Threat intelligence / Technique

Data Encoding

Adversaries may encode data to make the content of command and control traffic more difficult to detect. Command and control (C2) information can be encoded using a standard data encoding system. Use of data encoding may adhere to existing protocol specifications and includes use of ASCII, Unicode, Base64, MIME, or other binary-to-text and character encoding systems.(Citation: Wikipedia Binary-to-text Encoding) (Citation: Wikipedia Character Encoding) Some data encoding systems may also result in data compression, such as gzip.

Technique

TypeTechnique

External ID—

First seen2026-08-14

Last seen2026-08-14

Confidence

—

Adversaries may encode data to make the content of command and control traffic more difficult to detect. Command and control (C2) information can be encoded using a standard data encoding system. Use of data encoding may adhere to existing protocol specifications and includes use of ASCII, Unicode, Base64, MIME, or other binary-to-text and character encoding systems.(Citation: Wikipedia Binary-to-text Encoding) (Citation: Wikipedia Character Encoding) Some data encoding systems may also result in data compression, such as gzip.

11 recorded

Relationships

mitigates

from Network Intrusion Prevention

Mitigation

subtechnique-of

from Non-Standard Encoding

Technique

subtechnique-of

from Standard Encoding

Technique

uses

Malware

uses

Tool

uses

from H1N1

Malware

uses

Malware

uses

from Linux Rabbit

Malware

uses

Tool

uses

Malware

uses

from Velvet Ant

Group

4 external

References

mitre-attack

T1132

University of Birmingham C2

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1408/1408.1136.pdf

Wikipedia Binary-to-text Encoding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary-to-text_encoding

Wikipedia Character Encoding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_encoding