Live Active security incident? Get immediate response
MITRE ATT&CK® Detection Strategy

DET0189: Detection Strategy for Indicator Removal from Tools - Post-AV Evasion Modification

DET0189 is a detection-strategy object for spotting when adversaries alter tools after defensive products have detected or quarantined them. The business i...

EnterpriseDET0189Detection StrategyObject v1.0 Modified
Glexia's Take

Analyst context for executives and security teams

Analyst confidence Medium

DET0189 is a detection-strategy object for spotting when adversaries alter tools after defensive products have detected or quarantined them. The business issue is not just malware detection; it is whether the organization can recognize the follow-on adaptation cycle where a previously blocked tool is changed to avoid the same indicator-based control. That matters for resilience because a single antivirus or signature hit may not end the incident if the attacker can quickly reintroduce a modified version.

Executive priority

Treat this as a validation point for incident response and SOC maturity: when security tools quarantine or block a file, leaders should ask whether the team can connect that event to later modified binaries, repeated delivery attempts, or changed indicators on Windows, Linux, and macOS assets. Priority should go to proving that endpoint telemetry, quarantine records, file metadata, and alert correlation are retained long enough to support investigation and evidence for audit or post-incident review. This is especially relevant when budgets are weighted heavily toward signature-based prevention without matching investment in investigation, correlation, and response workflows.

Technical view

The supplied ATT&CK relationship says this strategy detects T1027.005, Indicator Removal from Tools, under the stealth tactic, with related platforms Linux, macOS, and Windows. Because the official detection text for DET0189 is not provided, teams should validate coverage by testing their ability to correlate an initial detection or quarantine with later appearances of similar but not identical tools. Focus on endpoint and malware-analysis evidence that shows file changes, renamed or repacked artifacts, altered hashes, and recurring execution or delivery attempts after an initial AV/EDR action. SOC and IR workflows should avoid closing incidents solely on the first quarantine event without checking for subsequent modified artifacts.

Likely telemetry

  • Endpoint protection, AV, or EDR detection and quarantine events
  • File creation, modification, rename, and execution metadata
  • Cryptographic file hashes and other file identity attributes over time
  • Process execution records tied to newly introduced or modified files
  • Alert history showing repeated detections or near-miss variants after an initial block

Detection direction

  • Validate correlation between initial AV/EDR quarantine events and later modified files rather than treating each alert as unrelated.
  • Look for repeated tool introduction or execution attempts where hashes or indicators change after a prior detection.
  • Tune detections to reduce over-reliance on a single static file signature; include behavioral and temporal context where available.
  • Check blind spots where quarantine logs, file metadata, or endpoint events are not retained, not centralized, or not searchable across operating systems.
  • Account for false positives from legitimate software updates, recompilation, packaging changes, and administrative tooling that may alter file hashes without malicious intent.

Mitigation priorities

  • Ensure endpoint protection quarantine and alert logs are centrally retained and available to SOC and IR teams.
  • Prioritize investigation playbooks that require follow-up hunting after a malicious tool is blocked or quarantined.
  • Strengthen endpoint visibility for file changes, process execution, and artifact recurrence across Windows, Linux, and macOS where those platforms are in scope.
  • Use layered controls so prevention does not depend only on static indicators; pair signature-based alerts with behavioral review and response procedures.
  • Document evidence retention and response steps for compliance readiness and post-incident review, especially when an incident begins with an AV quarantine event.
Analyst notes and limits

The object itself has no official description, detection text, tactics, or platforms. The practical interpretation comes from its name and the supplied relationship showing it detects T1027.005, Indicator Removal from Tools, whose related platforms are Linux, macOS, and Windows and whose tactic is stealth. Local validation should be based on actual endpoint tooling, retention, and SOC workflow maturity.

This take does not assert active exploitation, attribution, guaranteed detection, or specific vendor capability. ATT&CK provides sparse DET0189 fields, so concrete analytics must be derived and tested in the local environment using available telemetry and approved detection engineering processes.

Official MITRE ATT&CK definition

Detection Strategy for Indicator Removal from Tools - Post-AV Evasion Modification

No official description is available in the imported ATT&CK source object.

View the same entry on attack.mitre.org (MITRE-hosted reference; in-page links above use the Glexia ATT&CK library.)

Glexia analysis

How security teams should use this page

Treat this object as behavior context, not an attribution claim. Validate the related groups, software, data sources, and mitigations against official ATT&CK relationships and your own telemetry before making control-coverage decisions.

ATT&CK relationship table

Techniques used

This mirrors the MITRE pattern of making group, software, campaign, and technique relationships scannable. Relationship notes come from mirrored ATT&CK relationship text when available.

1 rows
Domain ID Name Relationship / procedure
Enterprise T1027.005 Indicator Removal from Tools Sub-technique This object detects Indicator Removal from Tools.
Relationship explorer

All related ATT&CK context

Change history

Object version and sync metadata

The fields below describe the current mirrored snapshot. When Glexia retains multiple ATT&CK source imports, you can open the table to compare the same object across releases (hashes and MITRE timestamps). For MITRE’s own release notes and roadmap, see ATT&CK resources — Updates .

ATT&CK release
19.1
Object version
1.0
Created
Modified
Raw hash
897e9446d60bc460...
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases (1)
Release Bundle imported Object version Modified Status Raw hash
19.1 1.0 Current bundle 897e9446d60b…
Raw source

Mirrored ATT&CK source object

The raw object is retained through the mirrored ATT&CK source bundle and object hash. The raw endpoint returns the exact object from the mirrored bundle when available.

Source references

External references and citations

MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.

  1. [1]
    mitre-attack DET0189
    Open source URL
Source and licensing

Source: MITRE ATT&CK®. © 2026 The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation. MITRE ATT&CK and ATT&CK are registered trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Glexia is not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE.