gain access, move laterally, escalate privileges, evade detection, collect data, and more. Examples include phishing, credential dumping, command and control, and persistence methods. Each technique comes with details on how it’s used and which tools attackers prefer.
What is the Difference Between NIST and MITRE ATT&CK Framework?
NIST provides standards and guidelines for security controls, risk management, and compliance.
MITRE ATT&CK is a tactical matrix focused on how real attackers behave in the wild. While NIST sets the rules, MITRE ATT&CK shows what attackers actually do and tells you how to spot them.
What is the Primary Goal of the MITRE ATT&CK?
The main goal is to help organizations understand and anticipate attacker behavior. The framework provides a blueprint of real-world attack steps, making it easier to spot and block threats before they reach critical systems. Security teams use it to improve detection, response, and defense strategies.
What is the Benefit of Using MITRE ATT&CK?
You can use MITRE ATT&CK to test your current defenses against real-world threats. It helps you identify gaps, map out detection coverage, and prioritize improvements. Security teams get a clear view of how attackers operate and which controls need to be fixed or added to deal with them.
How does the MITRE ATT&CK Framework help protect an organization?
The framework helps you see which attack techniques your defenses catch and which they miss. By mapping alerts to ATT&CK, you can plug security holes, prioritize investments, and respond faster to incidents. It gives you a structured way to assess and upgrade your security posture.
How to use the MITRE ATT&CK Framework?
Start by mapping your security alerts and incidents to ATT&CK techniques. Use it to run gap assessments and improve monitoring. You can run simulations, hunt for specific tactics, and tune your defenses.
Train your staff on attacker behaviors and use the framework to track evolving threats, especially to keep tabs on them before or when they morph.
What are MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations? Why are they important?
MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations test security products against real-world attacker behaviors. Vendors are scored on how well they detect and respond to known techniques. Organizations use these results to choose security tools that can handle real threats and know where gaps in effective detection might exist.