Suspicious ctfmon.exe Network Connection to PikaBot C2 Ports

ATT&CK techniques

C2

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
- T1071.001Web Protocols
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the injected ctfmon.exe process establishing outbound connections to uncommon high ports used by PikaBot command and control such as 2078, 2083, 2222 and the 13720-13786 range. Because ctfmon.exe never initiates network traffic legitimately, any such connection indicates the malware beacon operating from hijacked memory. This helps surface active C2 that evaded process based detection.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious ctfmon.exe Network Connection to PikaBot C2 Ports

Pivot detection · T1071.001 · 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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