Suspicious Security Service Disable via SC Utility (via process_creation)

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-07-07
Updated
2026-08-28

ATT&CK techniques

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the sc.exe service control utility being used to disable, stop or delete antivirus, EDR or event logging services. Ransomware intrusions abuse sc.exe to impair defenses so encryption and cleanup proceed unnoticed. Reconfiguring or removing protective services from the command line is a strong defense-evasion signal.

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange
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Malicious ESXi Firewall Disable via esxcli (via process_creation)
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Suspicious Windows Defender Exclusion Enumeration via reg query (via process_creation)
Malicious Windows Defender Exclusion Added via PowerShell (via process_creation)
Malicious BYOVD EDR Kill via Renamed GMER Driver by Agonizing Serpens
Suspicious Security Service Disable via SC Utility (via process_creation)
Pivot detection · T1685 · 9 related

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