Malicious Software Protection Service Masquerade Outside System32 via Process Creation

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1036.005Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the legitimate software protection service binary name sppsvc being executed from any location other than System32 which reflects the masquerading observed in this intrusion where the process ran from a hidden ProgramData directory. The genuine service only runs from System32 so execution elsewhere indicates a masqueraded malicious process.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious Software Protection Service Masquerade Outside System32 via Process Creation

Pivot detection · T1036.005 · 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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