huntrule

Windows Network Connections to Known Crypto Mining Pools

Flags Windows hosts making outbound connections to known cryptocurrency mining pool domains.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v2
Product
windows
Category
network_connection
Author
Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2021-10-26
Updated
2026-07-31
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

Impact

  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 flags outbound network connections where the destination hostname matches a hardcoded set of crypto mining pool domains. Such traffic is a strong indicator that a system may be running mining software or participating in pooled cryptocurrency mining. It relies on Windows network connection telemetry containing destination hostnames, with matching performed against the listed pool hostnames.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1496 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Cryptocurrency Miner Execution via XMRig and c3pool (via process_creation)
Malicious WinRing0 Vulnerable Driver Load for Coin Mining
Suspicious Power Configuration Change to Prevent Sleep via powercfg
Suspicious kswapd0 Masquerading Miner Process
Suspicious XMRig Cryptominer Execution with Pool URL by StaryDobry
Suspicious SteelFox Service Binary Launched by services.exe
Suspicious Cryptomining Shell Script Execution sex.sh or miner.sh on Linux (via process_creation)
Malicious XMRig Cryptominer Execution via Custom Command-Line Flags (via process_creation)
Malicious XMRig GhostRider Coinminer Execution with Mining Pool Arguments
Windows Network Connections to Known Crypto Mining Pools
Pivot detection · T1496 · 9 related

Changelog

v2
  1. v2
    Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
  2. v1
    No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30

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