Suspicious Executable Running from PerfLogs Directory

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1036Masquerading
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of a binary from the Windows PerfLogs directory which ransomware operators use as a staging location for tooling. Observed in NCC Group research into active ransomware families dropping a min.exe binary into the PerfLogs directory. Execution from PerfLogs is highly abnormal which makes it a useful indicator of stager or tooling activity.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Executable Running from PerfLogs Directory

Pivot detection · T1036 · 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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