Suspicious Network Scanning Tool Execution

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1046Network Service Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of network and port scanning utilities such as SoftPerfect Netscan and Advanced Port or IP Scanner that were used for internal reconnaissance as described in NCC Group Fivehands ransomware research. Adversaries run these scanners after initial access to map reachable hosts and services before lateral movement so their presence on servers or non administrator hosts is suspicious.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1046 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Fscan Internal Network Scanner Execution (via process_creation)

Possible Network Service Scanning via Nmap or Masscan (via process_creation)

Malicious Anonymous Login - Domain Specified (via security)

Malicious RDP Discovery Performed on Multiple Hosts (via rdp)

Malicious Anonymous Access Performed to Multiple Targets (via security)

Malicious Network Login Performed to Multiple Targets (via security)

Suspicious SoftPerfect Network Scanner Execution for Discovery

Suspicious SoftPerfect Network Scanner Execution (via process_creation)

Suspicious XScan Network Vulnerability Scanner Execution After Citrix Bleed Exploitation

Suspicious Network Scanning Tool Execution

Pivot detection · T1046 · 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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