Hiding local user accounts

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-08-30
Updated
2026-08-30

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

Detects the use reg.exe to hide users from listed in the logon screen. This is possible by changing the registry key value to 0 for a specific user.

Related detections6 linkedT1564.002 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Hidden Local Account via Winlogon SpecialAccounts UserList
Suspicious Hidden Local Account via SpecialAccounts UserList Registry Value (via registry_set)
Windows Process Creation: Suspicious secedit.exe Security Policy Export or Configuration
Windows Registry: Hidden User via Winlogon SpecialAccounts Userlist Value 0
Windows Process Creation: reg.exe Adds Winlogon SpecialAccounts Userlist Value 0
macOS Hidden User Creation via dscl (Hidden Account or UniqueID<500)
Hiding local user accounts
Pivot detection · T1564.002 · 6 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.