Comparing Attack Models for IT Systems: Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Diamond Model

Nitin Naik; Paul Jenkins; Paul Grace; Jingping Song

doi:10.1109/ISSE54508.2022.10005490

Comparing Attack Models for IT Systems: Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Diamond Model

Nitin Naik^*, Paul Jenkins, Paul Grace, Jingping Song

^*Corresponding author for this work

Cardiff School of Technologies

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Cyberattacks are a serious challenge for any IT system, which motivates cybersecurity professionals and developers to constantly explore various attack models to analyse the cyberattack lifecycle used by attackers to mount their attacks. Several attack models have been proposed and successfully utilised to analyse the various types of cyberattacks and their mitigations. All the models offer different characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is important to examine the most popular attack models to understand their characteristics and suitability for modelling specific types of attacks. This paper will examine characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the three most popular attack models: The Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, the MITRE ATT&CK Framework and the Diamond Model. Finally, it will provide a comparative study of these three attack models to present a relative summary for selecting the most suitable attack model for a specific application.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)	9781665481823
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSE54508.2022.10005490
Publication status	Published - 10 Jan 2023
Event	8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, ISSE 2022 - Vienna, Austria Duration: 24 Oct 2022 → 26 Oct 2022

Publication series

Name	ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings

Conference

Conference	8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, ISSE 2022
Country/Territory	Austria
City	Vienna
Period	24/10/22 → 26/10/22

Keywords

Attack Models
Cyberattack
Diamond Model
Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain
MITRE ATT&CK Framework

Access to Document

10.1109/ISSE54508.2022.10005490

Cite this

Naik, N., Jenkins, P., Grace, P., & Song, J. (2023). Comparing Attack Models for IT Systems: Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Diamond Model. In ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings (ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSE54508.2022.10005490

Naik, Nitin ; Jenkins, Paul ; Grace, Paul et al. / Comparing Attack Models for IT Systems : Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Diamond Model. ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2023. (ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings).

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abstract = "Cyberattacks are a serious challenge for any IT system, which motivates cybersecurity professionals and developers to constantly explore various attack models to analyse the cyberattack lifecycle used by attackers to mount their attacks. Several attack models have been proposed and successfully utilised to analyse the various types of cyberattacks and their mitigations. All the models offer different characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is important to examine the most popular attack models to understand their characteristics and suitability for modelling specific types of attacks. This paper will examine characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the three most popular attack models: The Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, the MITRE ATT&CK Framework and the Diamond Model. Finally, it will provide a comparative study of these three attack models to present a relative summary for selecting the most suitable attack model for a specific application.",

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Naik, N, Jenkins, P, Grace, P & Song, J 2023, Comparing Attack Models for IT Systems: Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Diamond Model. in ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings. ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, ISSE 2022, Vienna, Austria, 24/10/22. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSE54508.2022.10005490

Comparing Attack Models for IT Systems: Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Diamond Model. / Naik, Nitin; Jenkins, Paul; Grace, Paul et al.
ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2023. (ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Naik N, Jenkins P, Grace P, Song J. Comparing Attack Models for IT Systems: Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Diamond Model. In ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2023. (ISSE 2022 - 2022 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering, Conference Proceedings). doi: 10.1109/ISSE54508.2022.10005490

Comparing Attack Models for IT Systems: Lockheed Martin's Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK Framework and Diamond Model

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