SoK: The MITRE ATT&CK Framework in Research and Practice

Abstract: The MITRE ATT&CK framework, a comprehensive knowledge base of adversary tactics and techniques, has been widely adopted by the cybersecurity industry as well as by academic researchers. Its broad range of industry applications include threat intelligence, threat detection, and incident response, some of which go beyond what it was originally designed for. Despite its popularity, there is a lack of a systematic review of the applications and the research on ATT&CK. This systematization of work aims to fill this gap. To this end, it introduces the first taxonomic systematization of the research literature on ATT&CK, studies its degree of usefulness in different applications, and identifies important gaps and discrepancies in the literature to identify key directions for future work. The results of this work provide valuable insights for academics and practitioners alike, highlighting the need for more research on the practical implementation and evaluation of ATT&CK.