Suspicious Removal Of Index Value to Hide Schedule Task - Registry (via registry_delete)

title: Suspicious Removal Of Index Value to Hide Schedule Task - Registry (via registry_delete)
id: 95ff79f8-fa11-5a98-8c59-15214c9c887a
status: stable
description: This rule detects when the "index" value of a scheduled task is removed or deleted from the registry. Which effectively hides it from any tooling such as "schtasks /query"
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1685/
    - https://blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2022/06/20/defending-against-scheduled-task-attacks-in-windows-environments
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-02-01
tags:
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1685
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: registry_delete
detection:
    selection:
        TargetObject|contains|all:
            - '\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree\'
            - 'Index'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium
regression_tests_path: regression_data/rules/windows/registry/registry_delete/registry_delete_schtasks_hide_task_via_index_value_removal/info.yml