| ID | Name |
|---|---|
| T1628.001 | Suppress Application Icon |
| T1628.002 | User Evasion |
| T1628.003 | Conceal Multimedia Files |
Adversaries may attempt to avoid detection by hiding malicious behavior from the user. By doing this, an adversary’s modifications would most likely remain installed on the device for longer, allowing the adversary to continue to operate on that device.
While there are many ways this can be accomplished, one method is by using the device’s sensors. By utilizing the various motion sensors on a device, such as accelerometer or gyroscope, an application could detect that the device is being interacted with. That way, the application could continue to run while the device is not in use but cease operating while the user is using the device, hiding anything that would indicate malicious activity was ongoing. Accessing the sensors in this way does not require any permissions from the user, so it would be completely transparent.
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S1094 | BRATA |
BRATA can turn off or fake turning off the screen while performing malicious activities.[1] |
| S0655 | BusyGasper |
BusyGasper can utilize the device’s sensors to determine when the device is in use and subsequently hide malicious activity. When active, it attempts to hide its malicious activity by turning the screen’s brightness as low as possible and muting the device.[2] |
| S9004 | Crocodilus |
Crocodilus has displayed a black screen overlay and has muted the sound of the device to conceal all malicious actions.[3] |
| S1067 | FluBot |
FluBot can use |
| S1077 | Hornbill |
Hornbill uses an infrequent data upload schedule to avoid user detection and battery drain. It also can delete on-device data after being sent to the C2, and stores collected data in hidden folders on external storage.[5] |
| S1195 | SpyC23 |
SpyC23 has used blank screen overlays to hide malicious activity from the user.[6] |
| ID | Mitigation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| M1010 | Deploy Compromised Device Detection Method |
Mobile security products that are part of the Samsung Knox for Mobile Threat Defense program could examine running applications while the device is idle, potentially detecting malicious applications that are running primarily when the device is not being used. |
| ID | Name | Analytic ID | Analytic Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| DET0699 | Detection of User Evasion | AN1815 |
Correlates (1) continuous or repeated use of motion or interaction-inference signals that do not require overt user-facing privilege prompts, (2) suppression of higher-risk behavior while user presence or active handling is inferred, and (3) resumption of background execution, sensor use, local data handling, or network activity only when device interaction falls below a threshold. The defender observes a causal chain where an application senses user/device interaction state and intentionally gates malicious behavior to user-inactive periods. |