T1025 Data from Removable Media

T1025 Data from Removable Media

High-Level Description

Adversaries may search connected removable media on computers they have compromised to find files of interest. Sensitive data can be collected from any removable media (optical disk drive, USB memory, etc.) connected to the compromised system prior to Exfiltration. Interactive command shells may be in use, and common functionality within cmd may be used to gather information.

Some adversaries may also use Automated Collection on removable media.

Kill Chain Phase

• Collection (TA0009)

Platforms: Linux, macOS, Windows

What to Check

• Identify if Data from Removable Media technique is applicable to target environment
• Check Linux systems for indicators of Data from Removable Media
• Check macOS systems for indicators of Data from Removable Media
• Check Windows systems for indicators of Data from Removable Media
• Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (1 known mitigations)
• Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)

How to Test

Atomic Red Team Tests

The following tests are from Atomic Red Team and provide actionable ways to test this technique:

Atomic Test 1: Identify Documents on USB and Removable Media via PowerShell

This test simulates an attack where PowerShell is used to detect connected USB or other removable storage devices and gather a list of specific document files (e.g., .docx, .xls, .txt, .pdf). The command works by first identifying removable drives on the system and then recursively searching through each one for files matching the targeted extensions. If no removable drives are present, the script will return a message stating that no media is detected. This behavior mimics how adversaries might scan for sensitive documents on removable devices for exfiltration or analysis.

Supported Platforms: windows

powershell.exe -c "Get-Volume | Where-Object {$_.DriveType -eq 'Removable'} | ForEach-Object { Get-ChildItem -Path ($_.DriveLetter + ':\*') -Recurse -Include '*.doc*','*.xls*','*.txt','*.pdf' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | ForEach-Object {Write-Output $_.FullName} } ; if (-not (Get-Volume | Where-Object {$_.DriveType -eq 'Removable'})) { Write-Output 'No removable media.' }"