Malicious Clearing of Windows Event Logs (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects command-line clearing of Windows event logs through wevtutil or the PowerShell Clear-EventLog and Remove-EventLog cmdlets, an indicator-removal action used to destroy forensic evidence. Defense evasion via log tampering appears throughout the Red Canary Threat Detection Report, typically after an adversary has established access and wants to cover their tracks. Because legitimate bulk log-clearing on endpoints is rare, this is a high-fidelity signal of hands-on-keyboard activity.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685.005 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Event Log Clearing via Wevtutil (via process_creation)

Suspicious Mass Windows Event Log Clearing via PowerShell (via ps_script)

Malicious Event Log Clear Attempt - Wmi (via process_creation)

Malicious Event Log Clear Attempt - Command (via process_creation)

Malicious Event Log Cleared Using Diagnostics - Via PowerShell (via powershell)

Suspicious Event Log Clearing via wevtutil During Ransomware Activity

Suspicious Event Log Clearing via Get-WinEvent ClearLog (Qilin)

Suspicious Windows Event Log Clearing via wevtutil on EC2 Host

Suspicious Browser History Wipe via RunDll32 ClearMyTracksByProcess

Malicious Clearing of Windows Event Logs (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1685.005 · 9 related

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

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