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MITRE ATT&CK® Technique

T1485.001: Lifecycle-Triggered Deletion

Adversaries may modify the lifecycle policies of a cloud storage bucket to destroy all objects stored within.

Cloud storage buckets often allow users to set lifecycle policies to automate the migration, archival, or deletion of objects after a set period of time.[1][2][3] If a threat actor has sufficient permissions to modify these policies, they may be able to delete all objects at once.

For example, in AWS environments, an adversary with the `PutLifecycleConfiguration` permission may use the `PutBucketLifecycle` API call to apply a lifecycle policy to an S3 bucket that deletes all objects in the bucket after one day.[4][5] In addition to destroying data for purposes of extortion and Financial Theft, adversaries may also perform this action on buckets storing cloud logs for Indicator Removal.[6]

EnterpriseT1485.001Sub-techniqueObject v1.1Modified
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Glexia's Take · Automated analysis

Security context for executives and security teams

Automation confidenceMedium

T1485.001: Lifecycle-Triggered Deletion describes Adversaries may modify the lifecycle policies of a cloud storage bucket to destroy all objects stored within. Cloud storage buckets often allow users to set lifecycle policies to automate the migration, archival, or deletion of objects after a set period of time.(Citation: AWS Storage Lifecycles)(Citation: GCP Storage Lifecycles)(Citation: Azure Storage Lifecycles) If a threat actor has sufficient permissions to modify these policies, they may be able to delete all objects at once. For example, in AWS environments,...

Executive priority

T1485.001: Lifecycle-Triggered Deletion is an official MITRE ATT&CK technique. Glexia treats it as defensive behavior context for prioritizing monitoring, control validation, and response planning without using the object by itself as an attribution claim.

Technical view

Security teams should validate T1485.001: Lifecycle-Triggered Deletion by reviewing the official ATT&CK relationships, mapped tactics (impact), supported platforms (IaaS), and available local telemetry before making detection or mitigation decisions.

Likely telemetry

  • Official ATT&CK relationships and object metadata
  • Cloud control-plane, SaaS audit, and container platform logs

Detection direction

  • Validate whether T1485.001: Lifecycle-Triggered Deletion appears in your detection coverage and tabletop scenarios.
  • Use the object to align executive risk language with SOC, incident response, and detection engineering work.
  • Do not treat ATT&CK relationship context as attribution without corroborating evidence.

Mitigation priorities

  • Map the object to existing controls and identify missing telemetry or response ownership.
  • Prioritize mitigations that reduce exposure on the listed platforms and tactics.
  • Review adjacent ATT&CK relationships before changing policy, detections, or reporting language.
Additional notes and limits

Baseline Glexia take generated from the official MITRE ATT&CK STIX object, source hash, tactics, platforms, and detection fields. It is safe to replace with a richer model-generated take for the same source hash later.

This baseline take is source-grounded and schema-validated, but it does not include environment-specific telemetry, incident evidence, or threat-intelligence corroboration.

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Official MITRE ATT&CK definition

Lifecycle-Triggered Deletion

Adversaries may modify the lifecycle policies of a cloud storage bucket to destroy all objects stored within.

Cloud storage buckets often allow users to set lifecycle policies to automate the migration, archival, or deletion of objects after a set period of time.[1][2][3] If a threat actor has sufficient permissions to modify these policies, they may be able to delete all objects at once.

For example, in AWS environments, an adversary with the `PutLifecycleConfiguration` permission may use the `PutBucketLifecycle` API call to apply a lifecycle policy to an S3 bucket that deletes all objects in the bucket after one day.[4][5] In addition to destroying data for purposes of extortion and Financial Theft, adversaries may also perform this action on buckets storing cloud logs for Indicator Removal.[6]

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

Related techniques

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
DomainIDNameRelationship / procedure
EnterpriseT1485Data DestructionThis object subtechnique of Data Destruction.
Relationship explorer

All related ATT&CK context

mitigates · MitigationM1053: Data BackupEnterprisemitigates · MitigationM1018: User Account ManagementEnterprisesubtechnique of · TechniqueT1485: Data DestructionEnterprisedetects · Detection StrategyDET0041: Detection of Lifecycle Policy Modifications for Triggered Deletion in IaaS Cloud StorageEnterprise
Mitigations

Mitigation direction

MitigationEnterprise

M1053: Data Backup

Data Backup involves taking and securely storing backups of data from end-user systems and critical servers. It ensures that data remains available in the event of system compromise, ransomware attacks, or other disruptions. Backup processes should include hardening backup systems, implementing secure storage solutions, and keeping backups isolated from the corporate network to prevent compromise during active incidents. This mitigation can be implemented through the following measures:

Regular Backup Scheduling: - Use Case: Ensure timely and consistent backups of critical data. - Implementation: Schedule daily incremental backups and weekly full backups for all critical servers and systems.

