Masquerade Task or Service - T1036.004

(ATT&CK® Technique)

Definition

Adversaries may attempt to manipulate the name of a task or service to make it appear legitimate or benign. Tasks/services executed by the Task Scheduler or systemd will typically be given a name and/or description. Windows services will have a service name as well as a display name. Many benign tasks and services exist that have commonly associated names. Adversaries may give tasks or services names that are similar or identical to those of legitimate ones.

D3FEND Inferred Relationships

Browse the D3FEND knowledge graph by clicking on the nodes below.

        graph LR;

     T1036004["Masquerade Task or Service"] --> |modifies| JobSchedule["Job Schedule"]; class T1036004 OffensiveTechniqueNode;
        class JobSchedule ArtifactNode; click JobSchedule href "/dao/artifact/d3f:JobSchedule";
        click T1036004 href "/offensive-technique/attack/T1036.004/"; click JobSchedule href "/dao/artifact/d3f:JobSchedule";             ScheduledJobAnalysis["Scheduled Job Analysis"] -->
          | analyzes | JobSchedule["Job Schedule"];

          ScheduledJobAnalysis["Scheduled Job Analysis"] -.->
            | may-detect | T1036004["Masquerade Task or Service"] ;
          class ScheduledJobAnalysis DefensiveTechniqueNode;
          class JobSchedule ArtifactNode;
          click ScheduledJobAnalysis href "/technique/d3f:ScheduledJobAnalysis";

json

Use of the MITRE D3FEND™ Knowledge Graph and website is subject to the Terms of Use. Use of the MITRE D3FEND website is subject to the MITRE D3FEND Privacy Policy. MITRE D3FEND is funded by the National Security Agency (NSA) Cybersecurity Directorate and managed by the National Security Engineering Center (NSEC) which is operated by The MITRE Corporation. MITRE D3FEND; and the MITRE D3FEND logo are trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. MITRE ATT&CK® and ATT&CK® are registered trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. MITRE ATT&CK content is subject to the MITRE ATT&CK terms of use. This software was produced for the U. S. Government under Basic Contract No. W56KGU-18-D-0004, and is subject to the Rights in Noncommercial Computer Software and Noncommercial Computer Software Documentation Clause 252.227-7014 (FEB 2012)
© 2025 The MITRE Corporation.
Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited #20-2338 and #23-1207.