Suspicious Local Account Creation via Net User in Pre-Ransomware Phase

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1136.001Local Account
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects creation of a new account using net user with the add flag. Ransomware actors targeting Japanese organizations create rogue accounts such as Attacker1 for persistence before deploying encryption. New account creation during an intrusion often precedes hands-on ransomware staging.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1136.001 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Hidden Local Account Creation via Dscl (via process_creation)

Suspicious Local Account Creation on Linux (via process_creation)

Possible Atlassian Confluence CVE-2023-22518 Setup-Restore Exploitation via Webserver (via webserver)

Suspicious Local Account Creation via Net User in Pre-Ransomware Phase

Pivot detection · T1136.001 · 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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