Immutable Backups: - Use Case: Protect backups from modification or deletion, even by attackers. - Implementation: Use write-once-read-many (WORM) storage for backups, preventing ransomware from encrypting or deleting backup files.

Backup Encryption: - Use Case: Protect data integrity and confidentiality during transit and storage. - Implementation: Encrypt backups using strong encryption protocols (e.g., AES-256) before storing them in local, cloud, or remote locations.

Offsite Backup Storage: - Use Case: Ensure data availability during physical disasters or onsite breaches. - Implementation: Use cloud-based solutions like AWS S3, Azure Backup, or physical offsite storage to maintain a copy of critical data.

Backup Testing: - Use Case: Validate backup integrity and ensure recoverability. - Implementation: Regularly test data restoration processes to ensure that backups are not corrupted and can be recovered quickly.

MitigationEnterprise

M1018: User Account Management

User Account Management involves implementing and enforcing policies for the lifecycle of user accounts, including creation, modification, and deactivation. Proper account management reduces the attack surface by limiting unauthorized access, managing account privileges, and ensuring accounts are used according to organizational policies. This mitigation can be implemented through the following measures:

Enforcing the Principle of Least Privilege

- Implementation: Assign users only the minimum permissions required to perform their job functions. Regularly audit accounts to ensure no excess permissions are granted. - Use Case: Reduces the risk of privilege escalation by ensuring accounts cannot perform unauthorized actions.

Implementing Strong Password Policies

- Implementation: Enforce password complexity requirements (e.g., length, character types). Require password expiration every 90 days and disallow password reuse. - Use Case: Prevents adversaries from gaining unauthorized access through password guessing or brute force attacks.

Managing Dormant and Orphaned Accounts

- Implementation: Implement automated workflows to disable accounts after a set period of inactivity (e.g., 30 days). Remove orphaned accounts (e.g., accounts without an assigned owner) during regular account audits. - Use Case: Eliminates dormant accounts that could be exploited by attackers.

Account Lockout Policies

- Implementation: Configure account lockout thresholds (e.g., lock accounts after five failed login attempts). Set lockout durations to a minimum of 15 minutes. - Use Case: Mitigates automated attack techniques that rely on repeated login attempts.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for High-Risk Accounts

- Implementation: Require MFA for all administrative accounts and high-risk users. Use MFA mechanisms like hardware tokens, authenticator apps, or biometrics. - Use Case: Prevents unauthorized access, even if credentials are stolen.

Restricting Interactive Logins

- Implementation: Restrict interactive logins for privileged accounts to specific secure systems or management consoles. Use group policies to enforce logon restrictions. - Use Case: Protects sensitive accounts from misuse or exploitation.

*Tools for Implementation*

Built-in Tools:

- Microsoft Active Directory (AD): Centralized account management and RBAC enforcement. - Group Policy Object (GPO): Enforce password policies, logon restrictions, and account lockout policies.

Identity and Access Management (IAM) Tools:

- Okta: Centralized user provisioning, MFA, and SSO integration. - Microsoft Azure Active Directory: Provides advanced account lifecycle management, role-based access, and conditional access policies.

Privileged Account Management (PAM): - CyberArk, BeyondTrust, Thycotic: Manage and monitor privileged account usage, enforce session recording, and JIT access.

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
19.2
Object version
1.1
Created
Modified
Raw hash
3fc2072b3c1ec7f9...
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(2)
ReleaseBundle importedObject versionModifiedStatusRaw hash
19.21.1Current bundle3fc2072b3c1e…
19.11.1Older bundle3fc2072b3c1e…
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.

Open mirrored raw JSONOpen MITRE-hosted copy
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]
    AWS Storage Lifecycles

    AWS. (n.d.). Managing the lifecycle of objects. Retrieved September 25, 2024.

    Open source URL
  2. [2]
    GCP Storage Lifecycles

    Google Cloud. (n.d.). Object Lifecycle Management. Retrieved September 25, 2024.

    Open source URL
  3. [3]
    Azure Storage Lifecycles

    Microsoft Azure. (2024, July 3). Configure a lifecycle management policy. Retrieved September 25, 2024.

    Open source URL
  4. [4]
    Palo Alto Cloud Ransomware

    Ofir Balassiano and Ofir Shaty. (2023, November 29). Ransomware in the Cloud: Breaking Down the Attack Vectors. Retrieved September 25, 2024.

    Open source URL
  5. [5]
    Halcyon AWS Ransomware 2025

    Halcyon RISE Team. (2025, January 13). Abusing AWS Native Services: Ransomware Encrypting S3 Buckets with SSE-C. Retrieved March 18, 2025.

    Open source URL
  6. [6]
    Datadog S3 Lifecycle CloudTrail Logs

    Stratus Red Team. (n.d.). CloudTrail Logs Impairment Through S3 Lifecycle Rule. Retrieved September 25, 2024.

    Open source URL
  7. [7]
    mitre-attackT1485.001
    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.

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