Identifying and mitigating Living Off the Land (LOTL) techniques

This joint agency guidance provides information on common living off the land (LOTL) techniques and gaps in cyber defence capabilities.

This joint guidance for network defenders focuses on how to mitigate identified gaps and to detect and hunt for LOTL activity. The information is derived from:

  • a previously published joint advisory,
  • incident response engagements undertaken by several of the authoring agencies,
  • red team assessments by several of the authoring agencies using LOTL for undetected, persistent access, and
  • collaborative efforts with industry. 

Identifying and mitigating Living Off the Land (LOTL) techniques [PDF, 2.4 MB]

Authored by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the following agencies:

  • U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
  • Australian Signals Directorate’s (ASD’s) Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC)
  • Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre), a part of the Communications 
    Security Establishment (CSE)
  • United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK)
  • New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NZ)

More information

PRC-sponsored Volt Typhoon activity and supplemental living off the land advice and guidance