Suspicious Time Machine Backup Removal Attempt Through Tmutil - MacOS (via process_creation)

title: Suspicious Time Machine Backup Removal Attempt Through Tmutil - MacOS (via process_creation)
id: 8deafd28-505a-571c-bb40-64c2108bb1a7
status: stable
description: This rule detects deletion attempts of MacOS Time Machine backups via the native backup utility "tmutil". An adversary may perform this action before launching a ransonware attack to prevent the victim from restoring their files.
references:
    - https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1490/
    - https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1490/T1490.md#atomic-test-12---disable-time-machine
    - https://www.loobins.io/binaries/tmutil/
author: Huntrule Team
date: 2026-04-18
tags:
    - attack.impact
    - attack.t1490
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: macos
detection:
    selection_img:
        - Image|endswith: '/tmutil'
        - CommandLine|contains: 'tmutil'
    selection_cmd:
        CommandLine|contains: 'delete'
    condition: all of selection_*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: medium