Adversaries may stage data collected from multiple systems in a central location or directory on one system prior to Exfiltration. Data may be kept in separate files or combined into one file through techniques such as Archive Collected Data. Interactive command shells may be used, and common functionality within cmd and bash may be used to copy data into a staging location. In cloud environments, adversaries may stage data within a particular instance or virtual machine before exfiltration. An adversary may Create Cloud Instance and stage data in that instance.(Citation: Mandiant M-Trends 2020) By staging data on one system prior to Exfiltration, adversaries can minimize the number of connections made to their C2 server and better evade detection.
Detects remote writes or snapshots mounted from other systems into a central ESXi VMFS path or NFS store used for remote staging of files before exfiltration.
Detects inbound SCP, rsync, or NFS mounts from remote systems followed by aggregation of files into known staging paths like /mnt/staging or /var/tmp.
Detects rsync or scp inbound from other hosts that then aggregate content into /Users/Shared or /private/tmp, often involving compressed files or scripts.