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ATT&CK techniqueExfiltration

T1048 Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol

ExfiltrationEnterprise

As of 2026-10-05, T1048 (Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol) appears in 155 tracked threats, first reported 2026-02-02 and most recently 2026-10-03, with linked actors including APT28, BlueDelta, Forest Blizzard; it most often appears alongside T1059 (Command and Scripting Interpreter).

Tracked threats
15555 critical, 89 high, 10 medium
First seen
2026-02-02
Last seen
2026-10-03
Threat actors
84In the threats using it
Detection rules
166Blue tier and above

Data as of:

Activity timeline

T1048 first appeared in tracked threats on and was most recently reported on . The busiest month was 2026-07 with 43 reports, and 155 of the 155 threats were reported in the twelve months to 2026-10.

How adversaries use it

T1048 Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol is catalogued by MITRE ATT&CK under the Exfiltration tactic in the Enterprise matrix. Threadlinqs maps 155 of 2623 tracked threats (5.9%) to it; by severity that is 55 critical, 89 high, 10 medium.

Threats that use T1048 most often also use T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter (97 threats), T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information (88 threats), T1071 Application Layer Protocol (83 threats), T1005 Data from Local System (81 threats), T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application (78 threats). These are the techniques an intrusion set tends to chain with it, so they are the natural next places to look when it is observed.

84 tracked threat actors appear in the threats that use T1048; the most frequent are APT28 (5), BlueDelta (4), Forest Blizzard (4), ShinyHunters (4), Static Tundra (4).

Mitigations

MITRE ATT&CK lists 6 mitigations for T1048.

Data sources

Telemetry that can reveal T1048, per MITRE ATT&CK.

  • Application Log — Application Log Content
  • Cloud Storage — Cloud Storage Access
  • Command — Command Execution
  • File — File Access
  • Network Traffic — Network Connection Creation, Network Traffic Content, Network Traffic Flow

Threat actors using it

Tracked threats

The 30 most recent of 155 tracked threats that use T1048.

Detection coverage

Threadlinqs maintains 166 detection rules mapped to T1048 (SPL 59, KQL 53, Sigma 54). Rule content is available to Blue tier accounts and above; this page shows counts only.

166 detection rules (SPL/KQL/Sigma) · Blue and above. Compare plans

Sub-techniques