Suspicious Service Installation Masquerading as winupd

ATT&CK techniques

Execution

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
- T1569.002Service Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects installation of a Windows service named winupd, a masquerade used by the INC Ransom group to run a renamed PsExec binary under a plausible Windows-update name. Service creation with this deceptive name is not expected from legitimate software and indicates hands-on-keyboard execution and lateral movement.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1569.002 — drag to rearrange

PsExec Remote Service Execution on Target Host (via process_creation)

Renamed Procdump Tool Used for Dumping LSASS Process (via process_creation)

Suspicious PSexec Application Execution (via process_creation)

Malicious Metasploit PsExec Named Pipe Command Execution

Malicious PsExec Service Installation via PSEXESVC

Malicious NotPetya Payload Execution via Rundll32 Ordinal Export from Windows Directory

Suspicious Lateral Movement via PsExec Service (via process_creation)

Possible PsExec Remote Service Installation with Randomly Named Service (via security)

Windows Registry Add WFP Filter Rules via BFE Parameters Path

Suspicious Service Installation Masquerading as winupd

Pivot detection · T1569.002 · 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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