Malicious Webworm MicrosoftSSHUpdate Scheduled Task Persistence

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Persistence
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Priv Esc
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects creation of a scheduled task named MicrosoftSSHUpdate, used by the Webworm group to persist and launch its EchoCreep implant disguised as SearchApp.exe. The task name imitates a Microsoft SSH update to blend with legitimate services, so its registration signals attacker persistence.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1053.005 — drag to rearrange

Malicious LongNosedGoblin OneDrive Reporting Task Scheduled Task Persistence

Suspicious Headless conhost Spawned by Firefox via Process Creation

Suspicious PyPI Backdoor Scheduled Task Running VBScript via Schtasks (via process_creation)

Suspicious Evasive Panda Scheduled Task Persistence via Schtasks (via process_creation)

Suspicious OilRig Scheduled Task Launching VBScript via Schtasks (via process_creation)

Suspicious MoustachedBouncer Scheduled Task Running Executable from SMB Share via Schtasks (via process_creation)

Suspicious Scheduled Task With Cyrillic Autorun Name via UNC6692

Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation for Kong RAT Persistence

Malicious KoiLoader Persistence via Scheduled Task Running WScript

Malicious Webworm MicrosoftSSHUpdate Scheduled Task Persistence

Pivot detection · T1053.005 · 9 related

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

Full detection rule

Unlock this rule to view and copy it

The detection logic is included with a plan. Everything else — context, mappings and implementation details — stays free on this page.

Sign in for 3 free unlocks

Signing in gives you 3 unlocks to spend on any rule in the library. No card, and they do not expire.

Also included

Unlocked rules convert on this page — to Splunk SPL or Splunk — Raw Index SPL or Microsoft Sentinel KQL or Microsoft Sentinel ASIM ASIM KQL or Microsoft Defender XDR KQL or Elastic Security KQL or Elastic Security Lucene or Elastic Security ES|QL or CrowdStrike Falcon CQL or SentinelOne PowerQuery or Palo Alto Cortex XDR XQL or Carbon Black Cloud Platform Search or Carbon Black EDR Process Search or Google Security Operations UDM Search or IBM QRadar AQL or Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Rules expression or Rapid7 InsightIDR LEQL or Graylog Search or OpenSearch Lucene or OpenSearch PPL PPL or Grafana Loki LogQL or SQLite SQL or Zircolite SQLite — with the log-source profile the engine picked, the field map it used, and everything it could not express. Converting a rule you have unlocked costs no further credit.

See it run on a free rule →Convert your own rule →