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Kill Chain Coverage Calculator

Score detection and prevention coverage across the seven Lockheed Martin kill chain stages and find the earliest reliable break.

About Kill Chain Coverage Calculator

Reconnaissance and weaponisation happen on infrastructure you do not own, so they carry low weight — you can rarely act there. The stages you control are weighted by how much damage is avoided by breaking there: stopping delivery costs nothing, stopping actions on objectives means the adversary already had your data. Because the stages are sequential, coverage compounds, so even modest coverage at every stage makes end-to-end success unlikely. The point of the kill chain is that you only have to break it once — but breaking it at 'actions on objectives' means the intrusion succeeded and you merely watched the exit.

Formulas

Kill Chain Coverage

coverage = 0.20×delivery + 0.20×exploitation + 0.18×installation + 0.17×C2 + 0.15×actions + 0.05×reconnaissance + 0.05×weaponisation.

delivery
Email, web and removable-media controls
exploitation
Patching, hardening and exploit mitigation
installation
Persistence and dropper detection
C2
Egress filtering, DNS and beacon detection
actions
Exfiltration and destruction controls

Chain survival probability

chainSurvival = ∏(1 − stageCoverage) — the probability an intrusion crosses all seven stages unimpeded.

stageCoverage
Probability that stage is detected or prevented

Worked example

With the default values below, Kill Chain Coverage Calculator returns Weighted Kill Chain Coverage of 69.1. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Reconnaissance coverageaccepts 0–100 %
30 %
Weaponisation coverageaccepts 0–100 %
20 %
Delivery coverageaccepts 0–100 %
85 %
Exploitation coverageaccepts 0–100 %
75 %
Installation coverageaccepts 0–100 %
80 %
Command and control coverageaccepts 0–100 %
70 %
Actions on objectives coverageaccepts 0–100 %
55 %
Share of that coverage that prevents rather than detectsaccepts 0–100 %
45 %

Results

Weighted Kill Chain Coverage
69.1 / 100
Earliest Reliable Break
Delivery
Probability the Chain Completes
0.06%
Weakest Stage
Weaponisation
Preventive Strength
31.1 / 100
Stages Above 70% Coverage
4 stages

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2Kill Chain Coverage
  3. 3Chain survival probability
  4. 4Weighted Kill Chain Coverage= 69.1 / 100
  5. 5Earliest Reliable Break= Delivery
  6. 6Probability the Chain Completes= 0.06
  7. 7Weakest Stage= Weaponisation
  8. 8Preventive Strength= 31.1 / 100
  9. 9Stages Above 70% Coverage= 4 stages

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 8 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Kill Chain Coverage calculated?

coverage = 0.20×delivery + 0.20×exploitation + 0.18×installation + 0.17×C2 + 0.15×actions + 0.05×reconnaissance + 0.05×weaponisation. Reconnaissance and weaponisation happen on infrastructure you do not own, so they carry low weight — you can rarely act there. The stages you control are weighted by how much damage is avoided by breaking there: stopping delivery costs nothing, stopping actions on objectives means the adversary already had your data. Because the stages are sequential, coverage compounds, so even modest coverage at every stage makes end-to-end success unlikely.

Why does Kill Chain Coverage matter?

The point of the kill chain is that you only have to break it once — but breaking it at 'actions on objectives' means the intrusion succeeded and you merely watched the exit.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 8 inputs: Reconnaissance coverage, Weaponisation coverage, Delivery coverage, Exploitation coverage, Installation coverage, Command and control coverage, Actions on objectives coverage, Share of that coverage that prevents rather than detects. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

How does this relate to MITRE ATT&CK?

The kill chain gives you seven coarse phases for reporting and investment decisions; ATT&CK gives you hundreds of concrete techniques within them. Score direction here, then use an ATT&CK matrix to decide which specific techniques to instrument.

Does compounded survival probability really work like that?

Only approximately. It assumes stages are independent, and in reality one strong adversary capability — valid credentials, say — weakens several stages at once. Treat the number as a prioritisation estimate rather than a probability you would bet on.

Kill Chain Coverage Calculator | Calcrivo