Suspicious High-Frequency Scheduled Task Persistence via schtasks

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-26
Updated
2026-09-26

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Priv Esc
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Defense Evasion

  5. Cred Access

  6. Discovery

  7. Lateral Movement

  8. Collection

  9. C2

  10. Exfiltration

  11. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects creation of a scheduled task that runs on a per-minute interval via schtasks /SC MINUTE /MO. Malware bundles use this rapid re-execution schedule to guarantee their payload keeps running. A minute-cadence task is unusual for legitimate software and suggests persistence abuse.

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Suspicious PyPI Backdoor Scheduled Task Running VBScript via Schtasks (via process_creation)
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Suspicious High-Frequency Scheduled Task Persistence via schtasks
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.