Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation via schtasks

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Priv Esc

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Persistence
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Priv Esc
- T1053.005Scheduled Task
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects creation of scheduled tasks via schtasks.exe with the /create flag. Adversaries frequently register scheduled tasks for persistence and execution, dropping task XML under System32\Tasks. Because administrators also create tasks legitimately, this should be triaged for unexpected task names and payload paths.

Reporting behind it

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Suspicious Scheduled Task Creation 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.

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