Suspicious Scheduled Task Masquerading as Microsoft Edge Update Machine MS

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-10-07
Updated
2026-10-07

ATT&CK techniques

Execution → Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Cred Access

  5. Discovery

  6. Lateral Movement

  7. Collection

  8. C2

  9. Exfiltration

  10. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects creation of a scheduled task named MicrosoftEdgeUpdateTaskMachineMS, a masquerade that imitates the legitimate Edge updater tasks which use the Core and UA suffixes. Awaken Likho used this fake task name to persist an implant while blending in with normal Edge update activity.

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Windows Scheduled Task Creation Using System Process Names
Windows Scheduled Task Creation with Schtasks -XML Using Non-.xml File
Malicious Netcat Reverse Shell via Masqueraded StartMenuExperienceHost
Suspicious Scheduled Task Masquerading as Microsoft Edge Update Machine MS
Pivot detection · T1036.005 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.