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ATT&CK techniqueStealth (formerly Defense Evasion)

T1564.004 NTFS File Attributes

Stealth (formerly Defense Evasion)EnterpriseSub-technique

As of 2026-10-05, T1564.004 (NTFS File Attributes) appears in 11 tracked threats, first reported 2026-02-27 and most recently 2026-08-29, with linked actors including TA578 - G1038, APT43, Kimsuky; it most often appears alongside T1059.003 (Windows Command Shell).

Tracked threats
111 critical, 8 high, 2 medium
First seen
2026-02-27
Last seen
2026-08-29
Threat actors
6In the threats using it
Detection rules
34Blue tier and above

Data as of:

Activity timeline

T1564.004 first appeared in tracked threats on and was most recently reported on . The busiest month was 2026-07 with 5 reports, and 11 of the 11 threats were reported in the twelve months to 2026-08.

How adversaries use it

T1564.004 NTFS File Attributes is catalogued by MITRE ATT&CK under the Stealth (formerly Defense Evasion) tactic in the Enterprise matrix, as a sub-technique of T1564 Hide Artifacts. Threadlinqs maps 11 of 2623 tracked threats (0.4%) to it; by severity that is 1 critical, 8 high, 2 medium.

Threats that use T1564.004 most often also use T1059.003 Windows Command Shell (10 threats), T1071.001 Web Protocols (9 threats), T1082 System Information Discovery (9 threats), T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer (9 threats), T1140 Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information (8 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.

6 tracked threat actors appear in the threats that use T1564.004; the most frequent are TA578 - G1038 (2), APT43 (1), Kimsuky (1), LenAI (1), Periwinkle Tempest (1).

Mitigations

MITRE ATT&CK lists 1 mitigation for T1564.004.

Data sources

Telemetry that can reveal T1564.004, per MITRE ATT&CK.

  • Command — Command Execution
  • File — File Metadata, File Modification
  • Process — OS API Execution, Process Creation

Threat actors using it

Tracked threats

11 tracked threats use T1564.004.

Detection coverage

Threadlinqs maintains 34 detection rules mapped to T1564.004 (SPL 10, KQL 12, Sigma 12). Rule content is available to Blue tier accounts and above; this page shows counts only.

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

Parent technique

T1564 Hide Artifacts — 174 tracked threats at the technique level.