DET0909: Detection of Multicast Discovery
DET0909 is a detection strategy for identifying Multicast Discovery in ICS environments. The business significance is that multicast discovery can help an...
Analyst context for executives and security teams
DET0909 is a detection strategy for identifying Multicast Discovery in ICS environments. The business significance is that multicast discovery can help an adversary determine which OT systems or devices are live and reachable without using noisier broadcast-style discovery. For leaders, the key question is whether the organization can see and explain this type of discovery traffic on critical OT network segments before it becomes part of a larger intrusion investigation.
Executive priority
Prioritize this as an OT visibility and incident-readiness issue. Because the ATT&CK object has no official detection logic, platforms, or tactics specified, leadership should not assume existing monitoring covers it. Ask whether critical ICS networks have telemetry capable of distinguishing expected multicast discovery from unusual discovery behavior, and whether SOC/IR teams have documented escalation paths with OT operations when suspicious discovery appears.
Technical view
This detection strategy detects technique T0846.003, Multicast Discovery. The related technique describes one system or device sending messages to a predefined multicast group on a network or subnet and waiting for responses to identify live systems or devices that can communicate over that protocol. SOC and detection teams should validate whether network monitoring in relevant ICS segments captures multicast traffic, request/response patterns, source and destination addressing, timing, and device context. Because no official ATT&CK detection text is provided, detection content should be locally engineered and tested against known-good OT behavior.
Likely telemetry
- Network traffic records from ICS network segments or subnets
- Packet capture or protocol-aware network sensor data where available
- Multicast destination/group addressing and source device identifiers
- Request and response timing between devices
- Asset inventory or network allowlist context for expected OT devices
Detection direction
- Baseline normal multicast discovery patterns per OT segment, including expected sources, multicast groups, timing, and responding devices.
- Look for discovery activity from unexpected systems, newly observed sources, unusual timing, or multicast groups not normally used in the environment.
- Correlate multicast discovery with asset inventory and maintenance windows to reduce false positives from legitimate engineering, commissioning, or operational activity.
- Validate whether monitoring covers the actual OT subnets where multicast discovery could occur; perimeter-only monitoring may miss local subnet behavior.
- Because ATT&CK provides no official detection logic for DET0909, treat any analytic as environment-specific and test it with OT operations before relying on alerting.
Mitigation priorities
- Establish and maintain an authoritative OT asset and communication baseline for critical network segments.
- Limit unnecessary reachability between systems where operationally feasible, using network segmentation and controlled communication paths.
- Coordinate with OT operations to document legitimate multicast discovery behavior and approved sources.
- Ensure SOC and IR playbooks include triage steps for suspicious OT discovery activity and escalation to engineering or operations staff.
- Use detection validation results as compliance and resilience evidence showing that discovery activity in ICS networks is monitored and reviewed.
Analyst notes and limits
The supplied ATT&CK object is a detection strategy in the ICS domain and is related to T0846.003 Multicast Discovery. The official object does not provide a description, detection text, tactics, platforms, aliases, or labels. This take therefore focuses on defensive decision value from the relationship context: visibility into multicast discovery behavior and validation of OT network monitoring.
Coverage, affected platforms, specific protocols, adversary use, and detection effectiveness cannot be concluded from the supplied fields. Local network architecture, asset inventory, sensor placement, and OT operational practices are required to determine practical detection coverage and alert thresholds.
Detection of Multicast Discovery
No official description is available in the imported ATT&CK source object.
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.
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.
| Domain | ID | Name | Relationship / procedure |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICS | T0846.003 | Multicast Discovery Sub-technique | This object detects Multicast Discovery. |
All related ATT&CK context
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 .
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases (1)
| Release | Bundle imported | Object version | Modified | Status | Raw hash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19.1 | 1.0 | Current bundle | 7c9a4b3a1901… |
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.
External references and citations
MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.
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mitre-attack DET0909Open source URL
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