TerminateInstances
AWS
TerminateInstances
Event
Permanently terminates one or more EC2 instances, releasing instance store data and associated resources.
Security Context
- Impairing defenses allows adversaries to operate freely by removing security controls that would otherwise detect or block their activity.
- Destructive deletion of cloud resources can cause significant operational disruption, data loss, and extended recovery times.
Log Source
CloudTrail
Sample Event
Adversarial. Draco terminates two EC2 instances at once: i-0phoenix000000010 (PHOENIX backup orchestrator — destroys recovery capability) and i-0occamy0000000001 (OCCAMY pipeline — disrupts ingest). Targeting both at the same call is a destructive-impact pattern intended to maximize disruption while minimizing event count. T1485 / T1685.
{ "eventVersion": "1.09", "userIdentity": { "type": "IAMUser", "principalId": "AIDADRAC0MALF0YBADGY", "arn": "arn:aws:iam::555123456789:user/draco", "accountId": "555123456789", "accessKeyId": "AKIADRAC0MALF0YEXAMP5", "userName": "draco", "sessionContext": { "attributes": { "creationDate": "2026-04-15T18:51:02Z", "mfaAuthenticated": "false" } } }, "eventTime": "2026-04-15T21:14:51Z", "eventSource": "ec2.amazonaws.com", "eventName": "TerminateInstances", "awsRegion": "us-east-1", "sourceIPAddress": "203.0.113.66", "userAgent": "aws-cli/1.18.147 Python/3.7.10 Linux/5.4.0-1045-aws botocore/1.18.6", "requestParameters": { "instancesSet": { "items": [ {"instanceId": "i-0phoenix000000010"}, {"instanceId": "i-0occamy0000000001"} ] } }, "responseElements": { "requestId": "90000000-0000-4000-8000-000110111110", "instancesSet": { "items": [ { "instanceId": "i-0phoenix000000010", "currentState": {"code": 32, "name": "shutting-down"}, "previousState": {"code": 16, "name": "running"} }, { "instanceId": "i-0occamy0000000001", "currentState": {"code": 32, "name": "shutting-down"}, "previousState": {"code": 16, "name": "running"} } ] } }, "requestID": "90000000-0000-4000-8000-000110111110", "eventID": "90000000-0000-4000-8000-000110111111", "readOnly": false, "eventType": "AwsApiCall", "managementEvent": true, "recipientAccountId": "555123456789", "eventCategory": "Management", "tlsDetails": { "tlsVersion": "TLSv1.3", "cipherSuite": "TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256", "clientProvidedHostHeader": "ec2.us-east-1.amazonaws.com" }}MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
Tactics: Impact Defense Impairment
Techniques:
- T1485 — Data Destruction — Adversaries may destroy data and files on specific systems or in large numbers on a network to interrupt availability to systems, services, and network resources. Data destruction is likely to render stored data irrecoverable by forensic techniques through overwriting files or data on local and r...
- T1685 — Disable or Modify Tools — Adversaries may disable, degrade, or tamper with security tools or applications (e.g., endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus, logging agents, sensors, etc.) to impair or reduce visibility of defensive capabilities. This may include stopping spec...