Suspicious Secedit Security Policy Export for Reconnaissance (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1201Password Policy Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects secedit.exe exporting the local security policy configuration to a temp file as observed during the SoftEther VPN intrusion reconnaissance. Attackers export the policy to understand password and account restrictions before creating backdoor users.

Reporting behind it

Related detections6 linkedT1201 — drag to rearrange

Windows Security Event 4661 Password Policy Enumeration via ReadPasswordParameters

PowerShell Password Policy Discovery via Get-AdDefaultDomainPasswordPolicy (Windows)

Windows process creation: CrackMapExec execution via characteristic command-line flags

Linux Password Policy Discovery via chage and passwd Commands

Cisco AAA discovery via show/dir commands

Windows Process Creation: Execution of Net.exe or Net1.exe

Suspicious Secedit Security Policy Export for Reconnaissance (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1201 · 6 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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