misp-rfc/threat-actor-naming/threat-actor-naming.txt

Network Working Group                                        A. Dulaunoy
Internet-Draft                                               P. Bourmeau
Expires: December 11, 2020                                         CIRCL
                                                            June 9, 2020


                Recommendations on naming threat actors

Abstract

   This document provides advice on the naming of threat actors (also
   known as malicious actors).  The objective is to provide practical
   advices for organisations such as security vendors or organisations
   attributing incidents to a group of threat actor.  It also discusses
   the implication of naming a threat actor towards intelligence
   analysts and threat intelligence platforms such as MISP [MISP-P]].

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on December 11, 2020.

Copyright Notice

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Conventions and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Reusing threat actor naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  Uniqueness  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.3.  Format  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.4.  Encoding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.5.  Don't confuse actor naming with malware naming  . . . . .   4
     2.6.  Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Examples  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5

1.  Introduction

   In threat intelligence, a name can be assigned to a threat actor
   without specific guidelines.  This leads to issues such as a:

   o  A proliferation of threat actor names generating overlaps or
      different names for similar threat actors (e.g. some threat actors
      have more than 10 synonyms)

   o  Ambiguity in the words used to name the threat actor in different
      contexts (e.g. using common words)

   o  No clearly defined text format to describe the same threat actor
      (e.g.  Is the threat actor name case sensitive?  Is there a dash
      or a space between the two words?)

   o  Confusion between techniques/tools used by a threat actor versus
      its name (e.g. naming a threat actor after a specific malware
      used)

   o  Lack of source and list from vendors to describe their threat
      actor names and the reasoning behind the naming (e.g. did they
      name the threat actor after a specific set of campaigns? or
      specific set of targets?)

   o  Lack of time-based information about the threat actor name, such
      as date of naming or and UUID.




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   o  Lack of open mirrored "registry" of reference, accessible to all,
      where to register a new threat actor name, or to access all
      already named threat actors.  The "registry" can contain the time-
      based information mentionned above, it is a tool.

   This document proposes a set of guidelines to name threat actors.
   The goal is to reduce the above mentioned issues.

1.1.  Conventions and Terminology

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

2.  Recommendations

   The recommendations listed below provide a minimal set of guidelines
   while assigning a new name to a threat actor.

2.1.  Reusing threat actor naming

   Before creating a new threat actor name, you MUST consider a review
   of existing threat actor names from databases such as the threat
   actor MISP galaxy [MISP-G].  Proliferation of threat actor names is a
   significant challenge for the day-to-day analyst work.  If your
   threat actor defined an existing threat actor, you MUST reuse an
   existing threat actor name.  If there is no specific threat actor
   name, you SHALL create a new threat actor following the best
   practices defined in this document.

2.2.  Uniqueness

   When choosing a threat actor name, uniqueness is a critical property.
   The threat actor name MUST be unique and not existing in different
   contexts.  The name MUST not be a word from a dictionary which can be
   used in other contexts.

2.3.  Format

   The name of the threat actor SHALL be composed of a single word.  If
   there is multiple part like a decimal value such as a counter, the
   values MUST be separated with a dash.  Single words are preferred to
   ease the search of keywords by analysts in public sources.








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2.4.  Encoding

   The name of the threat actor MUST be expressed in ASCII 7-bit.
   Assigning a localized name to a threat actor MAY create a set of
   ambiguity about different localized version of the same threat actor.

2.5.  Don't confuse actor naming with malware naming

   The name of the threat actor MUST NOT be assigned based on the tools,
   techniques or patterns used by the threat actor.  A notorious example
   in the threat intelligence community is Turla which can name a threat
   actor but also a malware used by this group or other groups.

2.6.  Directory

3.  Examples

   Some known examples are included below and serve as reference for
   good practices in naming threat actors.  The below threat actor names
   can be considered good example:

   o  APT-1

   o  TA-505

   The below threat actor names can be considered as example to not
   follow:

   o  GIF89a (Word also used for the GIF header)

   o  ShadyRAT (Confusion between the name and the tool)

   o  Group 3 (Common name used for other use-cases)

   o  ZooPark (Name is used to describe something else)

4.  Security Considerations

   Naming a threat actor could include specific sensitive reference to a
   case or an incident.  Before releasing the naming, the creator MUST
   review the name to ensure no sensitive information is included in the
   threat actor name.

5.  Acknowledgements

   The authors wish to thank all contributors who provided feedback via
   Twitter.




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6.  References

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [MISP-G]   Community, M., "MISP Galaxy - Public repository",
              <https://github.com/MISP/misp-galaxy>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

7.2.  Informative References

   [MISP-P]   Community, M., "MISP Project - Open Source Threat
              Intelligence Platform and Open Standards For Threat
              Information Sharing", <https://github.com/MISP>.

Authors' Addresses

   Alexandre Dulaunoy
   Computer Incident Response Center Luxembourg
   16, bd d'Avranches
   Luxembourg  L-1160
   Luxembourg

   Phone: +352 247 88444
   Email: alexandre.dulaunoy@circl.lu


   Pauline Bourmeau
   Corexalys
   26 Rue de la Bienfaisance
   Paris  75008
   France

   Email: info@corexalys.com












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