Suspicious Security Software Enumeration on macOS

ATT&CK techniques

Discovery

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
- T1518.001Security Software Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects enumeration of macOS security tooling such as Little Snitch, a discovery step malware performs to detect network monitoring and endpoint defenses before proceeding. Identifying protective software lets the malware adjust behavior or avoid noisy network activity.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1518.001 — drag to rearrange

Antivirus Software Discovery via tasklist and findstr

Suspicious Security Software Discovery via WMI or Defender Query (via process_creation)

Suspicious Security Software Discovery via PowerShell SecurityCenter2 AntivirusProduct Query (via process_creation)

Suspicious Antivirus Product Enumeration via WMI Query via process_creation

Suspicious Security Software Discovery via tasklist and findstr (via process_creation)

Suspicious Security Process Enumeration via Tasklist And Findstr

macOS csrutil Used to Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP)

macOS SIP Status Enumeration via csrutil status

Windows Process Execution of findstr.EXE for Security Tool Keyword Filtering

Suspicious Security Software Enumeration on macOS

Pivot detection · T1518.001 · 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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